Mirror Tutorial

This tutorial presents a number of related topics that allow an administrator to seamlessly integrate mirroring and update services for Fedora Core. Use these services to provision a classroom, laboratory, or office. These service provisions also increase ease of use and enhance user experience. They also add to the perceived value of non-proprietary operating systems and software.

Reporting Document Errors

To report an error or omission in this document, file a bug report in Bugzilla at http://bugzilla.redhat.com. When you file your bug, select "Fedora Documentation" as the Product, and select the title of this document as the Component. The version of this document is mirror-tutorial-1.0.1 (2006-08-07). The maintainers of this document will automatically receive your bug report. On behalf of the entire Fedora community, thank you for helping us make improvements.

You will find this tutorial more useful if you are a system administrator, or a Fedora Core "power user" familiar with the following topics:

A mirror is a server that provides a copy of one or more collections of files. Mirroring a site reduces traffic to the original source site, thus spreading the stress and bandwidth costs of many users across many sites. Side benefits of running a local mirror include very fast access through the local network, providing custom services to local users, and increasing your skills in managing Internet services.

The site from which you retrieve files to build your mirror is called an upstream mirror. If possible, choose an upstream mirror that is located close to you geographically. This reduces unnecessary traffic across transcontinental sections of the Internet, where bandwidth is limited and expensive. Use only upstream mirrors that are intended for public access, unless you have permission from the upstream mirror site administrator.

For more information on installing Fedora Core see the Fedora Core Installation Guide at http://fedora.redhat.com/docs/fedora-install-guide-en/. For more information on basic Internet protocols, see http://library.albany.edu/internet/internet.html, or search Google at http://www.google.com/. For more general information about mirrors, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_(computing).

Karsten Wade provided editorial services and kept the style crisp and consistent. Stuart Ellis provided some additional security-related information.