A mirror site is a copy of a site or set of files hosted at a remote location. There are various reasons for establishing such a site, ranging from a desire to ensure that people have access to information to an attempt at plagiarism. You may be familiar with the idea of a mirror site, especially if you’ve already downloaded software and been asked to choose from a list of download locations. Each location on the list was a mirror site.
Woman doing handstand with a computer
There are several ways a mirror site can work. Most commonly, a mirror is a static copy of the original site, almost like a snapshot, that requires the owner to update the mirror frequently if they want to keep the content fresh. It is also possible to set up a live mirror, which is kept up to date with changes to the original site. Mirrors can copy entire sites or serve as archive files.
A common reason for setting up a mirror site is to deal with a sudden influx of traffic that would otherwise overload the server. By offering visitors a mirror site, or several, the site owner can keep the site running while making sure people see it. This can be useful when a site goes down due to a server issue or traffic flow. Mirror sites are also used as backups, ensuring that a complete set of files is hosted elsewhere in the event that a server becomes damaged or corrupted in some way.
Software downloads are often hosted on mirror sites to avoid overloading the server and for the convenience of users. For example, a German-based download site might offer a Japan-based mirror site for Japanese users, making downloading files faster. Deploying the software on multiple servers also ensures that users will always be able to access it, even if one or more sites go down.
Classically, mirror sites have been used to fight censorship. A controversial website can be mirrored to a remote location in case the website goes down, for example, or websites that are banned by censorship software can host mirrors so people can still access them. A mirror can also serve as a repository for old content, a kind of living archive that lives on when the original site is taken down or radically redesigned. This can be good for users who want to see a site in its previous version or access information that is out of date but still of interest to them.
