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List:       pgp-keyserver-folk
Subject:    Re: List
From:       Peter.Wan () CC ! Gatech ! EDU ("Peter N !  Wan")
Date:       2001-05-06 4:38:03
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On May 5,  9:30pm, "Jeremy M. Dolan" wrote:
} Subject: Re: List
} 
} On Sat, 05 May 2001 19:00:45 +0000, audit wrote:
} > I would like to see this list get back to a steady run again if at all
} > possible.
} 
} Well I'll do my part... here's a question.

Hi Jeremy, I am copying this reply to the keyserver managers list as
well as back to the Crypto list.

} Few weeks ago, I wanted to upload my PGP public key public key
} servers. I looked on the web as to what servers were out there, and
} found mostly out-of-date information.
}
} I think the current situation is that there are two main key
} databases. One which includes pgp5.ai.mit.edu and pgp.com, among a lot
} of european servers, and the other one is keyserver.net. Hopefully
} someone can confirm or deny this, as the infomation I've found is
} sketchy at best.

Yes there are three "universes" of keyservers that I know of, roughly
defined by the software that they use.  The pgp.com keyserver is in use
on pgpkeys.mit.edu/certserver.pgp.com (both names point to the same
machine) and on a server on surfnet.nl (I forget that server's name).
pgp5.ai.mit.edu is down now due to a full disk, but it is one of many
servers that run the Horowitz keyserver (I don't remember if it is
still the default keyserver for the US versions of PGP freeware).  The
keyserver.net folks are running the Highware OpenKeyServer.  Currently,
there is no automated exchange of keys between certserver.pgp.com and
the other keyservers, though there is currently an effort to load a
recent dump of that keyserver into the Horowitz keyserver network to
catch up the latter on keys that have been added/updated by the
commercial versions of PGP.  The Horowitz servers are exchanging key
information with the keyserver.net servers and vice versa.

} So I went about trying to upload my key to the pgp.com/mit.edu
} network. Some web page (out of date, of course) listed 20-some servers
} as part of that network. So I picked one and added it to my GnuPG
} config to auto-retrieve keys. Didn't seem to work, so I picked
} another. I think I ended up having to try 15 servers before I found
} one that actually worked (horowitz.surfnet.nl). This server seems to
} contain keys for most people whom I get signed e-mail from, so, so
} far, so good.

Were you looking at http://www.openpgp.net/pgpsrv.html for the server
list?

The horowitz.surfnet.nl server maintainer is currently loading the
certserver.pgp.com dump into the Horowitz network, so it is no surprise
that his server had the keys that you were looking for.  His server is
also the one that European copies of PGP freeware (the "international"
version) default to, I believe.  I try to synchronize with his server
every so often (we are both on fast network connections so exchanging
1.6GB keyrings is not so bad as on a T1/E1, etc.).  I run
pgp.cc.gatech.edu to help propagation of keys and to have as many keys
as I can available for various research (I contributed to Neal
McBurnett's analysis of the PGP PKI, the data is old but still may be
interesting at http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/pgpstat/).

} Then I tried to upload my key to this network, via the form at
} pgp5.ai.mit.edu. Unfortunatly the CGI there was broken, as it was on
} all of the mirrors I could find.

The keyserver that that form tries to access is down as far as I know,
so it probably won't work.  As running the keyservers has been a
volunteer effort, I'm not sure how many of the published Web forms are
still working.

} SO... can someone who knows the current state of keyservers, fill the
} list in? How many "major" networks of servers are there, how do I get
} my key in them, and... is PGP dying? 20 of the 20-some keyservers I
} tried were seemingly down. What's going on?
} 
} /jmd
}-- End of excerpt from "Jeremy M. Dolan"

I don't know if there's a US Horowitz server that is a good one to
point to any more, with pgp5.ai.mit.edu being down.  There is Web
access to search and add keys at http://certserver.pgp.com, but I don't
know if that is the "preferred" way to access that one.  Currently, a
good way to get your key propagated is to upload it to both
certserver.pgp.com and to horowitz.surfnet.nl, then all three universes
of keyservers will see it relatively quickly.

Hope this was of use, maybe another keyserver operator can provide more
info.  I am not as familiar with GPG as I should be, so don't know why
you were having trouble with it and those other servers (maybe if you
post a list those of us who are peering with the known working ones can
tell you if they are definitively down).
	Peter

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-- 
Peter N. Wan (peter.wan@cc.gatech.edu)  801 Atlantic Drive
Computing and Networking Services       Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0280 USA
College of Computing, Rm 213            +1 (404) 894-4736 / +1 (404) 385-0364
Georgia Institute of Technology		Georgia Tech FIRST Team Representative
PGP Key: finger peter@cc.gatech.edu | E-mail w/Subject: get pgp key
<A HREF="http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~peter">Peter N. Wan</A>

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