DistOS-2011W Plan 9 - Revision history

Nlessard at 18:18, 3 March 2011

2011-03-03T18:18:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:18, 3 March 2011
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	=References=		=References=

	~~Thee will be improved~~.		[1] "Installation instructions".'' Alcatel-Lucent ''. Alcatel-Lucent, June 8th 2010. Web. Accessed: Feb 26th 2011. [http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/installation_instructions/ link]

	[1]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/~~installation_instructions~~/		[2] "FAQ".'' Alcatel-Lucent ''. Alcatel-Lucent, May 30th 2010. Web. Accessed: Feb 26th 2011. [http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/faq/index.html link]

	[2]http://~~plan9~~.~~bell-labs.com~~/~~wiki~~/~~plan9~~/~~faq/index~~.~~html~~		[3] Ballesteros ,Francisco J. "Introduction to Operating Systems Abstractions".'' Universidad Rey Juan Carlos'', Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, September 28th 2007. Web. Accessed: Feb 26th 2011. [http://lsub.org/who/nemo/9.intro.pdf link]

	[3]http://~~lsub~~.~~org~~/~~who~~/~~nemo~~/9.~~intro.pdf~~		[4] Presotto, Dave; Winterbottom, Phil. "The Organization of Networks in Plan 9", ''Proc. of the Winter 1993 USENIX Conf.'', Alcatel-Lucent, 1993. Web. Accessed: Feb 26th 2011. [http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/net/net.html link]

	[4]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/~~net/net~~.html		[5] Pike, Rob et al. "The Use of Name Spaces in Plan 9".'' Operating Systems Review, Vol. 27 ''. Alcatel-Lucent, April 1993. Web. Accessed: Feb 27th 2011. [http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/names.html link]

	[5]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/~~names~~.html		[6] Pike, Rob et al. "Plan 9 from Bell Labs".''Bell Laboratories''. Alcatel-Lucent, 1995. Web. Accessed: Feb 26th 2011. [http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/9.html link]

	[6]http://~~plan9~~.~~bell~~-~~labs~~.~~com~~/~~sys~~/~~doc~~/~~9.html~~		[7] "Manual pages - Section 5: the Plan 9 File Protocol, 9P". Cat-v.ORG. Web. Accessed: Feb 26th 2011. [http://man.cat-v.org/plan_9/5/ link]

	[7]~~http~~:~~//man.cat-v~~.~~org/plan_9/5/~~		[8] "6th International Workshop on Plan 9". Web. Accessed: Feb 28th 2011. [http://iwp9.org/ link]

	[8]http://iwp9.org/

	=External Links=		=External Links=

	http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/		[http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/ Plan 9 Homepage]

	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Bell_Labs		[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Bell_Labs Wikipedia page on Plan 9]

Nlessard at 00:53, 2 March 2011

2011-03-02T00:53:54Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:53, 2 March 2011
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	9P is the protocol around which much of Plan 9 is based. 9P is the network protocol for components of Plan 9 to communicate with each other, and is what the vast majority of communication on a Plan 9 network will be composed of.[5] The protocol is 17 basic messages, almost all relating to file manipulation and querying. The protocol communicates in files, not blocks, vaguely similar to the concept of an object store. You don't ask for thirty 612KB blocks on network hard disk A13, but rather navigate through the namespace, attach yourself to a given file, and then reading and writing to that file.[5]		9P is the protocol around which much of Plan 9 is based. 9P is the network protocol for components of Plan 9 to communicate with each other, and is what the vast majority of communication on a Plan 9 network will be composed of.[5] The protocol is 17 basic messages, almost all relating to file manipulation and querying. The protocol communicates in files, not blocks, vaguely similar to the concept of an object store. You don't ask for thirty 612KB blocks on network hard disk A13, but rather navigate through the namespace, attach yourself to a given file, and then reading and writing to that file.[5]

