On Saturday 17 September 2005 20:43, Paul G Rogers wrote:

<snip>
>
> It seems you're thinking of an enterprize environment with frequent
> configuration changes, and in that case it seems like a floppy-based
> implementation is much less likely.  With a much more complex
> configuration, 24x7 operation and much larger logs, I'd expect it's much
> more likely comes more storage space--either a small HD or a USB flash
> drive, etc.
>
> So it seems to me you could still be thinking of having more than just a
> single floppy.

Absolutely.  

In the LEAF model model the core packages and startup configuration data are 
in write-protected space, so that in worst-case scenario, you power-cycle the 
router, and you're back to a known state.   

Most other embedded systems I am familiar with have local persistent 
read/write storage (hard drive, CF, USB flash, etc.) that contains the 
running AND startup configuration data (This includes expensive name-brand 
enterprise grade routers.)  A power-cycle doesn't give you the warm fuzzy 
that the rootkit is gone. :-)

In my heart, I believe the LEAF model is the safer route.  Not perfect, but it 
adds an additional layer of "defense in depth".    

While I completely respect those that want to run a router off of a 1.44MB 
diskette drive, some of us want squid, dansguardian, and samba running (on a 
local hard disk) AND we want the warm-fuzzy of knowing we can reboot the box 
to a known state.  (And yes, I have a system that boots from CD-R, partitions 
the hard disk, formats it, and then makes the cache directories for squid 
before squid.lrp is loaded.  And no, you don't call it a router at that 
point. But I still like to think of it as a LEAF box.  :-)  )

It would be nice to scale the LEAF way of doing things up, rather than abandon 
it because we have "larger media needs" or because we need 24x7x365 uptimes.

As I said in my original post: "Or, then again, its possible I've just 
completely lost it."   I have a need for enterprise configuration management; 
but I'm also sensitive to the fact that the LEAF community may not have those 
same needs.

Paul, I sincerely appreciate your comments.   Thanks.


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