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Contributor hspaans on ubuntu.com

Servers are overwhelmed during each release   forum
Written by FranciscoPadillaGarcia the 22 Apr 08 at 08:00. Implemented
When Hardy Heron was released, the Ubuntu servers became overloaded with thousands of people trying to download it. Downloading rates of repositories and updates were so slow that some people had to leave the computer on at night only to find connection errors the next morning.

Developer comments
We do actually have a BitTorrent tracker and support BitTorrent downloads; you can see the .torrent files on releases.ubuntu.com, and every release features people eager to provide seeding.

I think the reason the torrents aren't prominent on getubuntu/download is that there are a lot of problems with the server-side tracker software; particularly around release time, it has to be restarted manually rather a lot as new files are made available, taking ages to reinitialise each time, and this makes our sysadmins unhappy. Our webmaster also wants the download page to be as simple as possible, and each option does add a level of complexity to the process.

That said, BitTorrent certainly can help to scale back server load (although so can using mirrors other than Canonical's - there's a reason there's a period before release when the images are available on our servers but we ask people to restrain themselves from posting links to them, and that's to give mirrors a chance to fetch the images first).

On 3 June, our webmaster added a note to the bottom of http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download on how to retrieve images by BitTorrent, which I believe was in response to this item. This ultimately takes you through to the releases.ubuntu.com page from which you can get the .torrent files.

Bearing in mind some of the constraints involved that lead to something of a compromise, I'm interested in whether that resolves this item.
1726
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#1): Auto-generated solution of idea #7390
Written by FranciscoPadillaGarcia the 22 Apr 08 at 08:00.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #7390 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!
186
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#2): Use BitTorrent
Written by CRAY4 the 19 Oct 09 at 17:29.
Users should have the option of using BitTorrent for distribution updates since thousands if not more people will be seeding plus the Ubuntu server which would result in an incredibly fast Download, and if you have less than x seeders then it can download the conventional way
63
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#3): Propose to use a different "source"
Written by Rodrigo the 19 Oct 09 at 21:20.
When the system "fells" that it has to download a large amount of data, it should propose to look for the best server. It takes a little bit of time, but it can be good in the long run, specially if the update is a big one.
46
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#4): similar to #1 but extendet
Written by Tellur the 24 Oct 09 at 20:09.
The used system should be similar to the Blizzard Downloader used by Blizzard to fast distribute updates and videos.
It essentially builds upon BitTorrent but integrated into a lightweight standalone application which also makes use of traditional server downloads which now act as one of many peers. This way you have always both options on and get the benefits of both. Plus since the classic server still communicates via port 80 (or something like it) you evade possibly fatal port restrictions altogether.

It should furthermore be selectable if someone wants to contribute as a seeder or as an active peer in general, since some users have limited bandwidth and/or data limits.
43
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#5): Use MetaLink
Written by Shnatsel the 25 Oct 09 at 07:54.
Use several download sources (and maybe BitTorrent) in parallel. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalink
24
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#6): aptitude install debtorrent apt-transport-debtorrent
Written by z3non the 27 Oct 09 at 11:07.
solution exists (BitTorrent protocol slightly modified). make it configurable via the software sources tool. warn users about risks (upstream bandwidth, disk consumption), inform about advantages (higher speeds at peak times). allow to configure a different debtorrent-client than localhost for LANs.

http://debtorrent.alioth.debian.org/

http://wiki.debian.org/DebTorrent
13
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#7): Distribute Packages via RRD Pools.
Written by xeniac the 27 Oct 09 at 18:32.
Still many People have Download/Upload Limits and P2P is no option for those.

Today Ubuntu uses country based APT-Mirrors. (at.archive.ubuntu.com for example), but country borders do not exist for the internet. Many times a Czech Server is
faster for me, then an Server in Austria

Canonical could setup a DNS based load balancing system for their APT-Repositories with different pools for every continent.This solution could distribute the demand more equally to all mirrors, which results in better performance for users.

It also raises the availability. For example: Sometimes my old Debian Mirror was simply not reachable, this can not happen with load balancing.

