We shall attempt to demonstrate a complete installation of a model F210 Network Appliance Fileserver using ONTAP 4.3.5. We shall attempt to configure it as if it were sitting at Jump Net talking to sparc.cactus.org. This could involve two laptops, hubs, CAT-4 cables, and and least three different operating systems. Don't try this at home, kids!
The January meeting began with various technical discussions about such things as Amanda, and the problems it has with jukebox changers and spanning volumes. Michael Rice called the meeting to order, and we began with election of officers for the year 2001. Michael was re-elected president, and immediately called for a recount. After some discussion about swapping the treasurer (Johnny Long) with the membership chair (Luis Basto) in order not to violate the charter, we decided it was easier just to suspend the rules. Our charter prevents someone from holding the same office for three years in a row. No one objected.
The only other real difference, was that we elected M.H. Khan as Publicity Chairman instead of mere at large nerd. He's done a fine job on the WEB site. As usual, James Johnson was nominated for every position, but was roundly defeated only receiving the vote of the other nominee. James almost beat out Jack McKinney for at large member, however. In short, the officers are the same as last year, except that newsletter and scribe switched position. The new officers are listed below at the usual place.
Michael Rice introduced William McKinney, the director of product marketing for HP Document Routers [formerly Dazel]. William told us about the HP Document Router Appliance, which he called a "Linux success story." Dazel has produced a client server output management system for about nine years. He gave away T-shirts and other items throughout the presentation to members who correctly answered his questions.
The original Dazel product was enterprise software, designed for large installations. It's value lay in reducing business process delays caused by document delivery failures. It is expensive and complex. Without individual sales representatives, it was difficult to market as well.
So they came up with the idea of a document router appliance, preinstalled on HP PCs. Originally, a subset of the product was ported to WinTel. While on a two week vacation, the chief programmer ported the system to a stripped down version of Linux. This further reduced the cost and increased reliability. Seventy per cent of help desk calls are releated to output: fax, mail and print.
The appliance provides a single point to update. Clients all point to this server, which will soon support XML, as well. The appliance has a WEB based setup and management tool. This elliminates printer driver hell, or at least locates it at one point. The appliance provides all of the drivers. The enterprise version has an entry level price of about 200,000 dollars. The appliance costs about 12,000 dollars, though it doesn't yet provide accounting services. It will auto-discover IP based network printers.
Thanks to William McKinney and HP Document Routers for the stimulating presentation and all of the freebies.
If you need any utilities or services on either the Linux box or the SPARC 10 which are not already installed, please contact the system administrators at admin [at] cactus <dot> org and one of them will be glad to install the requested software for you. For utilities which might be of use to more than one member, this is much better than having everyone compile their own local versions - for obvious reasons.
We want to thank Thomas Benjamin and David Wieboldt for renewing their membership.
Our Jump.net balance is now -$6.17, which can potentially mean the cactus machine's plug may be pulled before these bits reach its destination.
To renew your membership, please send check or money order payable to CACTUS ($25/yr for regular membership and $96/yr for corporate sponsorship):
CACTUS PO BOX 9786 AUSTIN, TX 78766-9786You can also pay in person at the general meetings. Please direct any inquiries or address changes to membership [at] cactus <dot> org.
Applied Research Laboratories/University of Texas at Austin,
- (Gil Kloepfer, Computer Science Division (CSD), 835-3771 gil [at] arlut <dot> utexas <dot> edu)
Jump.Net - www.jump.net
Aperian / OuterNet - www.outer.net- (Dewey Coffman, dewey [at] jump <dot> net)
- Internet service provider.
Internet service provider.
Auspex Systems - www.auspex.com
- (Paul Levine, plevine [at] auspex <dot> com
- Fastest reliable network fileservers.
Flametree Corporation - www.flametree.com
- (David Maynard, 670-4090, dpm [at] flametree <dot> com)
- Internet and software consulting.
Covad / Laserlink - www.laserlink.net
(Chip Rosenthal 428-9443)Multi Media Arts (MMA)
- (Lee Williams, 451-7191)
- Publisher of instructional materials for classroom and independent study.
- Applied Formal Methods, Inc.
Austin Code Works
- (Susan Gerhart, 794-9732, gerhart [at] cactus <dot> org)
(Scott Guthery, 258-0785, info [at] acw <dot> com)
CTG
(Maurine Mecer, 502-0190 [FAX 502-0287])
EDP Contract Services
Professional recruiting.
(Mark Grabenhorst, 346-1040) Professional recruiting.
Hewlett Packard - www.hp.com
(Bill Sumrall, 338-7221)
Hounix - http://www.texascomputers.com/hounix/
O'Keefe Search - http://www.okeefesearch.com/- (Marilyn Harper)
Houston's Unix Users Group.(John O'Keefe, 1-888-446-2137, john [at] okeefesearch <dot> com) Professional recruiting.
Sailaway System Design(Chris J Johnson, 447-5243)
Schlumberger - www.slb.com(Kathy O'Brien, obrien [at] asc <dot> slb <dot> com)
Technical services and products in over 100 countries.Silicon Graphics - www.sgi.com
(Don Williams, 346-9342)
Solid Systems(Pete Farrell, 442-2222) Sterling Information Group www.sterinfo.com
(Darrell Hanshaw, 344-1005, dhanshaw [at] sterinfo <dot> com)
Sun Microsystems - www.sun.com(Rick Taylor)
Supplier of Unix client-server computing solutions.Tandem Computers - www.tandem.com
(Ron Boerger, 244-8000)
Provider of scalable, high availability systems.Texas Internet Consulting - www.tic.com
(Smoot Carl-Mitchell, 451-6176, smoot [at] tic <dot> com)
TCP/IP networking, Unix, and open systems standards.Technow
A Sun Authorized Training Center and a Hardware Reseller.
Unison Software(Shelley St. John, 478-0611)
Supplier of networked systems management solutions.UT Computer Science Department
(Patti Spencer)
UT Computation Center(Mike Cerda, 471-3241, cerda [at] uts <dot> cc <dot> utexas <dot> edu)
Please do not show up earlier than 6:20 pm on the specified day. Enter through the main entrance at 10000 Burnet Road for ARL:UT. Tell the guard that you are here for the CACTUS meeting. You will be required to sign a log book, but not required to wear a badge. The guards will direct you to the auditorium entrance. Limited parking in the front of the building is available, but more extensive parking is available in the large parking lot just north of the ARL building. After 6:30 pm, all entrances to JJ PRC, except for the Burnet Road entrance, are closed and locked. You can still enter the parking lot in front of the ARL building. No parking tags are necessary after 6:00 pm. See map for further details.
Online maps are available at:
| | ^ <---- to MOPAC | | | | | | North | | | to Braker Lane ---------------+ | -+ /-----------+ | | | | | | +--------+ | | | Parking | | | | Lot | | | +----------+ | | | | +------------+ | | | | +-------+ | | | | +---+ | | | | | | | Rutland | ARL | | | | +--------- | | | | | +--------- | | | +---+ | | | +---+---+ | +------------+ | | | | | | South | | | to US 183 | | v