[plug] Filesystems for slow networks

[W.Kenworthy]

On Mon, 2009-02-16 at 07:48 +0900, Bernd Felsche wrote:
> Richard Meyer <meyerri at westnet.com.au> wrote:
> >On Sun, 2009-02-15 at 22:13 +0900, Bernd Felsche wrote:
> >> Leon Brooks <leon-plug at cyberknights.com.au> wrote:
> >> >On Sunday 15 February 2009 20:43:32 Bernd Felsche wrote:
> 
> >> >> I've looked at a number of options including
> >> >> Intermezzo, Unison, Lustre, ...
> 
> >> >> They tend to fall into one or more of the following
> >> >> categories: 
> 
> >> >> 1) too complicated for the users.
> >> >>    (Unison is a steep learning curve) 
> >> >> 2) no longer supported (Unison)
> >> >> 3) probably unsuited for slow
> >> >>    (unreliable) links (Lustre) 
> 
> >> >> What remain are (Open)AFS and Coda.
> 
> >> >Is RSync feasible? Aussie origin 'n' all (Tridge). Easy
> >> >enough to make a one-click icon to do an RSync sync from
> >> >the 'Doze boxes. Your choice of whether each RSync login
> >> >is read-only or not (plus of course usual chmod stuff).
> 
> >> Sadly not feasible as it requires interaction for synchronisation
> >> (or file monitoring) and the synchronisation direction varies, as
> >> well as the possibility of "collisions" with the likelihood of two
> >> users (finite probability) wishing to make changes to the file
> >> simultaneously.
> 
> >> The direction of synchronisation also varies unpredictably. It's
> >> not like there's one master file that's copied and only read on
> >> "slaves".
> 
> >> rsync is currently being used for other files where there's a master
> >> copy at head office and the branches get a read-only copy on their
> >> server. It works well for that.
> 
> >I presume I'm WAAAYY too late in pointing out that this sort of thing is
> >what DBMSs were developed for ....
> 
> I understand completely.
> 
> Sadly the users don't; and want to use Excel spreadsheets.
> (i.e. waste their time diddlying)
> 
> >.. and also not all that helpful.  :-(
> 
> >I'd also like to see what your solution ends up being ...
> 
> I'll let you know. At the moment, OpenAFS is still the front-runner
> with Coda a close second. Too few options for comfort, which is why
> I'm asking for suggestions of others (and possible gotchas).

You probably need a versioning system like subversion or similar for
real control, but  WebDAV seems made for what you want, though it
depends on the interface you need.

BillK