Re: cut off after 30-45 minutes inactivity

[Richard_R.Moore]

> Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 13:23:32 EDT
> From: Steven.J.Richardson@um.cc.umich.edu
> To: mjts@merit.edu, MOORERR@msu.edu
> Message-Id: <15295369@um.cc.umich.edu>
> X-Mts-Userid: W61K
> Subject: Re: cut off after 30-45 minutes inactivity
>
> Is it reasonable to deny resources to others when you are not using the
> connection for the hour or hours (up to 8)?  If "it will be hours before
> [you] can get back to [your] work," then it seems reasonable, if there is
> competition for scarce resources, for you to release those resources during
> this time of inactivity.
>
> Is it really that difficult to save files (so that you don't experience
> "a complete loss of [your] work"??
>
> Steve Richardson/Merit

Sure, if i _know_ i'm going to stop working on something for an hour or so i
could close up everything and come back to it later.  However, i don't know &
when my boss or an irate user will come in.  I can not say "wait a few minutes
while i figure out what needs to be closed down". If our systems had better
"checkpoint" facilities, then it might be more feasible.

Then there are the times when i'm only going to be gone for "5 minutes", but
interruptions in the hallway stretch this pause to more than an hour.

But the real point is that as long as we provide "sufficient" phone lines,
people will not lock onto them for interactive service.  They will feel
confident that whenever they need a line, it will be there.  However, what
MERIT seems to be seeing is holding the line so that one can have cheap a IP
connection. This changes the picture - the goal with IP connection is to
_always_ be connected.  Furthermore, this goal is so strong that it will
motivate people to defeat any "inactivity" timer we can reasonably devise.

An interesting alternative would be to mimic the telebit netblazer solution.
That is, the user, somehow, notifies the michnet terminal server that they are
running a PPP background serial connection on their workstation. Whenever the
workstation wants to originate traffic, it dials michnet as usual. Whenever
there is traffic from michnet to the workstation _and_ the workstation is not
connected, michnet dials the workstation and then sends the traffic.
Admitedly, there is a lot of hand waving here, but the point is that the user
would no longer feel it necessary to keep the phone line continuously.

I also think that the best way to ration cheap resources is by charging for
them - with a sufficient charge so that additional resources can be purchased
when the demand is present.
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