[Boxbackup-dev] Need server-side kill-switch

[Peter Jalajas, GigaLock Backup Services]

Hi Chris,

On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 11:40 AM, Chris Wilson wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Oct 2012, Peter Jalajas, GigaLock Backup Services wrote:
>
>> Hi James,
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 1:25 PM, James O'Gorman wrote:
>>>
>>> On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 01:08:56PM -0400, Peter Jalajas, GigaLock Backup
>>> Services wrote:
>>> As a first solution, can you not just put a packet filter in front of
>>> your backup server (hopefully there's one anyway) that sends a TCP RST
>>> to the client?
>>
>>
>> It just gives me the heebeegeebees (sp?) to have one of my "clients"
>> out there desperately spinning away every 2 minutes.  It just doesn't
>> seem right.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel somewhat responsible for
>> shutting them down.  And then there's dynamic IP address problems.
>> Funny, I want to send a kind of "BOX RST" to the client.  :^)
>
>
> They're not your client any more, so you don't owe them anything.
>
> The waste of time on their side gives them a (small) incentive to uninstall
> the Box Backup client, which is what they should do anyway.
>
> The cost on your server is approximately zero.
>
>
>> I guess I'm not _exactly_ sure of what Chris' most recent
>> implementation was
>
>
> The ability to disable accounts (on the server) without deleting them.
>
>
>> PS: I guess I could accept an exponential slowing of the connection
>> attempts (2 mins, 4, 8, 16, 32mins, on so on), but that doesn't seem as
>> clean to me as a formal StopConnectingToMe.  I'm not gonna give you your
>> data back, even after 2^128 minutes, promise.
>
>
> The client should already back off (not exponentially, but for a while) if
> the connection fails, e.g. because the account is disabled or doesn't exist.

I'll take as a -1  :^)  And the only -1 that counts.

Thanks even though,
Pete

PS:  OK, last try:  how about as a configurable client-side option?