	9Ps 17 messages for communication show just how file oriented Plan 9 is. '''version''' makes sure to communicating devices are using the same version of 9P. To establish a connection to a given location there is '''auth''' and '''attach'''. The result of a successful connection is a “channel”, which gives the root of a server. '''clone''' can create a copy of the channel. '''flush''' can abort a message, and '''error''' sends a message telling you exactly what you'd expect it to. What's more interesting is the rest of the messages. '''walk''' is used to move from one file to another in the hierarchy. '''open''' and '''create''' are used to prepare a new or existing file ID for I/O. '''read''' and '''write''' do exactly as you would expect. '''clunk''' informs a file server that the current file isn't needed by whatever is using it, the File's ID can be “forgotten”. '''remove''' will remove a file from the fileserver, assuming the device accessing it had write access. Even if it doesn't the file will be “Clunked”. '''stat''' and '''wstat''' enquire about metadata relating to the file, such as it's name, length, the last time it was accessed, the files owner and so on. [5][7]		9Ps 17 messages for communication show just how file oriented Plan 9 is. '''version''' makes sure to communicating devices are using the same version of 9P. To establish a connection to a given location there is '''auth''' and '''attach'''. The result of a successful connection is a “channel”, which gives the root of a server. '''clone''' can create a copy of the channel. '''flush''' can abort a message, and '''error''' sends a message telling you exactly what you'd expect it to. What's more interesting is the rest of the messages. '''walk''' is used to move from one file to another in the hierarchy. '''open''' and '''create''' are used to prepare a new or existing file ID for I/O. '''read''' and '''write''' do exactly as you would expect. '''clunk''' informs a file server that the current file isn't needed by whatever is using it, the File's ID can be “forgotten”. '''remove''' will remove a file from the fileserver, assuming the device accessing it had write access. Even if it doesn't the file will be “Clunked”. '''stat''' and '''wstat''' enquire about metadata relating to the file, such as it's name, length, the last time it was accessed, the files owner and so on. [5][7] Important to keep in mind that near-all communication is done with this, since you can treat the network as file file, for example, you could ask the network to open something, or query it for metadata the same way you can look at a image's metadata.

	=Experiences and Discussion=		=Experiences and Discussion=
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	=Conclusion=		=Conclusion=

	I'~~ll get to~~ it.		Plan 9 was a new way of envisioning an Operating System. It threw away the foundations of what came before it, picking and choosing a few pieces from UNIX, and building a newer, in many ways better system from the ground up. It introduced a lot of new ideas to the world of computing, such as treating all system resources as Files, Using personal Namespaces that can be brought from Terminal to Terminal, and a unified system communication protocol, called 9P, which can be used to communicate with and between all of the files (which are system resources!). It's an original concept, and while it hasn't seen mainstream appeal, it is still going strong; The 6th International Workshop on Plan 9 will be held October 20th and 21st, 2011 at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, in Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain.


	=References=		=References=
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	[7]http://man.cat-v.org/plan_9/5/		[7]http://man.cat-v.org/plan_9/5/

			[8]http://iwp9.org/

	=External Links=		=External Links=

Nlessard at 00:03, 2 March 2011

2011-03-02T00:03:07Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:03, 2 March 2011
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	I am going to discuss my personal attempt to get a Plan 9 network up and running. I won't go into too much details, as a managed to fail spectacularly multiple times, and the actual network I wanted to set up didn't get past the theoretical stage, but there is still some stuff worth mentioning.		I am going to discuss my personal attempt to get a Plan 9 network up and running. I won't go into too much details, as a managed to fail spectacularly multiple times, and the actual network I wanted to set up didn't get past the theoretical stage, but there is still some stuff worth mentioning.

