[OpenAFS] 1.3.71 for Windows questions/problems

[Robbie Foust]

Hi,

We have the 1.3.71 client for windows deployed to several labs on 
campus, but are seeing some problems.

If I have tokens and go to Start -> Run -> \\afs   then I see a list of 
cells such as ".acpub" "acpub" and "acpub.duke.e" but there is no "du".  
Why is it being chopped off?  Also, I can't access the cell that way.  I 
get an error that says it isn't accessible.

That may or may not be related to another issue we're having.  Sometimes 
we are unable to map drive letters to afs paths.  The user can get 
tickets/tokens just fine, but something is breaking apparently when AFS 
tries to either find or access the file servers.  The problems are very 
inconsistant so I've been trying to come up with a way to explain what 
we're seeing.

It almost seems to be connected to the cache file, but not always.  If 
we create a "dummy" submount to point to "\afs\acpub", stop the service, 
delete the cache file, and restart the service, then mapping a drive 
letter (and accessing it) has a much better chance of working (because 
it finds the file servers quicker? just guessing).  If we delete the 
cache file and reboot the machine, the drive mapping will probably fail 
(but then stopping the service/killing the cache file/starting the 
service will cause the drive map to work.  ??).

We have 4 db servers configured.  (v1.2.10? I think)  3 are actual db 
servers, and the 4th is a kerberos server running ka-forwarder.  I'll 
have to ask our server admins if you need more info on the server side.

I know I'm being a little vague.  Has anyone else seen problems like 
this?  Let me know what information I can provide to help track down 
these problems, and feel free to offer suggestions on things to try. :-)

Thanks for your time,

- Robbie

-- 
Robbie Foust, IT Analyst
OIT - Administrative Information Support
Duke University