[9fans] How to set up network?

[9fans] How to set up network?

[Angelo Papenhoff]

Hello,
after my last attempt on plan9 several months ago I again decided to
give plan9 a chance and installed it,
but I have no idea how to set up my network. I think the files to edit
are in /lib/ndb but I have no clue how to do that. I read every doc on
the plan9 site that seemed promising but it didn't help me set up my
network connection.
What I want is simple (under unix): I want the system to be part in my
domain and use another computer in my network as DNS server. I already
configured /cfg/gnot/termrc to set my ip via ip/ipconfig and I can
ping other computers in my network but dns doesn't work (the doc says
I just need to start ndb/dns -r, but firstly it's already started and
secondly it doesn't work). Could anyone please explain to me how to
set up my network?

Thanks,
Angelo Papenhoff

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

[erik quanstrom]

          -r  act as a resolver only: send `recursive' queries, asking
              the other servers to complete lookups.  If present,
              /env/DNSSERVER must be a space-separated list of such
              DNS servers' IP addresses, otherwise optional ndb(6) dns
              attributes name DNS servers to forward queries to.

- erik

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

[Sergey Kornilovich]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 955 bytes --]

echo ip_dns_server > /env/DNSSERVER

2009/6/15 Angelo Papenhoff <kotzkroete@gmail.com>

> Hello,
> after my last attempt on plan9 several months ago I again decided to
> give plan9 a chance and installed it,
> but I have no idea how to set up my network. I think the files to edit
> are in /lib/ndb but I have no clue how to do that. I read every doc on
> the plan9 site that seemed promising but it didn't help me set up my
> network connection.
> What I want is simple (under unix): I want the system to be part in my
> domain and use another computer in my network as DNS server. I already
> configured /cfg/gnot/termrc to set my ip via ip/ipconfig and I can
> ping other computers in my network but dns doesn't work (the doc says
> I just need to start ndb/dns -r, but firstly it's already started and
> secondly it doesn't work). Could anyone please explain to me how to
> set up my network?
>
> Thanks,
> Angelo Papenhoff
>
>

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 1294 bytes --]

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

[erik quanstrom]

On Mon Jun 15 09:33:40 EDT 2009, root81@gmail.com wrote:

> echo ip_dns_server > /env/DNSSERVER
>

why would you do it this way instead of
	DNSSERVER=ip_dns_server
?

- erik

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

[Sean Thomas Caron]

Hi Angelo,

You need to configure some DNS servers in e.g. /lib/ndb/local.

I have some notes on setting up a standalone Plan 9 CPU and file  
server at the following URL:

http://wildflower.diablonet.net/~scaron/p9setup.html

It sounds like you're just trying to set up a terminal so this won't  
be quite the same, but, really, a standalone terminal is of limited  
use; setting up a proper server is much more interesting. You should  
consider it.

Best,

-Sean

>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:14:52 GMT
> From: Angelo Papenhoff <kotzkroete@gmail.com>
> Subject: [9fans] How to set up network?
> To: 9fans@9fans.net
> Message-ID:
> 	<423d66ac-fffa-4316-9019-eba29932dd65@r37g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hello,
> after my last attempt on plan9 several months ago I again decided to
> give plan9 a chance and installed it,
> but I have no idea how to set up my network. I think the files to edit
> are in /lib/ndb but I have no clue how to do that. I read every doc on
> the plan9 site that seemed promising but it didn't help me set up my
> network connection.
> What I want is simple (under unix): I want the system to be part in my
> domain and use another computer in my network as DNS server. I already
> configured /cfg/gnot/termrc to set my ip via ip/ipconfig and I can
> ping other computers in my network but dns doesn't work (the doc says
> I just need to start ndb/dns -r, but firstly it's already started and
> secondly it doesn't work). Could anyone please explain to me how to
> set up my network?
>
> Thanks,
> Angelo Papenhoff

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

[Angelo Papenhoff]

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

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

[John Floren]

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

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

[Angelo Papenhoff]

Alright,
I have now set up a cpu/auth/file server and can login with drawterm.
But I have not yet understood the concept of terminals in plan9 and
can't find any useful information on it.
Can somebody please explain to me what a terminal server in a plan9
network really is and does, I didn't find anything helpful, plan9
documention is really sparse.

Angelo Papenhoff

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

[erik quanstrom]

On Mon Jun 29 05:44:58 EDT 2009, kotzkroete@gmail.com wrote:
> Alright,
> I have now set up a cpu/auth/file server and can login with drawterm.
> But I have not yet understood the concept of terminals in plan9 and
> can't find any useful information on it.
> Can somebody please explain to me what a terminal server in a plan9
> network really is and does, I didn't find anything helpful, plan9
> documention is really sparse.

i think you mean a terminal.  a terminal is a personal machine,
typically running rio(1).  the hostowner is you.  you can emulate
one with drawterm.  they are mentioned in the first three
paragraphs of /sys/doc/net/net.ps.

- erik