[OpenAFS] Windows client-related issues

[Norman P. B. Joseph]

We've been running a kaserver-based AFS cell with Windows-based clients for
almost a year now fairly successfully, but there are still some issues that
seem to be preventing our users from wholeheartedly embracing AFS as a Good
Place to store things:

1) Byte-range locking (the BIG issue) - for example, lots of our users like to
work out of their .pst files, but open a .pst file in AFS & the file will get
corrupted in short order.  This apparently affects other MS database-type
files, not just .psts.  The support staff is understandably reluctant to have
to rely on end users remembering which kinds of files can go into AFS and which
ones cannot.  Is this issue on the schedule to be addresses, or is it even
addressable?

2) Windows Administrative Interface - users that want to manage ACLs on their
directories want to be able to choose users (and groups) from scrolling lists
(just like MS) rather than have to know and enter user names or group names by
hand.  This one issue alone could potentially win (or lose) a lot of converts
in my world.  Is anyone looking at GUI usability?

3) Whenever we lose an AFS DB server (we have 3, each on a separate subnet)
Windows authentications take inordinately long, at least by end user
perceptions.  After a recent prolonged loss of a DB server to hardware failure
we had to resort to temporarily changing CellServDB info on the Windows clients
until the replacement hardware could be brought on-line.  Do I have something
woefully mis-configured, or did I oversell everyone's expectations here of
redundancy and fault-tolerance in AFS?

4) Every so often, Windows clients will fail to authenticate, even though the
service appears to be running correctly on their desktops, and even though the
UNIX users have no issues.  The DB server log files give no clue either, but
the sure cure is to 'bos restart kaserver' on all 3 DB machines.  I haven't yet
been able to correlate this with any other activity on the clients.  All
servers and most clients are IBM/Transarc, if it matters.  Has anyone else seen
this?

5) Installing Windows software from AFS - some of our NT admins wanted to use
AFS to store Windows software images that they could use to install software on
desktops.  This was 8-9 months ago, so the details are a bit fuzzy, but they
claim this didn't work because the software installations would somehow get
corrupted.  I'm sorry I don't have any better information on this.  I only
offer it in case someone else has had a similar experience.

There are also a dozen lesser issues, which, in and of themselves, don't really
seem like much, but do tend to add up in the end user's perception.  But our
biggest issues, in order of importance to us, are above.  If these could be
addressed in time, I'm sure AFS would become a core storage strategy here.  But
right now its flirting with being marginalized.

I want to ask these questions to IBM/Transarc as well, but I believe some of
those people are on this list, so maybe they can offer IBM's perspective too.

Thanks,
--
 Norman Joseph, Systems Engineer           joseph@ctcgsc.org      IC|XC
 Concurrent Technologies Corporation         814/269.2633         --+--
 Global Systems Center                                            NI|KA

  ***  Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle  ***