[comp.sys.apollo] Long login time for root

pcc@apollo.COM (Peter Craine) (07/03/89)

In article <ABAIR.89Jun27182923@turbinia.oakhill.uucp> abair@turbinia.oakhill.uucp (Alan Bair) writes:
>We have a DN10K that has the same problem of slow logins the
>first time after a boot.  It happened with 10.0 and after an
>upgrade to 10.1 it still does it.
>
>I asked our local rep and he hadn't noticed it on any of their
>machines.  He suggested I call the service line, which i have not
>done yet.
>
>Alan Bair
>UUCP cs.utexas.edu!oakhill!turbinia!abair

Yes, we know that there is a "problem" here.  When you first try to log into
an SR10 node, the first thing that the node needs to do is to use NCS to find
a registry server (rgyd).  The DM (which is, most likely swapped out right
then) will request registry information (through shared libraries that
are also, quite likely, swapped out).  Where does the DM look to get
this registry information?  Well, it probes the network to find a RGYD.
As it turns out, this is the longest part of logging in (all other
things being equal).

Every time that someone logs in after that, the DM will already know where to
go to find a RGYD and will use that one from then on (once again, all other
things being equal).  Unfortunately, the DM doesn't store the RGYD location
anyplace, so that info is lost when the system shuts down.  The good folks
in R&D are looking into ways to have this information saved across boots.
I don't know what the plan is to implement this, so I won't say much more.

Not all of us here think that you're crazy.  All SR10 nodes will experience
this.

Others have mentioned that you have to wait "a couple of minutes after
the system boots" to see the RGYD on your own node.  I suspect that this has
to do with RGYD startup time, but I'm not certain.  I have experienced this
before, but I've not had the time to look into it.

                        Peter Craine, NACS