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5 Official Mirrors

Official mirrors are mirrors that

a) have a FreeBSD.org DNS entry (usually a CNAME).
b) are listed as an official mirror in the FreeBSD documentation (like handbook).

So far to distinguish official mirrors. Official mirrors are not necessarily Tier-1-mirrors. However you probably won't find a Tier-1-mirror, that is not also official.

5.1 Special Requirements for official (tier-1) mirrors

It is not so easy to state requirements for all official mirrors, since the project is sort of tolerant here. It is more easy to say, what official tier-1 mirrors are required to. All other official mirrors can consider this a big should.

Note: The following applies mainly to the FTP fileset, since a CVS repository should always be mirrored completely, and the web pages are a case of its own.

Tier-1 mirrors are required to:

carry the complete fileset
allow access to other mirror sites
provide FTP and RSYNC access

Furthermore, admins should be subscribed to the FreeBSD mirror sites mailing lists. See this link for details, how to subscribe.

Important: It is very important for a hub administrator, especially Tier-1 hub admins, to check the release schedule for the next FreeBSD release. This is important because it will tell you when the next release is scheduled to come out, and thus giving you time to prepare for the big spike of traffic which follows it.

It is also important that hub administrators try to keep their mirrors as up-to-date as possible (again, even more crucial for Tier-1 mirrors). If Mirror1 does not update for a while, lower tier mirrors will begin to mirror old data from Mirror1 and thus begins a downward spiral... Keep your mirrors up to date!

5.2 How to become official then?

An interesting question, especially, since the state of being official comes with some benefits, like a much higher bill from your ISP as more people will be using your site. Also it may be a key requirement to get access to a master site.

Before applying, please consider (again) if another official mirror is really needed for your region. Check first with your zone administrator (<hostmaster@CC.FreeBSD.org>) or, if that fails, ask on the FreeBSD mirror sites mailing lists.

Ok, here is how to do it:

Get the mirror running in first place (maybe not using a master site, yet).
Subscribe to the FreeBSD mirror sites mailing lists.
If everything works so far, contact the DNS administrator responsible for your region/country, and ask for a DNS entry for your site. The admin should able to be contacted via <hostmaster@CC.FreeBSD.org>, where CC is your country code/TLD. Your DNS entry will be as described in Section 4.1.

If there is no subdomain set up for your country yet, you should contact <mirror-admin@FreeBSD.org>, or you can try the FreeBSD mirror sites mailing lists first.
Whoever helps you get an official name should send email to <mirror-admin@FreeBSD.org> so your site will be added to the mirror list in the FreeBSD Handbook.

That is it.

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