3. Sources of information

3.1. Information from LDAP

For an overview of the TCC LDAP directory, see LDAP attribute cross-reference.

The LDAP tree for TCC client systems (including login servers) is:

ou=clients,ou=machines,dc=tcc,dc=nmt,dc=edu

The entries in this tree have class tccHardware. Attributes of interest from these objects are:

cn: The client name, e.g., “speare4a-2-2”.
tccOfficeMachine: TRUE if the machine is in someone's office and not publicly accessible.
tccSpecialOS: Undefined for dual-boot machines. Permissible values are “Linux” or “Mac OS X”.

3.2. Information from the `GetHardware` XML-RPC service

Most of the information for this report comes from an XML-RPC service described in the TCC Wiki under Software/Local/Forge/ForgeWeb/GetHardware.

3.3. The `scanreport.xml` file: Specifying report parameters

In order to generate the specified report, we need certain pieces of information over and above the set of SysInfo reports:

A way to differentiate classroom workstations from open lab workstations.
A way to differentiate Linux-only systems from dual-boot workstations.
A list of servers that users need to know about. Most servers (e.g., ldap0) are nothing users need to access directly.
Which device types (e.g., scanner) should appear in the device report.

Note

Ideally, these bits of information should live in our LDAP directory. However, for the moment, we'll need to maintain a small data file. Keeping it in XML allows us to use standard tools, such as nxml-emacs, to maintain the file in a valid state.

Here's the schema, scanreport.rnc, expressed in Relax NG format. The root element is called scanreport:

scanreport.rnc

start = scanreport
scanreport = element scanreport
{  roomlist,
   systemlist,
   devicelist
}

The roomlist element defines the set of room prefixes, differentiating them as type class for classrooms and open for open labs.

The type is “c” for classrooms, “o” for open labs.
The prefix attribute is used to match rooms against client names. For example, the names of all the clients in MSEC-III room 187 building start with “msec187-”. In the attribute here, we'll omit the trailing hyphen.
The full attribute is the formal name of the room, e.g., “MSEC-III 187”.

scanreport.rnc

roomlist = element roomlist
{ room*
}
room = element room
{ attribute type { 'c' | 'o' },
  attribute prefix { text },
  attribute full { text },
  empty
}

The systemlist element is a list of systems. Each system element names one system that is either a public server, a Linux-only box, or both.

scanreport.rnc

systemlist = element systemlist { system* }
system = element system
{ attribute nodename { text },
  attribute server { '0' | '1' }?,
  attribute linux-only { '0' | '1' }?,
  empty
}

The devicelist element enumerates which device types are of interest to users. The order of the included device elements dictates the order of their presentation in the device report. The kind attribute must be uppercase, since its values must correspond to device information returned by the GetHardware() interface.

scanreport.rnc

devicelist = element devicelist
{ device*
}
device = element device
{ attribute kind { text },
  empty
}

Here is the entire scanreport.xml file. Typing a make command in the directory containing this document will generate the file.

scanreport.xml

<!--Do not edit this file directly.  The original is
 !  in file hwscan3.xml, and 'make' will rebuild it.
 !-->
<scanreport>
  <roomlist>
    <room type='c' prefix='cramer101'  full='Cramer 101'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='cramer120'  full='Cramer 120'/>
    <room type='o' prefix='fidel130'   full='Fidel 130'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='jonesa101'  full='Jones A101'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='jonesa104'  full='Jones A104'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='jonesa106'  full='Jones A106'/>
    <room type='o' prefix='library122' full='Library 122'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='library207' full='Library 207'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='library208' full='Library 208'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='msec101'    full='MSEC-III 101'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='msec103'    full='MSEC-III 103'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='msec105'    full='MSEC-III 105'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='msec187'    full='MSEC-III 187'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='msec195'    full='MSEC-III 195'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='speare4'    full='Speare 4'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='speare4a'   full='Speare 4A'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='speare4b'   full='Speare 4B'/>
    <room type='o' prefix='speare5'    full='Speare 5'/>
    <room type='o' prefix='speare15'   full='Speare 15'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='speare23'   full='Speare 23'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='speare23a'   full='Speare 23A'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='speare23b'   full='Speare 23B'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='speare102'  full='Speare 102'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='speare113'  full='Speare 113'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='speare116'  full='Speare 116'/>
    <room type='o' prefix='speare142'  full='Speare 142'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='weir102'    full='Weir 102'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='weir128'    full='Weir 128'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='weir209'    full='Weir 209'/>
    <room type='c' prefix='workman101' full='Workman 101'/>
  </roomlist>
  <systemlist>
    <system nodename='speare5-1-9'   linux-only='1'/> <!--pi-->
    <system nodename='speare5-1-14'  linux-only='1'/> <!--corvette-->
    <system nodename='speare5-1-15'  linux-only='1'/> <!--cobra-->
    <system nodename='speare5-1-16'  linux-only='1'/> <!--boardwalk-->
    <system nodename='speare5-1-17'  linux-only='1'/> <!--eldorado-->
    <system nodename='speare142-1-5' linux-only='1'/> <!--underdog-->
    <system nodename='login'        server='1'/>
    <system nodename='login64'      server='1'/>
    <system nodename='rainbow'      server='1'/>
  </systemlist>
  <devicelist>
    <device kind='VIDEO'/>
    <device kind='MONITOR'/>
    <device kind='OPTICAL'/>
    <device kind='SCANNER'/>
  </devicelist>
</scanreport>

hwscan3: TCC processor inventory report