From: qut@netcom.com (Dave Harman OBC)
Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 06:52:29 +0800
To: qut@nutcom.com (Dave Harman OBC)
Subject: Re: anon.penet.fi: URGENT REQUEST
In-Reply-To: <199609011922.OAA31806@manifold.algebra.com>
Message-ID: <199609012058.NAA16695@netcom3.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


! =?ISO-8859-1?Q?J=FCri_Kaljundi?= wrote:
! >  Sun, 1 Sep 1996 paul@fatmans.demon.co.uk wrote:
! > 
! > > I don`t know what the response to this will be, I need approximately
! > > 5000 UK pounds to set up such an operation (Yes, a leased line really
! > > does cost that much in the UK) and then a monthly income of around
! > > 3000 UK pounds.
! > 
! > I remember the load on anon.penet.fi was something like 7500 messages
! > daily. As for connection, you will need 64kbps line or even less in case
! > you compress the messages. The machine could be either an older Sun Sparc
! > or a PC running free Unix (Linux/FreeBSD/...)
! 
! A couple of notes: 7500 messages/day is not the accurate measure of
! the load of anon.penet.fi. Remember that each messages had to 
! 
! 	1) come in
! 	2) be processed
! 	3) be sent out
! 	4) trigger a confirmation sent to the submitter

There's plenty of room for a hacker to improve the Kleinpaste derived server,
such as eliminating confirmations unless there's an error.  Queing 
should help a great deal.

! It is not the same as a user simply receiving 7500 messages/day.
! 
! If we suppose that each message creates 10KB of IP traffic, it gives us
! 75MB/day. 75mb/day is less than 1KB per second. It can be handled by a
! simple 28.8KBPS PPP connection which will still half the capacity to grow
! twice. A second dedicated phone line and a second modem can be added
! later. 
! 
! I suspect that UUCP as opposed to IP connection will work better,
! because UUCP gives us a unidirectional flow of data, which is much more
! efficient than modems switching direction of the transport for almost
! each IP packet.

The server can que the mail for a hour or so before sending it out all
at once.

! I suggest the following configuration: a IBM 486 PC with 16MB of
! RAM and 28.8 modem, running qmail instead of sendmail and Linux,

How is qmail better than sendmail?  The default BSD sendmail since 8.00+
has automated ident requests built in.  It can easily be compiled without
that default option, for greater efficiency.

! on a dedicated 28.8 PPP line. The cheapest used VGA display from 
! the nearby waste dump will work just fine. 

Hell, any monitor should work!  I'm curious about how to go about 
acquiring one of those huge 100+ x 100+ charactor terminals that linux 
supports.  Is it practical, cheap and readable?

! Estimated cost: $700-1000 for the system, $50-100/month for the
! connection, and 3 hours per day to deal with mailbombing from

ln -s /dev/null /usr/postmaster
ln -s /dev/null /usr/abuse

That should filter the mail quite nicely!  :->

BTW, do y'all have a favourite Bay Area store for used or otherwise 
affordable unice fond equiption?  Such as used Sparcs or Alphas?  Legal
copies of commercial unice software along with the equipment?  Thanks.