>For various reasons not worth going into here, the RICEVM1<->UHOU link >is a real bottleneck. No problem, LISTSERV is designed to be able to do that. And with EARN I'm used to cases where there isn't the slightest hint of the beginning of a possibility of a technical reason :-), so no problem here. >1. Does changing my local copy of LINKSWT affect only distributions that > start at RICEVM1? Right, that was the only way to cleanly solve the problem of server X thinking that server Y is closer while Y thinks X is closer. It also greatly minimizes the impact on the network of a particular node having an outdated file (for any reason, like their node no longer recognizes Netdata files because of that infamous HPO5 bug). The proper method when you have a problem like that is to send me a note explaining what's going on and what you would like to see changed. I then send a global change to LINKSWT FILE, either immediately if it is a serious problem, or after a couple days/weeks for less important changes. Putting a high weight on the guilty link is usually enough, unless you have a ring (like A <--> B <--> C <--> A - if you weight A-B, you may also need to weight A-C). Please let me know if this is the case, I'm already adding an entry for RICEVM1-UHOU and will send the update when I hear from you. Eric