[aprssig] Tier 2 Status

[dave at aprsfl.net]

Guys,

This is the same exact argument almost verbatim each and every time the
issue is brought up, but after biting my tongue for a bit, I have to chime
in here.

I've held close to 500 users with well over 2/3's of them running FULL feeds
on third with no problems whatsoever.      Personally I'm -tired- and
completely fed up of hearing what the core can't do all the time.    The
three core servers -ARE- the glue that keep things running.  Let's not
forget that.    

At 450 users on Third just here recently, I was running almost 17 meg of
traffic - over 1/3 of a T3 and was running the packet-per-second rating of
"casual web browsing" packet per seconds that would have been normally seen
with close to 2 OC3's of bandwidth.  I'm in a fortunately position to be the
-owner- of the company and was willing - for my hobby and something I truly
enjoy doing for the users - and able to put third/aprsfl behind a 7200
series Cisco router with more than enough horsepower to handle the load  and
allow some outbound bandwidth on my network to be used.    From some of the
comments here, I could walk away thinking I'm wasting my time and resources,
but I know better.  All I have to do is check my connection count page.  

That being said ...  tiering -is- in my opinion needed to properly make
things work.  Is the current system the best design, maybe, or maybe not,
but it was needed to handle the explosive growth of users wanting the data.
There's no denying that.  Would I want to carry another large sum of users
on third on a regular basis?  NO.  

If you look at any distributed networking system on the internet today, they
all 'tier'.  DNS, you have root servers, and domain servers, and caching
servers, each with their own job and own set of "clients" that use them.
NTP uses stratum to indicate how far you are away from the root clock as not
everyone in the world can have direct access to a Cesium Maser clock.   Note
I'm saying -distributed-.   

We're all here to provide APRS-IS to as many hams and CWOP users that are
willing to sign on.  It, hands down, requires -EVERYONE'S- participation to
make sure this stays running as a smooth system.     The amount of time
spent in the past chain of messages should have been spent on figuring out
the next generation of APRS-IS that will not be   so abusive to the network.
This nonstop badgering is simply misplaced energy.

Bottom line:

*  Quit telling people they don't want or need a full feed.  I have many on
third that do, and continue to want it, why, personally I'm not sure, look
at my own station, I only listen 300 miles out, that's all I'm interested
in, but that's the -KEY- here, it's what the user wants.    

*  Let's not forget that what we're all supposed to be here for.    Last
time I checked it's to provide APRS-IS data to users, unless I missed that
memo.

*  Tiering's here to stay, and so is the core, just get over that fact, and
let's move on.

*  If everyone watches their networks, and their servers and spends time
working the user community actually educating them on how the system works,
we're all better off.  All this chain of messages has done is cause more
confusion than it's resolved for the average user.

This will be my only public comment regarding this, so if you want to
discuss specific issues further, e-mail me directly,  I just had to say what
was on my mind.

Seeya,
Dave
KG4YZY
www.aprsfl.net
Third.aprs.net



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