flowers@CS.UCLA.EDU (05/08/88)
It is getting really difficult trying to keep a few different machines
in synch in terms of each having the same installed software and
copies of the same working documents (home & office machines). Does
anyone have any good suggestions or know of a program that will help
with this? There are a few things that make this non-trivial:
- Find Since ... (e.g. with DiskTop) doesn't work, since newly copied
files keep their original write dates (which could be quite a ways
into the past). So you have to keep a directory snapshot in some
manner to be able to detect what has changed.
- I thought incremental backups would be a way to do this, but with
DiskFit at least I can't make it restore a save set without first
deleting and reinitializing the target disk. Also, you want to
incrementally grab every change that was made, not since the last
backup, but since the last time you propogated changes to other
machines, so you need to be able to specify this.
- Also, with different machines, some individualization is necessary.
For example, choosen printers are different, baud rates differ,
folders differ. In the future other differences may be based on
different amounts of core memory, disk space, appletalk connections,
activities done only at one place and not the other. Thus, some way
is needed of making individual changes and NOT having those propogate
to other machines as they are updated.
Does anyone have any suggestions for technique or sofware packages to
aid with this? Right now I just try to be careful and systematic, but
that fails at times.
thanks,
Margot Flowers Flowers@CS.UCLA.EDU ...!{ucbvax|ihnp4}!ucla-cs!flowersws0n+@andrew.cmu.edu (Walter Ray Smith) (05/08/88)
> *Excerpts from ext.nn.comp.sys.mac: 8-May-88 keeping multiple machine en..* > *flowers@CS.UCLA.EDU (1661)* > It is getting really difficult trying to keep a few different machines > in synch in terms of each having the same installed software and > copies of the same working documents (home & office machines). Does> anyone > have any good suggestions or know of a program that will help> with this? The CMU Computer Science Dept. has had hundreds of networked Unix workstations for several years now, and we have exactly the same problem. Different machines need different configurations. Some things are centrally controlled, while others are dictated by individual preference. Packages are constantly being updated, especially those created locally. The machines are no longer in a single room staffed by operators, but distributed around the campus in locked offices. This situation became enough of a nightmare to generate at least one Ph.D. thesis and a complex system called SUP (Software Update Package?). SUP is a daemon process that visits each machine daily in the wee hours of the morning and makes it conform to the appropriate configuration standard. It takes the place of the operator of times past who would fix each machine individually when a package was updated. Now that Macs are being networked together in vast numbers, it seems that a SUP-like program for the Mac might have a market opportunity. It would take a lot of effort to make it comprehensible to the average part-time "LAN manager", but could save a lot of time for users. Imagine, when a new LaserWriter driver comes out, installing it on a single Mac, pressing a button, and distributing it to every appropriate Mac in the building, all at once. - Walt
keeshu@nikhefk.UUCP (Kees Huyser) (05/08/88)
In article <UWV178y00hkjA0nVNm@andrew.cmu.edu> ws0n+@andrew.cmu.edu (Walter Ray Smith) writes: #Imagine, when a new LaserWriter driver #comes out, installing it on a single Mac, pressing a button, and distributing #it to every appropriate Mac in the building, all at once. # #- Walt Imagine, when a new virus comes out, installing it on a single Mac, pressing a button, and distributing it to every appropriate Mac in the building, all at once. :-) - Kees | UUCP : keeshu@nikhefk.uucp or {[wherever]!uunet}!mcvax!nikhefk!keeshu | BITNET : keeshu@hasara5.bitnet | FIDO : Kees Huyser @ 2:508/15 (Opus_MacSaga) | SNAIL : Kees Huyser, NIKHEF-K, PO Box 4395, 1009 AJ Amsterdam, Netherlands +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
steele@unc.cs.unc.edu (Oliver Steele) (05/09/88)
keeshu@nikhefk.UUCP (Kees Huyser) writes: >Imagine, when a new virus comes out, installing it on a single Mac, >pressing a button, and distributing it to every appropriate Mac in >the building, all at once. :-) Apple will release future system updates in virus format. [followups to wreck.humor]
dtw@f.gp.cs.cmu.edu (Duane Williams) (05/10/88)
In message <UWV178y00hkjA0nVNm@andrew.cmu.edu>, Walter Ray Smith writes: | The CMU Computer Science Dept. has had hundreds of networked Unix | workstations for several years now, and we have exactly the same problem. | .... | SUP is a daemon process that visits each machine daily in the wee hours of | the morning and makes it conform to the appropriate configuration standard. No, Walt, SUP makes the machines conform to the latest installed configuration, whether or not that is an appropriate configuration. SUP will install buggy or broken software as readily as improved software, and has done so on a number of occasions. People have prepared demos the night before the event and come in the next morning to discover that incompatible system software has been automatically installed on their machines by SUP. I would not be so enthusiastic as you are about recommending such a system for networked Macs. Duane Williams -- uucp: ...!seismo!cmucspt!me.ri.cmu.edu!dtw arpa: dtw@cs.cmu.edu
ws0n+@andrew.cmu.edu (Walter Ray Smith) (05/13/88)
Yes, Duane, I understand that in reality SUP is a smoking demon from hell (pun intended) that has been known to _sense_ demos and purposefully reduce your carefully-tuned workstation to a pile of useless bits--sometimes _during_ a demo. However, I think it should be possible to do SUP more correctly, in such a way as to reduce the frequency of such disasters. I'm trying to make it sound better than it is, so someone will be intrigued enough to try it. Shhhhhh. How about "Ralph Systemsmanager says you ought to have the new LaserWriter driver. Want me to install it? [Yes] [No] [Cancel]"? - Walt