From: David-Sarah Hopwood Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 06:39:12 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Update helper.rst to explain new-style config. fixes #1915 X-Git-Tag: allmydata-tahoe-1.10a1~10 X-Git-Url: https://git.rkrishnan.org/?p=tahoe-lafs%2Ftahoe-lafs.git;a=commitdiff_plain;h=5082ca46f4294eae1addf8fdbd2b46643e95fbba Update helper.rst to explain new-style config. fixes #1915 Author: Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn Signed-off-by: David-Sarah Hopwood --- diff --git a/docs/helper.rst b/docs/helper.rst index a3fcb09c..fa3d3b95 100644 --- a/docs/helper.rst +++ b/docs/helper.rst @@ -10,12 +10,14 @@ The Tahoe Upload Helper Overview ======== -As described in the `"Swarming Download, Trickling Upload" section of -architecture.rst `_, -Tahoe uploads require more bandwidth than downloads: you must push the -redundant shares during upload, but you do not need to retrieve them during -download. With the default 3-of-10 encoding parameters, this means that an -upload will require about 3.3x the traffic as a download of the same file. +As described in the "Swarming Download, Trickling Upload" section of +`architecture.rst`_, Tahoe uploads require more bandwidth than downloads: you +must push the redundant shares during upload, but you do not need to retrieve +them during download. With the default 3-of-10 encoding parameters, this +means that an upload will require about 3.3x the traffic as a download of the +same file. + +.. _architecture.rst: file:architecture.rst Unfortunately, this "expansion penalty" occurs in the same upstream direction that most consumer DSL lines are slow anyways. Typical ADSL lines get 8 times @@ -90,7 +92,7 @@ helper. You can tell if your node is running a helper by looking at its web status page. Assuming that you've set up the 'webport' to use port 3456, point your -browser at http://localhost:3456/ . The welcome page will say "Helper: 0 +browser at ``http://localhost:3456/`` . The welcome page will say "Helper: 0 active uploads" or "Not running helper" as appropriate. The http://localhost:3456/helper_status page will also provide details on what the helper is currently doing. @@ -125,23 +127,21 @@ Who should consider using a Helper? * clients who have been given the helper.furl by someone who is running a Helper and is willing to let them use it -To take advantage of somebody else's Helper, take the helper.furl file that -they give you, and copy it into your node's base directory, then restart the -node: - -:: +To take advantage of somebody else's Helper, take the helper furl that they +give you, and edit your tahoe.cfg file. Enter the helper's furl into the +value of the key "helper.furl" in the "[client]" section of tahoe.cfg, as +described in the "Client Configuration" section of configuration.rst_. - cat email >$BASEDIR/helper.furl - tahoe restart $BASEDIR +.. _configuration.rst: file:configuration.rst -This will signal the client to try and connect to the helper. Subsequent -uploads will use the helper rather than using direct connections to the -storage server. +Then restart the node. This will signal the client to try and connect to the +helper. Subsequent uploads will use the helper rather than using direct +connections to the storage server. If the node has been configured to use a helper, that node's HTTP welcome -page (http://localhost:3456/) will say "Helper: $HELPERFURL" instead of -"Helper: None". If the helper is actually running and reachable, the next -line will say "Connected to helper?: yes" instead of "no". +page (``http://localhost:3456/``) will say "Helper: $HELPERFURL" instead of +"Helper: None". If the helper is actually running and reachable, the bullet +to the left of "Helper" will be green. The helper is optional. If a helper is connected when an upload begins, the upload will use the helper. If there is no helper connection present when an @@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ client will automatically attempt to reconnect to the helper if the connection is lost, using the same exponential-backoff algorithm as all other tahoe/foolscap connections. -The upload/download status page (http://localhost:3456/status) will announce +The upload/download status page (``http://localhost:3456/status``) will announce the using-helper-or-not state of each upload, in the "Helper?" column. Other Helper Modes