There is one thing I have found MS Windows to do better than Linux,
and that is their concept of the "Network Neighborhood", i.e. their
hierarchical tree structure of the local area network's services being
available.
In Linux, you have to use tools like "nmblookup" and "smbclient -L"
(SMB) and "slist" (NCP) to get similar information. It would be nice
to have the equivalent functionality in Unix, hopefully in an user
friendly fashion.
In order to keep with the Unix frame of mind, a solution would be to
build up a file system, for instance /net, which would
automatically build up server information on different protocols. So
the directory tree would look like:
/net/
smb/
server1/
fileservice
printservice
server2/
C
D
nfs/
server/
vol1
vol2
I think this is a very neat idea (it's not mine). What do you think?
Having this implemented means that one can easily browse available
file and printer services, and also know which protocol they are
using. Another thing about this is that one can extend the SMB and NFS
file systems to accept mounting from this file system. I.e.: The
command "ls /net/smb/server1/fileservice" would automatically mount
the file service through smb, then list the root directory and then
umount it (perhaps through a delay).
In order to implement this, I see three options:
1.) It is implemented completely in the kernel.
2.) It is implemented minimally, making use
of user space programs to retrieve information (userfs?).
3.) It is implemented purely in user space, running as a daemon
creating/removing directories as needed.
On the first, this might cause a lot of problems, unless the code for
server broadcasting is not too unwieldy.
On the third, I see problem with integrating existing file systems with
the network file system.
So, a hybrid solution would probably be best.
I am eager to try this out. I have already made efforts into
simplifying the SMB parts of it, having programmed a KDE tool which
looks up SMB servers and their services listing them up in a tree.
I suspect that other network file systems could be added to this
scenario. Does NFS and CODA broadcast server information?
Input would be greatly appreciated.
Pal-Kristian Engstad
engstad@intermetrics.com
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