Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!uwvax!dave@spool.cs.wisc.edu
From: dave@spool.cs.wisc.edu (Dave Cohrs)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: News shadow server capability?
Message-ID: <5518@spool.cs.wisc.edu>
Date: 5 Apr 88 18:12:49 GMT
References: <238@mahendo.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Sender: news@spool.cs.wisc.edu
Reply-To: dave@spool.cs.wisc.edu (Dave Cohrs)
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 38
Keywords: shadowing	NNTP

In article <238@mahendo.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> earle@mahendo.JPL.NASA.GOV (Greg Earle) writes:
>Has anyone thought about implementing a Netnews shadow capability?
>
>This immediately presents the main roadblock - namely,
>how do you keep the two machines perfectly in synch so that each stores the
>exact same articles in the exact same numbered file names in each's own news
>spool heirarchies??

How about setting up an line in your sys file:

backupserver:all:F:/usr/spool/news/batch/backupstuff

(or whatever is appropriate for your "ME" line).

Then, occasionally, run something like:

#!/bin/csh -f

set LIBDIR=/usr/spool/news/lib
set BACKUP=backup.hostname.domain

cd /usr/spool/news/batch
mv backupstuff backupstuff.work
rdist -c `cat backupstuff.work` ${LIBDIR}/{active,history*} ${BACKUP}:

exit 0
# end

(with other stuff added to make it reliable) on the main server?  This,
of course, assumes that the main and backup server are both of the
same architecture (or you can't copy history files; anyone have byte-order
independent DBM package?).  The machines won't be perfectly in sync, but
they should be close; it depends on how often you run the shellscript.

dave
Dave Cohrs
+1 608 262-6617                        UW-Madison Computer Sciences Department
dave@cs.wisc.edu                 ...!{harvard,ihnp4,rutgers,ucbvax}!uwvax!dave