This solution is also total transparent and needs no modification on the client side.
-23
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#8): Use Ubuntu One as mirror
Written by afunix the 4 Nov 09 at 08:50.
DebTorrent and Apt-Torrent are good but still completely unstable, so can we use Ubuntu One as ubuntu mirror?
Maybe there should be some system user for Ubuntu One if user does not have account.
And, of course, this feature should be configurable, as user should have good internet connection to use Ubuntu One.

Pros:
Lots of peers, so downloading should be really fast.
Easy configuration for sources.list.

Cons:
User should have good internet connection (all solutions require that).
Needs some fixes for apt to make it ignore unreachable mirrors and try another configured mirror.
-9
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#9): Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)
Written by bvidulich the 7 Nov 09 at 23:39.
Content delivery networks such as Akamai have inter-connected servers right across the world and can deliver content quickly to users. They also take care of distributing their content to all of their servers.

If a CDN is added to the list of package sources or Ubuntu mirrors then users would be dynamically redirected to a server that can deliver the packages a fast as possible for that user.

This may be expensive for Canonical, however, since CDN's charge to distribute content and Ubuntu is free.
12
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#10): Have Graphical Option for Upgrading Via ISO
Written by bgrohe the 2 May 10 at 22:35.
If there was a Graphical option to update most of parts from an ISO file (and other components could be updated from the central servers) then people could download from a torrent or the could download once and use it on many computers. This would lesson the demand on the servers, making a better upgrade experience.
18
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#11): Integrate bittorrent protocol support into the updater
Written by genbattle the 3 May 10 at 01:38.
One way to speed up the updating process, especially during rushes is to use the Bittorrent protocol. Even having users seed a portion of what they download will make a huge difference in server loading, and will reduce the load on the central servers.

Blizzard Entertainment have implemented a dual HTTP-Bittorrent downloading system to great effect, and it serves to lessen the load on central servers when there is a large spike in traffic on game patch days.
2
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#12): Software repositories: auto-select best mirror at the first run of Synaptic
Written by barinov2000 the 3 May 10 at 09:25.
It would be great to have Synaptic check for the best server automatically at the time of OS installation/configuration, or at it's initial run(it can do it now but only if you ask) so more computers pint to different repository mirrors, therefore taking the load off the Main Server mirror.

Note: some people have custom settings for that and it would be nice not to overwrite their settings silently but ask something like "would you like your computer to find the fastest server for upstates and downloads" or something of that sort; and if the click yes remind them that if they have custom repositories then they will be saved so users can go back to their settings if they wish.

Does this make sense?

Peace =)
10
votes
implemented
Selected solution (#13): More Canonical Servers
Written by artir the 26 Apr 08 at 11:57.
To solve this one solution is to purchase more servers

See the 35 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 7 Jul 11 at 04:23) >>

List of official end-of-life dates at www.ubuntu.com  
Written by medigeek the 18 Oct 08 at 22:32. New
Short idea description:
It would be good to have an *official* list of end-of-life dates for each Ubuntu release.

Long idea description:
I have noticed that the release information and "end of life" dates (aka EoL) are listed at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Instead of having to browse through news announcements at mailing lists or posts at the news, www.ubuntu.com should have a page that lists various important release info such as the end of life dates. A wiki page is not the official way to list important information such as this one.

Example: http://www.freebsd.org/security/#sup
They list end-of-life dates as a security-related part of information.

www.ubuntu.com could have a www.ubuntu.com/security page that lists the EoL of each release, and probably be merged with the list of www.ubuntu.com/usn somehow.

This list could be taken from the wiki.ubuntu.com and listing it at an www.ubuntu.com subpage would make people feel more ensured about the information provided there, since not everyone has access to edit information at that site.
48
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #14555
Written by medigeek the 18 Oct 08 at 22:32.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #14555 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 5 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Oct 08 at 01:03) >>

Femalize Something!  
Written by Kathaer the 9 Jul 08 at 12:03. New
It would be good for female users to have at least a theme, services, and something good for them... so .. Girls, come out and help my idea grow!
-16
votes
up equal down
Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #10920
Written by Kathaer the 9 Jul 08 at 12:03.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #10920 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 12 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 15 Jul 08 at 19:09) >>