[Fwd: RE: [seul-edu] Turning a samba server into a cd jukebox]

[Doug Loss <dloss@suscom.net>]

owner-seul-edu@seul.org wrote:

> From: "Mark Orenstein" <morenstein@alum.mit.edu>
> To: <seul-edu@seul.org>
> Subject: RE: [seul-edu] Turning a samba server into a cd jukebox
>
> I did this a couple of years ago, so my memory is somewhat dim, but I
> remember about four levels of requirements for success.
>
> Level 0 - the cd sharing works fine.
>
> Level 1 - the cd sharing works fine if you make sure that the volume id
> returned by the share is the same as on the CD.  I think that Samba as
> default uses the share name as the volume name unless you specifically
> include a parameter.
>
> Level 2 - requires calling the CD vendor and getting a parameter to add to
> the executable invocation shortcut on W95/98 - if the vendor permits it.
>
> Level 3 - On w95/98, installing a "virtual CD ROM" driver that interfaces to
> the shared CD image on the server.  See www.farstone.com or
> www.virtualcd-online.com  Even with this, on W95/98, the drive letter
> assigned to the virtual CD may need to be closer to the beginning of the
> alphabet than any installed CD.
>
> Maybe my memory wasn't so dim.
>
> Mark Orenstein
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-seul-edu@seul.org [mailto:owner-seul-edu@seul.org]On Behalf
> Of Harish Pillay 9v1hp
> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2001 2:08 PM
> To: seul-edu@seul.org
> Subject: [seul-edu] Turning a samba server into a cd jukebox
>
> Hi.  This is slightly off topic, but has relevance for schools.  I am
> trying to propose a solution to schools to manage their CDROMs and am
> looking at deploying a Linux box with plenty of harddisk space and via
> samba offer the CDROMs to the local school network.  The problem I am
> addressing is having to dish out say 20 CDROMs for a class and having
> to ensure that they are all returned at the end of the class and in
> good condition and all the associated admin problems.  This solution,
> as proposed, uses the latest version of samba with the "max connection"
> option set, so that if the school has say 20 copies of a particular CD
> title, this "license" will be enforced via the max connection = 20
> directive set.  This helps to ensure the "licensing police" will be kept
> happy.
>
> I have done the following:
>
> a) On a Linux box (with *lots* of disk space), I did the following:
>
> box# dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/var/cd1.iso   #got an image of the CD
> box# mkdir /stuff/cd1                   #creating the mount point
> box# mount /var/cd1.iso /stuff/cd1 -t iso9660 -o loop #mounting via the loop
> device
>
> This is done for a few CDROMs, each mounted at /stuff/cdX where X=1...n
> (which in my case is 4).
>
> b) After these images are mounted, I get /stuff/cdX shared out via samba.
>
> c) The client Windows machines are able to attach to it and be able to
> install the apps from that shared drive (albeit shared CD image).
>
> d) Some of the apps work just fine.  Some, however, ask for the CDROM to
> be in the physical CD drive.  This inspite of the app's INI file having
> a drive letter assigned to it which corresponds to the samba drive.
>
> e) From d), it appears that there is some winapi that is being called that
> checks for the contents to be really from a CD and not from a networked
> drive.
>
> I am certain that there is some way to redirect this to the network drive
> and get away with it.  I am wondering if anyone has done any coding on
> windows drive/file IO and has any code to get e) going and willing to share
> it with me?  I have done some checks on the net, but have found only
> proprietary ones which have a server component that runs you know where.
>
> I am not averse to closed-source options, but would really prefer open ones.
>
> Thanks and regards.
>
> Harish




--
Doug Loss                 God is a comedian playing
Data Network Coordinator  to an audience too afraid
Bloomsburg University     to laugh.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Voltaire