FW: [plug] Linux newbie questions

[Michael Hunt]

James Elliott [mailto:James.Elliott at wn.com.au] wrote:

> Hi all
>
> I owuld be obliged if you could tell me what these terms mean -
> they come up
> often and it is high time I found out what they are:
>
> mirror
> WAIX
>
> Thanks
>
> James Elliott

A good place to go for technical terms you don't understand is the Jargon
file

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/

It wouldn't really help you in this instance though but a good site to
bookmark for future ref.

mirror :- A resource (usually a ftp or web server) that maintains a mirror
copy of another resource (usually a ftp or web server) in order to take some
load of the master resource.

For example Planet Mirror http://www.planetmirror.com/ is an Aussie based
mirroring service that contains archives of popular software for both
Windows and Unix Systems. It is probably the most comprehensive collection
of software on the planet (hence its name I suppose) and fortunaterly for us
it is based both geographically and network wise close to us. Another local
mirror is AARNet http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/ which is the home of the
Australian Academic and Research Network. According to the website "AARNet
Pty Ltd is a not-for-profit company that operates the AARNet2 network,
providing Internet services to all thirty-seven Australian universities and
CSIRO Australia".

WAIX :- Stands for the West Australian Internet Exchange and is a local
peering point for West Australian ISP's. By peering with other local ISP's a
provider can reduce there local trafic costs to almost nothing. You can find
out more info at http://www.waia.asn.au/waix/index.shtml and as an IT
professional you may want to consider joining the Western Australian
Internet Association at http://www.waia.asn.au/about/whyjoin.shtml. If the
ISP you are with is connected to WAIX then accessing data on WAIX costs you
an the ISP very little. In fact some local ISP's are not charging for WAIX
data as part of there ADSL/DSL packages.

Hope this helps.

Michael Hunt