Re: hangs/multiple servers

Rik Harris (rik@daneel.rdt.monash.edu.au)
Thu, 19 Nov 92 11:40:42 -1000


Marc Andreessen wrote:

> Also, is there any way to specify backup servers? Does anyone else
> think this would be useful?

After the problems with info.cern.ch, I'd say yes, it would be useful.
The main problems I see:

a) If the backup is done in the document, the HTML format would need
to change. I'll leave this issue to others.

b) Keeping the data up-to-date, and consistent could be difficult. For
example, all documents must be relatively addressed to be able to move
them between systems. This is not always possible, for example, if
different ``schemes'' are used, or if different ports are used on the
same machine, then I believe the whole machine name needs to be
respecified. This problem could be partially solved by doing a
``search-and-replace'' on all addresses as the document is moved.

One possible way to implement backups is to have the client do it (makes
the client too clever?). The client could have a list of hosts, and for
each one, have a list of backup servers, to try if the main server is
down. The problem with this is that the list is much more difficult
to maintain, if everyone needs a copy, and only the clients that have
implemented this would benefit.

Just some random thoughts,
rik.

--
Rik Harris - rik.harris@fcit.monash.edu.au         || Systems Programmer
+61 3 571-2895 (AH & ans.mach) +61 3 573-2679 (BH) || and Administrator
Faculty of Computing and Information Technology,   || Vic. Institute of
Caulfield Campus, Monash University, Australia     || Forensic Pathology