Re: [cobalt-users] Raq550: A quick review - I feel like a crash test dummy

["John D. Gorena" <Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris,

1) Thanks for the insight.  I admit I am like most and I am not a Guru
programmer.  It is a pradigm shift that I can deal with especially when
people like you define items like "AFAIK .htaccess files".  Though I
admit I really do not know the difference, you gave me AFAIK to go look
up.  It would be nice to give some examples of work, but again, I'll try
to look them up.  It would help most of us and cut down on the requests
to this board if everyone that tries to help does so with as complete an
explanation as posible.  Even if it is repeated from the archives,
someone will find it easier if the help is complete.  Please do not take
this statement the wrong way.  I do appreciate the response, but you
really did not answer any questions from my e-mail.  I mean, the
original e-mail I sent was nothing more than information that I wish I
got before I bought the Raq550.  And I still would like answers to my
questions so I could make it work.

2) About the Symlinks . . .  I was not clear or you misunderstood AND I
admit my opening sentence in that paragraph was accidently misleading. 
The subject was really about mail files being in different places
instead of an easy place to find them all.  But yes, you are correct. 
Symlinks are the way to get around but I would have to know the site and
the user name to find it on the raq550.  On the raq4, they are in the
/home/spool/mail directory.  It is an easy way for me to check their
file size/dates (using "ls -la") to note who is not checking e-mail so I
can call my clients and verify that they are not having any problems
(its a customer service thing but that is another subject).  


I assume that you use a Raq550?

3) Sorry, CI was supposed to be CGI.  My spell checker changed it.  Did
you have to change your CGI files to get them to work?

4) Thank you for telling me about .db files in /var/db.  I assume you
are not having problems with password protecting directories?  What did
you do your Raq550 or what examples of files can you give to make it
work?  On the raq4, I could 
  - Allow only all administrators access.
  - Allow all users access - info from shadow
  - Allow only site administrator access
  - specify users and logins.
I need to do the same on the Raq550.  NOTE:  The purpose of this e-mail
was not for a raq4 but if anyone needs examples for a raq4 to do these. 
Then just let me know and I will publish it on the list again. 
mailto:Raq4s@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx with your request for password file
examples.

5) When you run "./httpd restart" (from /etc.rc.d/init.d) do you get an
error message that says "No VirtualHosts"?

6) Is there a program on the raq550 that fixes user/site problems like
"meta-verify" does on the raq4?



John




Chris Adams wrote:
> 
> Once upon a time, John D. Gorena <Support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> said:
> >  - The Structure of how Domains are built seems to be really straight
> > forward in the Raq4i .  All the E-mail files on the Raq4i are in
> > /home/spool/mail and listed by User name and the virtual sites are
> > numerically numbers.   In the Raq550, they are randomly numbered and it
> > does not seem to have any particular pattern.  In the Raq550, the mail
> > file is like /home/.sites/XX/site1/.users/XXX/username/mbox where 'X' is
> > a random number.  The files are separated by the virtual domain in the
> > Raq550 like E-mail is called mbox and httpd file info are in separate
> > files by domain.
> 
> There are compatability symlinks for the old paths
> (/home/site/www.domain.com/users/user still gets there).  The symlinks
> are the "official" way to get there.
> 
> IIRC the numbers are related to the Cobalt Configuration Engine database
> object IDs.
> 
> >  - The common Linux operating files are not used the same.  In the Raq4,
> > the httpd.conf file has each virtual domain info listed.  In the Raq550
> > there are no domain names and etc . . .
> 
> It is easier and less error prone (no locking problems for example) to
> use the feature of Apache that will include all the files in a directory
> as part of the http.conf (there is a subdirectory under /etc/httpd/conf
> with a file for each virtual domain).
> 
> >  - Regular password files that we like to use (.htaccess) for password
> > protection for virtual site administrators, all users, or specific
> > login/passwords do not seem to be used in the raq550.  For example,
> > files like 'shadow' and 'passwd' would list the users on the Raq4i but
> > on the Raq550 they are virtually empty.  On the Raq550 gives an error
> > message that says CI is not installed.
> 
> AFAIK .htaccess files work fine.  What is "CI"?
> 
> >  - I migrated about 300 users (about 50 domains) and not one of them
> > were in the passwd type of files.  I thought about using a program like
> > the Raq4's 'meta-verify' but the Raq550 does not have this file and I
> > have yet to read any responses (I don't think I missed any) concerning
> > the 'meta-verify' and the raq550.
> 
> /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow only contains "system" users.  The rest of
> the users are in .db files in /var/db (IIRC) for scalability (if you put
> thousands of users on a server, having them all in /etc/passwd
> significantly slows dow the system due to the overhead of each and every
> lookup).
> 
> >  - Basic CI programs do not seem to work - returns errors.
> 
> Again, what is "CI"?
> 
> --
> Chris Adams <cmadams@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Systems and Network Administrator - HiWAAY Internet Services
> I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.
> 
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