alc tests

	Cool, i like comments... Here the answers (most of then a known
problem)

> - the RIPE database supports immediate updates in the whois server.
> People that send in ASs or networks want to test whether they have
> done things right almost instantly. Restarting alc every minute or so
> is currently the only answer, but with 40 seconds to read the RIPE
> database, this does not look very attractive to me. We may need to
> think of a way to have alc show a similar behaviour as updating the
> database (ie almost instantly)

	There is no (current) way to reread a DB_FLAT file. As for a DB_DBM
file, since alc stores only the key the ALC protocol allows a client (in our
case dbupdate) to announce a new key. In other word dbupdate can tell
dynamicly alc when a new key is created, and no reread is necessary.
This feature is not yet used (but works!) since i have to hack dbupdate.

> - When a DB file is read as a flat file, the alc process is enormously
> big, almost 15 Mb with only the RIPE database read. This could give
> some severe performance problems for other services running on the
> same machine. The answer is simple I know, get another box, but we
> don't have another box. Reading a DBM index in stead of a flat file
> reduces the size of alc to around 7 Mb.

	For  DB_FLAT file alc store everything in memory. DB_FLAT is an old
format. For a DB_DBM file alc on rrdb.merit.edu use 11 Mb for 400000 net
from RIPE and 28000 from PRDB. (the 'real' memory space used is something like
5 Mb but malloc(3) is a little unefficient :-) (Try the -m option)


> - aggwalk -A <attribute> only shows real attributes as defined in the
> config, no aliases. So in the RIPE alc server you cannot ask for
> aut-sys but have to ask for homeas ...

	We can agree on a name... Homeas is historical.
 
		Laurent

PS: Could you tell me when you get core dump? It should be fixed.
-- 
Laurent Joncheray,                                 E-Mail: lpj at merit.edu
    Merit Network Inc, 1071 Beal Avenue,           Phone:  +1 (313) 936 2065
    Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA                       Fax:    +1 (313) 747 3745
"This is the end, Beautiful friend. This is the end, My only friend, the end" JM



-------- Logged at  Wed Apr 27 16:09:22 MET DST 1994  ---------