National Capital FreeNet Annual Report for 1994 Hardware/Software Andrew Patrick (aa118) Feb 14 1995 Introduction ------------ The technical aspects of the National Capital FreeNet are handled by our System Administrator, Ian Allen, and a dedicated team of volunteers. A lot of effort is needed to run such a complex system with very limited resources, and the heroic efforts of our Hardware and Software team have been crucial for the success of the FreeNet. Significant Activities ---------------------- There has been a lot of activity since the last report prepared one year ago. The highlights include: - very rapid growth in the number of accounts, from approximately 15,000 last year to the current level of over 36,000. - because of member donations, we were able to purchase a second large server to support users ("freenet3") and expand our modem pool from 96 to 164 lines. - however, a computer on loan from a local company had to be returned. - during this period of rapid expansion, we experienced a system load crisis as our computer resources were not able to keep up with the new demand. - we were "rescued" by a significant donation of equipment from Hardware Canada computing, including a new "freenet2" computer and a new small computer ("freenet5"). - we developed the software for our first "online auction", which ran very smoothly and may be the first effort of its kind in the world. - Ian was able to work most of the serious bugs out of the core FreePort software. - major efforts were needed to coax the Sun systems to allow so many user accounts on the systems. - heroic efforts went in to handling all the mail traffic that travels within the NCF, and to/from the outside world. - we were able to develop some new software services, including: - a new Gopher program - a new mail reader called ELM - a new FAX-by-email service - development on the 'trn' newsreader - experimenting with the Lynx WWW browser and a FreePort-to-WWW converter - development of a Menu Maintenance System for information providers - begin of work on installing an Oracle database for administration and financial data Current Configuration --------------------- The current hardware configuration is as follows: Computers: freenet: Sun SparcStation 10 Model 512 128 Mb memory 400 Mb + 1.2 Gb + 1.2 Gb + 1.1 Gb disk freenet2: Dual Sparc 2 Clone 64 Mb memory 500 Mb disk freenet3: Sun SparcStation 10 Model 512 128 Mb memory 1.1 Gb disk 360 Mb disk freenet4: IBM PC running NCSA Unknown freenet5: Sun SparcStation IPX 24 Mb memory 200 Mb disk freenet-news: Sun SparcStation IPC 48 Mb memory 220 Mb disk 1 Gb disk 2.4 Gb disk Modems: 97 300-2400 bps modems, no compression, no error-correction 64 300-14400 bps modems, compression + error-correction Multiplexor for Ottawa Public Library Modems for various library/city/gov't connections Telephone lines: 96 300-2400 bps lines at 520-1130 64 300-14400 bps lines at 520-1135 14 lines dedicated to gov't, city, libraries, etc. 1 line (sysadmin) 1 line (demos) Misc: Three 64-port Xylogics Annex terminal servers Current Issues -------------- - the new "freenet5" computer needs more memory and disk before it can be used effectively. In the mean time, it is being used for special projects, such as the AGM elections and software development. - last year we worried about growing to 30,000 members. We have exceeded that number and are still running, but we continue to experience severe scaling problems. The user tables alone may not expand much more, and a major shift in our configuration will probably be needed. This might involve assigning users to particular machines to distribute the load and traffic. - mail traffic is causing continuing problems with the current configuration. We cannot process all the incoming mail fast enough and some mail from the Internet is being lost because of the delays. - the member list has grown 140%, while the number of modems has only grown 71%. This has led to significant busy signal problems that threaten the value of the NCF as a useful community resource. The current budget model for 1995 shows that there are no funds for growth without significant fundraising successes. - the software development team will be focusing on support for fundraising projects in the short term. - we have a shortage of volunteers with programming and system administration skills at the level that is required. We will have to increase our recruiting efforts in this area. Long-Term Planning ------------------ - the Hardware/Software team has begun to consider our long-term directions and the implications of new technologies. There are a number of services and software programs available now that were not around when the NCF began, such as Lynx and WWW, and these may be useful opportunities to explore as we grow and modernize. - client/server software and off-line tools may be valuable for reducing the load on our systems and making the environment more powerful. - the first step may be to conduct a detailed survey to determine the equipment that members use to access the NCF.