[OpenAFS] OpenAFS for Windows and the MS loopback adapter

[Jeffrey Altman]

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Jay Stamps wrote:
> Howdy:
> 
> A couple of observations that one may interpret as questions...
> 
> 1) Installing the MS LBA is a tricky business, granted. But every time
> I've run the installer for OpenAFS for Windows 1.4.0 or 1.4.1 (I haven't
> tested 1.4.2, but see next paragraph) on an XP or 2003 system, when the
> LBA is installed there's a long delay, eventually a message appears
> stating that the installer is "Calling ExecMethod" w/ a 20-second
> countdown, and after 20 seconds a miracle seems to occur: The adapter is
> installed and configured.
> 
> Testing OpenAFS 1.5.6 (haven't tried 1.5.7), I see that the LBA appears
> to languish for some time while "acquiring network address" before the
> installer prompts for a reboot. ("Acquiring network address" is in fact
> the point at which the delay occurs for all the installers I've tested.)
> 
> I'm curious as to why the LBA's installation and configuration take so
> long, or at any rate am interested to know whether others have observed
> this behavior, or have found a better way.

If you really want to experiment you can do so with the raw installer.
I keep copies of the tool in AFS at

/afs/athena.mit.edu/user/j/a/jaltman/Public/OpenAFS/Support/

You want the instloop.exe and afsloopback.dll files.  There is an
install and uninstall option.  It writes to stdout all of its operations
so you can see exactly what it is doing.

The reason there is a long delay is that when the device is initially
installed by Windows it is configured for DHCP and there is no DHCP
server.  It takes a while for the 169.x.x.x address to get assigned
and for the device configuration to stabilize so that we can alter it.
The source code is of course available and if you find a better way,
please let us know.  However, what we have now works and given that it
took a long time for us to find a set of code that does work, I am
reluctant to change it.


> 2) Why does the OpenAFS installer (even for 1.5.6) create an entry in
> %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts? Some anti-spyware tools, which
> pay attention to the hosts file given its frequent use by hijackers,
> react by throwing an "unable to resolve IP" error b/c the LBA has a 10/8
> address. Other anti-spyware software (I'm told) behaves even more
> aggressively. I suspect this AFS hosts file entry is no longer really
> necessary, but that's only a hunch. What documentation (random postings,
> really) I've been able to dig up suggests that maybe it once was needed;
> but is it needed still? Anyone have any experience in this area?

This entry is there primarily to ensure that someone who adds a machine
afs.my-domain.com is not going to prevent OpenAFS from working.  I have
seen it too frequently in the past to be willing to take it out.

> I've already noted w/in others' earshot that the anti-spyware software
> (OK, Spy Sweeper, in wide use at Stanford) is stupid to try to resolve
> an RFC 1918 address, but anyway, there ya have it...

There are a large number of software vendors that do stupid things with
10/8 addresses and loopbacks.  Not the least of which are the
application license vendors who think that because the same 10/8 address
appears on all machines that the application they are monitoring
shouldn't work on any of them.

Customers of naive software should complain to the vendors and get them
to fix it.  Large purchasers such as a large university have more clout
than individuals and should not hesitate to use it.

The real long term solution is to finish work on the AFS IFS so that we
don't need the loopback adapter at all.  Of course, now that IBM
Websphere and other packages have begun installing MS Loopback adapters
of their own removing the AFS need for the loopback won't make them
entirely go away.

Jeffrey Altman

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