Re: tcpsvd vs. tcpserver

On Wed, Sep 22, 2004 at 06:48:57PM -0600, Vincent Danen wrote:
> I'd like to mimic the tcpserver behaviour as much as possible, so I'd 
> perfer to use cdb files rather than directories, although it looks to 
> me like there isn't much difference since the directories are used to 
> build the cdb files (at least that's what I understand).  Before I dive 

Yes, the constant database for ipsvd is created from an instructions
directory using ipsvd-cdb(8).

> With tcpserver if I use -X, it tells tcpserver to allow everything if 
> foo.cdb doesn't exist.  Does tcpsvd (and the others) do this 
> automatically?  Or is the default to deny?  There is no -X (or similar) 
> switch in tcpsvd that I can see.

If an ipsvd has trouble opening or reading the instructions directory or
cdb, it closes/drops the connection.  So if the cdb doesn't exist, the
connection is denied; a feature similar to tcpserver's -X option isn't
supported currently.

> I would also suspect that using:
> 
> tcpserver -c30 -HRXv -llocalhost -x /etc/tcprules.d/cvspserver.cdb 0 
> cvspserver /usr/sbin/cvspserver 2>&1
> 
> is the same as:
> 
> tcpsvd -c 30 -v -l localhost -x /etc/tcprules.d/cvspserver.cdb 0 
> cvspserver /usr/sbin/cvspserver 2>&1
> 
> correct?

Yes, except for the -X option, and that the cdbs are not compatible, you
can't use a cdb created with tcprules with ipsvd(7), you would need to
create a new one using ipsvd-cdb(8), or use the directory directly.

> I suppose that using the directories would be simplest, but I'm trying 
> to make things as easy as possible because this is for a Linux server 
> distribution that I'm working on, so it needs to be fairly simple for 
> others to use.  Using cdb files with tcpserver was simple... one config 
> file, one cdb.  Keeps things easy.  This directory scheme doesn't seem 
> quite as straightforward.  =)

ipsvd supports more instructions than tcprules, and may provide more
instructions in the future.  Using a directory to define the per-peer
instructions is more flexible than a single config file.  It also speeds
up access to the instructions if no cdb is used.  I think the directory
scheme is straightforward if you're used to it, see ipsvd-instruct(5)
for reference, and the examples[0] to get an idea.

And here are some hints on how to create an instructions directory from
a tcpserver rules file:
 http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.misc.pape.general/530

[0] http://smarden.org/ipsvd/examples.html#instruct

HTH, Gerrit.