[aprssig] Tier 2 Status

[AE5PL Lists]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Dimse
> Posted At: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 6:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [aprssig] Tier 2 Status
> 
> I disagree. Anyone who wishes to use the core servers can do 
> so, and anyone that wishes to see the full feed (I certainly 
> do) is welcome to use it.

My statement was directed towards port 23.  All core servers also
support port 10152 which is a full feed.

I stand by my prior statements that _most_ people running clients and
IGates have no desire to "drink from the firehose" and are actually
interested in very specific portions of the APRS-IS feed.  That is why
there are significantly more 14580 connections network-wide today than
connections to full feed ports.  Also with the understanding that
bandwidth is not free even if it is donated, someone connecting to a
full feed port on a server when only a subset is desired adds an
unnecessary drain on that server's available bandwidth.  Finally, most
clients run much better when they aren't trying to process 20,000
stations at a time.

Obviously, no one is turned away although most Tier 2 servers do not
offer a full feed port because they understand their individual
bandwidth capabilities and desire to focus on providing quality services
to their users.  If everyone on APRS-IS connected to the core servers'
full feed ports, there would be no core servers because the bandwidth is
not available to support that (and adding 10 more core servers wouldn't
change that fact).  I encourage everyone looking to connect a client to
APRS-IS determine what their actual _needs_ are and act accordingly with
a preference to using server filter ports and Tier 2 servers for clients
and IGates.  Obviously, the core servers are also available with a full
complement of ports.

73,

Pete Loveall AE5PL
mailto:pete at ae5pl.net