Errors trying to upgrade from GG to HH Ubuntu.

[Dave Hall]

On Sun, 2008-05-11 at 06:48 +1000, Daniel Mons wrote:
> 
> ==============Sebastian Spiess wrote:
> 
> > I did a clean install and everything went smooth but when I started
> installing all the stuff missing I had problems with 
> > the AU mirror as well. I ended up switching quite often, but this
> could have something to do with the "others" upgrading... 
> > good to hear that it worked for you.
> > 
> > I am now back to the AU mirror, all is fine so far. keep the traffic
> on the continent :-)
> 
> Some general comments on APT mirrors, ISPs, and sources.list config
> from 
> a Debian veteran of 7 years, and an Ubuntu user for 2 years now:
> 
> au.archive.ubunut.com is hosted by Optus:
> 
> dan at bnenb007:~$ dig au.archive.ubuntu.com
> *snip*
> ;; ANSWER SECTION:
> au.archive.ubuntu.com.	600	IN	CNAME	mirror.optus.net.
> mirror.optus.net.	86400	IN	A	211.29.132.173
> 
> Now I don't intend this to be a "crap on Optus" session.  Optus 
> generously host Ubuntu's au mirror as well as the primary au mirror
> for 
> sourceforge.  But the fact of the matter is the mirrors are slow to 
> respond, and seem to be heavily QoS'ed.  I completely understand why 
> they do this, but sadly it makes for random brokenness when doing
> upgrades.

You will find that your ISP would prefer that you use a US mirror than
Optus' mirror.  Optus and Telstra charge very high fees for other ISPs
to access their networks.  I can't find the thread on Whingepool, but I
remember reading a post from Simon Hackett at Internode some years ago.

Basically the costs go like this (cheapest to most expensive)
On ISP's own network
AU -> US
ISP -> PIPE/WAIX/Other Peered ISP networks
ISP -> Optus/Telstra networks

So if you ISP offers a mirror use it, if you need a backup, use one in
the US.

If you ISP doesn't use offer a local mirror, either change ISPs or use
the Optus mirror so they feel it in the bottom line :)

For the record, when at home all of my debs come unmetered from the
internode mirror.

Cheers

Dave