🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <7267@lib.tmc.edu>
drg@biomath.mda.uth.tmc.edu (David Gutierrez) writes:
> In article <18kcvoINNd5t@huon.itd.adelaide.edu.au>
> mpradhan@medicine.adelaide.edu.au (Malcolm Pradhan) writes:
> > I read that Apple have released a network updating program for
> >maintaining computers in labs etc. I think it was called "Likewise". The
> >
> Yes, it is much different. It is not as smart as other programs. It only does
> one thing - it copies an entire directory (folder or disk) to all clients,
> replacing any old version. Its advantage over other programs is that it will
> update all clients at the same time.
> 
> It does this by using AppleTalk broadcasts. This is good in an isolated
> classroom, since it saves time. This is bad in a big AppleTalk network, because
> it eats so much bandwidth.
> 
> David Gutierrez

Er, not really.  Actually, its use of broadcasts actually LIGHTENS the
load on
the network, with respect to the direct-addressed packet schemes.  It
does,
however cause each Mac on the "target" network to service an
ever-so-minor
interrupt not a real problem.

Think about it:  to broadcast this information to 20 macs on a network
requires
one broadcast packet, OR requires 20 direct-address packets.

Of course, we are talking LocalTalk wiring here, not Ethernet (I don't
think
Likewise works on Ethernet).

The down sides to using Likewise on a larger net are (in my opinion):

1) no fault recovery.  Likewise does not care whether or not the
destination
machines receive every packet, which means some Macs could get
incomplete
files/data, with no choice but to re-send everything again and pray
that
these Macs get the information this second time around.

2) Likewise cannot use the benefits of broadcast packets on more than
one network
at a time (that's in the low-level sense).  So, either you have to
manually select
each network (roughly, each zone) and then push the "update" button, or
you have
to wait while Likewise does this same thing automatically (and takes a
bit longer
than updating just one network).

Buy NetDistributor or one of its competitors.  You get what you pay
for.

Mark.

(in no way connected with anyone involved in this market,
 just bored and ready to type)