Mirror site

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Mirror sites or mirrors are replicas of other websites. The concept of mirroring applies to network services accessible through any protocol, such as HTTP or FTP. Such sites have different URLs than the original site, but host identical or near-identical content. [1] Mirror sites are often located in a different geographic region than the original, or upstream site. The purpose of mirrors is to reduce network traffic, improve access speed, ensure availability of the original site for technical [2] or political reasons, [3] or provide a real-time backup of the original site. [4] [5] [6] Mirror sites are particularly important in developing countries, where internet access may be slower or less reliable. [7]

Contents

Mirror sites were heavily used on the early internet, when most users accessed through dialup and the Internet backbone had much lower bandwidth than today, making a geographically-localized mirror network a worthwhile benefit. Download archives such as Info-Mac, Tucows and CPAN maintained worldwide networks mirroring their content accessible over HTTP or anonymous FTP. Some of these networks, such as Info-Mac or Tucows are no longer active or have removed their mirrored download sections, but some like CPAN or the Debian package mirrors are still active in 2023. [8] Debian removed FTP access to its mirrors in 2017 because of declining use and the relative stagnation of the FTP protocol, mentioning FTP servers' lack of support for techniques such as caching and load balancing that are available to HTTP. [9] Modern mirrors support HTTPS and IPv6 along with IPv4. [10]

On occasion, some mirrors may choose not to replicate the entire contents of the upstream server because of technical constraints, or selecting only a subset relevant to their purpose, such as software written in a particular programming language, runnable on a single computer platform, or written by one author. These sites are called partial mirrors or secondary mirrors. [11]

Examples

Notable websites with mirrors include Project Gutenberg, [12] KickassTorrents, [13] [14] [15] [16] The Pirate Bay, [17] [18] [19] [20] WikiLeaks, [21] [22] the website of the Environmental Protection Agency, [23] [24] and Wikipedia. [25] [26] [27] Some notable partial mirrors include free and open-source software projects such as GNU, [28] in particular Linux distributions CentOS, [29] Debian, [30] Fedora, [31] and Ubuntu; [32] [33] such projects provide mirrors of the download sites (since those are expected to have high server load). Many open source application providers such as VideoLAN use mirrors to distribute VLC Media Player, [34] and The Document Foundation uses mirrors to distribute LibreOffice. [35]

It was once common for tech companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard or Apple to maintain a network of mirrors accessible over HTTP or anonymous FTP, hosting software updates, sample code and various freely-downloadable utilities. Much of these sites were shut down in the first decades of the 21st century, with Apple shutting down its FTP services in 2012 and Microsoft stopping updates in 2010. [36] [37] Today, the contents of a number of these mirror sites are archived at The FTP Site Boneyard. [38] Occasionally, some people will use web scraping software to produce static dumps of existing sites, such as the BBC's Top Gear and RedFlagDeals.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konqueror</span> Web browser and file manager

Konqueror is a free and open-source web browser and file manager that provides web access and file-viewer functionality for file systems. It forms a core part of the KDE Software Compilation. Developed by volunteers, Konqueror can run on most Unix-like operating systems. The KDE community licenses and distributes Konqueror under GNU GPL-2.0-or-later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linux distribution</span> Operating system based on the Linux kernel

A Linux distribution is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro, if distributed on its own, is often obtained via a website intended specifically for the purpose. Distros have been designed for a wide variety of systems ranging from personal computers to servers and from embedded devices to supercomputers.

Uploading refers to transmitting data from one computer system to another through means of a network. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via web browsers, FTP clients, and terminals (SCP/SFTP). Uploading can be used in the context of clients that send files to a central server. While uploading can also be defined in the context of sending files between distributed clients, such as with a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing protocol like BitTorrent, the term file sharing is more often used in this case. Moving files within a computer system, as opposed to over a network, is called file copying.

BitTorrent, also referred to simply as torrent, is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a decentralized manner. The protocol is developed and maintained by Rainberry, Inc., and was first released in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubuntu</span> Linux distribution developed by Canonical

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution derived from Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in multiple editions: Desktop, Server, and Core for Internet of things devices and robots. The operating system is developed by the British company Canonical and a community of other developers, under a meritocratic governance model. As of October 2024, the latest interim release is 24.10, with most-recent long-term support release is 24.04.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FileZilla</span> Free software, cross-platform file transfer protocol application

FileZilla is a free and open-source, cross-platform FTP application, consisting of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Clients are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. Both server and client support FTP and FTPS, while the client can in addition connect to SFTP servers. FileZilla's source code is hosted on SourceForge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jigdo</span> Software

Jigdo is a utility typically used for downloading to piece together a large file, most commonly an optical disk image such as a CD, DVD or Blu-ray Disc (BD) image, from many smaller individual constituent files. The constituent files may be local and/or retrieved from one or more mirror sites. Jigdo's features are similar to BitTorrent, but unlike BitTorrent, Jigdo uses a client-server model, not peer-to-peer.

