Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

EFNet Reaches 100,000 Concurrent Connections

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the thats-a-lotta-people-looking-for-pr0n dept.

Mortin writes "The largest IRC network in the world, EFNet, has set another world-record max user count after breaking an astonishing 100,000 concurrent users earlier tonight!"

33 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. Not necessarily good... by David+Price · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...after breaking an astonishing 100,000 concurrent users earlier tonight!

    I sure hope they fixed them all afterward.

  2. Efnet summed up in one line. by Inominate · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy, we must be cautious.

    1. Re:Efnet summed up in one line. by Karamchand · · Score: 3, Funny

      You will. Just go to this site.

  3. With the new Linux kernel... by ralmeida · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...they can do it in 2 seconds!

    --
    This space left intentionally blank.
  4. DALNet anyone? by bbuda · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to their homepage, DALnet boasts 140,000 concurrent users. I'm not sure how each of these networks are measuring their numbers, but maybe this isn't quite a world record...

    1. Re:DALNet anyone? by mickwd · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's been at these volumes for a few months on DALnet. Right now there's 127,488 users, according to one of the servers.

      Mind you, half of those users seem to be spambots.

    2. Re:DALNet anyone? by AntiNorm · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But DALnet, as with any other network that reaches this size -- including EFnet -- has more than its fair share of problems. The lag and netsplits get intolerable at this level. Also, networks of this size can be difficult to connect to due to script kiddies, server overload, etc (or in the case of EFnet, yellowbellied admins who refuse to open up their I: lines). I personally know of large channels that have recently moved off of both networks because of these problems. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing that it has hit this size, but no network can handle infinite users. A userload like this brings out a network's weaknesses in full force.

      --

      I pledge allegiance to the flag...
      of the Corporate States of America...
    3. Re:DALNet anyone? by suss · · Score: 5, Interesting

      DALNet has just had a bad period of DDoS attacks, a couple of servers still haven't rejoined.
      The attacks resolved themselves within about a week, when the IP for irc.dal.net was changed to 127.0.0.1, which turned the attacks on the kiddies themselves (quite hilarious).

      By the way, most of the attacks seem to be coming from universities like Harvard, Emory, etc... You'd think they would have something better to do with their time.

    4. Re:DALNet anyone? by Dalroth · · Score: 4, Insightful
      By the way, most of the attacks seem to be coming from universities like Harvard, Emory, etc... You'd think they would have something better to do with their time.

      Well, it's not like the college students at Harvard or Emory are doing the DDoS, it's the people (aka some pimply faced low-lifes still living in their parents basements without a job) who hacked into the Harvard/Emory machines that are the cause of the problem. It's also the fault of the Harvard/Emory admins for not noticing and not doing something to stop said attacks.

    5. Re:DALNet anyone? by sheriff_p · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Which turned the attacks on the kiddies themselves?

      Assuming these attacks were sending excessive traffic to the servers, how would the server IP address being changed to localhost make the kiddies attack themselves? Are you trying to say that it's possible to flood yourself off the net by sending packets to your loop back device?

      --
      Score:-1, Funny
  5. 100,000? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    100,000 concurrent threads?
    100,000 concurrent irc sessions?

    I guess the next article is gonna be:

    100,000th Geek Marries Non-Mailorder Bride

  6. KaZaA by Cryogenes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    has just broken the 3.000.000 concurrent users level
    (that's twice what Napster had at its peak).

    1. Re:KaZaA by enneff · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, the nature of the semi-independant p2p system (consisting of nodes and supernodes) prevents any one user from searching every user on the system. Not only that, but the more leeches you're surrounded by, the less chance you'll have of finding anything interesting.

      Why a network like this should be used for anything other than porn is beyond me - any other media is pretty dubious as far as encode quality goes, and there's nothing rare enough that's accessible to warrant the sacrifice.

    2. Re:KaZaA by Jordy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Just a correction, Napster's peak user loan was 2.2 million simultaneous connections, not 1.5 million.

