[GRLUG] "real men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it ; ) "

[john-thomas richards]

On Sun, Feb 07, 2010 at 04:38:25PM -0500, Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
> On Sun, 2010-02-07 at 15:23 -0500, Ben Rousch wrote:
> > On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 12:51 PM, Ben DeMott <ben.demott at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I think it's a really cool idea - lot's of open source projects distribute
> > > their distributions this way -> and it seems to work quite well.
> > This works well for distributions because they have a lot of users who
> > want the data (Install CD) they're downloading and sharing. In the
> > example initially brought up in this thread, the people joining the
> > torrent have little to no incentive for downloading the data other
> > than they are interested in Rosetta Code. Call me a pessimist, but I'd
> > prefer that the integrity of my backup system depend on more than just
> > someone's whim to give me hard drive space and bandwidth.
> 
> +1, this sounds to me like a rather dodgy form of backup, not all that
> much better than when people can copying-to-another-drive "backup".
> 
> But there may be a kernel of a good idea.  If you have n data centers
> that need backup capability [meaning off-site reliable storage] each
> contributing some storage to a private cloud and peering would seem like
> a good idea.  Of course [having tried this] negotiating that in reality
> is rather unlikely.

I can see this working if a business offers this as a service.  The
service would be connecting multiple companies to store one another's
data in this manner.  No business would know whose data is being stored
on their servers.  What is needed is that middleman to coordinate.  The
more companies that sign up the more seeds would participate.  That
sounds reasonable to me since the each company would get something in
return—sort of a you-scratch-my-back-i'll-scratch-yours approach, only
each company pays to scratch and be scratched.  Or something.

[snip]
-- 
john-thomas
------
The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an
invitation to dinner without giving an excuse.
Jules Renard, writer (1864-1910)