Text of TeleFinder Chat from Tuesday, October 14, 1997 11 AM PDT.
In attendance:
From Spider Island: Rusty Tucker,
Sysops: Michael Davidson, mikael fredriksson, Jim Smith, Ken Sutherland, Kevin Shearon, Roderich Bott, Bob Nunn
Michael Davidson: hi Jim, how how ya?
Rusty Tucker: hola
Bob Nunn: Greetings
Bob Nunn: Just got through adding an XLR8 180 to our 7600 120. Makes me want a 604e machine real bad.
Rusty Tucker: Hey Hey!
Michael Davidson: another speed freak
Kevin Shearon: Hi all!
Bob Nunn: Yep, gotta tune them buses
Rusty Tucker: We've got brush fires here today :(
Kevin Shearon: that's ok, they'
Rusty Tucker: Schools canceled, and they wer e threatening evacuation at home, but it looks OK now.
mikael fredriksson: I found a small problem with TeleFinder User 5.6b2 it will only download 1-2 files from the download folder then close the window and stop downloading..
Kevin Shearon: they'll be put out when California falls into the Pacific
Rusty Tucker: :)
Jim Smith: Rusty: Hope you have TF backup, off site.
Rusty Tucker: which download folder?
Kevin Shearon: KRusty did you get my most recent email?
Rusty Tucker: about Reno? yes
Michael Davidson: probably means the out basket
mikael fredriksson: Sorry, "File Basket"
Kevin Shearon: yes, why do you think the icons don't come up when web Server logger says they were ok?
Rusty Tucker: Could be because of canceling the page via NS.
Ken Sutherland: morning
Rusty Tucker: I have seen that from a stale local cache too.
Michael Davidson: Hi Ken
Kevin Shearon: sometimes they load properly, sometimes two load,it's usually different each time
Kevin Shearon: so when you checked out our page it just had the image icon where the banner ad was?
Michael Davidson: Bob, I remember u used Applescript for some stuff, are you an AS pro?
Rusty Tucker: If there are not enough threads you can get that sometimes
Bob Nunn: No not really. Just learned how to turn it on and save it out as an app. It really does all that for me. I can change paths etc. but not any thing more advanced
Kevin Shearon: I have 5 threads (I think) for the web page and 4 set for downloads
Ken Sutherland: rusty, how compatible is TF with Apple's ip5
Rusty Tucker: it should be completely compatible
Rusty Tucker: That's pretty low Kevin
Kevin Shearon: what should I change it to?
Michael Davidson: Thanks Bob (for nothing) :)
Ken Sutherland: ta, contact at apple asked me
Kevin Shearon: could it have anything to do with the cache settings in TF?
Rusty Tucker: We run 20
Rusty Tucker: w/ 5 you can typically have just one visitor loading a page at a time
Michael Davidson: (too bad TF doesn't talk PPP, so it communicate with Apple IP) ......enough said
Kevin Shearon: ok, I'll change it to 15, so what would you recommend to up the memory requirements to?
Ken Sutherland: Michael , u missed ftp as well
Ken Sutherland: 8)
Rusty Tucker: ur right about the file basket! 2 items and it closes :(
Rusty Tucker: add 2 Mb to TF 's allocation
Kevin Shearon: ok thanks
Michael Davidson: that too Ken ;/
Ken Sutherland: rusty, had any thoughts on the alias issue we talked about
Rusty Tucker: aside from disallowing aliases ? no
Michael Davidson: lol
Rusty Tucker: Or just let aliases work within the predefined paths
Ken Sutherland: could realms be a solution
Rusty Tucker: that would be the same as limiting to the paths ( access group )
Ken Sutherland: snap
Rusty Tucker: As it stands now, when TF encounters an alias, it creates a new access path to it.
Rusty Tucker: Lots of sysops utilize that in their setups.
Rusty Tucker: That's why aliases stop working if you have too many ( too many paths ) and TF doesn't store more than 25(?) alias paths.
Ken Sutherland: i usually hack the cint, could that cause probs
Kevin Shearon: Hey Rusty 10 click throughs so far, $3 in the bank!
Rusty Tucker: It could cause the server to run out of memory
Rusty Tucker: :)
Ken Sutherland: shit, i usually hack it up to around 500 paths and give it an extra 3 MB
Ken Sutherland: i use lots of aliases in the file base
Rusty Tucker: If you think that the alias can be hacked, then you should set the CINT to zero
Ken Sutherland: bummer
Ken Sutherland: i found in the pass if you had 2 many aliases the server could not resolve them all, is this correct
Rusty Tucker: It can resolve them all, it just won't give you access to them all, based on that CINT value.
