[tor-dev] rsync service on metrics.torproject.org will be shut down after August 4, 2014 (was: Introducing CollecTor)

[Karsten Loesing]

On 06/06/14 16:11, Karsten Loesing wrote:
> On 06/06/14 12:49, Kostas Jakeliunas wrote:
>> Am I right to assume that any service/program/client that relied on
>> metrics "rsync the recent/ folder" feature should migrate to using
>> https://collector.torproject.org/recent/ ?
>>
>> One thing that's neat with rsync is that it can take care of any
>> lapses in service (on either the metrics data backend side, or on the
>> client-which-is-downloading-the-data side) - it will just
>> automagically mirror all the consensuses (if this is needed by the
>> client/program/etc.)
>>
>> Of course, it's very easy to just make the client check if it has any
>> lapses/holes in its (historical) view of the needed data, and to make
>> it re-download (wget, whatever) the missing parts as needed.
>>
>> Just wanted to make sure there'll be no rsync-recent-metrics-data
>> service any more (correct me if i got this wrong.)
> 
> Yes, I'm planning to shut down the rsync service after August 4, 2014.
> I created a new file and put it into the root of both metrics-archive
> and metrics-recent:
> 
> NOTICE-THIS-SERVICE-WILL-BE-SHUT-DOWN-AFTER-AUGUST-4-2014.txt
> 
> """
> Dear rsync user,
> 
> the rsync service on this host will be SHUT DOWN after August 4, 2014.
> 
> The contents in this directory are now available on the CollecTor homepage
> and will remain available after that date:
> 
> https://collector.torproject.org/
> 
> https://collector.torproject.org/archive/
> 
> https://collector.torproject.org/recent/
> 
> The reason for shutting down the rsync service is that every service we
> run causes maintenance costs and makes it harder to change things in the
> future.  That's why we have to shut down services sometimes, even when
> people are still using them.  In this case we think we can provide a
> good alternative by serving all files securely via https.
> 
> Sorry for any inconvenience caused by this!
> 
> Karsten Loesing, Tor Project
> """
> 
> I'm currently extending metrics-lib to fetch descriptors from CollecTor.
> Maybe Damian extends Stem to do the same (or accepts patches for that
> purpose).
> 
> I'm also planning to send out a reminder about the August 4 date four
> weeks before shutting down the service.

Reminder: the rsync service running on metrics.torproject.org will be
shut down after

  August 4, 2014.

All the best,
Karsten