jsol@buit1.bu.EDU.UUCP (03/22/87)
This won't be news to any of you who are bitnet people, but I think
it will be to some others.
Bitnet has a routing system based on static lookup tables (hey, IBM
software rules!). Updated versions of these tables are generated once
a month and sent all over bitnet...
One problem with this is that the huge amount of data swamps several
major network links (like PSUVM<->OHSTVMA). Recent mail from our
fearless leaders at BITNIC follows:
From LINKFAIL@BITNIC.BITNET Tue Mar 17 09:23:08 1987
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id AA18551; Tue, 17 Mar 87 09:22:57 est
Message-Id: <8703171422.AA18551@psuvax1.UUCP>
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Date: Tue, 17 Mar 87 09:01:39 EST
Reply-To: Scott Earley <EARLEY@BITNIC>
Sender: BITNIC LINKFAIL List <LINKFAIL@BITNIC>
From: Scott Earley <EARLEY@BITNIC>
Subject: "March" routing tables
To: "Dave Eckhardt (Penn SU Comp Sci VLSI Dev" <DAE@PSUVAX1>
What were once known as the "March routing tables" have been
twice delayed from delivery -- both irregular circumstances.
The proposed solution to the immediate dilemma is as follows:
Tables for all sites on the Penn State side of the PSU-Ohio link
will be sent through the UCBCMSA--CUNYVM link as usual. Tables
for all sites on the Ohio side of the PSU-Ohio link will be put
on tape and mailed overnight to a pre-appointed individual who
will reintroduce them into the network from there. This will
eliminate sending about 200 tables through the PSUVM--OHSTVMA
link. In the future, those tables will be generated by a site
on the far side, as a more permanent solution.
...
That's right. Mag tape.
--DaemonLYNCH@A.ISI.EDU.UUCP (03/22/87)
"on the far side" conjures up visions of Gary Larson's delightful creatures manipulating that huge database in the sky. Actually the folks in BITNET are experiencing a wonderful thing: success. They pay for it by having to mail magtapes around once in a while. The Arpanauts also have success and pay for it by byzantine dynamic behavior. The pain we all go through to get network services must be worth the gain, eh? We all need more money and bright ideas to make the networks work better. A dose of money could help to give our brains a rest... Dan -------
PERRY@VAX.DARPA.MIL (Dennis G. Perry) (03/23/87)
I would like to counter Dan's suggestion that money is a solution. In fact I think we have too much money chasing too few brains. If we would use our brains to figure out what is 'right', we could probably do with the money we have. Unfortunately, as is often the case in economics, it it not the amount of money available, it is the improper distribution of same. Brains and money have at least one thing in common, they should both be put to work, and if left idle, will both lead to mischief! dennis -------
LYNCH@A.ISI.EDU (Dan Lynch) (03/23/87)
Dennis, My (unspoken) use for the money was not for more research, but for more simple capacity. As a matter of fact, depending on what your goal is, you should be able to create a model of allocating your dollar budget that maximizes "happiness" by giving some to research and some to capacity. When you see lots of good research ideas you fund research, else just pump the money into capacity. If that is the model you have been implementing inthe past then there must have been a lot of great research going on in the past few years... Dan -------
PERRY@VAX.DARPA.MIL.UUCP (03/23/87)
Dan, not sure there has been any model, or any great research either. dennis -------