Re: [9fans] How to set up network?

[John Floren <slawmaster@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 8:33 AM, Angelo Papenhoff <kotzkroete@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ok, thank you guys. I'll have a look at it once I have time (which
> won't be until monday).
> I don't seem be quite understand the plan9 concept.
> What exactly is a cpu, file and terminal server in plan9 (I know what
> the latter two are in UNIX, not in plan9 though)?
> And what services do I need to set up in order to use a standalone
> plan9 box?
> Finally a rather pragmatic question: For what purposes is plan9
> actually used? I get the impression that programming and file/cpu/
> terminal serving is all you can do, but that can't be it, right?
>
> So long,
> Angelo
>

Your best bet is to read the wiki and the papers. However, I'll give a
condensed version here:
The CPU server is intended as a high-power system for doing
compilation, number crunching, etc.
The file server stores all the files.
The auth server manages user accounts and such (also runs cron, etc.)
The terminal is where you actually work--it runs most of your programs
locally, but you can also connect to a cpu server to run higher-demand
stuff. Since you have the cpu server, terminals can be cheaper/older
hardware.

If you actually want to use Plan 9 'properly', you'll want at least
one box acting as a standalone CPU/auth/file server. You can follow
the directions at
http://www.cs.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/Configuring_a_standalone_CPU_server/
(follow the instructions after installing from the CD, preferably
choosing fossil+venti as your filesystem) Once the server is set up,
you can connect using drawterm from a Windows, OS X, or Linux box, or
you can set up another computer as a terminal to boot from the server
(my preferred setup).

As for uses, I'm hacking on it for use in supercomputing (currently,
the BlueGene/P machine from IBM). Coraid uses it as the basis of their
network storage devices. I prefer the programming tools over emacs/vi,
gcc, Visual Studio, Eclipse, all the other crud I've tried. For me, it
just seems to be easier to do what I need to do with Plan 9--for
instance, using Plan 9 to access a serial console is easy, while it's
always a huge hassle for me on Linux. It's also good for preparing
papers.

Plan 9 can do whatever you program it to do.


John Floren
--
"I've tried programming Ruby on Rails, following TechCrunch in my RSS
reader, and drinking absinthe. It doesn't work. I'm going back to C,
Hunter S. Thompson, and cheap whiskey." -- Ted Dziuba