[Demi-devel] Concept code up

[Andrew Pollock]

On Mon, Feb 16, 2004 at 09:58:18AM +0100, Guido Trotter wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 16, 2004 at 09:29:16AM +1000, Andrew Pollock wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> > I've just uploaded some concept code to the files area of the Demi project
> > on Alioth. The release notes didn't format as nicely as I'd have liked, but
> > feel free to have a look at the very beginnings of where I'd like to take
> > Demi...
> > 
> 
> Great! :)
> 
> One thing I'd like to have (and am prepared to code) is a simple host
> registration protocol... Instead of manually adding new hosts from the
> main interface (a thing that you can always do, if necessary) when you
> install the demi-client package it asks you (through debconf) for the
> demi server and its registration password, and then it connects to it 
> (via https? ssh with a "demi-reg" user? ldap? any of these protocols, 
> depending on the local requirements?) (I'd like the latter, of course) 
> and creates an entry for itself in the host database.

We can certainly factor this in. It does go against the initial security
model I have in mind, in that it must work in an environment where the
demi-server is in a segment that doesn't allow direct inbound (like where I
work). So this automatic registration functionality is going to have to be
optional.
 
> This way an host can be added directly when installing it... Also it is
> possible to create highly personalized installation cds which preseed the
> values to debconf, so after a new installation the demi-server is already
> configured to check for the new host. What do you think of it?

Yeah I definitely like the idea, but it's not going to work in all
environments, so it'll have to be optional.
 
> As for the host database I've read that you want to be compatible with
> multiple solutions... Certainly it will be useful to support both mysql 
> and postgresql... Would you mind also supporting maintaining the host 
> information into an LDAP directory? 

Sure. I'm worried that I'm going to start making the whole thing too
complicated before it gets off the ground though. I'm trying to think of
ways to future-proof things, but I dare say we're going to have to break
backwards compatibility as we go along to introduce new features.

Andrew