[eagle] Re: adding stuff to amsat.org

[Robert McGwier]

We will take this conversation private and discuss the matter there.  
Rick Hambly will be in charge of this conversation.

Thanks for your concern.

Bob


Phil Karn wrote:
> I had pizza with Brian Kantor WB6CYT Saturday night. He said somebody 
> in  AMSAT, possibly Rick, had asked for root access for the amsat.org 
> machine so that various new functions could be added.
>
> I wasn't sure (and neither was Brian) of the specific new functions to 
> be added, but they seemed to be various forms of engineering support.
>
> Brian is concerned, and I agree with him, that these additions might 
> risk the stability and security of a stable machine already relied 
> upon very heavily by everyone in AMSAT for email reflector and web 
> services. Problems might come from the new services themselves, or 
> from the much larger set of administrators with root access that would 
> surely result.
>
> For example, counter to the assumptions of some, the amsat.org machine 
> doesn't run Linux; it runs BSD Unix. They're similar in many ways, but 
> there are crucial differences that anyone with root access must be 
> aware of.
>
> Computers, even rackmount servers, just aren't so expensive or hard to 
> come by that we have to cram everything on a single box. If there's 
> need for another new server to handle AMSAT engineering-related 
> services, I'm sure we could come up with a new box and host it at 
> either UCSD (where Brian would manage it) or Qualcomm (where I would 
> manage it.)
>
> Just let me know what's really needed, and we can make it happen.
>
> Phil
>


-- 
AMSAT Director and VP Engineering. Member: ARRL, AMSAT-DL,
TAPR, Packrats, NJQRP, QRP ARCI, QCWA, FRC. ARRL SDR WG Chair
"Taking fun as simply fun and earnestness in earnest shows
how thoroughly thou none of the two discernest." - Piet Hine