Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!zebr360
From: zebr360@ut-emx.uucp (Jerry Heyman)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin
Subject: Re: intelligent interface for unix admin. available ?????
Summary: Menu driven interfaces
Keywords: Menus, commands, SMIT
Message-ID: <37739@ut-emx.uucp>
Date: 28 Sep 90 03:23:58 GMT
References: <90269.212511CHATTER@auvm.auvm.edu>
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin; Austin, Texas
Lines: 30

In article <90269.212511CHATTER@auvm.auvm.edu> CHATTER@auvm.auvm.edu writes:
>i am a graduate student interested in working on thesis on intelligent interfac
>e for unix. it would be an expert system (nexpert) running under sun. i am deci
>ding that at its best it should identify the right commANDS AND FLAGS TO DO A P
>ARTICULAR TASK. IT IS JUST AN IDEA NOW AND I WOULD APPRECIATE FROM THE UNIX "gu
>rus" a comment if the idea is worth a graduate thesis, whether someone is famil
>iar with similar work done at any school/office.
>thank you
>mahesh chatterjee
>the american univ., washington dc e mail address chatter@auvm

IBM has recently introduced the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) on its
AIX v3.1 that currently runs on the RISC System/6000.  While there are pro's
and con's as to whether or not Unix guru's will like it, it takes some of the
worry out of system admining for a novice.

It is menu driven, but can be entered at any point if you specify the command
you wish to execute.  SMIT will display the appropriate menu for the command
(or series of menus if you start at the root) and then will execute the right
command (with all the correct flags) for you.  It also saves the entire
dialog for you so that you can see exactly what commands were executed by SMIT
based on your menu selections.  It runs on any type of ASCII terminal and
inside of an xterm (but doesn't take advantage of the features of xterms).

jerry heyman
-- 
Jerry Heyman                  by day: IBM AWD, AIX Development
zebr360@emx.utexas.edu        by nite: Adjunct Lecturer at St. Edward's Univ.

*All comments are my own and should not be construed to represent any one else