The MirrorBrain
A Download Redirector and Metalink Generator
The MirrorBrain, a.k.a. the openSUSE download redirector, automatically redirects clients (web browsers, download programs) to a mirror server near them. It works similar to the systems employed by sourceforge.net, mozilla.com or similar large organizations, which face a number of download requests which is too high to be practically handled by a single site. To find a mirror close to the client, the redirector "geolocates" the client by its IP address. If several mirrors are found to be suitable, the redirector load-balances requests to the mirrors based on their capabilities.
The mirrors could be machines controlled by you, where you host copies of the content of the main site -- or it could be mirrors operated by other organizations. If you control the machines yourself, it is easier to plan for maintenance and downtimes of machines. If not, the mirrorbrain framework tries hard to monitor the mirrors closely to notice downtimes.
MirrorBrain is fully Open Source and licensed under GPL, with the exception of two Apache modules which are available under the terms of the Apache license.