From slandrum@turing.csc.smith.edu Sun Nov 26 21:38:09 2000 Received: from laphroaig ([127.0.0.1] helo=localhost ident=skud) by laphroaig with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 13zz9V-0002NZ-00 for ; Sun, 26 Nov 2000 21:35:21 +1100 Delivered-To: skud@s.pop.ihug.com.au Received: from pop.ihug.com.au by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.3.4) for skud@localhost (single-drop); Sun, 26 Nov 2000 21:35:21 +1100 (EST) Received: (qmail 1125 invoked from network); 25 Nov 2000 16:06:36 -0000 Received: from mx2-darkside.ihug.com.au (HELO mx2.ihug.com.au) (203.109.140.30) by tubby.ihug.com.au with SMTP; 25 Nov 2000 16:06:36 -0000 Received: from hiro.netizen.com.au [203.30.75.3] (postfix) by mx2.ihug.com.au with esmtp (Exim 2.05 #1 (Debian)) id 13zhqV-0001Ed-00; Sun, 26 Nov 2000 03:06:35 +1100 Received: from grendel.csc.smith.edu (grendel.csc.smith.edu [131.229.222.23]) by hiro.netizen.com.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id ED2B4215EC for ; Sun, 26 Nov 2000 03:06:32 +1100 (EST) Received: from localhost (slandrum@localhost) by grendel.csc.smith.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA26005; Sat, 25 Nov 2000 10:59:47 -0500 X-Authentication-Warning: grendel.csc.smith.edu: slandrum owned process doing -bs Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 10:59:47 -0500 (EST) From: srl X-Sender: slandrum@grendel.csc.smith.edu To: Reefknot developers -- Kirrily Skud Robert , Simon Cozens , srl Subject: Reefknot: technical suggestions Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Status: RO X-Status: A Content-Length: 3225 Lines: 84 Here's what I've gotten from Slashdot in terms of technical suggestions so far. I know that we're not really looking for technical comments now, but I thought this might provide food for thought. I'll drop this in CVS when I can. srl ======================================================================= Technical Suggestions for Reefknot Features ====================================== This is a working compilation of TECHNICAL suggestions for the Reefknot shared calendar server, http://sourceforge.net/projects/reefknot/ . Reefknot is currently being designed, and this document is how we're tracking what technical users want. There is a separate document for end-user (business-user) suggestions. Taken from http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00%2F11%2F24%2F2255239&cid=&pid=0&startat=&threshold=1&mode=flat&commentsort=3&op=Change . Major credits, by slashdot username: crucini, aetius2, pstorry, iabervon, Xenna, and others too numerous to mention. =========================================================================== Technical considerations: ------------------------- - Security out of the box. SSL has been suggested as an important feature, as has PGP encryption of emails. People want client-server communication encrypted---- Exchange does *not* do this according to at least one respondent. Alternatively, we could have a suggested VPN for use with Reefknot. - Scalability without database-synchronization issues --- someone suggested "one big database with a ring of application servers around it" to keep server-sync issues to a minimum. (It's also been suggested we develop on a cluster of 486es to force us to think about scaling.) - How to handle satellite offices, where the satellites aren't always connected, or have very low bandwidth? (This was pointed out by aetius@mindspring.com.) - Disaster recovery and data redundancy, either relying on someone else's tool or built-in. Protection against data corruption. (Whatever we choose here needs to be written up, so that business users can see a whitepaper on this.) - On scaling, it's been said that calculating people's free time is very processor- and time-intensive. - a Java client class was suggested as a Very Good Thing for the business world, since Java's popular there. - People want synchronous communication, so that the calendar you see is never out of date if you're connected to the net. - Transactional integrity (never let two people think they've booked the same room at the same time). - Technical users want an open API so they can generate their own reports easily. We're planning to provide this. - Separating mail and calendar servers is a given, but people commented on this as a good feature. - People like the Unix tools philosophy--- components that talk to one another. - Some people passionately hate XML data storage. Other people think it's really important. Give people a choice. - SNMP management was suggested as an important feature for the enterprise. ========================================================================== srl -- Shane R. Landrum slandrum@cs.smith.edu we generate our own light to compensate for the lack of light from above -AD