<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd">

<article>
<articleinfo>
  <volumenum>2004</volumenum>
  <issuenum>12</issuenum>
  <publisher><publishername>The Linux Documentation Project</publishername></publisher>
  <pubdate>2004-03-24</pubdate>
  <title>The Linux Documentation Project Weekly News</title>
</articleinfo>

<sect1 id="new-released">

<title>New documents @ TLDP</title>

<para>Tabatha completed the review of Kai Schlachter's <ulink
url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Glibc-Install-HOWTO/">Glibc Installation
HOWTO</ulink>, which details the installation of a new glibc version on
a Linux system.  Kai decided to write this documentation after having
struggled with the subject and finding no good documentation with an
overview of the tasks to perform.</para>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="updated-docs">
<title>Updated HOWTOs, FAQs and Guides</title>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>The <ulink
url="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+IPv6-HOWTO/">Linux IPv6 HOWTO</ulink>
v0.46 by Peter Bieringer features minor updates and corrections and more
links to external resources.</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="discussions">
<title>Discussions on TLDP lists</title>

<sect2 id="discussion1">
<title>TLDP Mirrors</title>

<para>In <ulink
url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:6821:200403:icjmgahabpdlipbhobhb">response</ulink>
to Tille's post indicating a map of The LDP mirrors, Saqib Ali suggested
that we have an automatic redirector based on the IP address of the
client machine. Various people <ulink
url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:6826:200403:ehngfbpnepphojhokgdn">disagreed</ulink>
with reasons and suggested <ulink
url="http://lists.tldp.org/index.cgi?1:mss:6835:200403:ifhbolfhjihbhnkaanhb">alternative
methods</ulink> of handling traffic. </para>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="interview">
<title>Interview with Fred Stutzman</title>
<figure>
<title>Fred Stutzman, leader of iBiblio/TLDP support team.</title>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="fred.eps" format="EPS" />
</imageobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="fred.png" format="PNG" />
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>Picture of Fred, working on his Apple notebook.</phrase>
</textobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>

<para>(Thanks to Doc Searles from <ulink url="http://www.linuxjournal.com">Linux Journal</ulink> for taking this picture)</para>

<para>TLDP WN had the chance of asking Fred Stutzman a couple of questions.  Who is 
Fred, you might wonder?  Indeed, he is not on the volunteer list page.  
Nevertheless, Fred is very important to us: he manages, with his colleagues, the
TLDP servers at iBiblio.  He is going to tell us about the hardware and network
resources you need if you want to start a TLDP-like project.</para>

<para><emphasis>Q: Do we eat a lot of bandwidth?  And the mirrors?  What
connection (uplink) do you have for all this?</emphasis></para>
<para>A: Does TLDP use a lot of bandwidth?  I wouldn't say TLDP is
necessarily a bandwidth-heavy site.  That is to say, most of the
transactions from TLDP sites involve highly efficient, basic HTML documents.  A rather unscientific interrogation of server logs shows that
the iBiblio TLDP site does anywhere between 500,000 to 1 Million
transactions daily.</para>

<para>A basic, unscientific look at page size will show that most of the TLDP 
pages are just a few kilobytes, the images a few more.  All in all, this adds
up - but with our uplink (which I'll get to) and the global system of
mirrors, we're able to sustain the traffic load.</para>

<para>iBiblio's network connectivity is provided by a 1 gigabit direct uplink to the
campus' border router.  Connectivity to commodity networks and I2/Abilene
is provided by an OC-48 uplink.  iBiblio's traffic load averages about
260Mbits/Sec, with web traffic a substantial part of that load.</para>


<para><emphasis>Q: How come iBiblio hosts TLDP?</emphasis></para>
<para>A: TLDP needed a home, and we
offered our services.  iBiblio is very interested in helping projects like
the Linux Documentation Project, they fit our core goals very well.  We're 
happy to handle the hosting, and let the TLDP folk work on what they do best, 
helping the world get access to the documentation that helps people use and 
understand Linux.  Its really a perfect relationship for us in many ways.</para>

<para>(note: The long history of cooperation between iBiblio and TLDP is documented in <ulink url="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7433">this article</ulink>.)</para>

<para><emphasis>Q: How much time do you or your colleagues spend on managing TLDP data?  </emphasis></para>
<para>A: We don't spend much time nowadays.  In the beginning, we did a good amount
of work getting the systems set up, and coordinating with the global
network of volunteers.  Now, we simply let the systems run, and assist the
project leads and volunteers with their requests.  Things run quite
smoothly, thanks in no small part to the technical expertise of the TLDP
staff.</para>

<para><emphasis>Q: What hardware does TLDP run on?</emphasis></para>
<para>A: TLDP runs on the iBiblio web cluster,  which involves dual LVS
directors, a cluster of web nodes, and fileservers.  The equipment is IBM
xSeries servers, 345's and 330's.  The equipment was donated as part of
the IBM Shared University Research Grant, for which we are very thankful.</para>

<para><emphasis>Q: How is the data backed up?</emphasis></para>
<para>A: The data is backed up nightly by UNC's (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) Enterprise Backup and Recovery
Group.  Using Tivoli Storage Manager, the data is incrementally backed up
to tape.  Additionally, the global system of mirrors provides another
level of backup to the project.  In a time of trouble (one especially
notable episode of data corruption), we were able to repoint LDP to
another site (with the administrator's permission, of course), and users
were unaware of the switch as we restored the corrupted device.  It was
quite seamless.</para>


<para><emphasis>Q: What is your strangest experience in relation to TLDP?</emphasis></para>
<para>A: I don't really have many funny anecdotes.  But come to mention it, as TLDP 
expands into many different languages, sometimes communication becomes a
difficulty.  I know there are some pretty bizarre discussion threads out
there that involve me trying to communicate using translation
software...which is probably not to be advised quite yet ;)</para>

<para>Thanks, Fred!</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="feedback">
<title>HOWTO contribute to TLDP</title>

<para>The Linux Documentation Project (TLDP) is working on developing
free, high quality documentation for the GNU/Linux operating system. If
you want to help TLDP, consider joining
<email>discuss-subscribe@en.tldp.org</email>.</para>

<para>Help us create this newsletter. We need volunteers who follow the
community (mailing lists, newsgroups, web channels) and report events
related to free software documentation. Write to us at
<email>feedback@en.tldp.org</email>.</para>

<para>The LDP Weekly News is compiled and edited by Machtelt Garrels and
Y Giridhar Appaji Nag with help from several other people.</para>

</sect1>

</article>
