mark@cbosgd.UUCP (06/02/83)
This discussion really belongs in net.news.
In general, if a site B accepts a feed from a site A, they should remember
that they are on the net through A's generousity. In the future, when site
C wants a feed, then B is being a bit hypocritical in refusing to feed C.
As a rule, if resources and security considerations permit, a site receiving
a feed should be willing to feed at least two more non-local sites, and
should be willing to (directly or indirectly) feed ALL local sites. ("local
site" is in the administrative sense, e.g., within the same company at the
same physical location.)
The idea is to keep the fan-out down to a reasonable level. If everybody
on the net is a leaf except for the backbone, then you wind up with each
backbone site having to feed about 50 sites. This isn't fair to the
backbone sites, since a typical machine can reasonably support 6-8 neighbors
before they get totally bogged down.
There are, of course, always exceptions to the rule. If you have some good
reason for not feeding anybody else, and if there is someone else around
who is reasonably able to provide a feed, then there is no problem. A
good reason for not feeding anyone might be that you have a very small
system (e.g. an 11/44, or some other bottleneck like a tiny disk or a
300 baud connection or some very unreliable piece of hardware). Another
good reason might be that your organiation is paranoid about security.
(However, you should still be feeding local sites within your organization.)
Another good reason might be that there is another site physically very
close which wants to do all local feeding.
Markpn@amd70.UUCP (06/08/83)
I guess it bothers me a little bit that a site I just gave a connection to would say it can't feed anyone else (right now). I am NOT going to take it back, it really doesn't bother me much, and I know that the reason in this case is not selfishness but just a need to sell management, but I am led to wonder how other sites view this situation. I think if I were really pressed to feed a new site, was too loaded myself and couldn't get one of my leaves to volunteer, I'd offer to feed the new site if it would take over feeding one of my leaves. I would like to hear comments on this approach. Is it fair? Phil Ngai