>Could we come up with a scheme to decentralize the mailing lists so that
>one host cannot result in everything failing and some means of automatic
>load determination? Sounds complicated... Maybe someone here has an idea
>to do it in a simple and easy way.
>
>No, it must be centralized to a certain extent, there must be a big
>red firetruck, driven by one person/site. This is necessary for the
>same reasons that we centralize the kernel sources at one
>place/person, with Linus wherever he is.
It is definitely possible to de-centralise the lists. Here are some
sketchy ideas.
Create a private Usenet hierarchy for the exploders (and I mean *really*
private. Preferably it should be on a separate news server at each
exploder to avoid getting in messages from "wrong" places). I suppose
one could use something else, but the Usenet tools are well tried for
distributed message systems.
Get a domain for the lists and have equal priority MX records pointing
to all the exploders. Forward incoming mail messages to the appropriate
group and send incoming news messages to the subscribers at the
exploder.
Subscription requests can either be sent as control messages or forwarded
to the appropriate exploder.
It will need some furter thought and some programming, but it is
definitely doable.
/Anders
-- -- Of course I'm crazy, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. Anders Hammarquist | This space | iko@netg.se NetGuide Scandinavia | intentionally left blank | Fax: +46 31 50 79 39 http://www.netg.se | | Tel: +46 31 50 79 40