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From: dennis%cod@NOSC.ARPA (Dennis Cottel)
Newsgroups: mod.computers.apollo
Subject: alternate links
Message-ID: <8607072050.AA15317@cod.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 7-Jul-86 16:50:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: cod.8607072050.AA15317
Posted: Mon Jul  7 16:50:39 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 7-Jul-86 23:31:06 EDT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 18
Approved: apollo@yale-comix.arpa

Managing network resources would be much easier, and the network more
robust, if Aegis allowed symbolic links to have alternatives.  For
instance, the command

  crl /sys/help "//Main_Node/sys/help,//Alternate_Node/sys/help"

would establish an alternate link.  A reference to /sys/help on some
Local_Node would first try to link to Main_Node, but if that node were
unavailable, it would then try Alternate_Node.  There is a sort of
precedent for this in the current method of expanding environment
variables to handle alternate /bin directories.

Since this seems such an obvious extension, maybe there's a basic
problem.  Has this been discussed here before?  Has Apollo discussed
such plans, or has it been brought up at ADUS meetings?

	Dennis Cottel  Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA  92152
	(619) 225-2406     dennis@nosc.ARPA      sdcsvax!noscvax!dennis