			==My failed attempt to Set up a Plan 9 Network==
	My original System would've been set up as such: My laptop, by far my most powerful computer, would've served as a CPU server, as being a mid range laptop from late 2010 not all that impressive in and of itself, it blows the next two computers in this system out of the water. The next Computer would have served as the file Server; it was a entry level desktop from 2003/4, with an Intel Celeron 240 Ghz CPU from 2004, 224 MB of DDR RAM and 37 GB of storage. The final Computer would have served as the terminal. It was from 2000, had a Pentium 3, 64 MB of RAM and 10 GB of RAM.		My original System would've been set up as such: My laptop, by far my most powerful computer, would've served as a CPU server, as being a mid range laptop from late 2010 not all that impressive in and of itself, it blows the next two computers in this system out of the water. The next Computer would have served as the file Server; it was a entry level desktop from 2003/4, with an Intel Celeron 240 Ghz CPU from 2004, 224 MB of DDR RAM and 37 GB of storage. The final Computer would have served as the terminal. It was from 2000, had a Pentium 3, 64 MB of RAM and 10 GB of RAM.

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	At this point it formats and mounts the file system, formats and mounts the Archival server, and copies over the Plan 9 distribution. Worth noting is instead of formatting the system, you can copy a distribution or a file system from the network - which seems useful in a distributed system. You could in theory copy another system's archive. It would seem that the system is already creating namespaces for itself based on the installation disk and any other computer it may be connected to. The installation finishes, and the system reboots. After logging into the default user, called Glenda, I realize I have a problem. The system can't enter into it's UI, and Apparently my videocard isn't supported. The text I'm supposed to type to start up the window system, called Rio, crashes the computer.		At this point it formats and mounts the file system, formats and mounts the Archival server, and copies over the Plan 9 distribution. Worth noting is instead of formatting the system, you can copy a distribution or a file system from the network - which seems useful in a distributed system. You could in theory copy another system's archive. It would seem that the system is already creating namespaces for itself based on the installation disk and any other computer it may be connected to. The installation finishes, and the system reboots. After logging into the default user, called Glenda, I realize I have a problem. The system can't enter into it's UI, and Apparently my videocard isn't supported. The text I'm supposed to type to start up the window system, called Rio, crashes the computer.

	I decide to switch to virtual machines at this point, using Virtual Box. I repeat the above process, and I do end up getting the graphical interface. It's somewhat confusing, but you can definitely navigate around and see that everything appears to be, in fact, a file. The problem I have now is that Plan 9 doesn't seem think it's connected to anything, which severely limited my Network to one computer I couldn't use to do anything. I'll admit I go frustrated at this point and decided it wasn't worth figuring out what I needed to do to get Virtual Box and Plan 9 to play nice, as there were reports to be written.		I decide to switch to virtual machines at this point, using Virtual Box. I repeat the above process, and I do end up getting the graphical interface. It's somewhat confusing, but you can definitely navigate around and see that everything appears to be, in fact, a file. The problem I have now is that Plan 9 doesn't seem think it's connected to anything, which severely limited my Network to one computer I couldn't use to do anything. I'll admit I go frustrated at this point and decided it wasn't worth figuring out what I needed to do to get Virtual Box and Plan 9 to play nice, as there were reports to be written. Some quick Googling shows Virtual Box was a horrible choice of Virtualization software for Plan 9. (but only Plan 9; All my other Virtual Machines run excellently in Virtual Box, I, personally would easily Still Recommend it!)

			==Discussion and Ramblings==

	I wish I could have gotten the network up and running, I wanted to see it up in action, distributing work		I wish I could have gotten the network up and running, I wanted to see it up in action, distributing work

Nlessard at 23:53, 1 March 2011

2011-03-01T23:53:57Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:53, 1 March 2011
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	=Experiences and Discussion=		=Experiences and Discussion=

	~~==Experiences==~~

	I am going to discuss my personal attempt to get a Plan 9 network up and running. I won't go into too much details, as a managed to fail spectacularly multiple times, and the actual network I wanted to set up didn't get past the theoretical stage, but there is still some stuff worth mentioning.		I am going to discuss my personal attempt to get a Plan 9 network up and running. I won't go into too much details, as a managed to fail spectacularly multiple times, and the actual network I wanted to set up didn't get past the theoretical stage, but there is still some stuff worth mentioning.

