[noctool-devel] compact configurations for identical machines

[Jim Prewett]

> Does this look at least vaguely sane?
> (cluster ("rtr-~3,'0d" 1 10)
>   (machine name linux-host
>      (user "testuser")))

I've been thinking more about this.  It seems to me that we need something 
a little more general that what you're proposing.  One example is that I 
probably want to have an IP range as well.

I'm thinking syntax like this might work:

(my-cluster
 12                          ;; system count
 ((name (trucha-name-func))  ;; variable elements
  (ip (trucha-ip-func)))
 (machine                    ;; machine template
  name
  linux-host
  (user "download")
  (ip ip)
  (disks
   (disk "/dev/hda1" 80 95))))

where trucha-name-func and trucha-ip-func basically are generators, each 
time they are called, they produce a new result.

With this particular cluster, we have an interesting problem.  The IP 
space is 129.24.244.21 - 129.24.244.30 and 129.24.244.43 - 129.24.244.44.  
There are a total of 12 IPs, but they are not in a contiguous block. 
(this is a legacy issue :P )

I realize that the above syntax still leaves something to be desired.  It 
is, IMO, too general for what most users need.  I think we could probably 
make a couple of convienance macros that would expand into the above.

I'm not sure yet if I like the idea of using "generators" here, or if each 
function should be given an argument of which machine it is.

Jim