Machdb is a program which retrieves information from a database for a
particular computer. It is keyed by hostname and contains elements
such as IP address, nameserver, as well as a list of software packages
to be installed. The database is maintained in an object oriented
fashion allowing classes of machines to be constructed. One such
class, for example, could be for a room of similar machines:
speare9: dot4 dec21140
PRINTER=speare9
Here, the class speare9 inherits the classes
dot4 and dec21140, and also sets the variable
PRINTER to speare9 which in this case is the name of
the network printer in the speare9 lab. The dot4 class:
dot4:
DOMAIN=nmt.edu
GATEWAY=129.138.4.1
NAMESERVER=129.138.4.216
sets variables used in configuring the network setup of the machine
and then dec21140 class:
dec21140:
PACKAGES+=dec21140
adds the package dec21140, which is a package for
the DEC 21140 Tulip chipset ethernet card, to the list of software
packages to be installed. All these variables will be used later when
copying files to the disk. Finally, there would be an entry for the
name of the machine, such as jupiter, that inherits the
speare9 class.
jupiter: speare9
IP=129.138.4.110