On   Mon,   13   Feb   1995  11:18:30   CST   Patrick   Douglas   Crispen
<[log in to unmask]> said:
 
>Are these assumptions correct?
>
>     1. If UGA gets flooded with INTERBIT traffic, UGA's mainframes will
>        start  to slow  down from  the load.  If UGA's  mainframes slow,
>        Bitnet  mail  routed through  UGA  will  also slow  because  the
>        mainframes will be preoccupied with INTERBIT traffic.
 
True.
 
>     2. If Bitnet  mail through  UGA  slows,  Bitnet mail  net-wide will
>        slow.
>
>     3. If UGA crashes from the load, Bitnet will crash too.
 
Well, all mail through UGA would  slow. Most importantly, after a certain
amount  of  impact  on  computing resources  which  were  not  originally
purchased to run BITNET services,  it becomes difficult for management to
justify continuing  to provide the  service. UIC for instance  decided to
stop providing INTERBIT services. When this happens, the files have to go
somewhere else. It was very hard to find a "somewhere else" for UIC and I
don't think there  can be a "somewhere else" ever  again, because all the
core machines are overloaded now.
 
>     4. Bitnet  users subscribed to  LISTSERV lists at  non-Bitnet sites
>        (e.g. Texas A&M) will see a noticeable delay in mail delivery to
>        and from the list.
 
Currently yes, but  this will stop being an issue  with the 1.8b release.
It will only affect a subset of the subscribers, too.
 
>     5. Internet users  who  used  the percent  hack to  subscribe to  a
>        LISTSERV list at a Bitnet site will also experience delays.
 
Possibly.
 
>     6. A  big majority of the  INTERBIT traffic is actually  from sites
>        such  as  CompuServe  and  AOL  who  subscribe  to  Bitnet  list
>        addresses.
 
If you meant  commercial providers, I don't think so.  They account for a
lot of traffic, but probably not a "big majority".
 
>     7. The natural  consequence of all of  this is that if  the big net
>        trafficers  moved up  to Listproc  or LISTSERV  TCP/IP then  the
>        INTERBIT problem would be severely reduced.
 
In general  if people  stop using  INTERBIT, INTERBIT  will stop  being a
problem. Some large sites are already starting  to do that as a result of
the message I sent and maybe the storm will be averted.
 
>     8. If the big users are forced off of the Bitnet, they will abandon
>        the Bitnet -- and CREN -- altogether.
 
Well, that's up to them. It's a standard cost/benefit decision.
 
  Eric