Searching for Testers was Re: [OpenAFS] OpenAFS site not geared
for beginners...
Jeffrey Altman
jaltman@secure-endpoints.com
Sat, 02 Sep 2006 06:21:06 -0400
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Rodney:
If there is a problem with a release that you encounter and you don't
say anything and no one else says anything then it will never be fixed.
If it is never fixed, then it will become a problem for you when you
upgrade and it will be too late.
Even if you don't have time to do a full debug, send a e-mail so
that at least we know that there is a problem. Even better would be
to give your Help Desk personnel a list of instructions to follow when
they come across a problem so that they can file the bug report to
openafs-bugs@openafs.org and you don't even have to be involved. If
the Help Desk is supposed to be supporting OpenAFS for your students
and staff then that should not necessarily mean that they have to
contact you whenever there is a problem.
Simple things such as copy the afsd_init.log file off the machine
would be quite helpful. Again, just knowing that there is a problem
with a given build is helpful.
Is anyone else experiencing the problems that Rodney has cited?
Can anyone else help to track them down?
Jeffrey Altman
Rodney M Dyer wrote:
> At 09:14 PM 9/1/2006, Jeffrey Altman wrote:
>> I feel compelled to point out the fact that I have seen zero bug reports
>> saying that OpenAFS would not install or that the service would not
>> start (except on Windows Vista and that is because of bugs in Vista.)
>
> Please forgive my knee-jerking and I admit that the problem is not as
> overblown as I make things out to be. After being hassled by help desk
> support, my mood isn't always good. In the last month I have been
> called out on as little as two issues that have appeared with the client.
>
> 1. Apparently there is some issue with having the Windows client
> computername longer than a certain length.
>
> 2. Apparently with the latest build 1.4.2fc2 the client service will
> crash on startup.
>
> I did not have time to perform any analysis of these problems. I fixed
> issue 1 just by making the computername shorter. Issue 2 was fixed
> after installing 1.4.1 over 1.4.2fc2 - twice. The first install over
> 1.4.2fc2 was done by our help desk. I personally wouldn't have done it
> that way, thinking that 1.4.1 installer shouldn't know how to uninstall
> a later version. And in fact this causes an issue with the AFS client
> service not being completely removed. So I needed to re-install 1.4.1
> one more time, hoping this problem would clear it up, and it did.
>
> What we know about issue 2 is that the machine never had AFS on it
> before. The machine was a brand new laptop with Windows XP SP2 and all
> patches. The user simply downloaded1.4.2fc2 and installed it. Upon
> reboot the service crashes. I did not actually see the crash, but was
> advised of the crash dump by Windows that occurred. When I got to the
> computer, the help desk person had already tried to remove 1.4.2fc2 by
> installing 1.4.1.
>
> This year has been a very complicated and exhausting year for me. I'm a
> very tired tech worker in the IT industry. I love AFS and do want to
> continue to support the OpenAFS group with testing, however I have been
> too busy with other things lately to help out. I found that it has just
> been too time consuming to keep up with every release of OpenAFS. The
> time I have allotted for AFS testing and debugging is very small, if any
> at all.
>
> I'm also a little bit nervous with the fact that as AFS has improved
> (performance and features), it also still retains some visible
> instabilities; apparently not only in the client, but in the server
> too. We have/are seeing strange issues after moving to 1.4.1. Issues
> like...
>
> 1. Users apparently can't add their own permissions back after removing
> them from their home volume. This worked in the past. (I think because
> the user was the owner of the volume). It no longer works.
>
> 2. Volume replications can sometimes stall, or take longer than normal
> periods of time, even if the replication is on the same server.
>
> 3. Moving a users volume from one server to another apparently causes
> some issue with some clients not being able to access the volume.
>
> 4. Other anomalies which we got patches for from the OpenAFS group
> since we upgraded to 1.4.1.
>
> I don't have any good data on these issues yet. I don't have good time
> to diagnose these problems. I mention them only as anecdotal problems.
> Even if I can't do anything more about getting more information to you I
> feel you should at least know something is not right. I guess I could
> just keep my mouth closed.
>
> Btw, now that it is on my mind, there is also a small cosmetic issue
> with the afscreds tool drive mapper. After drives are mapped, the drive
> mapping listing doesn't refresh unless you click to another tab, then
> back to the drive mapper (not a show stopper in any way).
>
> I don't have any good advice for how to proceed with testing. I perform
> many tests when I'm ready to roll out a new client. I haven't been
> testing lately because we decided not to upgrade the client this
> summer. I need to gear up this fall for the next roll out. So I will
> probably increase my testing later this month. Again time is short.
> I'm working so hard these days just to stay a float that I've been
> thinking my service in the IT industry is almost over. Managing OSs,
> applications, and new technologies is just too complex these days.
> Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand how other people in IT keep
> up. Microsoft I blame the most for all my problems. Microsoft has
> created an almost unmanageable working environment (OS and
> applications). The toll to keep the beast running is just too high.
> I'm about to give up and jump ship.
>
> Rodney
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> OpenAFS-info mailing list
> OpenAFS-info@openafs.org
> https://lists.openafs.org/mailman/listinfo/openafs-info
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