[HECnet] Updating Map Locations

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2021-12-09 19:06, Paul Koning wrote:
> 
> 
>> On Dec 9, 2021, at 11:58 AM, Peter Lothberg <roll at stupi.com> wrote:
>>
>> Idea:
>>
>> Put the lat/long of the node in the DECnet executor identification,
>> something like this.. (just an example)
>>
>> set exECUTOR idENTIFICATION "DECnet-10 Version 4.0 *59.22222,18.88888*"
>>
>> Then anyone can pull it with:
>>
>> NCP>sh exec char
>>
>> Executor Node = 59.1 (ODEN)
>>
>> Identification = DECnet-10 Version 4.0 *59.22222,18.88888*
> 
> Nice idea.  A couple of limitations: the ident string max length is fairly low, though some implementations ignore the specified limit.  And this only works if the node is (a) up and (b) allow NICE connections.  While updating Johnny's database requires some manual action, it has the benefit that it applies to any node, up or down, Cisco or otherwise.
> 
> The mapper queries it once a day (the top line on the map display shows the most recent "database update").

I agree that while a nice idea, it have some limitations.
The string length is one. That you need to talk NICE is another. A third 
is that you'd only get information from machines that are up.
There is also always the risk that you get inconsistencies on how the 
information is actually stored on different nodes when pretty much 
everyone have to do it themselves.

I won't mind if people do it, but I'm not going to stop having the 
information in the nodename database as well. At some point, one could 
write a scraper to somewhat automate things, but that's not at the top 
of my list right now. The effort of maintaining the nodename database is 
very low.

   Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
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