Brief
====
Does anyone have a tool that presents a little iconified
list of valid tokens, suitable for placement in the Windows
menu bar or on the desktop? Or one which notifies when
tokens expire?
Detail
=====
UWisc CS uses AFS. I connect to our AFS server from NT.
Our GINA (locally customized NT login) acquires Kerberos/AFS
tokens --- whatever is returned by a "tokens" command. That's good,
so far AFS is transparent.
However, these tokens occasionally expire before I log out.
(This is an in-office machine, frequently up for a month or so.
Default token duration is 2-4 days.)
When they expire, various badnesses happen, eg:
a) if I log out without a valid token, my roaming profile
doesn't get updated on the server. Not so bad if I log
in next to the same machine - very bad if I log in to a
different machine.
b) Netscape can't read/save email. Netscape, in particular,
provides very confusing error messages, that do not
provide much clue as to what has gone wrong.
c) Outstanding Word and Excel auto-save processes
start going bonkers, occasionally disabling future auto-saves,
even after I reacquire the token. This has bitten me
hard during a long (7 day) edit for a file that I thought was
being autosaved.
d) overall slownesses, as many things start getting permissions errors,
putting up dialogs that capture the keyboard, and which often get
typing intended for other apps directed to them. [This is a problem with
the Windows user I/O model, not AFS.]
Because it is awkward, as described above, to have my Kerberos/AFS token
vanish out from under me, I would like to have some sort of notification.
IDEA 1: a little icon that indicates if (and perhaps which) tokens I have
currently. Since I normally only deal with one token, a simple checkmark
indicating AFS token valid, or an X indicating AFS token invalid, would
be sufficient 99% of the time (move onto it to show a list of tokens). Ideally,
this icon could be placed on the Windows task bar, perhaps next to things such
as the clock, modem, Pilot hotsync, virus scan, etc.
IDEA 2: a daemon that monitors when tokens elapse, and which pops up a dialog
when the tokens go, giving you the chance to retype in your password and reacquire
the token. Ideally, would pop up an hour or so before token elapses, so not urgent
to fix. Ideally, would not capture input focus, but would be highly visible - e.g.
float on top, but not inputful.
Hey - it doesn't hurt to ask!!!!
--
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Andy "Krazy" Glew, [EMAIL PROTECTED], UW Madison and Intel.
DISCLAIMER: private posting, not representative of university or Intel.
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