[OpenAFS] Read-write cell root not working on Windows XP

[Douglas E. Engert]

Rodney M Dyer wrote:
> 
> At 12:21 PM 5/28/2004, you wrote:
> >Freelance is on by default because it solves the problem associated with
> >the AFS Client Service being unable to contact the Volume Server at
> >startup.   Without Freelance, if the root.afs volume cannot be accessed on
> >the default cell, the AFS Client Service will panic.
> 
> My two cents on this and similar....

I would like to put in my two cents as well. 

Jeff has done done an extraordinary job in getting the Windows AFS client working
as well as it does today.  I don't know anyone else who could have done the job. 
Without Jeff's effort over the last few months, I would hate to see the mail on 
this list asking for fixes for AFS on Windows.  There is little or no funding
for this work yet he has done so much so far.  

> 
> For most AFS client users the Freelance mode isn't important.  I'd venture
> a guess that less than 20 percent of client users are mobile laptop people
> where this would be useful.
> 

True it may be only 20% but AFS will only survive as a viable solution if
it can work everywhere including the laptops.  

The only drawbacks to the Freelance I can see is access to the RW path
and the need for the loopback device. I believe the RW mod would not
be too hard to add, and the OpenAFS install might even be able to 
install the loopback device too.   

> Same for having decryption "on" as default.  The Windows OpenAFS community
> have gone for years with it "off", why is this "suddenly" a requirement?
>

It should have been the default years ago. Nivce to se it is the
default today. 

 
> The same goes for the netbios name now being AFS as default.  While nice,
> the AFS default means that unless you have the loopback adapter installed
> the AFS client won't work with the Explorer or NET USE mapping
> syntax.  Nowhere on the OpenAFS.org site does it say that you need to
> install the Loopback now so things will work.  I've already had several
> user complaints from users who have downloaded the AFS client on their own
> from OpenAFS and found that "things didn't work".

These do need to be addressed, and I am sure they will be. I like the "AFS"
and the loopback it is a step in the right direction.  

> 
> It's kind of lame that Administrators of IT shops need to explain in very
> explicity terms via our own documentation why this and that needs to be
> done before the AFS client will work right.
> 
> "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."
> 
> Rodney
> 
> >Jeffrey Altman
> >
> >
> >Lukas Kubin wrote:
> >
> >>Thank you, I didn't notice that!
> >>Shouldn't then the "Freelance" mode be disabled by default in the
> >>instalator? What is more, the option is commented there as "(recommended)".
> >>Does it mean that most people have some reason to install OpenAFS client
> >>without write support or am I missing something?
> >>Thank you.
> >>
> >>Lukas
> >>
> >>Jeffrey Altman wrote:
> >>
> >>>This is a known limitation of the existing dynamic roots implementation
> >>>on Windows (aka Freelance mode).
> >>>Freelance mode does not support read-write volumes.  Turn it off.
> >>>
> >>>Jeffrey Altman
> >>>
> >>>Lukas Kubin wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>I just installed 1.3.6400 client on Windows XP and am having troubles
> >>>>to acess volumes for write usage.
> >>>>During the install i choosed the option to download CellServDB from
> >>>>server and look up file/db servers in DNS. After restart I can set
> >>>>mountpoint for our cell, ie set eg. Z: mapped to \afs\opf.slu.cz
> >>>>However, I can not map RW version of volumes the way I do it on Linux -
> >>>>mapping /afs/.opf.slu.cz - the "dot" version of AFS address.
> >>>>Why?
> >>>>I tried to manually add ".opf.slu.cz" to the Cell list (using the
> >>>>Windows AFS configuration tool) and set the server mapping to it. It
> >>>>didn't help. I can access the "dotted" directory tree, but cannot write
> >>>>anywhere.
> >>>>What is a correct way to setup OpenAFS 1.3.6400 on Windows?
> >>>>Thank you.
> >>>>
> >>>>lukas
> >>>>
> >>>>My CellServDB contains 3 lines:
> >>>>
> >>>> >opf.slu.cz
> >>>>192.168.1.7            # hostname1.opf.slu.cz
> >>>>192.168.1.4            # hostname2.opf.slu.cz
> >
> 
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-- 

 Douglas E. Engert  <DEEngert@anl.gov>
 Argonne National Laboratory
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