Nlessard at 23:52, 1 March 2011

2011-03-01T23:52:19Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:52, 1 March 2011
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	=Experiences and Discussion=		=Experiences and Discussion=

			==Experiences==

	I am going to discuss my personal attempt to get a Plan 9 network up and running. I won't go into too much details, as a managed to fail spectacularly multiple times, and the actual network I wanted to set up didn't get past the theoretical stage, but there is still some stuff worth mentioning.		I am going to discuss my personal attempt to get a Plan 9 network up and running. I won't go into too much details, as a managed to fail spectacularly multiple times, and the actual network I wanted to set up didn't get past the theoretical stage, but there is still some stuff worth mentioning.
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	I wish I could have gotten the network up and running, I wanted to see it up in action, distributing work		I wish I could have gotten the network up and running, I wanted to see it up in action, distributing work
	and accessing files on servers as though they were on the terminal.		and accessing files on servers as though they were on the terminal. Plan 9 apparently has some interesting approaches to security, which I failed to realize until the last possible moment. I would have like to explored this if I had managed to get a network running.

			On the subject of Plan 9 itself, it's interesting to see a completely different way of organizing an operating system. All of the Operating systems I've encountered in the past have had a similar, Monolithic Kernel model; Windows, OSX, Linux. It's interesting to see that there's no reason you can't organize a system to treat everything as one common building block; I wouldn't have thought of my (for instance) network driver and a jpg as being treatable in a similar manner. Also, the concept of having a personalized namespace, that you can load up on any terminal but isn't tied to any specific machine screams ChromeOS and Google accounts to me; You can log in from any machine and have all your documents, email, and so on right there. Google even handles some of the processing for you by keeping track of everything, and Google Search is essentially the ultimate File server. But those are just superficial observations; what's going on under the hood is undoubtedly different.

	=Conclusion=		=Conclusion=

	~~Plan 9 is a~~		I'll get to it.

	=References=		=References=

			Thee will be improved.

	[1]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/installation_instructions/		[1]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/installation_instructions/

Nlessard at 20:20, 1 March 2011

2011-03-01T20:20:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:20, 1 March 2011
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	9P is the protocol around which much of Plan 9 is based. 9P is the network protocol for components of Plan 9 to communicate with each other, and is what the vast majority of communication on a Plan 9 network will be composed of.[5] The protocol is 17 basic messages, almost all relating to file manipulation and querying. The protocol communicates in files, not blocks, vaguely similar to the concept of an object store. You don't ask for thirty 612KB blocks on network hard disk A13, but rather navigate through the namespace, attach yourself to a given file, and then reading and writing to that file.[5]		9P is the protocol around which much of Plan 9 is based. 9P is the network protocol for components of Plan 9 to communicate with each other, and is what the vast majority of communication on a Plan 9 network will be composed of.[5] The protocol is 17 basic messages, almost all relating to file manipulation and querying. The protocol communicates in files, not blocks, vaguely similar to the concept of an object store. You don't ask for thirty 612KB blocks on network hard disk A13, but rather navigate through the namespace, attach yourself to a given file, and then reading and writing to that file.[5]

