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A Look Inside the BBC's Network

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the bits-bytes-and-accents dept.

the-dark-kangaroo writes "The BBC have provided the entire internet with a look inside their amazing network. It shows everyone the almighty web power they are with over 40 webservers and 12 firewalls and their 8Gbps intersite connections. All this seems to running some form of *NIX with perl underlying their powerful website delivery. Take a look at those load graphs!"

15 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. All this seems to running some form of *NIX by stupidfoo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, according to the ever reliable Netcraft:

    Solaris 8 Apache/1.3.26 (Unix)
    SunOS 4 Apache/1.2.1
    SunOS 4 unknown
    SunOS 4 Apache/1.2.1
    SunOS 4 unknown
    SunOS 4 Apache/1.2.1
    SunOS 4 Apache/1.2.1
    SunOS 4 unknown
    SunOS 4 Apache/1.2.1
    SunOS 4 unknown

  2. US government news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    Official US government news is a minor thing (pbs, npr, VOA). It is not like the UK where the official government news outlet (BBC) is the biggest thing.

    1. Re:US government news by Anonymous+Cowpat · · Score: 5, Informative
      It looks like you need one. The BBC are funded entirely through tax money, just like any division of government organization. It is also controlled by a government board.... just like any other division of government.


      Nope, the BBC is funded entirely through the license fee, which you have to pay if you own a TV. The government allows it to demand this, and it is effectively a tax, but that's not to be confused with 'tax money'
      Nor is it controlled by a government board. The day to day running is controlled by the Director general. The overall direction is controlled by the government (who do have to be approved by the government, but that doesn't mean that they are part of the government), only above that is the culture secretary, who doesn't really get much say either way. The only other contact that the government has with it is the Royal charter whic has to be renewed every 10 years by act of parliament. It's not a good idea for the BBC to annoy the government, but the government doesn't actually control them at any direct level.
      --
      FGD 135
    2. Re:US government news by lga · · Score: 3, Informative
      It looks like you need one. The BBC are funded entirely through tax money, just like any division of government organization. It is also controlled by a government board.... just like any other division of government.

      Nevertheless, the BBC is independant of the government and posts whatever news it wants to. It frequently posts bad things about the government without fear of being shut down.

      The BBC has a charter to say what it can and can't do, the government doesn't get a say in how it is run outside of that charter. The charter is reviewed every few years, see http://www.bbccharterreview.org.uk/

      Steve.

      --
      A latent existence
    3. Re:US government news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      "Public" and "government" are not the same thing. At least not in Britain.

      A TV licence is not a tax. It is a licence. It is a fee paid in order to have a licence to receive and demodulate TV broadcasts. The revenue from this goes straight to the BBC.

      HTH

  3. Re:I has good grammar too by saintp · · Score: 2, Informative
    Retard--

    That's perfectly acceptable British English. I mean, seriously. If you're going to be a Grammar Nazi, at least put a little effort into it.

    --
    Another one bites the dust
  4. Already slashdotted by dimss · · Score: 2, Informative

    Google cache:

    http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:KiH513c0cEcJ: su pport.bbc.co.uk/support/+site:support.bbc.co.uk+in url:support&hl=en

  5. Re:BBC = one company. = singular, not plural. by Vulch · · Score: 2, Informative

    Any true Briton with a knowledge of history would know that the British Broadcasting Company, founded in 1922, became the Corporation at the start of 1927.

  6. Re:I tried... by ettlz · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is a bit unfair!

    In all likelihood, support.bbc.co.uk is a single non-essential server running in the shadows in a bandwidth restricted area of the BBC's Internet operation. It's probably meant for off-site monitoring more than anything else. I'm not surprised it's now refusing connections: this site wasn't meant for a dirty great mudslide of Slashdotters! (Note that all the BBC's normal content (news, etc.) is still working.)

  7. Re:What a waste of millions of quid in license fee by aslate · · Score: 2, Informative

    In the charter if the BBC wants to provide services outside the UK they must be self-funding. If you want to see BBCAmerica you need to pay. I'm not sure whether the video news feeds work outside the UK or not.

  8. Not technically BBC's network... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Technically, this network is now owned and managed by Siemens Business Services. BBC Technology, which grew out of a few different parts of the BBC Engineers and IT depts, was sold to Siemens in October last year, to form part of Siemens Business Services, specifically the 'Media' part. SBS run the network both internally and out, as a managed service. This creates some interesting issues with network boundaries, and "who owns what", but it keeps us on our toes!

    Of couse, most of the same staff are there, so little has changed on that front. The lads and ladies in Maidenhead do a very good job of running a VERY complicated network. The BBC is the top content (not search) site in the UK, if not the world (don't quote me on that). The internal network is also pretty damn reliable, with a dual fibre ring running round most of the London buildings.

  9. Re:Put those UNIX servers to good use by ink_polaroid · · Score: 1, Informative

    So if they have all those UNIX servers, why aren't we getting ogg vorbis streams of their content?

    Because they're working on this.

  10. Re:What a waste of millions of quid in license fee by Cougem · · Score: 2, Informative

    Private agencies are out to make profits. BBC has no adverts. It has no reason to support any partners (due to a lack of them) and hence lack of bias.

    Why not close all of BBC's TV channels? We've got UK Gold haven't we?

  11. Re:Put those UNIX servers to good use by jpop32 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Real Audio has been one of the main reasons I find myself booting Linux daily instead of Windows, since there is a fantastic clean real audio player for UNIX variants.

    Dude, no need to burden yourself with booting Linux... Real Alternative

    And, before you ask, yeah, there is a similar codec pack for Quicktime. The Google incantation for it will be left as an excersize to the viewer. :-)

  12. Re:Overheard at BBC offices.. by odaiwai · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, in British English, 'program' specifically refers to a computer program, while 'programme' is used in the general sense of a programme of events or a television programme.