The MetaCard license screen is currently up for 5 seconds now anyway.
At least here it's very rare that it takes longer than that to do the
DNS lookup and at least start getting a page (finishing getting a page
takes quite a bit longer, but then a license key doesn't require a
full-page graphic like some Webmasters seem to think a WWW Home page
does).
But I agree that your "delayed-check" idea is a good one.
> 2) You solution to the license server unavailability may not be
> adequate. In my experience when a HTTP server is unavailable it is
> not because the machine has died, but because part of the network has
> malfunctioned. A better solution might involve a second machine on a
> different domain in the network. Requests would automatically
> failover to this second machine when the primary license server is
> unreachable. Over course this adds to the complexity of maintaining
> the second machine, but I'll let someone else suggest a solution to
> that. ;-)
The whole idea is that we wouldn't be maintaining most of the
machines. We'd maintain 1 or 2, but we'd also use HTTP and/or FTP
servers on CSN, world.std.com, UUNET, Netcom, PSI, etc. These ISPs
won't let you install servers or other custom code on their systems,
but are perfectly happy to serve up HTML documents for anyone.
The only time *all* of these would be affected will be when the
Internet melts down, which will probably happen, but hopefully will
happen soon so that we can get that stage of its development over
with. After it gets reconstructed, this architecture can be
implemented more reliably ;-)
Of course, if your *local* connection goes down, there may have to be
some fallback position, like getting a regular license via fax, or
maybe using it as excuse for taking the afternoon off.
Scott
> Bill Lange | "When we lack the will to
> EDS Unigraphics Industry Services | see things as they really
> tele: (314) 344-2619 | are, there is nothing so
> FAX: (314) 344-8773 | mystifying as the obvious."
> Internet: lange@edsug.com | - Irving Kristol
>
-- *********************************************************************** * Scott Raney (raney@metacard.com) Internet Meltdown Day approaches * * http://www.metacard.com Prepare thyself * ***********************************************************************