🚀 go-pugleaf

Mike Matthews writes
In article <1b2cmmINNhof@agate.berkeley.edu> izumi@pinoko.berkeley.edu
writes:
> > This is a huge drawback of the NetInfo, that it allows
> > communication with the active copies of the database.  There has
> > to be a way to allow editing of inactive copies of the netinfo
> > databases, i.e., those I make by doing:
> > 
> > 	cp -rp /etc/netinfo /etc/netinfo.backup

There ARE ways of accessing a database which is not bound into
the domain hierarchy.  This is what using tagged domain notation
is all about.  See below.

> What about making your backup something like backup.nidb in
> /etc/netinfo, then killing and restarting nibindd (I doubt firing
> up a netinfod backup will work since nibindd most likely won't
> know it's there) or rebooting, and using niutil -t local/backup
> -read or whatnot?

This is dangerous, because you may well have some very, very
strange child domain binding occurring.  Rather:

	server-16# cd /etc/netinfo
	server-17# netinfod backup
	server-18# niutil -read -t localhost/backup /
	...

> 3.0's NetInfoManager even has an Open by Tag
> feature so you can use that.

Yes, this is one VERY nice addition to 3.0's NIM.  In the
example I gave above, rather than using niutil, just use
NetInfoManager's Domain->Open by Tag [Cmd-O].

> The database'll be there but no one will try to bind to it 'cause
> no one knows it's there.

See above.  If the netinfod is started by nibindd, the domain can
be "known."  Indeed, you might even want to do some of this kind
of work on a stand-alone network.  At least, do this kind of work
when the network's pretty quiet and machines are unlikely to boot,
thus minimizing the chances a child domain will inappropriately
be bound to the netinfod backup.
--
Alan M. Marcum
NeXT Tech Support
amm@NeXT.COM