Changes in NetDB3

Changes in NetDB3 - Help

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Introduction: Why NetDB3?
Summary
Detailed Explanation of
Differences

Introduction: Why NetDB3?

NetDB2 came out in 1991. In the last 9 years, there have been many changes in networking. NetDB2 had been modified to accommodate some changes but the underlying architecture had to be rewritten. Some of the features we can now fully support are variable length subnet masking, DHCP options, full search, and customizable reports. At the same time, we removed some features that associated with old technologies.

Summary

New Features in NetDB3

Web interface versus telnet interface
Support for subnets with more or less than 255 addresses (classless addressing)
Support for Roaming DHCP and DHCP options
Full search- all fields searchable, customizable display
Tighter access controls on address spaces

Features Removed from NetDB3

Appletalk support (will be done manually)

Changing Features in NetDB3

MX records now associated with mail server instead of virtual mail server
All people (Users, Node administrators, Node users, Admin Team members) must be in the Stanford Directory

Object Changes

Objects in NetDB2 are now called Records in NetDB3

NetDB2 Object NetDB3 Record

Host Node

Appletalk Gateway Node- IPC type (for IP addresses only)

Terminal Server Node- IPC type

Router Node- Router type

Mail Alias Node- MX entry

Administrator User

Group Group

Extended Ethernet Network

<no equivalent> Admin Team

<no equivalent> Domain

IP Network <removed>

Appletalk Network <removed>

The biggest change is that several NetDB2 objects have been consolidated into the Node Record which has several different types. Note that some object names have changed. Two unnecessary objects were removed. And two new records were created- Admin Team and Domain. Some examples of Domain records are "stanford.edu" and "stanford.org".

Detailed Explanations of Differences

Web Interface vs. Telnet Interface- It was decided early on that the interface to NetDB3 would be a web interface that supported HTML v 3.2. This would support all of the commonly used web browsers at Stanford. For security reasons, Javascript was not used. Because web page data is not submitted until the User does so, NetDB3 does not do on-the-fly checking like NetDB2 does. For example, in NetDB2, if the User tries to use an existing Node name, the User is prompted with an error message immediately after leaving the name field. In NetDB3, this check is not done until the page is submitted. The Node page does allow you to request a check (the Verify Name button) as soon as you have entered the name, however.

Classless Addressing or Variable Length Subnet Masking Support- NetDB2 only really supports a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. NetDB3 provides true support for variable length subnet masks. Although most LNAs will not notice much change, this feature greatly helps Networking Systems.

DHCP Support- NetDB3 provides full support for DHCP, Roaming DHCP and DHCP options. For more details, please see the DHCP section of NetDB help.

Full Search- NetDB3 Full Search builds on NetDB2's Query and allows searching of all fields for Node and User records. Full Search for other records will be added in later releases. Also, Users can now customize the results by selecting which fields to display and in what order. For more on Full Search, please see the Full Search section of NetDB help.

Tighter Access Controls- In NetDB2, any User that could create a host could assign an IP address from any Network. This was a little known feature that fortunately was not often abused. In NetDB3, Users will only be able to assign IP addresses from address ranges in the same Group. For more information, please see the Access Control section of NetDB help.

Appletalk Support- In the last couple of years, the appletalk infrastructure across campus has changed dramatically, mostly because Shiva Fastpaths, Stanford's most common Appletalk gateway, were no longer being manufactured or repaired. The configuration for this new infrastructure is no longer easily tied to NetDB, so the configuration will be maintained separately. Therefore, NetDB2 objects like Appletalk network are not found in NetDB3. Appletalk Gateways are now rolled into the IPC Node type. This change does not affect how the User uses Appletalk on campus (Chooser, Appletalk printing, etc.).

MX Records ("Mail Reception- Direct Mail To")- In NetDB2, to redirect mail from user@alpha.stanford.edu to a mail server called user@beta.stanford.edu, the User would edit alpha's NetDB2 entry and put "beta" under the field "Direct Mail To". In NetDB3, MX records are entered on the mail server record, i.e., in reverse. The User would edit beta's NetDB3 entry and add "alpha" as an MX. For more information, see the MX section of Node in NetDB help.

People and SUNet IDs- In NetDB2, people information was entered for each record which made it difficult to update. In NetDB3, all people are designated by their SUNet IDs and linked to StanfordWho. Any changes made to the Stanford Directory are thus automatically reflected in NetDB3. However, Nodes are often administered by a group of people like the Computer Resource Center (CRC) or Networking Systems. To accommodate this, the Admin Team record was created. Node administrators can either be people with SUNet IDs or Admin Teams. People include NetDB Users, Node administrators, Node users, and Admin Team members. For more information, see the Admin Team section of NetDB help.