      I'm not completely sure that Kazaa doesn't inflate their numbers (its fairly hard to get truly accurate counts of connections in a distirbuted network.)

      --
      The world is neither black nor white nor good nor evil, only many shades of CowboyNeal.
  7. IRCnet is bigger by erikdalen · · Score: 4, Informative
    According to this statistics page, not only is IRCnet bigger than EFNet, but it also has had over 100,000 users for some time now.

    /Erik

    --
    Erik Dalén
    1. Re:IRCnet is bigger by hkmwbz · · Score: 3, Informative
      Where does that site get its stats from? IRCnet is clearly bigger than EFnet in all the stats I've seen. Right now for IRCnet:
      Current global users: 118890 Max: 119733
      And EFnet:
      Current global users: 98072 Max: 100239
      But neither of these can claim to be the largest network anyway. Undernet? DALnet? QuakeNet?
      --
      Clever signature text goes here.
  8. 100,000 Connections, but... by EQ · · Score: 5, Funny

    90,000 of them were warez, mp3 and chan-op war bots. ;-)

    --
    Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo! http://goo.gl/J9bkO
    1. Re:100,000 Connections, but... by evilviper · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, actually it's all my fault. I was using GAIM's IRC plugin, recently ported as an alpha release for Windows. I was using a beta version of Perl for scripting, and everything went haywire for some strange reason. Suddenly, it just decided to open up 65,535 connections to EFnet... Boy that sucked... I mean, come on... how lowsy can open source software be?

      It was already an alpha release, GAIM should have worked flawlessly, with less CPU power, and taking up less bandwidth than any other program on the planet.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  9. What about Quakenet ? by oPless · · Score: 4, Informative

    www.quakenet.org

    Currently Online: 109757
    User Peak: 118855
    (Sunday 15. September 2002)

    Big Effin' woop.

  10. And you know what... by rbruels · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...it was a Saturday night! 100,000 geeks without social lives, tonight on EFnet! :P

    --

    "All your base are belong to this file I send in order to have your advice."
    1. Re:And you know what... by Timmeh · · Score: 4, Funny
      It's sad but true. Last night I was on IRC and a net-buddy was bemoaning that there wasn't anyone on any of the CS/DoD servers he frequents, saying that it being a Saturday night the servers should be packed. I said, if we were normal people that would be totally backwards, we'd all be out on dates. But since we're geeks, yeah that sounds about right. Then my brother walked in and said something funny about how he could cook an egg on his overclocked Athlon, and I in response I said, "Lol," instead of chuckling.

      Dear god I need to get out more. :P

  11. Utter Rubbish by RussGarrett · · Score: 5, Informative

    EFNet ceased to be the largest IRC network months ago. DALNet is now the largest net on average, but it's had problems with DoSes recently, so currently IRCNet is in the lead with 113,000 users and 51,000 channels. QuakeNet is also regularly larger than EFNet, which usually resides at the number 3 or 4 spot. See http://irc.netsplit.de/networks/ for the latest statistics.

    I wish editors would check their facts before posting random sumbissions

    1. Re:Utter Rubbish by fault0 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, EFNet ceased to be the largest network in mid-2000. IRCnet was the first network to overtake it, but both Undernet, DALnet also eventually overtook EFnet later in 2000. IRCnet has been pretty much the largest network since then, except for this summer when DALnet jumped ahead of it. Now, DALnet has had lots of DOS problems, so IRCnet is a bit ahead again.

      Recently, Quakenet has grown to the point where it is alternating between being second between itself and DALnet.

      The IRC History charts at the website you mentioned are very good. I would recommend looking at these:

      Top Ten IRC networks in 1999
      Top Ten IRC networks in 2000
      Top Ten IRC networks in 2001
      Top Ten IRC networks so far in 2002

    2. Re:Utter Rubbish by pongo000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This article, along with crap such as this and this, simply proves /. editors are out-of-touch with what is really going on in geekdom and what can truly pass as "news for nerds". It's almost as if /. has outlived itself, or maybe it's time for some fresh blood who have a clue.