	9Ps 17 messages for communication show just how file oriented Plan 9 is. '''version''' makes sure to communicating devices are using the same version of 9P. To establish a connection to a given location there is '''auth''' and '''attach'''. The result of a successful connection is a “channel”, which gives the root of a server. '''clone''' can create a copy of the channel. '''flush''' can abort a message, and '''error''' sends a message telling you exactly what you'd expect it to. What's more interesting is the rest of the messages. '''walk''' is used to move from one file to another in the hierarchy. '''open''' and '''create''' are used to prepare a new or existing file ID for I/O. '''read''' and '''write''' do exactly as you would expect. '''clunk''' informs a file server that the current file isn't needed by whatever is using it, the File's ID can be “forgotten”. '''remove''' will remove a file from the fileserver, assuming the device accessing it had write access. Even if it doesn't the file will be “Clunked”. '''stat''' and '''wstat''' enquire about metadata relating to the file, such as it's name, length, the last time it was accessed, the files owner and so on. [5]		9Ps 17 messages for communication show just how file oriented Plan 9 is. '''version''' makes sure to communicating devices are using the same version of 9P. To establish a connection to a given location there is '''auth''' and '''attach'''. The result of a successful connection is a “channel”, which gives the root of a server. '''clone''' can create a copy of the channel. '''flush''' can abort a message, and '''error''' sends a message telling you exactly what you'd expect it to. What's more interesting is the rest of the messages. '''walk''' is used to move from one file to another in the hierarchy. '''open''' and '''create''' are used to prepare a new or existing file ID for I/O. '''read''' and '''write''' do exactly as you would expect. '''clunk''' informs a file server that the current file isn't needed by whatever is using it, the File's ID can be “forgotten”. '''remove''' will remove a file from the fileserver, assuming the device accessing it had write access. Even if it doesn't the file will be “Clunked”. '''stat''' and '''wstat''' enquire about metadata relating to the file, such as it's name, length, the last time it was accessed, the files owner and so on. [5][7]

	=Experiences and Discussion=		=Experiences and Discussion=
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	[6]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/9.html		[6]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/doc/9.html

			[7]http://man.cat-v.org/plan_9/5/

	=External Links=		=External Links=

Nlessard at 18:59, 1 March 2011

2011-03-01T18:59:27Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:59, 1 March 2011
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	=Plan 9 from Bell Labs=		=Plan 9 from Bell Labs=

	~~[[File:Glenda.jpg\|thumb\|alt= Glenda, The Plan 9 Mascot \| Glenda, The Plan 9 Mascot]]~~

	=Introduction=		=Introduction=

Nlessard at 02:14, 1 March 2011

2011-03-01T02:14:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:14, 1 March 2011
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	9Ps 17 messages for communication show just how file oriented Plan 9 is. '''version''' makes sure to communicating devices are using the same version of 9P. To establish a connection to a given location there is '''auth''' and '''attach'''. The result of a successful connection is a “channel”, which gives the root of a server. '''clone''' can create a copy of the channel. '''flush''' can abort a message, and '''error''' sends a message telling you exactly what you'd expect it to. What's more interesting is the rest of the messages. '''walk''' is used to move from one file to another in the hierarchy. '''open''' and '''create''' are used to prepare a new or existing file ID for I/O. '''read''' and '''write''' do exactly as you would expect. '''clunk''' informs a file server that the current file isn't needed by whatever is using it, the File's ID can be “forgotten”. '''remove''' will remove a file from the fileserver, assuming the device accessing it had write access. Even if it doesn't the file will be “Clunked”. '''stat''' and '''wstat''' enquire about metadata relating to the file, such as it's name, length, the last time it was accessed, the files owner and so on. [5]		9Ps 17 messages for communication show just how file oriented Plan 9 is. '''version''' makes sure to communicating devices are using the same version of 9P. To establish a connection to a given location there is '''auth''' and '''attach'''. The result of a successful connection is a “channel”, which gives the root of a server. '''clone''' can create a copy of the channel. '''flush''' can abort a message, and '''error''' sends a message telling you exactly what you'd expect it to. What's more interesting is the rest of the messages. '''walk''' is used to move from one file to another in the hierarchy. '''open''' and '''create''' are used to prepare a new or existing file ID for I/O. '''read''' and '''write''' do exactly as you would expect. '''clunk''' informs a file server that the current file isn't needed by whatever is using it, the File's ID can be “forgotten”. '''remove''' will remove a file from the fileserver, assuming the device accessing it had write access. Even if it doesn't the file will be “Clunked”. '''stat''' and '''wstat''' enquire about metadata relating to the file, such as it's name, length, the last time it was accessed, the files owner and so on. [5]

