The Los Task Request System - Summary

This group is not part of the GNU Project.

<img src="/download/los/los_logo.png" alt="Los logo"><h2>The Los Task Request System</h2>
<b>The Los Task Request System</b> is a system for automating common system administration requests. To illustrate the problem Los aims to solve, consider this script:

USER:  I need common thing X.<br>ADMIN: OK. For that, you need to tell me A, B, and C.<br>USER:  A is foo, B is bar, and D is baz.<br>ADMIN: Hi again. I need to know about C, not D.<br>USER:  OK. C is quux.<br>ADMIN: I need to know more specifically about C. What size quux?<br>USER:  Um... five.<br>ADMIN: OK, I see. No problem, I'll choose a sane value for you.

(ADMIN eventually gets around to doing X, if she remembers it, etc. Like always, it's boring and tedious and worth putting off. USER wonders why it had to take so bloody long.)

Los combines web forms, scripting, and cryptographic signatures to automate this dreary process. The user enters task data into a web form, which both explains the nature of the information required and checks for common input mistakes. Their data is sent to the sysadmin over e-mail; there, after a review, the admin can cryptographically sign the data and send it on to a script that automatically executes the task.

<h3>Features:</h3><ul>
<li>All the information for a task--from collection to execution--is kept in a single XML file.
<li>Los is extensible--it's possible to add custom form elements and input filters to the system.
<li>Los has a secure design--users cannot make changes to the system and have no access to the part of Los that does. Only the cryptographic signature of a sysadmin can invoke the Los executor.
</ul>

Los was presented as a refereed paper at LISA 2002 in Philadelphia.

Registration Date: Fri 02 Aug 2002 06:23:46 AM UTC
License: Modified BSD License
Development Status: 5 - Production/Stable