This is a timeline of events in the history of networked file sharing.

Simtel was an important long-running archive of freeware and shareware for various operating systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metalink</span> File format that describes one or more computer files available for download

Metalink is an extensible metadata file format that describes one or more computer files available for download. It specifies files appropriate for the user's language and operating system; facilitates file verification and recovery from data corruption; and lists alternate download sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Torrentz</span> BitTorrent metasearch engine

Torrentz was a Finland-based metasearch engine for BitTorrent, run by an individual known as Flippy and founded on 24 July 2003. It indexed torrents from various major torrent websites and offered compilations of various trackers per torrent that were not necessarily present in the default .torrent file, so that when a tracker was down, other trackers could do the work. It was the second most popular torrent website in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jami (software)</span> Distributed multimedia communications platform

Jami is a SIP-compatible distributed peer-to-peer softphone and SIP-based instant messenger for Linux, Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Jami was developed and maintained by the Canadian company Savoir-faire Linux, and with the help of a global community of users and contributors, Jami positions itself as a potential free Skype replacement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BELNET</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiwix</span> Open-source offline browser for public domain projects

Kiwix is a free and open-source offline web browser created by Emmanuel Engelhart and Renaud Gaudin in 2007. It was first launched to allow offline access to Wikipedia, but has since expanded to include other projects from the Wikimedia Foundation, public domain texts from Project Gutenberg, many of the Stack Exchange sites, and many other resources. Available in more than 100 languages, Kiwix has been included in several high-profile projects, from smuggling operations in North Korea to Google Impact Challenge's recipient Bibliothèques Sans Frontières.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OpenMediaVault</span> NAS operating system

OpenMediaVault (OMV) is a free Linux distribution designed for network-attached storage (NAS). The project's lead developer is Volker Theile, who instituted it in 2009. OMV is based on the Debian operating system, and is licensed through the GNU General Public License v3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KickassTorrents</span> Defunct file-sharing website

KickassTorrents was a website that provided a directory for torrent files and magnet links to facilitate peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. It was founded in 2008 and by November 2014, KAT became the most visited BitTorrent directory in the world, overtaking The Pirate Bay, according to the site's Alexa ranking. KAT went offline on 20 July 2016 when the domain was seized by the U.S. government. The site's proxy servers were shut down by its staff at the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">InterPlanetary File System</span> Content-addressable, peer-to-peer hypermedia distribution protocol

The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a protocol, hypermedia and file sharing peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed hash table. By using content addressing, IPFS uniquely identifies each file in a global namespace that connects IPFS hosts, creating a resilient system of file storage and sharing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windows Subsystem for Linux</span> Feature for a Linux environment in Windows

Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a feature of Microsoft Windows that allows for using a Linux environment without the need for a separate virtual machine or dual booting. WSL is installed by default in Windows 11. In Windows 10, it can be installed either by joining the Windows Insider program or manually via Microsoft Store or Winget.

