Re: [TCLUG:8058] colocation idea

[Bob Tanner <tanner@real-time.com>]

Quoting Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom (carls@agritech.com):
>         here's something that just occurred to me this morning:
>         for ppl who are still sucking their net access through an analog
> modem (like myself); why not put a box at a colocation site, with a
> CD-burner in it. all the stuff you'd regularly DL, but isn't very
> time-sensitive (some Usenet, some FTP/WWW site updates, plus system logs if
> you were serving up a net site as well); you just burn to the CD, and have
> the ISP mail it to you. 
>         you get non-volatile storage; you get a reliable (as reliable as the
> ISP at least) net connection; you don't tie up one of the ISP's modems; you
> don't tie up your own phone line.
>         to take it a step further, you could use Lightweight X (or some
> thin-client product) to actually put your 'presence' at the fat end of the
> pipe; where you could use the ISP's full T3 (or whatever they have) line to
> do your browsing!

As with all co-located boxes, there is the issue of security and abuse. I have
hosted several boxes where I have given the user full control over their linux
box, only to have it used as a irc bot server, spam relay, pirate site, porn
site, hacker relay, SMURF attacker, and Network snooper.

I think that was all of them. :-)

Idea has appeal, but I rather see a problem where you queue your files up and
the ISP puts your CDR into the drive, burns the files and mails it you. Then
the next job gets queued. Then the ISP has more control, less security risks
and less liability.

On the other side of the coin. The most expensive part of running an ISP is
the back-bone connection. T1, frac T3, T3 cost big money, in comparision to
analog lines, even analog lines run over PRI/BRI/Channelize T1, so putting a
co-loc box with a CDR just encourages users to suck more from expensive
bandwidth. Analog modems are like bottlenecks, they help keep consumption down
:-)

With the right person, I'd be willing to give this a try.


-- 
Bob Tanner <tanner@real-time.com>       | Phone : (612)943-8700
http://www.real-time.com                | Fax   : (612)943-8500
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