Downloading from Microsoft
I’m having problems today with a server that keeps on downloading corrupt service pack installers for Windows 2003. Not just service packs, either, but most compressed installers, particularly from Microsoft.
The problem I’m having isn’t Microsoft’s fault (I don’t think anyway - yet to get to the bottom of the cause), but their download center doesn’t make it any easier.
It’s all Http. There’s no mechanism for checksum or error checking that I can find. edit — other than tcp/ip itself, of course
I know it’s easy to blame all sorts of things on Microsoft because they’re large and successful. Very often they don’t get the reputation they deserve for what they have acheived, even from those of us who believe their ethos is somewhat flawed. Still, I can’t help but feel this is a bit… unprofessional from a software provider. Particularly one who charges for most of their products.
end rant.
April 24th, 2007 at 10:19 am
The checksumming method is TCP/IP
April 24th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Then it’s not working too well…
April 24th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Considering that the same downloads seem to work for everyone else (I presume it’s the same W2K3 SP2 download that Mike and myself have independently grabbed without any trouble), suggests that you’re right in assuming that Microsoft is probably not at fault, but I agree it’d be nice if they could distribute it with some sort of md5 checksum, or perhaps even over some form of P2P network (I’d suggest BitTorrent, but I know they’re working on their own alternative) that would ensure perfect downloads based on a better hash (like SHA-1). Are you able to download it ok using another proxy, or bypassing the proxy? I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s something silly like the proxy server’s network card is a bit flaky. HTTP goes over TCP, and TCP has a (very weak 16-bit field) checksum for error-checking of the header and data. It’s not a perfect or great way of checking the HTTP data is correct, but it’s better than nothing.
April 24th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Damn, Minotaur beat me to it!
April 24th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Serves you right for writing such long posts! Save the prose for that report you’re supposed to be writing
I wonder if it’s a mru/mtu problem with the whole school - either that or a software problem with our Server2003 installation set: I downloaded it using my personal workstation, burned it to CD-Rom, and tried installing it on both the problem machine and a second server we’re in the process of re-installing. Both failed with the same corruption error.
Frustrating.
April 24th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Does your workstation and the server use the same proxy server?
April 24th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Yes, as does the whole university.
But they don’t cache files that large, and the corruption occurs at different points in the file extraction each time I download it.
I’m currently waiting for a cd from Information Services - I remember having this issue before and their download worked for some reason, leading me to believe that it was a network and not a software issue - but then the motherboard blew up… Anyway, it should rule out a couple of things.
April 24th, 2007 at 11:09 am
The point was more that the traffic goes through the proxy, I wouldn’t be surprised if the network card was dying (especially if it’s seen a lot of traffic go through it). This would also explain why the errors occur at different points. Where do Information Services get their files from? Do they get it via the proxy too? Or does some guy - because, statistically, it’s unlikely to be a woman - download it at home and bring it in?
April 26th, 2007 at 8:40 am
The whole university bit was supposed to imply (or even state) that the guys in INSRV (information services) also get it via proxy.
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