	=Experiences=		=Experiences and Discussion=

	I am going to discuss my personal attempt to get a Plan 9 network up and running. I won't go into too much details, as a managed to fail spectacularly multiple times, and the actual network I wanted to set up didn't get past the theoretical stage, but there is still some stuff worth mentioning.		I am going to discuss my personal attempt to get a Plan 9 network up and running. I won't go into too much details, as a managed to fail spectacularly multiple times, and the actual network I wanted to set up didn't get past the theoretical stage, but there is still some stuff worth mentioning.
Line 53:		Line 53:

	I decide to switch to virtual machines at this point, using Virtual Box. I repeat the above process, and I do end up getting the graphical interface. It's somewhat confusing, but you can definitely navigate around and see that everything appears to be, in fact, a file. The problem I have now is that Plan 9 doesn't seem think it's connected to anything, which severely limited my Network to one computer I couldn't use to do anything. I'll admit I go frustrated at this point and decided it wasn't worth figuring out what I needed to do to get Virtual Box and Plan 9 to play nice, as there were reports to be written.		I decide to switch to virtual machines at this point, using Virtual Box. I repeat the above process, and I do end up getting the graphical interface. It's somewhat confusing, but you can definitely navigate around and see that everything appears to be, in fact, a file. The problem I have now is that Plan 9 doesn't seem think it's connected to anything, which severely limited my Network to one computer I couldn't use to do anything. I'll admit I go frustrated at this point and decided it wasn't worth figuring out what I needed to do to get Virtual Box and Plan 9 to play nice, as there were reports to be written.

	~~=Discussion=~~

	I wish I could have gotten the network up and running, I wanted to see it up in action, distributing work		I wish I could have gotten the network up and running, I wanted to see it up in action, distributing work
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	=Conclusion=		=Conclusion=

			Plan 9 is a

	=References=		=References=

	~~((They'll become real references later, and I'll weed out things I didn't end up using))~~


	[1]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/installation_instructions/		[1]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/wiki/plan9/installation_instructions/

Nlessard at 02:04, 1 March 2011

2011-03-01T02:04:57Z

Show changes

Nlessard at 01:56, 1 March 2011

2011-03-01T01:56:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:56, 1 March 2011
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	==9P==		==9P==

	9P is the protocol around which much of Plan 9 is based. 9P is the network protocol for components of Plan 9 to communicate with each other, and is what the vast majority of communication on a Plan 9 network will be composed of.[8] The protocol is 17 basic messages, almost all relating to file manipulation and querying. The protocol communicates in files, not blocks, vaguely similar to the concept of an object store. You don't ask for thirty ~~512KB~~ blocks on network hard disk A13, but rather navigate through the namespace, attach yourself to a given file, and then reading and writing to that file.[8]		9P is the protocol around which much of Plan 9 is based. 9P is the network protocol for components of Plan 9 to communicate with each other, and is what the vast majority of communication on a Plan 9 network will be composed of.[8] The protocol is 17 basic messages, almost all relating to file manipulation and querying. The protocol communicates in files, not blocks, vaguely similar to the concept of an object store. You don't ask for thirty 612KB blocks on network hard disk A13, but rather navigate through the namespace, attach yourself to a given file, and then reading and writing to that file.[8]

