henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (04/26/91)
(This really has nothing to do with NNTP; I've pointed followups at news.software.b) In article <2657@brchh104.bnr.ca> rgreene@bgrgs1.bnr.ca (Bob Greene) writes: >Now, if I'm sitting at my terminal in Dallas, and I post >something setting distribution to "dfw", what happens? >All of our local Dallas, TX machines see it, then we >pass the article on up to our Ottawa machine, now it's >not in dfw, so does it dump it on the floor even >though all the rest of dfw is only accessible through >it? Much depends on what news system your Ottawa machine is running and how it is configured. The general answer is that it doesn't dump it on the floor, but it may or may not pass it onward. >In more generic terms, since no news machine knows the >geographical locations of it's neighbors, doesn't that mean >to guarantee correct distribution, each news machine >must propagate each news article to all it's neighbors... No, it means that each news machine must be **configured** to know which sites to pass which articles to. It doesn't have to know who's where, but it does have to know who gets what traffic. >even though that article may not be in it's own >distribution? ... There is no notion of a machine having "its own distribution". >I have a feeling that the articles just get dumped on the >floor, since the whole Usenet news system was really >intended to be run with your neighbors being geographically >proximate... Whatever gives you that idea? It's never been true. -- And the bean-counter replied, | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology "beans are more important". | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
rgreene@bgrgs1.bnr.ca (Bob Greene) (04/28/91)
Sorry, let me clarify my original post a little. When I said "distribution", I didn't mean distribution as in | If I post to dfw.news, does it go through my Ottawa machine to | other Dallas machines? Obviously, the answer to this is - it depends on the sys files of all the machines between mine and the other Dallas machines. What I meant was | If I post to "news.important.announce" (or any other group | that goes everywhere) with a "Distribution: dfw" line | in the header, does it go through my Ottawa machine to | other Dallas (ie: dfw distribution) machines? I think that will clear up some of what I said just a tad, especially the part about being geographically proximate. :)
wisner@delius.Gryphon.COM (Bill Wisner) (04/28/91)
>| If I post to "news.important.announce" (or any other group >| that goes everywhere) with a "Distribution: dfw" line >| in the header, does it go through my Ottawa machine to >| other Dallas (ie: dfw distribution) machines? Only if your Ottawa machine is set up to pass along articles with a dfw distribution, which is doubtful. That's not to say it can't be done; in fact, it's quite easy. Just tweak the sys file a little bit. Distributions mean less and less every day, anyway. I've read "ba" (San Francisco Bay Area) articles on MIT machines, and I get EUnet here in Alaska. That's USENET for you -- bringing the world a little closer. (Insert catchy jingle and 1-800 telephone number.) On a different note, you're in Texas but still using a .CA domain? Twisted. Bill Wisner <wisner@delius.Gryphon.COM> Gryphon Gang Fairbanks AK 99775 "Remember, some net.personalities are basically insane." -- Karl Lehenbauer <karl@sugar.hackercorp.com>