[AG-TECH] FW: Using international BridgeServers

[Ben Green]

Please can someone provide an answer to the original email (below) that I sent a few weeks ago. We're trying to document the 'best practise' for international AG meetings, so it seems quite relevant, especially considering some of the issues we encounter; for example:

We've just been troubleshooting an AG meeting where, yet again, the problem was caused by a Toolkit user connecting via an obscure BridgeServer.

I've never understood why the Argonne bridge registry lists so many unreliable BridgeServers. Our UK bridge registry only lists 2 BridgeServers and we know that they are always working, and we instruct UK users to make sure our bridge registry is at the top of the registry list within their Bridge Profile.

Ideally, we'd like to instruct a Toolkit user to switch to unicast without having to worry about which BridgeServer is chosen by their VenueClient (whichever is at the top of the list) i.e. they should all work. Or perhaps they should choose a particular Bridge - which brings us back to my original question (below)...

Cheers, Ben.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Green [mailto:ben.green at manchester.ac.uk] 
Sent: 14 May 2009 10:39
To: 'ag-tech'
Subject: Using international BridgeServers

Hi all,

When setting up an international AG meeting (amongst Toolkit users) where all participants are connecting to the same VenueServer (to meet in the same virtual venue) is it preferential for all nodes to connect to their local BridgeServer, or should everyone connect to the same BridgeServer ?

I know that generally, it's better for everyone to meet at the same BridgeServer (less Multicast to worry about).

My question is mainly concerning the speed of network connections - one model of AG is to maintain good connections (and good multicast) between the BridgeServers, such that users only need to be concerned with their own connection to their local BridgeServer (I'm ignoring users with local Multicast connectivity here). Alternatively, users may connect directly to the same BridgeServer, regardless of where it resides, but this may not be the optimum network path.

Just wondering what the general view is on this.

Regards, Ben.