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Diffstat (limited to 'doc/server/plugins/grouping/dbmetadata.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/server/plugins/grouping/dbmetadata.txt | 39 |
1 files changed, 39 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/server/plugins/grouping/dbmetadata.txt b/doc/server/plugins/grouping/dbmetadata.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..292367f0c --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/server/plugins/grouping/dbmetadata.txt @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +.. -*- mode: rst -*- + +.. _server-plugins-grouping-dbmetadata: + +========== +DBMetadata +========== + +.. versionadded:: 1.3.0 + +The DBMetadata plugin is an alternative to the +:ref:`server-plugins-grouping-metadata` plugin that stores client +records in a database rather than writing back to ``clients.xml``. +This provides several advantages: + +* ``clients.xml`` will never be written by the server, removing an + area of contention between the user and server. +* ``clients.xml`` can be removed entirely for many sites. +* The Bcfg2 client list can be queried by other machines without + obtaining and parsing ``clients.xml``. +* A single client list can be shared amongst multiple Bcfg2 servers. + +In general, DBMetadata works almost the same as Metadata. +``groups.xml`` is parsed identically. If ``clients.xml`` is present, +it is parsed, but ``<Client>`` tags in ``clients.xml`` *do not* assert +client existence; they are only used to set client options *if* the +client exists (in the database). That is, the two purposes of +``clients.xml`` -- to track which clients exist, and to set client +options -- have been separated. + +With the improvements in ``groups.xml`` parsing in 1.3, client groups +can now be set directly in ``groups.xml`` with ``<Client>`` tags. (See +:ref:`metadata-client-tag` for more details.) As a result, +``clients.xml`` is only necessary with DBMetadata if you need to set +options (e.g., aliases, floating clients, per-client passwords, etc.) +on clients. + +DBMetadata uses the :ref:`Global Server Database Settings +<server-database>` to connect to its database. |