🚀 go-pugleaf

woo@ornl.gov(John W. Wooten) writes:

>I'm getting ready to install NeXT's at several schools in our area.  At  
>the central location, I will have a larger disk drive and intend to put  
>the full development software, all references, manuals, etc.  The other  
>NeXTs have IP access via T1 lines to this NeXT.

>What are the pros and cons of making the central NeXT the Configuration  
>Manager with the others seeing it's disks, versus just exporting the  
>large external disk and having the others mount it?

I think you're getting confused about what being a 'NeXT Network'
is.  It doesn't have anything to do with file sharing - it means
that information in the netinfo database (where to get mounts,
password entries, printer information, et al) is passed down to
machines that connect to the configuration server.
To have the client machines have the extended release, you need to
export the extended release from the server with NFS, which is just
a protocol to mount disks from a remote machine onto a client.

>What happens if the Central configuration manager is down?  Can the  
>others even run?  I know they can't see the data structure, but I don't  
>want to build in a single point of failure.
If you have all of the clients mounting needed files (such as
/NextLibrary/ and all of the often-used files under it) from the
server, then yes - if the server crashes, all of the clients which
are attempting to use files from that disk will hang with a spinning
wheel.
As far as your netinfo and configuration server going down - no big
deal, except that no one can log in if the password info is stored
in the domain that was only kept on that config server.  The
machines shouldn't hang, though.  But, this is why you need clones -
if the master does go down, they will serve those requests.


>Will there have to be a lot of reconfiguration if NFS is used?  I'm  
>looking for simple things I can do that minimize configuration and  
>operation support requirements.

I just realized you might be thinking about NIS instead of Netinfo.
I suggest you go with netinfo, it's easier and the tools are there
to help you manage it.
Also, remember that if you are putting these machines in different
subnets (class C addresses), you will need one configuration server
for each subnet most likely.  The broadcast packets that the NeXTs
issue when they first turn on and try to bind to a server will not
usually go across routers unless you specifically tell the routers
to pass those packets. (and only the newest routers can do this)
-- 
David Lemson                                                (217) 244-1205
University of Illinois NeXT Campus Consultant / CCSO NeXT Lab System Admin
Internet : lemson@uiuc.edu                UUCP :...!uiucuxc!uiucux1!lemson 
NeXTMail accepted                                  BITNET : LEMSON@UIUCVMD