I'm on dsl, it's an asymetrical hook up, which means higher download bit rates and restricted and lower upstream bit rates. It's kinda a crappy arrangement for hosting a server. The isps know that; that's why they do it this way. But it works, and allows me to host far more files than would otherwise be possible.
One conseqence of this sort of hook up is that if too many people log onto the server at the same time, some of them will get a busy signal and the traffic that is there slows to a crawl. For me, normally, this isn't a problem because nobody is 'really' browsing the site and most of the old files go unnoticed anyway. Generally, it's safe to host a lot of files because its more an archive than an active list. However, there are two problem situations. The first is when somebody uses a download manager. What some of these programs do is grab the same file many many times, each grab trying to consume all the bandwidth that it can get. Some of these programs are written very well and can use up a lot of bandwidth in an effort to get maximum download speeds. The problem with this on a site like mine, that has limited upstream speeds, is it, in effect, locks everybody else out of the site until the download is complete. For one track, it's no big deal as the download soon completes and the situation is ended. However, for very many tracks, it amounts to a denial of service attack. The second situation comes from somebody who uses a normal browser to download but clicks the entire page to download every single file all at the same time. This has the same effect as the download manager but through volume rather than a management of resources.
It's a rare problem. However, when it does happen, and I'm around to see it, I have to do something or it could take as much as a couple days for somebody to download every single track (and sometimes the utilities too, and beeks too if they're really persistent) and thus free up server resources once again for everybody else. The easiest thing I do is turn the server off for a few minutes, the download attempts turn to 404 errors, and I turn it back on. But some download managers are smart, and have a retry loop so I have to turn the server off for more than a half hour to let the DM run it's course. But some people are incredibly obstinate and will reclick every link on the page all over again each time I start back up, whether they use a DM or a browser. So we repeat this cycle again. When that happens, I ban the ip. However, this is not always effective either since some people's ip will change each time they come on the net, and some DMs (and some people) use ip spoofs to get around it. Then I update the ban list and round and round we go again. The entire ordeal turns into a game of me detecting and blocking the obsessive downloader, and them detecting and circumventing my efforts to block them. Taken to an extreme, this can grow into quite the amusing waste of time.
KC's solution to this problem was to force membership, reduce the number of tracks displayed on the page, and to limit downloads to eight per day (this is just as much a problem for high volume sites too). I don't really want to do this. It's a lot of work for a rare problem, and is not even necessary in the off hours. Somebody could theoretically download a hundred files and not interfere with anybody else at all. I don't want to restrict somebody who wants to download a lot of files. Rather, the issue is really making sure that we don't restrict access to other visitors. The downloads are here for the many, not just a few. So, like it or not, preventing bandwidth hogging is something I have to deal with.
So, why tell you all this? I ask for some volunteer help in this regard. Please do not use download managers when downloading files from and mtmx.cjb.net address. And if you must download all the files, please spread it out over a couple weeks. The site and files are for everybody, not just the few with the persistence or obstinacy to try and win this silly game.
I hope you understand. Thank you.
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<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="3"><FONT COLOR="#2828E8">-</font><FONT COLOR="#3838E9">
</font><FONT COLOR="#4949EB">P</font><FONT COLOR="#5959ED">h</font><FONT COLOR="#6A6AEF">i</font><FONT COLOR="#7A7AF1">n</font><FONT COLOR="#8B8BF3">e</font><FONT COLOR="#9B9BF5">u</font><FONT COLOR="#ACACF7">s</font></font>edit. A new twist to the game. The moment I ask for some cooperation, I see a dozen people jump in with several new download managers I haven't seen till now. Helps keep the faith in human nature, don't it?
[This message has been edited by Phineus (edited 20-06-2002).]
I have worked with several sites that deal with Free files and while most are small, its the power downloaders that can cause ya problems. We were once hosting a site from a server attatched to a cable modem. It worked for a while but the bandwidth started kicking up so bad the cable company threatened to double the fees. I am no longer working there but Im still quite active >> 
