buffindexed.conf  -  configuration  file  for  buffindexed
       ovmethod


DESCRIPTION

       The  file  <pathetc   in   inn.conf>/buffindexed.conf   is
       required if buffindexed ovmethod is used.

       Buffindexed  is  one  of  ovmethod  which  is specified in
       inn.conf(5).  It uses preconfigured buffer files which are
       used  to  store  overview  data and index, and never needs
       more disk space other than those  files.   The  files  are
       devided  8KB  block  internally and the block is allocated
       for each purpose; overview index and overview  data.   The
       block  is  never shared by each newsgroup, so owned by one
       newsgroup.   There  is  a  database   file:   <pathdb   in
       inn.conf>/group.index  which  includes  the information of
       the newsgroup; the pointer to  the  index  block  for  the
       group,  high mark, low mark, flag of the group, the number
       of the articles and etc.  This file is  created  automati­
       cally  when  all  buffers  are initialized and must not be
       edited manually.  If all buffers are  filled  up,  innd(8)
       throttles  itself.   Note  that the buffer files are never
       rolled over and overwritten the way CNFS does.   You  need
       to  append  another  buffer file in the case.  You can see
       the buffer usage with inndf(8) with ``-o'' option.

       The file consists of a series of lines;  blank  lines  and
       lines  beginning  with  a number sign (``#'') are ignored.
       There is only one kind of configuration line.   The  order
       of lines in this file is not important.

              index:file_name:buffer_size

       ``Index''  is an index of overview buffer.  ``Index'' must
       be between 0 and 65535.   ``File_name''  is  the  path  to
       overview  buffer  file.  The length of this path should be
       within 63  letters.   ``Buffer_size''  is  the  length  of
       buffer  file  in  kilobytes in decimal (1KB = 1024 bytes).
       If the ``file_name'' is not a special device, actucal file
       size  must  be  buffer_size * 1024 bytes.  You can NOT use
       buffers    over    2GB     even     if     you     specify
       <--with-largefiles at configure>.  Or buffers will be bro­
       ken.  It'll be fixed in the future.

       To create new overview buffer,  there  are  two  different
       methods for creating the files.

       1. Create a big file on top of a standard filesystem.
              The  use  "dd" to create the overview buffer files,
              such as "dd if=/dev/zero of=/path/to/ovbuff bs=1024
              count=N" where N is the buffer_size.

              If  your  operating system will allow you to mmap()
              block disk  devices  (Solaris  does,  FreeBSD  does
              not),  this  is  the  recommended method.  But note
              that Solaris(at least 2.6) seems to have a  problem
              in  regional  locking  of  block  disk devices, and
              should not be used.  Or overview data will be  cor­
              rupted.  Partition the disks to make each partition
              slightly larger (a few MB larger) than the intended
              size  of each overview buffer.  It is not recommend
              to use the block device files  already  located  in
              ``/dev.''  Instead, use "mknod" to create a new set
              of block device files.  In order to do this, do  an
              "ls  -Ll" of the /dev/dsk partition.  The major and
              minor device numbers are in  the  fifth  and  sixth
              columns (right before the date) respectively.  This
              information should be fed  to  "mknod"  to  make  a
              "block-type  special  file"  (b).   Here is a short
              script  that  accomplishes  this   when   fed   the
              ``/dev/dsk/'' partition name:

                   #!/bin/sh
                   disk=$1
                   major=`ls -l /dev/dsk/$disk | awk '{print $5}' | tr -d ,`
                   minor=`ls -l /dev/dsk/$disk | awk '{print $6}`
                   mkdir /ovbuff
                   mknod /ovbuff/$disk b $major $minor
              The  created  device  files themselves consume very
              little space.

       In either case, make certain  that  each  overview  buffer
       file               is               owned               by
       <USER specified with --with-news-user at configure>,
       <GROUP specified with --with-news-group at configure>, and
       has  read/write  modes  for  the  owner  and  group  (mode
       ``0664'' or ``0660'').

       When  you first start innd(8) and everything is configured
       properly,  you  should  see  messages   in   <pathlog   in
       inn.conf>/news.notice which look like:

            Aug 27 00:00:00 kevlar innd: buffindexed: No magic cookie found for buffindexed 0, initializing

       You MUST recreate whole overview, if you remove or relpace
       buffers.  You need not recreate, if you  just  append  new
       buffers.   And  whenever  recreate overview data base, you
       need to clean all buffers.


HISTORY

       Written by Katsuhiro Kondou <kondou@nec.co.jp> for  Inter­
       NetNews.  This is revision 1.3.2.3, dated 2000/10/12.


SEE ALSO

       inn.conf(5).


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