Site Operations IntroductiontoSiteOperationsandAdministration This document provides information for Site Administrators, people who set up ("configure") and maintain sites with one or more Symbolics computers. Typically, theSiteAdministratorisresponsibleforthefollowingtasks: • Installing new releases of Genera software, and any layeredproducts used at the site. • Choosing a network addressing scheme. Each computer needs a unique network address. All Symbolics computers run Chaosnet, and each Symbolics computer needs a Chaosnet address. Some sites also use IP/TCP or DECnet protocols; if so, the computers there need Internet or DECnet addresses as well as Chaosnet addresses. • Choosing a configuration for the site. In a site with more than one computer, you need to decide how to distribute responsibility among them. Most sites des ignate one Symbolics machine as a server; this machine might be a namespace server, file server, and mail server. Users of the other computers store their files on the server, which means you need only do backups on one machine, in stead of on several. If you have a printer, you need to decide which computer will be the print server. Large sites might designate several machines to be servers. • Configuring the software to reflect the site itself. The namespace database de scribes the site and the computers, networks, printers, and users in it. You need tokeepthenamespacedatabasecurrentwiththeconfigurationofyoursite. • Customizing worlds for various purposes. Sometimes it is useful for a site to have different worlds running on Symbolics machines for different purposes. For example, a server machine requires a world with the server software in it. Oth ermachinesrequireworldswithsitespecificcustomizationsandapplications. • Backing up files to tape. As in other computing environments, it is important to establisharegularscheduleforcopyingthecontentsofdiskstotape. • Serving as a liason with Symbolics Customer Service (for example, sending "crash data" mail to Symbolics at CUSTOMERREPORTS@STONY [email protected]). Note: Genera software installation procedures and site configuration information are documented in the Software Installation Guide for each new release of the Genera software. For software installation information about layered products, see thedocumentationthatisshippedwitheachlayeredproduct. Page 422 This document contains reference information about tools and techniques for Site Administrators. Because this is a reference document (and because each site is different), you will not need to master all of the information provided here. Only portionsofthisdocumentwillberelevanttoyou,andtoyoursite’sneeds. Inparticular,thisdocumentincludesthefollowinginformation: BootingtheSymbolicsMachine When you boot the Lisp machine, you bring up a "world". The world is your Lisp environment. A Lisp world can reside either on the local disk of the machine you wish to boot, or on a remote machine (called a net boot server). This section describes cold booting, warm booting, netboot ing,andautobooting. SettingUpandMaintainingtheNamespaceDatabase The Site Administrator sets up and maintains the namespace databaseby registering new hosts, printers, and users, and otherwise updating the namespace database so that it "knows about" any changes to your site’s configuration.This section describes how to edit the namespacedatabase, andthesemanticsoftheinformationstoredinit. Making,Distributing,andUsingWorlds When a new release of Genera is available, the Site Administrator needs to make new worlds for the site to use. The new world must contain both the new Genera software and information about the site itself. This section describes how to make new worlds, and how to distribute them amongcomputersatthesite. TheFrontEndProcessor When you boot a Symbolics computer, you communicate with the Front End Processor (the FEP). This section describes how to use the FEP commands,andgivesotherinformationabouttheFEP. TheLispMachineFileSystem(LMFS) All Symbolics computers use Lisp Machine File System (LMFS) files and directories. This section provides information about utilizing your disk to maximize the space available for LMFS files (by using LMFS partitions). This section also describes the procedures for backing up, dumping, reloading,andretrievingfiles(andsystems)inLMFS. UsingtheTapeFacilities Symbolics supports different tape formats for different purposes. This section describes how to know which format to use for a given purpose, and how to use the tools for writing the contents of a disk to magnetic tape. SymbolicsStoreandForwardMailer The Mailer is a program that provides mail forwarding and delivery ser vices to users at a site. The Mailer is distinct from Zmail, which is a user program