Locally Hosted Zimbabwe Mirror

[raymond.swart]

Well done NC!

I'm sure Mark would be chuffed to see what you've done in such a short time.

Ok so we can go ahead to get the mirror setup at Yoafrica!, maybe we could chat to someone from ubuntu.co.za to help us out to get it started and what is involved in making sure it is kept up-to-date.

Do we or Yoafrica! know how much space is involved in setting one up? and do we need Ubuntu.Updates to know there is one setup in Zimbabwe for any zim updates.

Are Yoafrica! going to garuntee us speed and bandwith as I'm sure it is going to be used quite alot, we don't want people shying away from the zim repo because of slow speeds and or timeouts.

[NIT006.5]

Thanks RS.

I would think the best option is to use rsync to replicate the repo and keep it up-to-date. BUT that depends on "how" exactly Yoafrica like to do things. I did reply their e-mail and said we'd do some research first, but we'd have to work out the logistics with them of how to go about it.

I don't think space will be an issue. Yoafrica is already hosting mirrors for other distros so I'm sure they've got a pretty good idea of what's involved. Once we've got the local repo setup, we can register it and try to have it included as an official repo, but that will be at a later stage. Initially, Zim users will have to add the repo manually.

I think it would be a little bit rude if we start asking for guarentees on speed and such, since they're doing us a huge favour. However, the speed off their ftp server right now is really awesome - the best I've personally seen in Zim actually. So I really don't think we'll have any worries there either. It will definitely be a lot faster for Zimbabweans (as opposed to getting updates from servers outside Zim). However, to "avoid" creating a bandwidth problem for them (and us) I think we should encourage companies and such (with larger numbers of Ubuntu machines) to mirror the repo themselves as well (from Yoafrica).

[PlatinumPlus]

This is great news indeed!

From the little I know I would like to assume an Ubunut repo should be setup the same as a debian repo. But anyway this is good news indeed.

Well done guys and thanks yoAfrica

[NIT006.5]

Yup, ubuntu iso's appearing on the Yo ftp server. Definitely a BIG thank you to Yo!Africa for getting this moving for us.

Will be working on the web site itself as much as possible and I'm hoping to have it ready by next week Monday (but no promises!). Raymond will be working on spicing up the site graphics and giving it a "Zim" feel - really looking forward to seeing what you come up with RS!

Thanks to everyone for all the support!!

[NIT006.5]

Dear Zimbuntuans!

Following our initial request to Yo!Africa for free hosting of an Ubuntu site and repository mirror, they have informed us that they have decided to set up a full Linux repository, which will host mirrors for all the major Linux distributions, including Ubuntu. Yo!Africa have brought in Ray Goosen from Enet to set this up. I have been in touch with Ray and at this point he is still sourcing suitable hardware for the project and says that it might still be a while before everything is up and running. However, as I said to him, the benefits of this project will be huge to all of us, so I'm sure we don't mind waiting a bit longer.

Having agreed to host the site and domain for free, Yo!Africa then requested that we submit an 'official' application, which I have done. Raymond and I are still working on getting the site ready as quickly as we can, but as I've said before, lack of ZESA and the cost of running generators is slowing things down quite a bit. Progress is being made though.

[PlatinumPlus]

This is good news for Linux.

[PlatinumPlus]

Hi Guys

Has any progress been made?

[NIT006.5]

Sorry for the delay. Been away.

Haven't heard anything back from Yo!Africa yet. Will let you know when I know more.

[thembimoyo]

I did a quick search and found http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/mirror

[NIT006.5]

Thanks Thembi.

I'm sure it's not that hard to set up a mirror, however I think the problem is just server storage space and obviously making sure that wherever the server is located, there is enough bandwidth to support the mirroring itself as well as the downloads carried out by Ubuntu users.

I checked with Ray a few weeks back and he told me that he was just waiting for the "storage capacity" from Yo!Africa. Since they've offered to do this for free, I can't be too pushy. Also, I don't think anyone else would be in a position to do it instead since it will require a lot of bandwidth etc.

And of course, in addition to this, I think a lot of people are holding back on certain projects in Zim until things have settled down here and everyone knows what's going on.

I'm sure we'll win with the repo eventually though.