	9Ps 17 messages for communication show just how file oriented Plan 9 is. '''version''' makes sure to communicating devices are using the same version of 9P. To establish a connection to a given location there is '''auth''' and '''attach'''. The result of a successful connection is a “channel”, which gives the root of a server. '''clone''' can create a copy of the channel. '''flush''' can abort a message, and '''error''' sends a message telling you exactly what you'd expect it to. What's more interesting is the rest of the messages. '''walk''' is used to move from one file to another in the hierarchy. '''open''' and '''create''' are used to prepare a new or existing file ID for I/O. '''read''' and '''write''' do exactly as you would expect. '''clunk''' informs a file server that the current file isn't needed by whatever is using it, the File's ID can be “forgotten”. '''remove''' will remove a file from the fileserver, assuming the device accessing it had write access. Even if it doesn't the file will be “Clunked”. '''stat''' and '''wstat''' enquire about metadata relating to the file, such as it's name, length, the last time it was accessed, the files owner and so on. [8]		9Ps 17 messages for communication show just how file oriented Plan 9 is. '''version''' makes sure to communicating devices are using the same version of 9P. To establish a connection to a given location there is '''auth''' and '''attach'''. The result of a successful connection is a “channel”, which gives the root of a server. '''clone''' can create a copy of the channel. '''flush''' can abort a message, and '''error''' sends a message telling you exactly what you'd expect it to. What's more interesting is the rest of the messages. '''walk''' is used to move from one file to another in the hierarchy. '''open''' and '''create''' are used to prepare a new or existing file ID for I/O. '''read''' and '''write''' do exactly as you would expect. '''clunk''' informs a file server that the current file isn't needed by whatever is using it, the File's ID can be “forgotten”. '''remove''' will remove a file from the fileserver, assuming the device accessing it had write access. Even if it doesn't the file will be “Clunked”. '''stat''' and '''wstat''' enquire about metadata relating to the file, such as it's name, length, the last time it was accessed, the files owner and so on. [8]

			=Experiences=

			I am going to discuss my personal attempt to get a Plan 9 network up and running. I won't go into too much details, as a managed to fail spectacularly multiple times, and the actual network I wanted to set up didn't get past the theoretical stage, but there is still some stuff worth mentioning.

			My original System would've been set up as such: My laptop, by far my most powerful computer, would've served as a CPU server, as being a mid range laptop from late 2010 not all that impressive in and of itself, it blows the next two computers in this system out of the water. The next Computer would have served as the file Server; it was a entry level desktop from 2003/4, with an Intel Celeron 240 Ghz CPU from 2004, 224 MB of DDR RAM and 37 GB of storage. The final Computer would have served as the terminal. It was from 2000, had a Pentium 3, 64 MB of RAM and 10 GB of RAM.

			Following a couple of Guides[2][4], I managed to get the File Server PC to the point where I could log into the default user. This part of the process was surprisingly simple. Plan 9 guides you through the process, hand feeding you what commands to enter. It goes through standard Operating system procedure, no more complex then any other operating system install. You partition the disk with either a file system, called Fossil, or a File system plus an Archival dump server, called Venti. This was the File Server, so I went with the second option. It them prepares the disk, deciding how much memory goes to each section. I went with the default configuration, which gave the Archival dump most of the memory (~30 GB), some of it to the File system (~6 GB) and the rest was divided between things like a Swap partition and a various things needed to properly boot the system.

			At this point it formats and mounts the file system, formats and mounts the Archival server, and copies over the Plan 9 distribution. Worth noting is instead of formatting the system, you can copy a distribution or a file system from the network - which seems useful in a distributed system. You could in theory copy another system's archive. It would seem that the system is already creating namespaces for itself based on the installation disk and any other computer it may be connected to. The installation finishes, and the system reboots. After logging into the default user, called Glenda, I realize I have a problem. The system can't enter into it's UI, and Apparently my videocard isn't supported. The text I'm supposed to type to start up the window system, called Rio, crashes the computer.

			I decide to switch to virtual machines at this point, using Virtual Box. I repeat the above process, and I do end up getting the graphical interface. It's somewhat confusing, but you can definitely navigate around and see that everything appears to be, in fact, a file. The problem I have now is that Plan 9 doesn't seem think it's connected to anything, which severely limited my Network to one computer I couldn't use to do anything. I'll admit I go frustrated at this point and decided it wasn't worth figuring out what I needed to do to get Virtual Box and Plan 9 to play nice, as there were reports to be written.

			=Discussion=

			I wish I could have gotten the network up and running, I wanted to see it up in action, distributing work and accessing files on servers as though they were on the terminal.

			=Conclusion=


	=References=		=References=

	~~Give references in proper form (not just URLs if possible, give dates of access).~~		((They'll become real references later, and I'll weed out things I didn't end up using))

	((They'll become real references later))

	[1]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/		[1]http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/