Man! This is an excelent idea! I'll take both; clicking on the tiny task-bar icon woild
transfer me to
a dialog that allows me to refresh my token, or get a new one. Also this would be nice
to have on the Linux/Gnome port as well, once it'll surface...
Is transarc develoment lurking around here somewhere? Of cource you are ;-)
Thanks,
/peo
Andy Glew wrote:
> 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!!!!
>
> --
> ---
> Andy "Krazy" Glew, [EMAIL PROTECTED], UW Madison and Intel.
> DISCLAIMER: private posting, not representative of university or Intel.
> Please respond by email in addition to replying to newsgroup.
