[130] in DCNS Development
Trip Report on LISA V Conference
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (roden@Athena.MIT.EDU)
Tue Oct 22 06:59:11 1991
From: roden@Athena.MIT.EDU
To: developers@Athena.MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 91 06:56:28 EDT
I also have the proceedings if anyone is interested... Peter
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From: bwmelans@Athena.MIT.EDU
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To: roden@Athena.MIT.EDU
Cc: salemme@Athena.MIT.EDU
Subject: trip report finally
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 91 11:30:09 EDT
Trip report to San Diego LISA conference.
The conference started on September 30 with tutorials. There was three
different tutorial sessions running simultaneously. The tutorials were from
9am-5pm. The sessions of interest I attened was SLIP(Serial Line IP), Modems
NTP(Network Time Protocol), Automounters/AMD, COPS(Computer Oracle and Passwd
System), Routers, Bridges and Gateways, and Source Tree Management.
SLIP (Serial Line IP).
This allows an "ethernet-like" connection via dedicated twisted-pair or
modem links. Other sites can connect to you just as if you had a dedicated
connection. This was interesting but we use CISCO boxes and have dialup
servers. The SLIP gateway needs to be running at 9600 baud for high data
throughput. If multiple people or processes are using the same line
performance degrades rapidly. You can recieve news directly via NNTP and
mail via SMTP. Other interactive uses are talk and X applications.
Modems
I didn't know a lot of the jargon, but I made
the best of it. This session stated modems with throughput of 2,000 cps and
above are (sometimes) available today for less than $500.00. When buying a
high speed modem compare performance based on three properties. Sustain
throughput(no data compressing done by modem), anticipated throughput
with data compression by modem, and host to modem interface speed.
Maintainablility, make sure you get a decent warranty (2-5 years).
Chip upgrades to keep up with technology; find a manufacturer who doesn't
charge an arm and leg.
NTP session was next. Network Time Protocol, enables synchronization for all
computer clocks in a large internet environment. NTP is needed to keep
accurate, reliable network time for many applications involving distributed
resources. There is a list of ntpq commands given to monitor the status
of the NTP daemon.
Automounters or AMD session came next. This talk was similar to what we
already do and SUN people are just starting to do. Configuring the
/etc/exports file according to how you want users to access them whether
it is read/write. Manual mounting of filesytems under NFS with /etc/fstab.
COPS(Computer Oracle and Passwd System)
A collection of shell scripts and C programs to check the integrity of
the system. COPS reports problems in these areas, permissive file, directory
, and device permission modes, incorrect passwd and group file entries,
writable files accessed by rc scripts or crontab files, writable home
directories and user startup files (e.g., .cshrc, .profile), and poor passwd
choices by the user.
The sessions I attended on the second day where Managing Program Binaries
in a Heterogeneous Environment, If youv'e seen one UNIX you've seen them all,
Software maintenance in a Campus Environment(Xhier).
Managing Program Binaries session talked about using rdist(remote file distribution)
this was interesting and it was similar to how we propagate our software via
RVD. Starting with a Master server then propagating the packs to the Slave
servers an onto the workstation.
If you've seen one Unix, talks about how one can write tools that work in a
heterogeneous environment. This is done by using a Bourne shell to write the
results in a configuration file which is itself a shell script.
Xheir, allows easy, automatic software installation on a variety of Unix systems and
went into details of the problems they encountered.
The first half of the third day sessions was on Backups. The topics where,
Sequencing Site-Wide Backups, Issues in On-line Backup, and A database for
UNIX Backup.
Sequencing Site-Wide Backups, talked about the creation of Backup Copilot.
This program was developed to make it easy for users to see the lastest backups
at a given time. The recover feature in Copilot was something our group had
talked about doing. Backup Copilot was also developed to minimize operator
intervention.
On-line Backup, talked about the pitfalls of muliti-user backups compared to
doing them in single user mode.
Database for Unix backup, provides a snapshot of what files are on the media in
question.
The second half of the day was on Tools. The topics where A Flexible File
System Cleanup Utility, Fdist a Domain Based File Distribution System, Link
Globally, Act Locally.
Flexible File System Cleanup Utility, talks about deleting object files which are
older or younger than the source code.
Fdist, is similar to rdist, but has the capabilities of distributing
software packages
in a heterogeneous environment. I guess the Athena enironment is not
for everyone, we
centralize services while other communities distribute them. This is MIPS attempt
to simplify and control their packages.
Link Globally, Act Locally, this is the same as our Hesiod database or SMS server.
Basically having a database which contains all symlinks which is then distributed to
all the servers.
Brian Melanson (x3-7675)
Systems Support
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