--> Issues with Multi-protocol Servers <--


The idea of serving the same content using different protocols 
gained popularity in the mid 1990's as the Gopher protocol was
stagnating, and the HTTP protocol was on the rise.  The impetus 
was a desire by the corporate community to jump on the HTTP bandwagon
with a minimum of time, effort, and expense (they already had a large 
investment in non-HTML Gopher archives, and running two separate servers
was at the time hardware cost prohibitive).  This was initially intended 
only as a temporary solution until a full HTML conversion was achieved,
and until their customers had all switched to Web browsers.

Today however, administrators choosing to use a multi-protocol server 
have several special issues that they must address (beyond just increased 
system overhead), that they do not have to contend with if they chose to 
operate a server that ONLY serves up the Gopher Protocol exclusively:


1) As the Web is now the primary source for content, and as much of this 
content is now formatted in a manner that is not useable by Gopher (or
is only useable after great modification), an administrator operating a 
Multi-Protocol server must take extra precautions to ensure that -ALL- 
the served content is rendered Gopher compatible.  This may mean severely 
limiting the capabilities of content on the Web side of the server.

2) The administrator has to serve up the content on a normal Port that 
EACH protocol client expects (port 70 with Gopher, and port 80 with HTTP).  
Serving content on the SAME port (everything through port 80 for example), 
or through an unusual port, will usually result in client inability (mostly 
with Gopher clients, but lately with HTTP clients) to connect to the server.

3) Because the HTTP service can -NOT- be deactivated, the administrator has
opened themselves up to Security issues that would have not been as severe, 
had they operated an exclusive Gopher protocol server.  Content will now 
be easier to access by search and tracking tools, and therefore more subject 
to intense scrutiny and blacklisting by government and religious censors.
The server and its content is also now vulnerable to the same malicious 
attacks as other Web servers, from both robotic and human vandals.