for reading and composing mail. The Mailer program runs on a Symbolics machine designated as a mail server. This section de scribes how the Mailer works, and how to perform administrative tasks suchassettingupmailinglists. Page 423 InternetDomainNames The Internet Domain Names system is a collection of specifications and procedures which implement the DOMAIN protocol, which is commonly used on the ARPA Internet. The DOMAIN protocol deals extensively with naming, and it distributes the responsibility of maintaining naming information across a set of administrative bodies. This section describes theSymbolicsimplementationoftheDOMAINprotocol. SymbolicsDialnet Symbolics Dialnet supports the international dial network, meaning that it enables communication over the telephone lines. Dialnet is primarily usedformailtransfer. Note that several other documents contain important related information. We par ticularlyrecommendthefollowingsections: • For an introduction to the anatomy of a Symbolics computer, including the FEP and other parts of the machine, see the section "Workbook: Overview of the Ma chine". • For introductory information on networks, using server machines, and how the namespace database describes the network configuration, see the section "Con ceptsofSymbolicsNetworks". • For reference information on network addressing, see the section "Network Ad dressing". • For information on choosing a network addressing scheme, see the section "ChoosingaNetworkAddressingScheme". BootingtheSymbolicsMachine You give commands to the FEP in order to boot the Symbolics machine. When you boot, you bring up a "world". The world is your Lisp environment. A Lisp world can reside either on the local disk of the machine you wishto boot, or on a remote machine (called a netboot server). FEP commands to boot a world can be entered manually (at the FEP Command: prompt), or executed from within a file (using the BootFEPcommand). BootFileTypes Boot files always have the extension .boot. Three types of boot files exist. Each bootfiletypehasaninitialdefaultfilename(providedbytheFEP): boot.boot This type of file contains commands for booting a specific Lisp world. It’s useful to have several boot files, especially if your site uses various world loads, some of which may have special programsloadedintotheirenvironment. Page 424 Boot files can incorporate either the FEP Netboot command (to netboot from a remote host) or the FEP command Load World (tobootaworldfromthelocaldisk). Note: Always press RETURN at the end of a boot file beforesav ingit. hello.boot This type of file contains commands for both scanning FEP overlay (flod) files, and initializing the local machine’s hard ware tables. More information is available about the FEP over lay(flod)files. • Seethesection"Overlay(Flod)FilesandtheFEP". • Seethesection"ScanningtheOverlay(Flod)Files". autoboot.boot This type of file combines the functions of boot.boot and hello.boot files. It contains commands for scanning the FEP overlay (flod) files, for initializing the hardware tables on the local machine, and for booting a specific Lisp world. See the section"Autobooting". ContentsofHello.BootFilesandBoot.BootFiles This section briefly describes the philosophy of which FEP commands belong in the Hello.boot file and which belong in the Boot.boot file on both 3600family and Ivorybasedmachines. Hello.boot File This file should contain anything that holds constant for this machine, regardless of the world you are running. For example, this includes your flod files, your pag ingfiles,yournetworkaddress,andsoon. First, this file must scan all the flods from which you want to usecommands. This includesthelisp,loaders,info,anddebugflods. Next, the file should include the Initialize Hardware Tables command, so that any errors it encounters will be seen early in the booting process. (This command is completely optional in Ivorybased machines. It is automatically invoked by the Ivory FEP when needed, but errors it signals may be less clear when automatically invoked.) Then, the Hello.boot file should declare any paging files you always want to use; this saves you having to manually Add Paging Files, or to say the same in your boot file. Do not declare any "spare" paging you want to save for an emergency, because Load World automatically uses all declared paging files, and thus the spare paging file would not be available in case of an emergency. It is harmless to declare pagingfiles that do not exist (for example, one you might delete every now and then to make room for Copy World); nonexistent ones give a warning, but are notused. Page 425 Ivory machines only: Starting with Genera 8.1, the hello.boot file for an Ivory machine should contain twolines: HelloInnn HelloLocal(or