[H-GEN] Multi-thread downloads

[Sarah Walters]

Harry Phillips wrote:
> One of the reasons behind this is the throttling they now do at the 
> humbug meetings. Each thread is limited to 8k/s, if you use DAP and set 
> it to have 8 threads per file then the file comes in at 8*8k, giving you 
> 64k/s.
> 
> Download the same file using a Linux box and it takes 8 times longer, 
> 1*8k/s = 8k/s.

This bugs me on so many levels.

Firstly, HUMBUG meetings are not intended to be a download-fest. If you 
want to download stuff, get a decent ADSL plan and do it from home.

Secondly, has it occurred to you that perhaps there is a *reason* why 
HUMBUG is throttling connections? I don't know what it is, but I daresay 
it's the excessive amount of downloads that occur. I suspect that you 
would find that trying to work around the throttling is a very effective 
way of getting yourself or the entire meeting banned from the UQ network.

Thirdly, download "accelerators" are rude. A web/ftp server has a set 
amount of bandwidth, which it tries to share equally among its clients. 
If you set four threads going, you're using four times your "share", 
slowing things down for everyone else. If everyone sets four threads 
going, it makes no difference than if no one does. So stop being a 
leecher, and wait your turn.

-- 
Sarah Walters
Systems Programmer, Software Infrastructure
Information Technology Services
The University of Queensland, Australia
Phone: (07) 33654359
Email: s.walters at its.uq.edu.au