[OpenAFS] -dynroot - what does it really do?

[Derek Atkins]

jarausch@igpm.rwth-aachen.de writes:

> Derek Atkins write:
> 
> > The -dynroot option causes /afs to be built as a "DYNamic ROOT".
> > It only contacts servers when you explicitly access /afs/<cell>
> 
> I experience problems with this last sentence.
> 
> Case I
>   If I use -dynroot my client machine comes up even if the server is not
>   running.

This is absolutely correct.  This is _supposed_ to happen.  As I said,
when using synroot it will only attempt to contact the server when you
explictly access /afs/<cell>.  Note that when you use -dynroot it
_NEVER_ loads the "root.afs" volume from the server -- it jumps
directly to the "root.cell" volume when you access /afs/<cell>.

> Case II
>   If I don't use -dynroot my client machine hangs with
>   "Lost contact to server ..."
>   until the server becomes available.

This is also absolutely correct.  Without -dynroot the client tries to
load "root.afs" volume, and in your case it cannot do so...  So it
times out.

> In both cases, if the server becomes available,
> doing an ls -l /afs doesn't show the afs tree. Doing
> fs examine /afs/home
> reports that there is no /afs/home file.

Right.. /afs is built dynamically as you access AFS cells.  Think about
it like an automounter -- it will auto-mount a cell when you access it,
but not before.

So, is your cell actually named "home"?  I highly doubt it.  Do you have
an alias set up (note that aliases in "root.afs" don't count here.

What happens if you "cd /afs/my.cell.name/" ???
Is the server actually running when you're trying these tests?
Do you try running "fs checks" after the server comes up, just to be
sure?

> On the other hand, if the server is running
> while the client machine boots the behaviour
> is normal. This is all with openafs-1.2.8 on
> Linux

Well, sure.  But that's nothing new. ;)

> Thanks for your hints,
> Helmut.

-derek

> -- 
> Helmut Jarausch
> 
> Lehrstuhl fuer Numerische Mathematik
> Aachen University
> D 52056 Aachen, Germany
> 
> 

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord@MIT.EDU                        PGP key available