[OpenAFS] AFS volume info

[Charles Clancy]

On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, Simone Sestini wrote:

> I need to configure another server.. this new server have to be the
> TOTAL BACKUP of the first one.. I'll configure the system to have the
> same partition configuration and all but how can i configure the afs on
> the fisrt and second server to exchange the complete datas ?

You can create read-only replicas of all your volumes on the second
server.  However AFS wasn't designed specifically for the
high-availablility environment I think you are trying to create.  The idea
with AFS is to spread your data out, replicating the data that
infrequently changes (such as system binaries, but NOT home directories)
across multiple servers.

The idea usually isn't to have a second AFS server sitting there waiting
to take over if the first one goes down.  The idea is create an
environment where if one server goes down, some fraction of your users
will no longer be able to access their home directory while you fix that
server, but everyone else will remain unaffected because the system
binaries are replicated.

If I wanted to provide a more high-availablity environment, I'd stick all
my AFS partitions on a network storage device, with fibre channel
connected to all my AFS servers.  That way if server #1 went down, I could
mount its /vicepa, /vicepb, and vicepc on server #2, resync my VLDB, and
have everything back online.

[ t charles clancy ]--[ tclancy@uiuc.edu ]--[ www.uiuc.edu/~tclancy ]