Michael Davidson: Why is it that you have the CINT value set to resolve only 25 aliases then Rusty; is it for memory considerations?
mikael fredriksson: I found 2 outside the chat room ;-)
Ken Sutherland: ok, think of this, in 1 of my file areas i have 30 + aliases linking various hd's and cd's, what would be Your solution
Roderich Bott: Hi, thanks for the special invitation, Michael!
Rusty Tucker: Welcome!
Ken Sutherland: hi Roderich
Kevin Shearon: To many guys in the room
Bob Nunn: Hey Roderich
Rusty Tucker: Yes, that's the basic memory setting
Rusty Tucker: its based on 25 aliases ( each take up 1k per session )
Bob Nunn: Do you think most TF sysops run more than 25? I know that I do.
Michael Davidson: Ken, use an alias to the hard drive and the cd itself. I think TF does all right with paths inside those drives then
Michael Davidson: I definitely do use more than 25
Rusty Tucker: The alias paths are created in real time as the user encounters the alias
Michael Davidson: and put those hd & cd aliases in a folder that is accessible but where the users can't see the folder
Ken Sutherland: nope, in my setup i have several folders setup for access limits, not all folders have all alias's and some have restricted 1's, have i missed a easier way
Rusty Tucker: So you can have more than 25, and not have the access rejected
Bob Nunn: I haven't noticed any real problems though, even though I have more than 50???
Michael Davidson: yes, Rusty, and that's why TF slows down when it cannot resolve the alias
Ken Sutherland: i need a coffee, brain is hurting
Rusty Tucker: a- it doesn't slow down, b - it does resolve the alias
Rusty Tucker: it just does not let you use it.
Rusty Tucker: IF
Rusty Tucker: a- the alias points to a location that's already been allowed
Michael Davidson: I mean, if for example, you have an alias to a cd in a folder, the cd is not loaded, and the user opens the folder, it will slow down for the user
Rusty Tucker: Yes, of course.
Michael Davidson: (It's a sysop caused problem, not a TF Server problem)
Rusty Tucker: The OS tries to mount the CD, so that takes some time
Rusty Tucker: Here's an example of the aliases
Rusty Tucker: Say that the user has a simple access group,
Rusty Tucker: one file area HD:files:
Rusty Tucker: And say the limit is 2 alias paths
Rusty Tucker: You put 5 aliases in the folder
Rusty Tucker: one to the AMUG CD:files:
Rusty Tucker: one to the AMUG CD:art:
Roderich Bott: sorry - must leave, check http://www.spiderisland.com/~Roderich Bott/ to see why... Roderich
Rusty Tucker: one to HD:other files:
Rusty Tucker: one to HD:other files:more:
Rusty Tucker: So it the user finds
Rusty Tucker: the AMUG aliases first, TF will setup access to AMUG files and Art
Rusty Tucker: they will be denied access to anything in HD Other files
Kevin Shearon: Rusty spml pages...Is it just the main pages that should be labeled with the spml extension or should all the pages have spml extensions?
Ken Sutherland: Roderich's page is bust
Rusty Tucker: If the user finds HD:other files:more:, then HD:other files: he will be deigned access to AMUG
Rusty Tucker: but, if he finds HD:other files:, then HD:other files:more: then AMUG CD:files:, TF will allow the AMUG files access
Rusty Tucker: but not AMUG CD:art:, if he finds that next
Rusty Tucker: So even though there is 2 alias paths allowed, he can use 3, since HD:other files:more: is a sub dir of HD:other files:
Kevin Shearon: its/~Roderich_Bott he has a picture of his newborn on it
Michael Davidson: Rusty, say you have 1 AMUG cd and one HD:other files: (with limit of 2 paths); and you put 2 alias in a hidden access folder ; the two being AMUG cd HD:other files:; then....
Rusty Tucker: Congrats Roderich!
Rusty Tucker: are the 1st 2 aliases or regular paths?
Rusty Tucker: Kevin, Any page you want TF to run the includes in needs to be tagged w/ .SPML or .SPM
Rusty Tucker: or you can change .HTML and .HTM to be treated as Active Pages by setting up a handler that way for them
Rusty Tucker: Its better for efficiency to limit them to spml
Kevin Shearon: still confused, which pages are html or spml, or should I just have them all spml?
Rusty Tucker: Any active page needs to be SPML
Rusty Tucker: If its HTML, TF does not evaluate the comments for commands
Kevin Shearon: so change them all to spml?
Rusty Tucker: Yes, change all Active Pages to spml
Kevin Shearon: is the comments for commands stuff like " in them
Kevin Shearon: active as in pages that the public can access?
Rusty Tucker: this starts a HTML comment