Using Ubuntu Archive Mirrors, for potentially faster Updates
Posted by Hodge on Apr 28, 2008 in Ubuntu • 1 comment •
Like most other Ubuntu users, I recently upgraded to 8.04 (Hardy Heron), but numerous power cuts, and a sketchy internet connection screwed up the upgrade process, resulting in a horribly drawn out process of reinstalling a fresh copy of 7.10, downloading and installing the updates, and finally the alternate CD for 8.04… but that’s another story for another time…
During this process, I found that the Ubuntu archive repository, http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ was somewhat slower than usual. Thankfully, there are many mirrors available to download from – most are up to date with the latest packages. https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archivemirrors has an extensive list, so I looked for one with an “Up to Date” status, and edited my sources.list:
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
commented out the current archive site:
#deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main universe multiverse restricted
#deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main universe multiverse restricted
and added the mirror:
deb http://ubuntu.positive-internet.com/ubuntu/ hardy main universe multiverse restricted
deb http://ubuntu.positive-internet.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main universe multiverse restricted
After saving the file, and starting the Update Manager, I simply had to click “Check” to retrieve the update information from the mirror. Alternatively, this can be done with the “Reload” button in the Synaptic Package Manager.
Simple, but effective, leading to much faster downloads, and you can always revert back to using archive.ubuntu.com by uncommenting the entries in sources.list, and commenting out/deleting the mirror entries.
Something not quite right? Inaccuracies or invalid code? Didn’t work for you? Don’t like me using Ss instead of Zs? Add a comment below! All comments are welcome. Except spam, because spam is a bit crap.
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Enjoying he blog!
I think you can achieve the same result without going to the command line by
Administration
Software Sources
On the Ubuntu Software tab, click Download From and select Other
Click Select Best Server
It’ll select and highlight the best server (based on ping response speed I believe)
Click Choose Server
The package information will be downloaded
You can use the same method manually to select a mirror, based on the up to date status you mention.