[Leaplist] discussion - ways to share/access data

[Dan Cherry]

On Wednesday 05 November 2008 6:51:33 pm Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> On Wed, 11/5/08, Dan Cherry <dan.s.cherry at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I use multiple computers ...
> > ... a small server
> > ... work primarily on a desktop
> > ... and a laptop (about 50-50)
> > ... Other family members access some of the shared data
> > ... I like to take my /home/user directories, and get as much
> > of the 'data' files (documents, images, audio, etc.) isolated
> > from the 'config' files as possible
> > ... I also like to isolate wip from completed work - the
> > completed work (such as images, audio files, pdfs, bin files
> > and downloads) get moved to a /share area
>
> Based on these aforementioned "requirements" and "ideals" ...
>
> > I've tried...
> > 1) sharing a single folder area ... with nfs and automount ...
> > 2) duplicating document folders ... with rsync ...
> > 3) ssh and nfs access to /share/docs type of folder ...
>
> And now these aforementioned "experiences" ...
>
> I have one, _major_ recommendation ...
>
>   Discipline your users and yourself
>
Absolutely!

> This is _regardless_ of the "technologies."  In fact,
> if you try to throw "technologies" at "non-uniform"
> and "inconsistent" ways of doing things, it makes
> matters far worse.

Interesting - what you say is true, but the opposite is what makes possible 
significant improvements.  You shouldn't throw technology at how you manage 
data - but you should look at new ways to store data, as new technologies 
become available.  Example - I now tend to break up data categories into 
smaller units BECAUSE of autofs and its ease of use.  previously, it was 
cumbersome and a little risky to have everything mounted at once - so I 
tended to clump everything together to minimize the mounts.

>
> A.  Standardize "where users 'work'"
>
YEP!

> Long ago I made it a standard practice that I would work out
> of _only_ two directories in my home directory.
>
>   ~/work  for things directly on the server (NFS)
>   ~/worksync  for things on my notebook(s) (rsync)

sort of - (for me) - I want a wip directory for NFS - then if that's 
unavailable, I want an easy wip mount (same mount point) to a local backup 
folder kept up to date with rsync. 

ONce work is complete, it goes to a /share/category folder for use with nfs - 
but also rsync-ed to a local /bkup/share/folder for use when nfs won't get me 
to the true shared area.
>
> On my notebook, I only had "~/worksync."
> On my network (desktop/servers), I had both.
> I'd rsync my notebook's "~/worksync"
>
> In your case, you're probably not interested in NFS
> for user-level.  Local storage with rsync on systems is
> just fine.  Create a simple script for users to run when
> they want to ensure they "sync" their documents to the
> server.  Setup public key with SSH and SSH on a non-22
> port so they can sync on the road too.
>
> B.  Standardize "where users 'publish'"

Yep - I like /share/xxx
>
> Likewise, I have a standard directory where users
> "publish" what they want others to be able to read
> (or possibly edit).  Something like /home/projects/,
> with permissions 1775 or something like that (it's
> debatable), so users can create directories and files.
>
> You then force them to "copy" or otherwise "rsync"
> to that when they have "good versions."  You are
> already familiar rsync, so that is likely what you'd
> want to try to enforce.  Alternatively, you could try
> to use a version control system to "commit" updates
> as "published."
>
> I like Trac+Subversion (like web-front-end), but the
> distributed version control systems are gaining in
> popularity, such as git.  If you and your users learn
> those -- of which there are easy plug-ins to even
> Windows Explorer -- it would solve this.
overkill for my case - but would be useful if I was managing several users, 
though.
>
> All without having to use a network filesystem protocol.
> Using protocols that are more favorable to disconnected
> computing.
>
thanks for the comments and reply.
>
>
> --
> Bryan J Smith          Professional, Technical Annoyance
> b.j.smith at ieee.org    http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith
> --------------------------------------------------------
> I don't have a "favorite Linux distro."  I use, develop
> and support community efforts, often built around Linux.
> Technology and solutions are my focus, not dragging in
> assumptions, marketing and other concepts which dominate
> non-community developed software, which I left long ago.



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