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The Dice Project


Junk Machines

A machine that's no longer fit for use should be put in a store-room and have its status marked in its LCFG file. Eventually it should be disposed of.

LCFG

This is how the LCFG file should look (until the machine's gone):

/* the machine's name */

#include <dice/os/junk.h>
#include <dice/hwbase/dell_optiplex_gx270.h> (the machine's model)

dhclient.mac   01:23:45:67:89:AB

/* End of file */

Commenting Things Out

Note that any old stuff can appear in the middle of your LCFG file as long as it's commented out. For those that don't know - commenting things out means marking them so that the LCFG profile compiler ignores them. However, in order to keep the profile short, only essential comments should really be put in the machine profile. Stuff can be commented out in three ways.
  1. /* The dangerous way is to surround stuff with /*...*/ like this. It's dangerous because the stuff you're commenting out probably has this sort of comment style in it already, and those comment characters will interfere with yours and create a nasty mess. */
  2. #ifdef blahblah
    A better way is to surround the commented-out stuff with #ifdef...#endif like this. This generally works safely. blahblah can be any single word that you care to invent.
    #endif
  3. The preferred method to update the comment associated with a computer system or piece of equipment is to use the new Inventory System , for example:

    invedit --host patriol --comment 'random hardware problems.'
    or
    invedit --serial HF0ZB2J --comment 'random hardware problems.'

    The comment field can be any string value (including an empty string to remove a comment no longer required).

Inventory

You can search for junk machines using the new inventory system commands like this:

invquery --currenthosts | grep junk

It is important that a machine put in a store room has its location set manually, as this cannot be derived from the network e.g.

invedit --host tickle --building if --room 2.09

The machine should be allocated to nobody and the manager set to junk. These are both set using one command (note JUNK must be in caps):

invedit --host tickle --allocate JUNK

When It's Gone

When the machine has been chucked or otherwise disposed of,
  1. Mail its serial number (the inv.sno value) to Alastair.
  2. Delete its LCFG file: login to tobermory, nsu and just delete the machine's file from /var/rfedata/lcfg/profiles/. LCFG will cotton on to this automatically.
  3. Inventory commands regarding disposal are here


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