SUMMARY: Annoying sysadmin problems..

Dave Wreski (tel1dvw@is.ups.com)
Thu, 15 May 1997 12:29:49 -0400 (EDT)

Wow, with the amount of responses I received, and accuracy of the
information, I'm tempted to post a question like: 'What is the key to the
Universe?' :)

Anyway, I had a few questions, and everyone answered one or two.

> 1. Does anyone know how to include my .emacs init files in with my local
> emacs distribution? I have spent a lot of time configuring it, and would
> like everyone else to be able to use it too. I understand there is a site
> lisp directory, but I don't know what the format for the local start up
> files would be.

If you merely want to give the other users the option of using your
configuration, just put a copy of your .emacs in the site-lisp directory
with a name like daves-start.el, and have users that wish to use it put

(load "daves-start")

in their ~/.emacs files, possibly followed by private customizations.

If you wish to force this to happen automatically for everyone, then
name the file site-start.el; this file will be automatically loaded
(in this case there is no need for the load function in users' .emacs
files).

This actually sounds like the best idea, as I don't want to force options
that some people don't want.

> 2. I used share to share /cdrom. I was able to mount /cdrom on a client
> without any problems, but I was unable to see the contents of the
> directory. I'd imagine it had something to do with vold, but I could not
> see the 'unnamed_cdrom' directory within /cdrom. Any ideas why this
> happened?

The solution here was to mount /cdrom/cdrom0 instead. One fellow said
cdrom0 is a seperate partition, which I should have realized. This was
done for machines with multiple CDROMs attached.

Other said to kill vold and share the actual device. Don't think this is
necessary.

> 3. I was wondering if I can password protect the actual hardware, to
> prevent someone from physically accessing my machine using a bootable
> 2.5.1 install cdrom, for instance.

See the eeprom security-mode and security-password parameters.

I've actually decided against doing this, as I understand that if the
password gets lost, you have to go thru hell to get back into your box..

>4. What is the difference between an ultra 1, and an ultra 1 enterprise?

Enterprise version does not come with a Monitor or frame buffer. It is
meant to be used as a server rather than a workstation. You also get a
server license for Solaris 2.x as opposed to a workstation license. It has
to do with the number of users allowed, rather than the software itself,
although you might get more bundled software with the server license. You
are on the honor system about that really, but the way my VAR explained it,
technically a workstation license is meant for only one user at a time,
while a server license gives you unlimited users or something.

If you can hook up a serial console, you might save some money by getting
the enterprise version. However the prices on the workstation with the
entry level 17" monitor aren't much more than without.

Other than the frame buffer, monitor and server license, they are the same.