The upgraded freebsd-update server
I wrote recently about the surge in traffic to update1.freebsd.org after FreeBSD 7.0 was released. I was concerned about whether the server could continue to handle the load in the future -- until I received an email from Layered Technologies.Layered Technologies has been generously donating the server which hosts FreeBSD Update and one of the Portsnap mirrors (as well as my personal websites) ever since February 2005. In this time I've had to ask them to reboot the server a few times when I've broken something or when a FreeBSD kernel bug has left the system unresponsive; but they've always responded promptly, and in three years I've never run into any problems with their network. I can't comment on their billing system -- my sole interaction with it has been to receive a bill for $0.00 each month -- but based on everything else I've seen I have no hesitation in recommending Layered Technologies.
And what was the email which made me no longer concerned about whether this server could continue to shoulder the update1.freebsd.org load? Jeremy Suo-Anttila, the CTO of Layered Technologies, wrote to let me know that they have increased the server's uplink from 10Mbps to 100Mbps and tripled its monthly bandwidth quota -- which should be more than enough to handle the load. Thanks Jeremy!