(Illustration by Gaich Muramatsu)
Bob knows what I want, and like him I am interested in Mail Handler files, ical calendars, web and C source code. Let me explain the architecture I want: The Coda server sits in an ISP co-location rack, where it has 10 Mbits or better to the Internet. It accepts incoming mail for wv.com, serves web for www.wv.com, and serves ftp.wv.com. It has a scsi DAT tape jukebox, and backs up its local disk to local tape nightly. I can telnet into the Coda server as a shell account when I have no computers with me and I need to access my stuff. One of the Coda clients is on my laptop. I write source code on the laptop, inc mail and maintain my calendar. These modified files eventually percolate to the Coda server, which backs them up. Some of the source code I modify is html in the web server documents directory, which eventually is served as live content. Another Coda client is on my desktop machine at home. I use it just like the laptop, and it has only a modem or ISDN-speed connection. Given sufficient connectivity the Coda server and all clients hold a consistant set of files. Given insufficient connectivity the out of date files are still useful. I never have to remember what file I'm working on that need to be copied where, or which copy is newer, as the system tends to correctness. The laptop disk is much smaller than the Coda server disk farm, yet I still have access to all the server files under identical pathnames. Coda pages files as necessary. With suitable system administration arrangement the long-term stable laptop and desktop client disk contents are completely disposable. All user data is eventually flushed to the Coda server and backed up. The Linux system content is either backed up or recreatable in an automated manner. The next improvement is to have multiple geographically dispersed co-located Coda servers which reconcile changes with each other. This keeps any single ISP connectivity or server disk failure from taking me out. I suspect the right number of servers is four, because that will tolerate a single failure and still protect me with three machines to vote on changes. Another member of the League for Programming Freedom (LPF) www.lpf.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Bartholomew - bb_at_wv.com - www.wv.com - Working Version, Cambridge, MAReceived on 1997-12-04 15:26:45