References

  1. ↑ Glushko, Robert J. (25 August 2014). The Discipline of Organizing: Core Concepts Edition. O'Reilly Media. ISBN   9781491912812. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "Debian worldwide mirror sites". Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017. Using a nearby server will probably speed up your download, and also reduce the load on our central servers and on the Internet as a whole.
  3. ↑ "Impending Trump has Internet Archive mirror to Canada". 29 November 2016. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019. The Internet Archive has several mirrors up right now, and Canada is set to be its next. This move is taking place specifically because of the new presidential elect Trump here in the United States.
  4. ↑ "What is Mirror Site? Webopedia Definition". www.webopedia.com. 21 July 1998. Archived from the original on 20 May 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "What is Mirror Site? - Definition from Techopedia". Techopedia.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  6. ↑ Wisshak, Max; Tapanila, Leif (2 June 2008). Current Developments in Bioerosion. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   9783540775973. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  7. ↑ Sekikawa, A.; Sa, E. R.; Acosta, B.; Aaron, D. J.; Laporte, R. E. (2000). "Internet mirror sites - The Lancet". Lancet. 355 (9219): 2000. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(05)72944-5. PMID   10859070. S2CID   32218172. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2019. We all become frustrated when web pages take minutes to unfold. This can increase the gap between infrastructure haves and have-nots. Downloading time is important for other reasons; users connecting to the internet via telephone line in many countries are charged per minute and slow downloading itself may make users lose interest.
  8. ↑ "The status of CPAN mirrors". mirrors.cpan.org. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  9. ↑ Nestor, Marius (26 April 2017). "Debian Project to Shut Down Its Public FTP Services, Developers Are Not Affected". Softpedia. Archived from the original on 8 February 2024. The decision to close the Debian FTP services for users was made because the FTP servers in their current state lack support for acceleration or caching, and they aren't quite used lately due to the fact that the Debian Installer no longer provides an FTP option for accessing mirrors since more than ten years ago... FTP as a protocol appears to no longer be efficient, requiring adding strange workarounds to firewalls and load-balancing daemons.
  10. ↑ "CSpace Hostings Public Mirror". Archived from the original on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021. This page and mirror are available over IPv4 and IPv6 and accessible over HTTP, HTTPS and Rsync
  11. ↑ "Debian worldwide mirror sites". Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017. A secondary mirror site may have restrictions on what they mirror
  12. ↑ "Project Gutenberg, nonprofit organization". Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2019. In addition, dozens of "mirror" Web sites were created around the world, where the e-books were also stored and available for downloading.
  13. ↑ Russon, Mary-Ann (22 July 2016). "Kickass Torrents is back: New domains, mirrors and proxies show business is as usual". International Business Times UK. Archived from the original on 5 May 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  14. ↑ Clark, Bryan (21 July 2016). "IsoHunt just launched a working KickassTorrent mirror". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  15. ↑ "Mexican Police Target Popular KickassTorrents 'Clone,' Seize Domain – TorrentFreak". TorrentFreak. 23 September 2016. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  16. ↑ Wei, Wang. "New Kickass Torrents Site is Back Online by Original Staffers". The Hacker News. Archived from the original on 8 May 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  17. ↑ "The Piratebay Blocked By Chrome, Mirror Sites Accessible". iTech Post. 8 October 2016. Archived from the original on 12 July 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  18. ↑ "The Pirate Bay is blocked Australia wide... except it really isn't". CNET. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  19. ↑ "Pirate Bay Mirror Shut Down: Alternative Clone Had Kickass Torrents Skin, Vows To Continue". Tech Times. 24 September 2016. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  20. ↑ "Pirate Bay Blocked By Google Chrome And Firefox: Kickass Torrents Mirror, Extratorrent, Torrentz And Other Clones Accessible". Tech Times. 8 October 2016. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  21. ↑ Greenemeier, Larry. "How Has WikiLeaks Managed to Keep Its Web Site Up and Running?". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  22. ↑ Schroeder, Stan (6 December 2010). "WikiLeaks Now Has Hundreds of Mirrors". Mashable. Archived from the original on 17 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  23. ↑ "The EPA Posted a Mirror of Its Website Before Trump Can Gut the Real One". Vice. 16 February 2017. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  24. ↑ Hiltzik, Michael (24 April 2017). "Did 'people power' save a trove of EPA data from a shutdown by Trump?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  25. ↑ "How to set up your own copy of Wikipedia – ExtremeTech". ExtremeTech. 18 January 2012. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  26. ↑ Broughton, John (2008). Wikipedia: The Missing Manual. "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". ISBN   9780596515164. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  27. ↑ Ayers, Phoebe; Matthews, Charles; Yates, Ben (2008). How Wikipedia Works: And how You Can be a Part of it. No Starch Press. ISBN   9781593271763. Archived from the original on 30 May 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  28. ↑ "gnu.org". www.gnu.org. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  29. ↑ "CentOS Mirror". CentOS Mirror. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  30. ↑ "Debian worldwide mirror sites". debian.org. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  31. ↑ "Home - MirrorManager". admin.fedoraproject.org. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  32. ↑ "Mirrors : Ubuntu". Ubuntu Archive Mirrors. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  33. ↑ "Mirrors : Ubuntu". Ubuntu CD Mirrors. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  34. ↑ "Mirrors – VideoLAN". videolan.org. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  35. ↑ "The Document Foundation Mirrors". download.documentfoundation.org. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  36. ↑ "How do I access the MICROSOFT FTP server? – Windows 10 Help Forums". tenforums.com. Archived from the original on 20 October 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  37. ↑ "Microsoft has closing ftp://ftp.microsoft.com". www.betaarchive.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  38. ↑ "The FTP Site Boneyard : Free Software : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive". archive.org.
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