Ubuntu repository Singapore failures

Ubuntu logo ubuntu.comI just notice that when trying to update some of the Ubuntu server I have running that they can not find the archives. This is the error I get:

Err http://sg.archive.ubuntu.com lucid Release.gpg
Could not connect to sg.archive.ubuntu.com:80 (111.90.255.252). - connect (111: Connection refused)

I found some info about archives being hosted on the Amazon ec2 cloud so I decided to switch repository. To do this problem open the sources.list found under /etc/apt/sources.list

Original entries from sources.list

deb http://sg.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted
deb-src http://sg.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted

New entries in sources.list

deb http://ap-southeast-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted
deb-src http://ap-southeast-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted

Now I am able to connect but I end up with the following error:

Fetched 1 B in 3s (0 B/s)
W: Failed to fetch bzip2:/var/lib/apt/lists/partial/security.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_natty-security_main_source_Sources Hash Sum mismatch

E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Not much I can do about this. The same error occurs on different network locations and using different archives and different version of Ubuntu. Let's hope they fix it soon.
You can check the mirrors that are available for your location here.

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4 Comments

  1. Hi Bruin(s),
    according to
    https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+question/215109

    After some careful thought & consideration, i think it’s best that you chaps shd do this;
    1. sudo cp -p /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.old.list
    2. sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
    3. remove all the “sg.” from http://sg.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/

    ie change them to http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/

    be very patient when you do this, there are many of them!

    4. goto HUD -> system -> software updater
    5. voila!

    The problem is, future updates will be very slow because the updates probably now come fom canonicals home server which is probably in UK. Singapore server has been down for last few days, probably because ubuntu linux guys are considered plebeian as my cousin says, ie unimportant people!

    If this is not acceptable except as a 1 time off, one may wanna move the sources.old.list back to sources.list. Good luck all!

  2. Hi Alvin,

    Nice of you to drop by.
    I guess your recommendation to go to the main archive is the safest. While trying to solve my problems I tried a few more things like the mirror:// schema. Although better, it still gave me error so in the end I ended up using a fast dutch university mirror instead.
    You’re right to say that we are treated as pleb.

    See my other two post relating to the issues I had:
    http://blog.bruin.sg/2012/11/ubuntu-release-upgrade/
    and finally
    http://blog.bruin.sg/2012/11/ubuntu-mirror-problems/

  3. Hey peter, this morning i was prompted to do another update. In spite of using the sources.list file w/o the “sg.” it still failed with a similar message. This afternoon I tried it again & it went through okay. Might be maintenance time in UK. I took a quick look through at all your niederlanden servers; ie those with “nl” somewhere in the adress; yes, it’s true, they have many more servers than we bec they’re a bigger country & they have more linux users.
    In my “early” days of dabbling in linux, a friend of mine told me that even though we have servers in singapore, it is faster to use 1 of the servers in taiwan. Do u know the background on this or is it simply here-say?

    1. Hi alvin,
      I guess all computers can be called servers. It really depends on the resources given to them how good they are. I notice the http://ftp.tudelft.nl/archive.ubuntu.com/ server was giving me 700+ KB/s so that is very good for such a far away server. It probably has a very good connection to the internet. And maybe the Singapore servers are some old boxes with shabby hard drives in some computer lab that are maintained by a research student who went away on holiday…. so you never know.. It’s really try and error I noticed.
      Yesterday I was indeed trying you suggestion and removed the sg but was also getting errors from the main archive. After that I gave up for the day…
      I would say the http://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt is also failed as it will try to connect to all kinds of failing server and making matters worse instead of better.
      Maybe I will create my own mirrors.txt on my own server where I can then specify my favourite servers and have a central place to update them.
      For now, I will live with it until I have more time…

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