Re: Wiki about usage of vservers still up to date? / What are descriptors?

[Roger Dingledine <arma@xxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Apr 24, 2006 at 08:36:55AM -0700, Todd A. Jacobs wrote:
> > Also, what are descriptors and how do I know if a server/vserver is
> > able to connect to 1024 descriptors?
> 
> Descriptors are essentially file handles. You'd need to ask your virtual
> server administrator how many are allocated to your instance. If you
> have more than 1024, then I don't see why you couldn't run Tor, but
> YMMV.

Some companies selling "vservers" give you enough file descriptors,
but they limit the buffer space to some very small amount.

This trend is not a coincidence -- the goal of the vserver scam is to
sell you something that you think will work and then it turns out to
have lots of weird artificial limits. You could try asking "Can I run a
popular website from this account?", but it likely won't be that easy,
because many support people either don't understand that vservers are
a scam, or they are in on it themselves.

Now, vserver accounts are fine if you just want to log in and read your
mail or something. So they do have a use. The problem is that the people
who market them make a point of not being clear about what they can and
can't do.

--Roger