Subject: Re: netatalk in production environments....(RFC)
From: Ron Chmara (ron@Opus1.COM)
Date: Thu Jun 01 2000 - 04:27:26 EDT
Harry Zink/Netatalk List wrote:
> on 5/31/00 11:36, Ron Chmara at ron@opus1.com wrote:
> > Well, if your users are running the show, I suppose you should use whatever
> > they want you to use? :-)
> Yeah, I know, unlike most IT professionals, I actually make the dreadful
> mistake of listening to what my users WANT to use (mostly because it makes
> them more productive),
Hm. I would I say I do things a little differently. Most of my users are
not qualified to know what they want to _use_, however, they are highly
qualified in knowing what they want to _do_. Otherwise, I'd have separate
servers for each and every user at every site, loaded up with the
latest buzzware, which they never used, because it wasn't what they
really wanted to use....<g>
> and I try to provide them with what they ask for - I
> know, I'm violating the cardinal rule of IT support (but I guess that's why
> I keep being called back to locations to do the work of the so-called IT
> professionals - I'm a consultant) :-)
Ah. That would be me as well. :-)
> > Seriously, though, certain things have _always_
> > been considered "not best practice" in one environment I admin for, and using
> > aliases (which can point to the wrong volume, server, or job) is one of
> > them.
> They don't point to the wrong locations when you use an ASIP server, or even
> standard (old) AppleShare.
They most certainly do. They are put on the local desktop and given
names like "stuff". Of course, when "stuff" fails to point to the user's
intended location, it means that the alias is "broken". :-)
More to the point, a pre-press house I used to work in once blew $500 of
bad film, matchprint, *and* missed a press date, because an alias was
pointing to a folder that supposedly held the right data. It did not,
it pointed to an *older* version. This almost cost the company a $120K
client.... hence, their standing rule to _only_ access data by a direct
path, because if the user _had_ gone through the tree, they would have
seen the other folder, titled "•••NEW VERSION HERE!!!!!!".
> > Well, if you're just selling hardware, them's the breaks...
> > If you're selling _workflows_ on hardware, then that's a different set of
> > rules.
> I seel solutions to problems, and that involves giving users what they ask
> for.
Well, as a possible alternative remedy _and_ value added proposition,
may I suggest trying the following: Rather than focus on dumb alias
entries on the desktop/scattered throughout the machine/lord knows where
(another workflow no-no in my book), look into intelligent applescript/quickkeys
entries for common file access and manipulation tasks. For example, rather
than just an alias to a "group" folder, an applescript that opens
up their standard groupware application, returns to the finder, mounts
the volume, decends the tree into the folder, sorts it by date, and
displays it on screen? Actually, if all you want is folders to open
up a server path, you could just build those into folder actions, as
well...
Oh. Just noticed a post suggesting this is a perms issue... hm. Well,
either way....
-Justmusingawaybop
-- Brought to you from iBop the iMac, a MacOS, Win95, Win98, LinuxPPC machine, which is currently in MacOS land. Your bopping may vary.
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