Hot off a server, here's the current Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
file regarding ph/qi, the client/server solution we are implementing
for Miami's enterprise-wide e-mail directory server:
Date: Sat, 05 Feb 1994 07:00:07 -0500
From: Noel Hunter <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: ph-FAQ
Sender: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
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Newsgroups: info.ph,comp.infosystems.gopher,comp.infosystems.www,comp.answers,ne
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>From: [log in to unmask]
Followup-to: comp.infosystems.www
Subject: ph (cso nameserver) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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Archive-name: ph-faq
FAQ (Frequently-asked Questions) for ph (cso nameserver)
============================================================================
Last modified Jan. 8, 1993
The FAQ is maintained by Noel Hunter <[log in to unmask]>. Please send comments /
corrections to [log in to unmask]
This FAQ is automatically posted on the 5th and 20th of each month. The
latest version of the FAQ is available in the following ways:
anonymous ftp and fsp to ftp.wfu.edu /pub/usenet/ph-FAQ
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/Usenet News information maintained by Wake...
This FAQ is also mailed to the list [log in to unmask] To get on
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============================================================================
Acknowledgements
============================================================================
Many of these answers came from the info-ph list. Some are paraphrased,
edited, or otherwise altered, and some are not credited. But my thanks
goes out to all who have contibuted to the list. And if you see something
of yours here which you want credited, let me know, and I will credit it.
Thanks to Sandra Louie for her list of several FAQs.
============================================================================
Submissions
============================================================================
The maintainer is not an expert on ph/cso. I am relying on experts to
submit FAQs and answers. I am also relying on users of the FAQ to let me
know which answers are unclear, and where there are errors or omissions.
At present, this is just a start. You can help make it more complete.
To submit, send email to: [log in to unmask] If you do NOT want your name
credited in the FAQ, please say so.
============================================================================
Contents
===========================================================================
Section 0: What is CSO/qi/ph?
Section 1: Setting up and installing a server
1.1 Where do I get the ph / cso software?
1.2 How do I install the ph / cso software
1.3 How do I create a ph database?
1.4 How do I enable phquery for fuzzy mail addressing?
1.5 Can I run multiple databases on different ports?
1.5 How can I register my server?
Section 2: Common problems / error messages
2.1 How do I fix "Oops, lost connection to server"
2.2 How do I do searches using strings with blanks in them?
2.3 How do I limit the number of responses?
Section 3: Questions that have not been answered
3.1 How can you get a qi server to not only compile but actually
serve queries off of a Solaris 2.X machine?
===========================================================================
Section 0: What is CSO/qi/ph?
===========================================================================
The CSO nameserver provides an efficient database for the storage and
retrieval of a variety of information over the Internet. Its primary
use is for telephone and email directories, but it may be used to
store any type of information.
The CSO server software is called "qi". It runs on a variety of platforms,
primarily mainframe or minicomputer-type machines with Internet connections.
The CSO client software is called "ph". It runs on virtually every major
platform in use on the Internet, from Unix to Mac and PC. Client functions
are also built into many of the programs used to provide friendly interfaces
to the Internet, such as gopher, World-Wide Web, and their associated
clients (lynx, mosaic, etc.).
===========================================================================
Section 1: Setting up and installing a server
===========================================================================
Subject: 1.1 Where do I get the ph / cso software?
The software is available via anonymous ftp from:
Currently: vixen.cso.uiuc.edu, in the pub subdirectory. However, the uiuc
staff has announced that in the near future, the address will be:
- qi.tar.gz (server) lives on ftp.cso.uiuc.edu, pub subdirectory.
- ph.tar.gz (clients) lives on ftp.cso.uiuc.edu, pub subdirectory.
Current versions:
qi: 2.2
ph: 6.5
===========================================================================
Subject: 1.2 How do I install the ph / cso software?
