[tip] Use Freecache to distribute large files

One of my small contributions to the Monoppix project[1] has been setting up hosting for the ISO. As we expected, distributing an ISO that's even remotely popular requires some serious bandwidh. Since the Monoppix 0.2.2.3 Preview Release was posted in August, it's been downloaded 11,067 times. At 404 MB per download, that's 4.47 TB, over 1.1 TB per month.[2]

Fortunately, we're using Freecache so I don't have to pay for all that bandwidth. Freecache handles all that, for (as the name implies) free.

There's no setup, either. Assuming the link to the file was http://127.0.0.1/files/bigfile.iso, you can just link to it like http://freecache.org/http://127.0.0.1/files/bigfile.iso and you're set. The first time someone clicks on the link, Freecache picks up your file and distributes it to cache servers while the download is going on. All future downloads come from the cache servers, so you only need the bandwith to cover one download.

You can use it for files from 5MB to 1GB.

That URL is a bit ugly, but you can pretty it up with a free service like Shrinkster or URL123. The official download link for the Monoppix ISO is http://monoppix.url123.com/download, but it just logs the hit and pops over to Freecache. I like URL123, by the way, since it lets you set up subdomains like yourname.url123.com.

More info on Freecache here: http://www.archive.org/web/freecache.php

And if you just want to watch a cool animated GIF that (sort of) explains it, look no further:

[1]  Monoppix is a GNU/Linux distribution which includes Mono, XSP, and Monodevelop, and runs completely off a CD. It allows you to get familiar with Mono development in Linux without installing anything on your computer. Monoppix was based on Knoppix and Miniknoppix and was developed by Roiy Zysman.

[2] It's possible that some segmented download utilities inflate these numbers a bit, but regardless we're still talking about Terrabytes of bandwidth I don't want to pay for.