Re: where to sync from?
On Wed, 2007-03-21 at 15:56 +0100, Josip Rodin wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 20, 2007 at 08:52:10AM -0400, Ricardo Yanez wrote:
> > > >I was syncing from debian-mirror.mirror.umn.edu (IP:128.101.240.212),
> > > >which is one of the US official rotating mirrors. I can access it from
> > > >the US (which is where I'm from), but not from the server in Chile
> > > >(which is located in Santiago). It looks like the above mirror is
> > > >blocking the rsync connection specifically to our mirror. Could the
> > > >admin verify that this is not the case?
> > >
> > > Do you have access to the Reuna net? It's part of the Clara net in
> > > South America. If you can reach it you could sync from us, we've got a
> > > fast link to Clara.
> >
> > We no longer have access to the Reuna network with IPs 146.83.x.x. Our
> > IPs were changed to 200.89.x.x in 2003, if I recall correct,
> > corresponding to the paid network (Terra).
>
> My traceroute to your site goes via ra-uchile-i2.reuna.cl (146.83.242.26),
> indicating that there is still such a link.
>
> Can you trace your route to ftp.br.debian.org and wget a large file from
> them to see how it goes?
ftp.br.debian.org seems to be much faster, ~85 kB/s versus ~400 kB/s.
Actually, it comes as a surprise.
Many years ago, before 2002, we were syncing with ftp.br.debian.org,
then one day, the entire debian/ tree was gone with the catastrophic
result that our entire tree was deleted as well. It took us weeks to
re-build the tree again (yeah, that slow! and debian in those days was a
10th of what is today). Based on this painful experience I've been very
reluctant to use leaf mirrors to sync. I mean, ftp.cl.debian.org is a
leaf mirror, low in the hierarchy, and should stay there based on it's
not-so-hot "stableness". I see ftp.br.debian.org is also a leaf mirror,
which I interpret as not being so high in the hierarchy either. Maybe
I'm wrong about my interpretation of Leaf, Secondary and Primary
mirrors, but these categories must somehow reflect how committed the
sponsor and admins are to the mirror, right? In our case, the
environment is somewhat hostile, perhaps unforgiven about the needs of a
server. For example, over some weekends, people saw the mirror on and
turned it off thinking someone must have forgotten it on, because that's
what people do with their windows desktops. Today the server is locked
up, which only reduces the frequency of these events. Or, someone
unplugs a switch to plug an electric kettle. Even more common, power
outages lasting days, particularly during weekends when some people
think switching off the entire building at the main fuse box helps
conserving energy and money. That's the kind of things we have to
struggle against, not to mention a Computing Department that seems to be
playing around with a filter.
Anyway, I would gladly make a strong commitment to two things. 1) with
the speed observed today we could host the full debian again, meaning
all architectures (we still have the archive, couple of months old, so
it would be a matter of updating only), and 2) sync with
ftp.br.debian.org, if they can accept the load. Setting up pushing would
be desirable. Could ftp.br.debian.org be promoted to secondary mirror
under these circumstances? I'm only advocating stronger commitments.
Ricardo Yanez
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