      I'm sure the /. groupies will mod this down in record time, but to you I say: Get a life, stop being a follower, and use the energy you would otherwise use to get into a snit and start pressuring the /. editors to bring us meaningful, timely content.

  12. Top irc networks by MnO-BF · · Score: 5, Informative
    Stating that EFNet is the largest irc-network in the world may be to take the mouth a little too full. EFNet havent been number one since the summer 2000. The big four (IRCNet, Dalnet, Undernet and EFNet), were for a long time the largest networks in the world, but recently (30th of May, 2002) QuakeNet (a gaming related irc-network) broke in to the big four, and mingled with the big guys. Since then it has really been the big five, with current standing:
    1. IRCNet
    2. QuakeNet
    3. DALnet
    4. Undernet
    5. EFNet
    This is only regarding average users though, when it comes to channels QuakeNet takes a clear first position with over 100k channels, probably due to its special audience. As stated in previous posts, Netsplit is an excellent place to keep track of such statistics.
    1. Re:Top irc networks by Yarn · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As a fellow QuakeNet oper, I agree and also moo.

      Let me proof-read your post next time tho' BF :)

      --
      -Yarn - Rio Karma: Excellent
  13. Re:dang by Jelque · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And you thought Efnet was dead or dying.

  14. Gee, it's been bigger guys... by droopus · · Score: 4, Informative

    On the weekend of May 9-11 2002 both Spiderman and SWEP2 were released on various IRC channels. The sudden rise in channel populations was staggering: on Dal, #Newest-Movies went from a usual 450ppl to 1300; #VCDvault went from 350 to 1000; all the movie channels on Dalnet, Efnet and the XDCC chans on Criten.net were massively overfilled.

    On May 10 2002 Dalnet reached a level of 139000+ concurrent users.See chart

    The usual population of all major and minor IRC networks is just under a million. But on that weekend it was almost double. Seeing Efnet hit 100k isn't anything special. There are bigger networks, and events that make 100k users on Efnet seem ordinary.

    I can't believe you guys put this yawner on the front page but rejected my PS2 Networked Divx player story, or even worse, my ultra-cool Enron Asset Auction story, which every geek on IRC is slobbering over.

    --
    "The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."
  15. Dear CmdrTaco... by iolaire_in_swe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are you on crack? :)

    Yours sincerely

    iolaire, QuakeNet operator

    iolaire@quakenet.org

    PS:
    -Q(TheQBot@CServe.quakenet.org)- Currently Active Users: 113025
    -Q(TheQBot@CServe.quakenet.org)- Max Active Users: 118905 (Sunday, 2002-09-15 19:00:36)

  16. Re:In all seriousness by King_TJ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seriously, I do - to a small extent.
    Why? Well, I've had a feeling that IRC is slowly dying off. The people just getting hooked on computers and using the Internet nowdays seem to prefer instant message clients like ICQ or AIM.

    I used to spend a lot of time on EFNet, and later, Undernet - and got the impression that both were declining in actual usage. (Sure, they have tons of channels still - but many seem to just be file swapping channels with no actual discussion taking place in them.)

    Just the fact that EFNet broke its own all-time usage records yesterday is interesting. I wouldn't have ever guessed it.

  17. given the number of trolls, bots, and so on... by kipple · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...probably there are no more than a couple hundred users using IRC at the same time around the world. All the others are bots, fake, trolls, IA trying to understand the human beings, and so on...

    --
    -- There are two kind of sysadmins: Paranoids and Losers. (adapted from D. Bach)
  18. Not a coincidence? by Ed+Avis · · Score: 3, Funny

    I suppose they were launching one thread for each concurrent user?

    --
    -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
  19. Meanwhile... by PurpleBob · · Score: 3, Funny

    50,000 of those users had a minute and a half of lag.

    30,000 were in the middle of the connect process, waiting for identd to time out, because identd never works and their client wasn't l33t enough to give the necessary fake responses.

    The other 20,000 had a netsplit immediately after they counted.

    Yay for way-too-big IRC networks.

    --
    Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota