Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 00:23:12 -0500 From: Mark Mayo <mark@vmunix.com> To: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> Cc: Karl Pielorz <kpielorz@tdx.co.uk>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, config@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD updated Installation / Adminsitration Kit Message-ID: <19980130002312.53242@vmunix.com> In-Reply-To: <199801300236.NAA00844@word.smith.net.au>; from Mike Smith on Fri, Jan 30, 1998 at 01:06:33PM %2B1030 References: <34D12AF4.80043C1B@tdx.co.uk> <199801300236.NAA00844@word.smith.net.au>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Fri, Jan 30, 1998 at 01:06:33PM +1030, Mike Smith wrote: [SNIP] > > It has been decided that FreeBSD could do with a 'replacement' to sysinstall, > > preferably something graphical, and 'portable'. We have a choice of 3 > > alternatives, [SNIP] > > 2. We write something that will maintain FreeBSD - again with emphasis on ease > > of use, but including portability (i.e. we want to be able to run this from > > Windows, other Unix platforms, Alpha workstations, X-servers etc. This is more > > akin to the Admin tools for something like SCO OpenDesktop etc. - but done > > properly ;-) > > Here you lump together a great number of iterrelated issues. I don't > think that you're really thought this one through. Terry is much > closer to the mark with his summary, which comes reasonably close to > condensing most of the conclusions that've been reached over the years. I agree. > Bottom line: LDAP is the way to go, however we do it. It is the > distributed parametric database system that we basically need. Once again, I agree. As I mentioned before, I've played with the idea of a FreeBSD management system in the past, but never had the time to implement one. I'm not really that interested in writing something that can be used to install the system - more like something to manage it effectively when it's up and running. For me, this means a GUI of some sort, ultimately. IMHO, installing the system and admining it are two distinct tasks (at least from the user point of view) and shouldn't necessarily have the same limitations/conditions... Background, which will lead to a proposal: (sorry this is long, but it will be necesary to establish the motives behind the proposal....) ----------------------------------------- I go to school at the unviversity of Guelph. Rick Maclem, the NFS guru for 4.4BSD is the sysadmin here. Rick's hard to get motivated - until his boss (the chair of th department) tells him to get his ass in gear. Such was the case with the NFS work Rick did (and VFS stuff). The nifty development: The Chair of the department has decided that Guelph should return to the BSD limelight again, and wants to do this by "sponsoring" the creation of some sort of "information infrastructure" system ontop of FreeBSD (he's an academic, so don't ask). I was recently repsonsible for ridding the department of the evils of Linux and we have now returned to our roots with a complete switch to FreeBSD (thanks go out to Jordan and Walnut Creek for donating the hordes of CDROMS it took to bribe the faculty ;-)) I met with the chair this morning to ask if I and a friend (Pat Wardrop) could get involved with the creation of a FreeBSD admin system and get a credit out of it (we have a few project courses available for 4th year students). In short, Jim (the chair) loved the idea, and lectured us about how this would be a perfect example of "information infrastructure" ontop of UNIX.. He wants to start this now, and has offered us any resources the department has. To date this includes: 1. Two dual PII-333 PCs loaded to the teeth for people to work on 2. Rick Maclem. Rick knows protocols, and the BSD guts inside out. 3. A facult member of our choice, and his/her grad students 4. 2 credits for me and Pat :-) 5. Money to attend USENIX in June, to have a "live" discussion with anybody who might want to participate in this project So, basically, I'm offering to host mailing lists, development accounts, or whatever people need to sit down and come up with a real, cool FreeBSD admin infrastructure. What do people think of this idea? We need coordination, and I guess "The University of Guelph Computer Science Department" is offering to donate whatever it takes to coordinate this effort and crank out some code. [SNIP] > > b) How do we get organized? (Divide and conquer always seems to work for me > > <g>) > > If I may make a suggestion; given that I'm claiming the installer, I > would recommend that you look at the umich LDAP server > (/usr/ports/net/ldap) and juliet, and start making rude remarks about > the module interface for the backend. > > Read Netscape's LDAP developer pages, and work out how to talk to an > LDAP server from Netscape. Start thinking (and talking) about how to > tie all this together. My idea all along has been a "protocol" based approach, where you define a MIB-like server protocol that performs tasks, and write the GUI of your choice to talk to that admin server. I actually was leaning away from a httpd approach in favour of client/server type stuff, with Java "programs", not applets.. (or Tcl clients, or Win32, or whatever the hell someone wanted write). The idea being a solid server protocol the clients talk to.. I haven't looked at the LDAP stuff, or how it would fit in, but it sounds very appropriate for storing and distributing the "blobs" of stuff that would encapsulate a task performed by the system. Time to do some reading! :-) That's all I'll say for now. There seems to be lots of interest in this type of thing, and hopefully we can all capitalize on it and come up with some neat stuff. Any comments very much welcome. -Mark > > -- > \\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith > \\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au > \\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org > \\ end it's only with yourself. \\ > -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mark Mayo mark@vmunix.com RingZero Comp. http://www.vmunix.com/mark finger mark@vmunix.com for my PGP key and GCS code ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Win95/NT - 32 bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition. -UGU
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?19980130002312.53242>