Server
------
To install the server without reading any instructions, look in the configs
directory (in qi). Change the file "defaults" to include your domain
name, desired directories, and features. Then look for a config file for
your system. Finally, in the main qi dir, type:
Configure systemtype
make install
Finally, build the database (see 1.3, below), and modify your inetd.conf
file and your services files to reference the server. Here are sample
entries:
In services:
ns 105/tcp
If you are using NIS, run ypmake after modifying services.
In inetd.conf:
ns stream tcp nowait root /usr/local/lib/cso/qi qi -d -t30
After modifying inetd.conf, make the inetd reload inetd.conf:
inetd -c
Client
------
Unix: The Unix client comes as part of the server package. The easiest way
to install it is to do it as part of the server package, above. The
Configure script will automatically generate a Makefile for your system, and
will make and install the ph client. If for some reason you cannot make
the entire qi package, here are the minimal steps for making the client:
Look in the configs directory (in qi). Change the file "defaults" to
include your domain name, desired directories, and features. Then look
for a config file for your system. Finally, in the main qi dir, type:
Configure systemtype
Next, make the api library used by ph:
cd api
make
Finally, bo back to the qi dir, cd to the ph dir, and do a make:
cd ..
cd ph
make
If all goes well, finish with:
make install
Note that the client distribution (a separate from the entire qi
distribution), includes a Makefile already generated for a system at uiuc.
While it is possible to edit this Makefile (despite the "Do not edit"
warning at the top of the file), it is much easier to make ph as a part
of qi.
Other clients:
The ph distribution comes with clients for the following systems:
a. CMS, requires TCP/IP for VM Version 1.2 or later IBM C/370 Compiler and
Runtime library (Version 1.2.0)
b. DOS, with both source and executable, requires MS-DOS, PC/TCP by FTP
Software
c. MAC, requires MacTCP
d. Next
e. PC-NFS version (for MS-DOS and SUN's PC-NFS)
f. VM, in Pascal
g. VMS 5.3 with Wollongong WIN/TCP 5.1
h. Windows (with winsock)
i. X-Windows
Some other clients not part of the distribution:
Most gopher browsers support PH queries
Many World-Wide-Web browsers
Some Mail packages (notably Eudora)
Other Vax/VMS clients available via anoynmous ftp:
UCX: esa.lanl.gov
UCX: noc.macc.wisc.edu
Multinet: icaen.llnl.gov
UCX & Mulinet: ftp.ceri.memst.edu
===========================================================================
Subject: 1.3 How do I create a ph database?
To create a database, you need to define the fields for the database,
determine its size, create a text file of data to be input into the
database, then run the database building programs.
a. Defining the database
A ph database is defined by a "cnf" file. The default file which
comes with ph is "prod.cnf". It's a good idea to start with a copy
of this file, and to change as little as possible. Some clients
rely on the names of certain fields in the cnf file, so changing
them can cause unforseen problems. The ph installation instructions
specifically state that you should NOT change the following fields:
Used in ph source code
----------------------
2:email
3:name
4:type
5:id
6:alias
7:password
8:proxy
23:nickname
25:all
30:hero
43:suppress
Used by utilities and clients
-----------------------------
0:address
1:phone
9:department
10:title
11:curriculum
20:home_address
21:permanent_address
22:office_address
26:callsign
31:no_update
32:office_phone
33:home_phone
35:high_school
37:permanent_phone
42:left_uiuc
You should be able to change other fields without causing too many
problems. For each field in the file, you will see a field number,
a field name, the number of bytes in the field, a descriptive name, and
a list of properties for the field. Each of these items is separated
by a colon, with field entries separated by new lines. You will
probably want to change the descriptions of some of the fields, as
well as their length in bytes, but you should generally leave the names
and numbers alone.
There are numerous properties you can assign to a field, and most sites
will want to customize these properties. The most commonly changed
properties are as follows:
1. Lookup: if present, clients can search on this field
2. Public: if present, clients can see this field. LocalPub
is a variation which allows only clients in the local
domain to see the field. If neither is present, only
the system administrators and owners can see the field.
3. Default: If this is present, the contents of the field
are returned on normal searches. If not present, the
contents are returned only when specifically requested
by the client.
