Hi and welcome, 16.09.2025 15:36:04 [email protected]: > Newb here. I'm trying to wrap my head around these different roles and which > goes where. Conceptually, they kinda make sense:
Before going into the details, I want to not that the specific roles are somewhat historic and traditional, and nowadays they still make sense, but you can run hybrid models (see later). Also, I'm mostly in 9front here, fourth edition might be a bit different in the details. > TERMINAL - a lightweight install that depends on the other roles to get work > done. I think drawterm from linux qualifies, but could be another plan9 > system - can it run alone or do you also need CPU on the machine (seems like > you would). A terminal can run alone if it has a fileserver to get the programs and so on from. It's quite common to network boot a terminal, and the terminal is often diskless, but if it has a disk, you can run your kernel with a terminal configuration just fine. I do this on my T61 btw. > CPU - where processing gets done, could be a superpowered workstation in the > networks, could also be the same as the terminal. Roughly, yes. The terminal and the cpu server are running the same kernel, they just run a different init script. The terminal init script does basic network initialization and initializes the screen, while the cpu init script runs various listeners and ignores the screen. See also: /rc/bin/^(cpurc termrc) on a 9front system. > FILESERVER - even though they all pretty much serve files, I get the > impression this is more than than - a dedicated server for the network > serving up stuff, kinda like NFS? There's a bit of a semantic difference between a fileserver and a filesystem, even though both are filesystems. A fileserver in this role model means, that the machine has the purpose of serving files (actual persistent files). You could also call it "storage server". In general, this role is fulfilled by running a service, which can nowadays run on a terminal or a cpu. (In one of the old version, the fileserver had its own kernel.) > AUTHSERVER - some 9front thing that adds more sophisticated authentication? Plan 9 is a network OS, so you need some network level authentication. The auth server is a machine that fulfills the purpose of enabling network-wide authentication. Plan 9's model is also a bit different, as there's no root user. On a unix system, the root tries to control all machines in the network. On a plan 9 system, any hostowner is in total control over its machine (hence the name), and the hostowner of the auth can control which user can access the network. With that described, terminal and cpu are configurations, the other are more like roles. All roles can be fulfilled in both configurations, though that only sometimes makes sense. Usually, everything that serves is a cpu, and everything that is only used to access the network can be a term. > That's how I'm thinking about now. I have installed 9front on a t430. If I > installed a terminal, cpu, fs, or authserver, it was by design of the > inst/start program or by accident... although, I did do some keychain stuff > to get the ability to drawterm into the system inst/start should install a simple terminal with a non-serving fileserver (serving to itself, but not the network). If you changed the service= line in the plan9.ini (9fat) to cpu, then it's a cpu. I can imagine you added a key and a aux/listen1 line to the termrc to start a listener for rcpu/drawterm connections, shich is a perfect example of what I said earlier: you can run services/listeners independent of the configuration. > Similarly, I have installed 9legacy on my rpi3b+ and configured a barebones > way of drawterming into it. > > I'd like to learn more and do more hands on stuff. Ideally, I'd like to > distribute some pieces-partses on a few pis. I'm not finding the right docs > to help me figure out what I'm interested in to doing (admittedly, I'm not > real clear on what needs to be done). I am thinking that I want to: I think there are a few good videos about setting up a grid, made by adventuresin9. Other than that, the fqa.9front.org explains a lot of the steps. > Install a CPU (just a cpu? or does it make more sense to do CPU+FS). > Install an FS (does this require a CPU?). > Install a couple Terminals (needs a CPU?). Usually, you'd want at least a cpu+fs+auth, but you could also run a cpu+fs and a cpu+auth. The cpu part isn't strictly necessary, but it is much easier to use this configuration as it's doing a lot of work for you automatically. I recommend reading through everything you can find about the network database ndb (see ndb(6)), as most configuration happens there, as well as find out about what the /cfg directory does (cpurc/cpustart and listeners for each machine). > The authserv is that strictly 9front, or does it also apply to 9legacy? If > so, then I prolly ought to build an authserv, either independent or with one > of the others. I think 9legacy also has auth services, though they have a different (more risky) protocol. If you plan to run your stuff online (or otherwise reachable from the internet), it's probably best to use 9front. > All that and I have to also note that the pi doesn't seem like an install - > it seems like a live boot system that's preconfigured? If so, how does that > change the complexion of what I need to do, or does it? I think most pi configurations I have seen only run the kernel (and of course the config in the cmdline.txt) from the sd card, and otherwise use network booting or a usb thumb drive. But I personally never really tried running plan 9 on a pi. > Finally, there are a plethora of tiny plan9 howtos splattered from here to > timbuktu in cloudland. It's hard to judge their quality, applicability, or > reasonability as a newb, so please don't think I haven't been looking, but I > haven't had a a lot of success with a lot of what's out there. It's either > deep enough to drown, or so shallow, my feet hardly get wet. Gotcha. Maybe we should have a webring or something. I personally learned a lot from other people, so if you engage with the community, you'll learn a lot and also see who to trust. I hope that helps. sirjofri ------------------------------------------ 9fans: 9fans Permalink: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/Tf4bb650e9449e4d9-Mcb32d905cb82063b43c6db21 Delivery options: https://9fans.topicbox.com/groups/9fans/subscription
