[Fedora] Re: Separate shell and www servers...

[Ashley M. Kirchner]

Aaron Gaudio wrote:

>But why can't your web server nfs mount the user home dirs (or a portion
>thereof, if you don't want to give the webserver nfs access to their
>non-web dirs)? Using autofs (maybe with a custom autofs script) could
>help facilitate that.
>
    That's reverse.  At least, in my mind it is.  Why would I want the 
webserver mount the user dirs?  I want the user files, and anything web 
related to be on a completely different, physical machine.  So, in essence:

    user         shell server              web server
    ====================================================
    john_doe     /home/john_doe
                 /home/john_doe/www  --->  /www/john_doe
    billybob     /home/billybob
                 /home/billybob/www  --->  /www/billybob
    etc.

    When user john_doe logs into the shell server (the only machine 
anyone has access to), I need some way for their www directory to also 
be accessible to them, so they can create/edit/maintain their own 
stuff.  And it has to be live so they can see their changes right away.  
Also, they don't always use their shell to maintain their site.  They 
use a range of software to work on their sites.  FrontPage, Dreamweaver, 
GoLive, and BBedit are just a few of the applications they use to ftp in 
to their account to make changes to their site.  I need some way for 
their www stuff to always be live and accessible, not only when they use 
a shell log in.

    See, I did this with /var/mail (or /var/spool/mail) already.  Since 
all user INBOXes sit in the same location, ti was easy to move that to a 
separate spool server, and just mount the partition on the shell 
server.  Problem solved.  But now, I'm dealing with hundreds of user 
folders, since each person has their own web space.


-- 
W | I haven't lost my mind; it's backed up on tape somewhere.
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  Ashley M. Kirchner <mailto:ashley at pcraft.com>   .   303.442.6410 x130
  IT Director / SysAdmin / WebSmith             .     800.441.3873 x130
  Photo Craft Laboratories, Inc.            .     3550 Arapahoe Ave. #6
  http://www.pcraft.com ..... .  .    .       Boulder, CO 80303, U.S.A.