Chapter 1

Figure 1 1. World map from http://mirrors.cpan.org showing CPAN server 

locations

CPAN is modeled on a hub and spokes topology, shown in Figure 1 2. At the 

center of the CPAN network is the main CPAN server, ftp.funet.fi, in Finland. Most 

of the CPAN servers mirror this main server directly. To mirror is to maintain a syn 

chronized copy of the files between two machines. CPAN servers use either FTP or 

rsync to automatically mirror files.

Modules enter CPAN through a system called PAUSE, short for the Perl Author

Upload SErver. I'll provide more details about PAUSE in Chapter 4.

Since CPAN is a network, you can choose a mirror close to you that may offer 

faster download times than http://www.cpan.org. At http://mirror.cpan.org you'll 

find a search facility that enables you to search for mirrors by country.

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4. Of course, the fastest way to access CPAN is by running your own mirror. See 

http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan faq.html#How_mirror_CPAN for details.

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