Determine fastest APT server using the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP).
Install netselect-apt utility.
$ sudo apt install netselect netselect-apt
Display usage information.
$ netselect --help
Usage: netselect-apt [OPTIONS] [ debian_release ]
debian_release is one of stable, testing, unstable, experimental
or a codename etch, lenny, squeeze, wheezy, jessie, stretch, sid
Options:
-a, --arch ARCH Use mirrors containing arch (amd64)
-s, --sources Include deb-src lines in generated file (no)
-i, --infile INFILE Use INFILE as the input file (temp file)
-o, --outfile OUTFILE Use OUTFILE as the output file (sources.list)
-n, --nonfree Use also non-free packages in OUTFILE (no)
-f, --ftp Use FTP as the protocol for OUTFILE (http)
-t, --tests # Number of hosts to test (10)
-c, --country COUNTRY Restrict search to servers in that country
-d, --debug Enable debugging
Create sources.list for the fastest Debian mirrors in Germany using official mirror list.
$ netselect-apt --arch amd64 --nonfree --country de --outfile /tmp/sources.list
Using distribution stable.
Retrieving the list of mirrors from www.debian.org...
URL transformed to HTTPS due to an HSTS policy
--2022-03-30 23:24:03-- https://www.debian.org/mirror/mirrors_full
Resolving www.debian.org (www.debian.org)... 130.89.148.77, 2001:67c:2564:a119::77
Connecting to www.debian.org (www.debian.org)|130.89.148.77|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 113671 (111K) [text/html]
Saving to: ‘/tmp/netselect-apt.Owg2Hv’
/tmp/netselect-apt.Owg2Hv 100%[========================================================================================>] 111.01K --.-KB/s in 0.1s
2022-03-30 23:24:04 (1.08 MB/s) - ‘/tmp/netselect-apt.Owg2Hv’ saved [113671/113671]
Choosing a main Debian mirror using netselect.
(will filter only for mirrors in country de)
netselect: 7 (7 active) nameserver request(s)...
Duplicate address 141.76.2.4 (http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/, http://debian.inf.tu-dresden.de/debian/); keeping only under first name.
netselect: 6 (6 active) nameserver request(s)...
Duplicate address 137.226.34.46 (http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/debian/, http://ftp2.de.debian.org/debian/); keeping only under first name.
Running netselect to choose 10 out of 37 addresses.
......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
The fastest 10 servers seem to be:
http://mirrors.xtom.de/debian/
http://debian.mirror.iphh.net/debian/
http://ftp.gwdg.de/debian/
http://ftp.tu-clausthal.de/debian/
http://de.mirrors.clouvider.net/debian/
http://debian.uni-duisburg-essen.de/debian/
http://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/debian/
http://mirror.ipb.de/debian/
http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/debian/
http://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/debian/
Of the hosts tested we choose the fastest valid for http:
http://mirrors.xtom.de/debian/
Writing /tmp/sources.list.
Done.
Inspect created sources.list file.
$ cat /tmp/sources.list
# Debian packages for stable deb http://mirrors.xtom.de/debian/ stable main contrib non-free # Uncomment the deb-src line if you want 'apt-get source' # to work with most packages. # deb-src http://mirrors.xtom.de/debian/ stable main contrib non-free # Security updates for stable deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
You can create your own mirror list.
$ cat << EOF | tee mirror.list <h3><a name="DE">Germany</a></h3> Site: ftp.fau.de Packages over HTTP: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://ftp.fau.de/debian/">/debian/</a> Includes architectures: amd64 arm64 armel armhf i386 mips mips64el mipsel powerpc ppc64el s390x <br><br> Site: ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de Packages over HTTP: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/debian/">/debian/</a> Includes architectures: amd64 arm64 armel armhf hurd-i386 i386 ia64 kfreebsd-amd64 kfreebsd-i386 mips mipsel powerpc ppc64el s390 s390x <br><br> <h3><a name="PL">Poland</a></h3> Site: ftp.icm.edu.pl Packages over HTTP: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/debian/">/pub/Linux/debian/</a> Includes architectures: amd64 arm64 armel armhf i386 mips mips64el mipsel powerpc ppc64el s390x <br><br> EOF
<h3><a name="DE">Germany</a></h3> Site: ftp.fau.de Packages over HTTP: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://ftp.fau.de/debian/">/debian/</a> Includes architectures: amd64 arm64 armel armhf i386 mips mips64el mipsel powerpc ppc64el s390x <br><br> Site: ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de Packages over HTTP: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/debian/">/debian/</a> Includes architectures: amd64 arm64 armel armhf hurd-i386 i386 ia64 kfreebsd-amd64 kfreebsd-i386 mips mipsel powerpc ppc64el s390 s390x <br><br> <h3><a name="PL">Poland</a></h3> Site: ftp.icm.edu.pl Packages over HTTP: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/debian/">/pub/Linux/debian/</a> Includes architectures: amd64 arm64 armel armhf i386 mips mips64el mipsel powerpc ppc64el s390x <br><br>
Use created mirror list to simply determine the fastest server.
$ netselect-apt --arch amd64 --nonfree --infile mirror.list --outfile /dev/null
Using distribution stable.
mirror.list has been found.
I'll use that, rather than downloading it again.
Choosing a main Debian mirror using netselect.
Running netselect to choose 10 out of 3 addresses.
...................................
Only found 3 hosts out of 10 requested.
The fastest 10 servers seem to be:
http://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/debian/
http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/debian/
http://ftp.fau.de/debian/
Of the hosts tested we choose the fastest valid for http:
http://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/Linux/debian/
Writing /dev/null.
Done.