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Network Reliability (1Dec94)
(from CTIO, NOAO Newsletter No. 40, 1 December 1994)

Our satellite link has proven very reliable over the years, but it can still go
down at times for reasons ranging from Hurricane Andrew to network
maintenance, either at CTIO or in the US. We are seeing that this reliability
has in fact led people to sometimes rely on the link to excess; the link is
something like 99.9% reliable, but not 100.0%. We encourage people to use
the network link, but we urge you not to put yourselves in a position where
loss of the connection for a few hours seriously compromises your work. In
particular:

1)  If you are coming to observe, do not come planning to ftp all your
    coordinate lists, critical software, or finding charts. If you need a
    machine-readable form, consider ftp'ing it before you arrive (contact
    Mario Hamuy for a visitor account or an ftp location), or bringing it on
    a floppy disk or tape. You can add this precaution to the long-standing
    one of not putting critical papers in your suitcase and hand-carrying
    them instead.

2)  If you are sending in a proposal by e-mail, consider sending it in several
    hours--maybe even a whole day!--early. Obviously we don't schedule
    maintenance at proposal deadlines, but we have no control over events
    elsewhere. It may not even be our connection that fails, but yours--see
    the story on remote observing.

Jay Elias (for ACTR)

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