September 30, 2003
No BitTorrent for me
Today, Tech Services refused my request to allow students to use BitTorrent, just about the coolest and most useful download utility ever. In a nutshell, BitTorrent allows really small sites to move really big files really quickly without getting completely swamped by the demand. Geek types may inquire within.
I'm not really all that interested in using BitTorrent to leverage my download speeds. That would be metered by Covenant's network anyway. I fully recognize that BitTorrent could completely jam Covenant's measly bandwidth (a single T1! Yeah, baby!), as it enables download speeds basically as high as you care to go (I managed to download at 1.5Mbit over a Comcast connection). Covenant already limits bandwidth to ensure enough for everyone, and I approve of the practice. I don't want BitTorrent for speed. I want it because it allows me to get files that I'd otherwise have to wait days to get (Red vs. Blue) or are simply not being offered as direct downloads (the new Mandrake ISOs), and allows me to get them without destroying the servers I'm acquiring from.
My request to have BitTorrent allowed was initially met with the following email:
We looked into the BitTorrent project. As far as our network topology is concerned, it would not provide any real benefit to anybody on the outside world. As for downloads coming into the Covenant network, we already do tremendous amounts of caching to speed up web access. Hence, once anybody at Covenant downloads a file, it should be speedily served from local servers to anybody else requesting the same object within campus. (name withheld to protect the innocent)
I didn't buy that crap for a second: it didn't sound like a real answer. The mere fact that they don't see the use is not sufficient grounds to deny a request unless there are negative consequences. I already know they do caching: it makes blogging a real pain in the arse, because you can't tell for up to 20 minutes whether or not something's actually been updated. I already know they limit download and upload speeds. I'm not interested in speed increases. So I went over there and asked.
It turns out that they're basically not willing to open the ports. Any ports, actually. Which confirms my long-standing theory: The powers that be in Covenant aren't really interested in providing the full use of the Internet to us, the student body. For them, the Internet means the Web, email, and selected chatting programs. No games, no P2P, no advanced downloading, limited other forms of communication (I haven't even bothered to fool around with VoIP), no VPNs, nothing that makes the Internet everything that it is and is going to be.
We've got an early '90s setup using 21st century technology is what we've got. Covenant hasn't brought us up to date. They've brought us from the Middle Ages to the late 20th century. We're still a decade or two behind. So the next time someone asks me if we've got the Internet in our rooms, my reply is going to be, "No. We have the Web and email in our rooms, but we aren't really allowed to use the Internet."
Keep repeating this mantra, Ryan: "Just three more months. Just three more months. Just three more months."
Posted by: mesh at September 30, 2003 03:34 PMOh, I'm counting the weeks, believe you me. I am so ready to blow this popsicle stand...
Posted by: ryan at September 30, 2003 04:18 PMYah BitTorrent is qute handy. Matt introduced it to me a while back and now I've got downloads going at work at all hours of the day.
Posted by: tanderson at September 30, 2003 04:36 PMAs a Mandrake user, I feel your pain, but my understanding is that it's pretty standard practice for institutions like universities/colleges to jealously guard the openness of their ports to the outside world. I mean, when I was studying at the University of Bonn, even *SMTP* was blocked (talk about limiting basic uses of the Internet!). That's an extreme example (we also had a download quota of 2 gigs per month; anything more than that and they'd cap your bandwidth at about 20 kps), but I still don't think that Covenant's position on BitTorrent is as unreasonable as you present it, especially since it's only fairly recently really caught on for legal things like Mandrake ISOs (certainly not in the last "decade or two," more like one or two years).
That said, at this point the sysadmin needs to actually evaluate the security risk involved in openning the port used by BitTorrent (whatever it is; I don't feel like looking it up) and open it if possible. For the sake of the children.
Actually, it's my understanding that with the vast majority of American universities, their residence hall network is entirely open. You can run an FTP server if you think you can get away with it. Some of them are starting to impose bandwidth caps, especially on things like P2P, but it hasn't been until the RIAA went apeshit that they're imposed any actual technical restrictions on students' use of the Internet.
Posted by: ryan at September 30, 2003 08:55 PMHasn't "this RIAA apeshit" been going on at least since the days of Napster?
Posted by: iserman at September 30, 2003 10:57 PMNah, I was referring specifically to the recent bout of subpoenas and lawsuits directed against individuals. Shutting down corporate P2P networks had no effect on students' accounts through their universities.
Posted by: ryan at September 30, 2003 11:00 PMConsider that Covenant could very easily increase their upload and download bandwidth to 10 mb and not pay a dime more than they're paying now. It would mean leaving bell-south though, and they made a big mistake and signed a contract making it necessary that they use bell-south internet for using bell-south phones. A really dumb move.
I freaking HATE how Covenant cache's everything. I get screwed up problems from all covenant users all the time because of that.
Posted by: JosiahQ at October 1, 2003 08:27 AMSo ditch freaking Bell-South for their phones! That might cost a little bit more, but sheesh, to increase bandwidth by a factor of 6? There isn't really enough for normal use now. Frequently I'll watch a download that could easily run at 150K/s chug along at 8K/s, and I can only assume that it's because Covenant's servers are evening out the load. Why bother allowing downloads at all?
Posted by: ryan at October 1, 2003 08:36 AMIs is not possible for you to do Ctrl-F5 to force IE to refresh from the server and not from cache?
Posted by: bhuffine at October 1, 2003 10:09 AMNo, because the cache here isn't on my computer. It isn't like it's refreshing from my history log. Whenever Covenant's servers see that I or anyone else is looking for someone it thinks it's already downloaded, it sends us there instead of to the net.
Posted by: ryan at October 1, 2003 10:40 AMThis is why I really like the system that Glasgow Uni has set up. They don't allow any chat messengers and there is no dorm network to speak of (only because most housing is spread throughout the city), but their speeds are incredible, and I can download whatever the hell I want (ok, DIVx and mp3s not included), as long as I don't save it to the harddrives.
I'm not looking forward to going back in time next semester.
Posted by: steele at October 1, 2003 03:28 PM