m20481@MWVM.MITRE.ORG (Heather Mackintosh) (05/30/91)
What is the advantage/disadvantage of running ns_helper? So far I have not run it. I know, according to the routing in an internet manuals, that you must run ns_helper. Several other sys admins in my company do not run ns_helper even though they are doing routing. Could someone shed some light on this subject for me? Thanks!!!! * * Heather
thompson@PAN.SSEC.HONEYWELL.COM (John Thompson) (05/30/91)
> What is the advantage/disadvantage of running ns_helper? So far I have not > run it. I know, according to the routing in an internet manuals, that you > must run ns_helper. Several other sys admins in my company do not run > ns_helper even though they are doing routing. Could someone shed some light > on this subject for me? Thanks!!!! Advantages: 1) When you add a new node / reformat a node's disk, you only have to catalog the node with 'ctnode nodename [netid.]nodeid -root'. If you aren't running ns_helper, you need to tell every node to do a 'ctnode -update' (or catalog it everywhere). 2) In an internet, nodes in the other ring are automagically catalogued as well. As with (1) above, you'd need to catalog the new node on every node on the other ring(s). Running 'ctnode -update' will only update for the nodes on the local network. Disadvantages: 1) One more process. It isn't that hard to set up though. 2) You need to remember to add the '-root' option to [u]ctnode, to keep the thing in synch. Otherwise, you need to go in (with edns) and update things periodically. The ns_helper is a neat utility for keeping Domain name space updated. It is to DDS as the named is to TCP/IP. You don't _need_ to run named in order to access the entire internet, but only a fool would want to try and keep up to date with the entire tcp internet address space. -- jt -- John Thompson Honeywell, SSEC Plymouth, MN 55441 thompson@pan.ssec.honeywell.com When in danger, when in doubt -- run in circles, scream and shout.