4. Change: if present, clients who have authenticated (logged
in) can change the contents of the field.
b. Creating an input file
To create an input file, you create a tab-delimited file containing
the information for the database. Each line will be composed of
field numbers, a colon, the data for the field, and a tab (if
another field follows). The format looks like this:
fieldnum:data-for-field (tab) fieldnum:data-for-field... (new line)
Here's a simple example:
3:Hunter, Noel C 32:759-5812 22:POBox 7408 4:p
3:Dominick, James Lyon 32:759-5261 4:p
This example has two records, one for Noel Hunter, and one for James
Dominick. Both records include data for fields 3,4 and 32, and the
entry for Noel Hunter also has data for field 22.
Notice that the entries do not have to be in any order, and that some
entries can contain more fields than others. Field 4, the "type"
field, must be present if you want ph to limit the number of entries
returned by searches.
c. Building the database
Assuming that the database cnf file (see a, above) is called
"prod.cnf", and the database text input file (see b, above)
is called "qi.input", we can create a ph database with the
following commands:
#!/bin/sh
# PH database build script
# Designed from numerous contributions to the info-ph list
#
# cd to the cso library directory. We assume all the cso programs
# are installed here:
cd /usr/local/lib/cso
#
# Remove the old database files if the exist:
rm -f prod.bdx prod.dir prod.dov prod.idx prod.iov prod.lck prod.seq
#
# Determine the size for the database using the "sizedb" program
# that comes with the server. You need perl to use sizedb, along
# with the file primes.shar. If you don't have these, you can hard-
# code in a prime bigger than the number of indexed fields (from the
# cnf file) times the number of records in your database (qi.input):
size=`./sizedb prod.cnf qi.input`
#
# Build the database using the specifications in "prod.cnf", and the
# data in "qi.input"
./credb $size prod
./maked prod <qi.input
./makei prod
./build -s prod
#
# Clean up:
rm prod.sta
#
# Set permissions so that users cannot access the database directly.
# We assume that the qi server is running under a login that can
# access the files:
chmod -R o-rwx,g-rwx *
===========================================================================
Subject: 1.4 How do I enable phquery for fuzzy mail addressing?
(contributed by Sverre Froyen, modified by Noel Hunter)
Fuzzy addressing is done by the program "phquery", part of the ph client
distribution. Fuzzy addressing allows users to send mail based on a person's
real name, rather than their login ID. Phquery performs the conversion from
the real name to an email address, using the ph database. Adding phquery
is complicated, and you must be very careful or you will disrupt incoming
mail. If possible, try it out on a non-production system first.
To make it work, first compile phquery on your machine. It's part of the
ph client distribution available from the main ftp archive (see 1.3, below).
After compiling it, you want to make sure that it works correctly by running it
in debug mode. Type, e.g.,
phquery -d -f your-address test-name < /dev/null
If it works, you are ready to install it by changing you sendmail
configuration file to route incoming messages through phquery. How you do
this will vary with each version of Unix, but here is a sample.
On most Unix systems, the file to alter is sendmail.cf. Here are diffs of
how it was done on one system:
Adding the phquery mailer:
*** 235,240 ****
--- 239,248 ----
Mlocal, P=/bin/mail, F=flsSDFMmnP, S=10, R=20, A=mail -d $u
Mprog, P=/bin/sh, F=lsDFMeuP, S=10, R=20, A=sh -c $u
+ # Phquery specification
+
+ MPH, P=/etc/phquery, F=DFMhnmur, A=phquery $u
+
S10
# None needed.
***************
Adding the rule to invoke phquery:
*** 353,364 ****
--- 361,376 ----
# Handle special cases.....
R@ $#local $:$n handle <> form
+ # Invoke phquery to resolve names addressed to domain (sverre)
+ R$+<@LOCAL> $#PH $@$w $:$1
+
# resolve the local hostname to "LOCAL".
R$*<$*$=w.LOCAL>$* $1<$2LOCAL>$4 thishost.LOCAL
R$*<$*$=w.uucp>$* $1<$2LOCAL>$4 thishost.uucp
R$*<$*$=w>$* $1<$2LOCAL>$4 thishost
***************
Note that I had to add the phquery rule before the local hostname gets
resolved to LOCAL. After this point there is no way to distinguish mail
to the domain from mail to the local host and a mail loop will result.
