More one default server by country

[Mattias Wadenstein]

On Mon, 3 May 2010, Ondej Surý wrote:

>> On 3.5.2010, at 11:18, Berge Schwebs Bjørlo <berge at trivini.no> wrote:

>> On Mon, May 03, 2010 at 10:53:02AM +0200, GUEANT, VIVIEN wrote:
>>> For distribute the charge between more than one mirror server in large 
>>> country, why Ubuntu cd does-not select the mirror by default with the 
>>> reverse-DNS of the public IP ?
>>
>> Or better yet - it should suggest a server based on some geolocation 
>> data. There are several providers with free data for geolocation of IP 
>> addresses, as I understand it.

> That's very bad idea. Network closeness in terms on bandwidth and 
> latency is not the same as geographic closeness.
>
> Eg. if I am customer of ISP1 then mirror in ISP1 network located in 
> distant city would be better choice than mirror of ISP2 located next 
> door.
>
> So don't, it's not 'even better', it's much worse.

Well, for default choice of mirror, long-term staibility of the URL (i.e. 
http://$ccTLD.archive.ubuntu.com) is IMHO much more important than 
bandwidth concerns. Someone who chooses a non-default mirror can be 
expected to find a new one if the one chosen cancels the service, but for 
the default choice that should be repointed to a working mirror without 
user intervention.

/Mattias Wadenstein