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Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

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Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#21

Post by NikkiA »

yellowbkpk wrote: post #19
ars wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. But they do mention it when installing. You can also disable it. If you are not firewalled or NATd you are a supernode automatically - on the plus side you get better sound quality for voice calls. Normally the bandwidth used is pretty low since you are mostly forwarding text messages. When they said mega-supernodes they meant machines controlled by them that do nothing else, and are on high bandwidth connection…

I've looked around for the ability to turn off supernode on Linux and Mac clients for a while but have come up empty. Do you know which section of the preferences/settings it's supposed to be in?

I don't think there's a UI element for it, but you have to add a registry key, see here:

https://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/twiki/view/CF/SkypeConfiguration...

Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#22

Post by citricsquid »

hackermom wrote: post #18

I, too, run a Skype supernode - completely unvoluntarily, barring the possibility of something hidden behind an asterisk in the EULA. Does anyone know if there is a way to "opt out" of this? Everytime I start skype up it makes a million connections to everywhere and without even having a call on the line my measly 2.5 mbps upstream is permanently choked.

https://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/twiki/view/CF/SkypeConfiguration...

Found this link lower down :-)

Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#23

Post by anon114 »

cookiecaper wrote: post #7

Maybe this will cause Skype to take Linux and Mac more seriously. If you've used the Windows version, you know almost all development has occurred there, whereas the Mac and Linux clients have looked the same for the last four or five years. The Linux client did have a major version bump about a year ago iirc, and that brought some needed features, but it was mostly the same. Also, hopefully this will teach Skype to…

Or, maybe this will cause users to take Jabber/XMPP more seriously and stop using proprietary technology for corporate IM.

I've worked at places where management is completely gaga over Skype and would push me to support it despite the fact that I had no ability to block spam, troubleshoot messaging problems or integrate our IM system into existing Asterisk, SSO, monitoring and collaboration solutions.

IMHO, Openfire is far more flexible, extensible, secure, reliable and most importantly - manageable as a service.

http://www.igniterealtime.org/projects/openfire/

disclaimer: I do not work for Ignite and have no vested interest in their business.

Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#24

Post by hackermom »

citricsquid wrote: post #22
hackermom wrote: post #18

I, too, run a Skype supernode - completely unvoluntarily, barring the possibility of something hidden behind an asterisk in the EULA. Does anyone know if there is a way to "opt out" of this? Everytime I start skype up it makes a million connections to everywhere and without even having a call on the line my measly 2.5 mbps upstream is permanently choked.

https://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/twiki/view/CF/SkypeConfiguration... Found this link lower down :-)

Sorry, I should've mentioned that I'm an OS X user :)

With that said, I've had a look-see in Skype's .plist and its various Application Support files, but oddly there's nothing "grep'able" to be found anywhere...

Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#25

Post by js3309 »

jallmann wrote: post #6

Nice to see the CEO of a large company that knows how to walk the talk. I've also seen him post on HN. Does Steve Ballmer know the difference between a micro and monolithic kernel?

I am also surprised that a company as large as his, uses Skype instant messaging for their communication.

Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#26

Post by st3fan »

I seriously doubt the Skype supernodes actually run in regular clients on people's desktops. I'm pretty sure these are special servers placed strategically on the net.

If you see thousands of connections on your Skype at home then there probably is some weird P2P problem going on.

Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#27

Post by zb »

st3fan wrote: post #26

I seriously doubt the Skype supernodes actually run in regular clients on people's desktops. I'm pretty sure these are special servers placed strategically on the net. If you see thousands of connections on your Skype at home then there probably is some weird P2P problem going on.

I'm sorry to be the one who has to point this out, but you have no idea what you are talking about.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/security/universities/

Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#28

Post by cookiecaper »

dflock wrote: post #20
cookiecaper wrote: post #7

Maybe this will cause Skype to take Linux and Mac more seriously. If you've used the Windows version, you know almost all development has occurred there, whereas the Mac and Linux clients have looked the same for the last four or five years. The Linux client did have a major version bump about a year ago iirc, and that brought some needed features, but it was mostly the same. Also, hopefully this will teach Skype to…

They've already said that they're going to open source the client ( http://blogs.skype.com/linux/2009/11/skype_open_source.html)... they just haven't actually done anything about it yet. They'd better get a move on though, otherwise someone else ( http://www.enrupt.com/index.php ) is going to do it for them: http://www.enrupt.com/index.php/2010/07/07/skype-biggest-sec... The trouble is that Skype is so closed and has…

Their opening of the client is more of an opening of the interface -- all of the real work will still be performed by a proprietary blob that the open interface interacts with. I don't think that will be very useful. I'd prefer if they released something that was _really_ open-source.

Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#29

Post by pyre »

cookiecaper wrote: post #28
dflock wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've already said that they're going to open source the client ( http://blogs.skype.com/linux/2009/11/skype_open_source.html)... they just haven't actually done anything about it yet. They'd better get a move on though, otherwise someone else ( http://www.enrupt.com/index.php ) is going to do it for them: http://www.enrupt.com/index.php/2010/07/07/skype-biggest-sec... The trouble is that Skype is so closed and has…

Their opening of the client is more of an opening of the interface -- all of the real work will still be performed by a proprietary blob that the open interface interacts with. I don't think that will be very useful. I'd prefer if they released something that was _really_ open-source.

It would be more useful then the current state of affairs. With a proprietary blob to talk to, it would be possible for people to do things like write text-based clients in curses, or the suggested 'server' version of Skype specifically for running as a super node or relay node.

Re: Skype Outage – I run a supernode and here’s what I think happened

#30

Post by ohashi »

jrockway wrote: post #15
guelo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with a big adaptive p2p network is that it is close to impossible to test under real production loads.

My guess is that the average supernode is on something like 6M/1.5M DSL. This is easy to simulate. Now, if most of your nodes are on machines directly connected to 10GbE, then that's a problem. But most Skype nodes aren't. (I do imagine there are a few connected to 100M+ connections. But only a few.)

I imagine quite a lot in countries like Sweden. I had 100Mbit in my apartment for cheaper than my shitty comcast which barely breaks 5.
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