Also make sure that From: line contains the hostname and not just the
domain name. Our mailer used just the domainname and I had a wonderful
mail loop bouncing mail with another site because phquery could not
resolve MAILER_DAEMON. You can check your sendmail.cf file by running
sendmail (by hand) with the -bt option, i.e.,
/usr/lib/sendmail -bt -C new-configuration file
and asking it to invoke the various rules, type for instance
4,0 some-address
and it will show how rules 4 and 0 treats the address.
===========================================================================
Subject: 1.5 Can I run multiple databases on different ports?
Yes. You can use one binary (copy of the software). On a Unix system,
make multiple entries in /etc/services and /etc/inetd.conf, and use the
-DATABASE option with each entry in /etc/inetd.conf to specify the desired
database for that port.
===========================================================================
Subject: 1.6 How can I register my CSO server?
You can send a note to (John Norstad, [log in to unmask]) or to Joel Cooper
([log in to unmask]). They need to know the name of your institution as
you wish it to appear in the directory, plus the domain name of your new
CSO server.
John maintains the list used by the Mac Ph client and other Ph clients, and
Joel maintains the list used by Gopher. They try to keep their lists
synchronized, so you only need to tell one of them.
===========================================================================
Section 2: Common problems / error messages
===========================================================================
Subject: 2.1 How do I fix "Oops, lost connection to server"
There are many possible causes for this problem. Here is a list of
things to check:
1. Are the permissions set so that the login running qi (look in
your "inetd.conf" file to determine the login) can read all
of the files? The permissions should look something like
this (assuming the user is root):
-rw------- 1 root sys 3153408 Dec 6 05:03 prod.*
-rwx------ 1 root sys 180224 Nov 30 11:22 qi
If qi is not running as root, you need to chown the files
so that the qi user can read them, and can execute qi.
2. Are the ph binaries installed in the right place (specified
during the make and in "inetd.conf"? Is the ph directory
accessible? Did you move the sources after you installed (this
can cause problems).
3. Did you build the database, and did it work (see 1.3)?
4. Are the service names in /etc/services and /etc/inted.conf the
same, and are they the same as the one specified in the makefiles?
5. Did you restart inetd (with inetd -c), and rebuild the NIS database
(if using NIS, run ypmake), after you installed ph?
6. Is the prod.cnf (or other cnf) file for your database in the
same directory as the database (it has to be).
7. If the client does not have a registered domain name, qi may be
denying access. Try compiling with the the -DNOCHECKNET option
(add that to your "$Cflags" variable in the config file used to
build qi and then rebuild qi.)
===========================================================================
Subject: 2.2 How do I do searches using strings with blanks in them?
(contributed by [log in to unmask])
Suppose the field you are searching is called Address and you want
all the Smiths who live in "New York". You would enter the following
in the Ph command box:
name=Smith address=New address=York
===========================================================================
Subject: 2.3 How do I limit the number of responses?
To limit the number of responses returned, you need to do two things:
1. When compiling the server, set the "person limit", in the file
qi/configs/defaults. Look for the line:
"PersonLimit","100", # max # of people to return
and set the value (100 in this example) to the desired number of entries.
2. For all records you want to limit, you must set the "type" field to
"person", or "p". When you are building the database, just include data
for the type field (field 4) with each person's entry (see the example
in section 1.3).
===========================================================================
End of ph-FAQ.
--
Forwarded by:
John B Harlan Campus Wide Information System (CWIS) Coordinator
Miami Computing & Information Services (MCIS)
Miami University
137 Hoyt Hall
Oxford, Ohio 45056-1618 USA
513 529 5330 voice 513 529 1496 fax
[log in to unmask]
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