On Nov 5, 2008, at 9:46 AM, Hemant Shah wrote:

> ≈
>
> --- On Tue, 11/4/08, Kevin Keane <subscription AT kkeane DOT com> wrote:
>
>> From: Kevin Keane <subscription AT kkeane DOT com>
>> Subject: Re: [Bacula-users] What new feature are you waiting for?
>> To:
>> Cc: "bacula-users" <bacula-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net>
>> Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008, 2:18 PM
>> Hemant Shah wrote:
>>> --- On Mon, 11/3/08, Frank Sweetser <fs AT WPI DOT EDU>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> From: Frank Sweetser <fs AT WPI DOT EDU>
>>>> Subject: Re: [Bacula-users] What new feature are
>> you waiting for?
>>>> To: "junior.listas"
>> <junior.listas AT gmail DOT com>
>>>> Cc: "bacula-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net"
>> <bacula-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net>
>>>> Date: Monday, November 3, 2008, 9:48 PM
>>>> junior.listas wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Configuration data ( whatever is in the config
>> file )
>>>>>
>>>> may be placed on
>>>>
>>>>> the database or xml files, this can simplify
>> bacula
>>>>>
>>>> use in web|gtk
>>>>
>>>>> interfaces or appliances.
>>>>>
>>>> Sorry, but that's a feature that's not
>> likely to be
>>>> implemented any time soon:
>>>>
>>>>
>> http://wiki.bacula.org/doku.php?id=faq#why_doesn_t_bacula_store_configuration_in_the_catalog_database
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  Converting it to an XML file would not pose the
>> problems specified in the above wiki, there are lots of
>> tools to create/parse XML files tha could be useful.
>>>
>> How about a way to make everybody happy? Store the config
>> in the
>> database to make it easy to manipulate in Web pages and the
>> like - I do
>> think this would be a nice-to-have. Use an export and
>> import function to
>> text files - this will address the issues listed in the
>> Wiki. Obviously,
>> the export should be automatic after each change, and the
>> import should
>> be manual.
>>

> I think that the database design for the config file would be very  
> complicated. There are so many options, many are optional. In some  
> ways each configuration is different. The database would be very  
> complicated.

I know of another project that does something similar.  Nagios.

Nagios has a sister project, Lilac (previously called Fruity).  Fruity  
is a web-based interface for maintaining your Nagios configuration  
files.  It is quite good.  You export your Fruity/Lilac database into  
Nagios configuration files.  Everyone wins.  In this case, the Lilac/ 
Fruity database is completely separate from the Nagios database.  The  
two do not overlap at all.

If anyone were to go this route, I'd recommend they look closely at  
how Lilac/Nagios interact and proceed in a similar fashion.  Moving to  
XML for the main configuration files is ill-advised.

> IMHO, XML format is best suited for config files. I am sure there  
> are lots of users like me who do not use web setup for bacula. I  
> generate my config files using a perl script. If I wanted to use  
> database I can create my custom database and use perl script to read  
> database and generated config files (current format or XML).


Using an XML format for configuration files goes very much against the  
basic UNIX design concepts of keep it simple.

-- 
Dan Langille
http://langille.org/





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