Chebucto Community Net:
Information Provider Database Guides
- Using the Information Provider Database
- Group Editing
1. Create a Link to the IP Database
Create a link to:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/adm/ip
[N.B. You must have received prior HTTP authorized access to use this
resource.]
It will ask you for your login (your CCN login) and admin area password
(your CCN password at the time you were first granted access).
If you change your CCN login password via "go password", it doesn't change
your admin area password because the two are, in fact, maintained
separately.
To change your password go to the CCN Administration Home Page at: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/adm/
and follow the appropriate link to Change your Csuite
Administration password.
2. Select "Update the IP database"
You'll need to enter a word or phrase to match anywhere in the database
record (e.g. name of IP organization or name of IP editor) and then select
"Look up IP".
You will be prompted for your username and password a second time here.
3. Select an appropriate IP from the list of search "hits"
Or go back and enter a different search term if you couldn't find it in
the list. Note: you will often see what appear to be multiple entries for
an IP at this point. In most instances this is simply a result of
the IP Database have found the search term in more than one field and
so it presents you with more than one link to the same IPDB entry. You
can verify this by checking the ip=### of the IP when you look at the
entries. In rare instances there may actually be multiple entries in
the IPDB. In such instances notify the Editor-in-Chief.
Once you have selected the IP's database record page, you can examine and
update the category, the directory, the home page filename, the majordomo
lists, the address & phone number, and so forth. When checking entries for
IPs that you are familiar with ensure that this information is correct. If
it's not, please correct and update.
The status's (training, agreement, etc.) are on a separate page (see steps
6 and 7).
There is also a link from this page to the Group Editors list of IP
Editors for this IP (for IPs which have already been created). You can
follow this to make changes to the roster of IP Editors for this IP.
4. Select "Update the database record" at the bottom of this page.
Even if you haven't made any changes, you can do this to go on to the "IPDB
display" page. Note: you must select this for the changes you have
made to take effect.
The database allows you at this place to "Delete" an IP from the database.
Do this only if you are absolutely sure that this entry is defunct
or erroneous. This does not actually remove an IP's directory, just their
database entry.
5. The "IPDB display" page allows you to verify IP information at a
glance.
You'll find here the "Status Report" which leads you to a page containing
information similar (but not exactly the same) to that reached from
"Update Status report" at the top of the "Update Database Record" page
(step 3). If you select it here you will be prompted for your username and
password yet again. From here you can see recently changed documents and
URL hits as per cgi-bin routines.
At the bottom of this page is a link to "Update Status for ..." which takes you
to the former status page (step 2).
6. Check the "Status Report"
Use any route to get to the "Status Report".
Here you will find the "trained" status and the "agreement" status. You
can change the former, but the latter is only ever changed by the office.
Please have the Team Leader of IP Training verify that training has been
completed successfully by the IP before changing the "trained" status.
7. Follow "Update the Status for ip-###" link.
This takes you to the "CSuite update IP Status" page, from which you can
make any changes to the "trained" status, as well as the "jumpkey", the IP
editors ("group list"), private mail list, and public mail list if
the IP has not already been created. Otherwise you can only change
the status and jumpkey. Changes to mailing list names must, at this stage,
be referred to Mailing List
Administration.
When you are satisfied with the status changes, follow the "Update Status"
link from the bottom of the status report to make them take effect. Note: you
must select this for the changes you have made to take effect.
You can now create the IP, provided that all of the necessary
preconditions have been met:
- IP agreement received and recorded as "agreement" status (by the office)
- IP editors are recorded (from the original IP online application and/or
steps 6 and 7)
- IP 3 "trained" status is indicated (steps 6 and 7)
- IP category, directory and "private EMail" majordomo list have been
recorded (steps 3 & 4)
8. Select "Create Information Provider" from the Update Status
page
This will create the information provider. This is a cron-dependent function
so it will likely take some time before the directory actually appears.
9. Other Capabilities of the IP Database
From the main CCN
Information Provider Administration page there are several other
functions which are very useful:
- List all IPs in edit mode
- Add an Information Provider to the database
List all IPs in edit mode
This gives you a long list of all the IP database entries for all IPs both
created and in process. This is very useful to be able to peruse.
Selecting one will immediately take you to their database entry.
Unfortunately the list is not in alphabetical (or other intuitive)
order.
Add an Information Provider to the database
This allows you to manually create an entry for the IP Database in the
event that this application is coming to the CCN via some route that has
not taken it through the normal on-line IP application procedure.
Editing groups are the collection of users who have Unix file permissions
to edit the files which belong to this group. In some (but not all) cases
(e.g. fn-edit) there are mailing lists that also bear the same names as
the editing groups and in such cases the members of the editing group are
often the subscribers of the mailing list. It is nevertheless important to
carefully distinguish between the two since aside from the coincidence of
names the two are not necessarily related.