[OpenAFS] Open-Afs Installation help !!

gaurav gunjan jha crazytitan05@gmail.com
Mon, 7 May 2007 14:02:37 +0200


------=_Part_83489_21670452.1178539357538
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

Hello Friends i am a newbie and i need to install open afs on my scientific
linux machine!
i would like to know if there is any binary distribution available for
scientific linux??

On the webpage of Open afs documentation is available for installation using
the Binary version
If there sis no binary binary version available for scientific linux then is
it advisale to install from source ?
if yes do we need to create all the afa related directories like

/usr/afs
/usr/vice
/usr/vice/etc

thanks in advance

warm regards
gaurav
On 5/7/07, Christopher D. Clausen <cclausen@acm.org> wrote:
>
> Adnoh <adnoh@users.sourceforge.net> wrote:
> > By "Backup" I mean the typical type of backup - one snapshot of the
> > data at the weekend and some
> > incremental backups every day. i don't think this is posible with
> > backup volumes - so i thought about volume dumps.
>
> Backup volumes must reside on the same server and partition as the RW
> volume.  You could use backup volumes, dump them, and copy the dump
> files to a central location, even into a different AFS volume on another
> server.  That isn't the most efficient backup program though.
>
> > i don't want to have all the volumes in our headquarter. so every
> > time a user openes his word-doc or similar it would be completly
> > transfered over our VPN - and I can hear the people crying "our
> > fileservers are too slow !" so seperate fileservers in every district
> > would be a good choice, I think - would'nt they ?
>
> That is an option.  There are of course problems with doing either.
> Remember that the AFS clients themselves cache read-only data.  So if
> most of your data is only being read and not written back that often, it
> might make sense to have only centrally located AFS servers.
>
> It might also make sense to have AFS DB servers hosed locally at each
> district, although I'm not sure what would happen if the network goes
> out and quorum is lost.  Otherwise certain information will still need
> to come from the central DB server in order for AFS to function
> properly.
>
> > i thought about every district his own fileserver with the special
> > volume for them and a readonly volume in our headquarter released
> > every night - so i could do the volume dump - i'm not very trusted
> > with the "backup" command yet.
>
> By default, the AFS client prefers to use readonly volumes, so if you
> create a replica of a volume, the data will immediately become readonly.
> You can however manualy force the mount point to be RW (-rw option to fs
> mkm) and this way you can have an RW volume in each local district and
> still be able to clone the data to other servers using vos release.  All
> volume rights must go to directly to the RW volume.  The AFS client does
> not detect when you want to make a write and find the proper RW volume.
> You can modify the code to make it behave that way, but there are
> reasons for not doing that.
>
> You could also run an AFS cell in each district and vos dump
> incrementals from the volumes and copy them to a central fileserver and
> restore them there.  Volumes do not have to be restored to the cell they
> were dumped from.
>
> However, you might simply be better off using a more common network
> filesystem like NFS or samba and using something like rsync to backup
> the data nightly.  You mentioned a VPN.  Since the network link is
> already encrypted, you don't require filesystem encryption?  Or do you?
>
> I've not used the AFS "backup" command.  Ever.
>
> > but I don't know how I could set up the "shared" part where every
> > user in every district can read/write to it.
>
> You just set ACLs with the fs setacl command.  Unless I again am
> misunderstanding what you mean by "shared."
>
> > so if you tell me which information you need to know I can provide
>
> You might want to read through:
> http://www.dementia.org/twiki/pub/AFSLore/FurtherReading/NFS_on_steroids
> and
> http://reports-archive.adm.cs.cmu.edu/anon/home/anon/itc/CMU-ITC-053.pdf
>
> Those are old, but are short and explain how volumes work.  It seems as
> though you are trying to use AFS like NFS or samba, creating a single
> large share point and allowing everyone to write in it.  This is not the
> best way to use AFS, although it mostly works.  Replicating single large
> volumes can take a long time, especially over slow links.
>
> Can you describe a "distrcit office" in more detail?  How many users?
> Is there technical staff there to diagnose problems with an AFS server,
> if they occur?  Are the offices always connected to the network?  What
> type of connection do they have?  Bandwidth?  Latency?  Do users work
> out of different offices at different times?  How much data do you need
> to store at each district?  Do you use Kerberos 5 currently within your
> organization?  A single realm?  Or a realm per district?  What kind of
> budget do you have for hardware and software for this project?  How
> reliable is the network link?  Do you have any off-site backup or
> disaster recovery requirements?  Any specific features that the project
> MUST do?  Any features that the project SHOULD do?  Anything else that
> would be nice to do?  How much data are we talking about here?  Total
> and at each district?  What is the "change rate" of your data?  How much
> data is modified per day or per week as a percentage of the total data?
> What are your projected storage requirements for 1 year?  2 years?  3
> years?  5 years?  10 years?  What are you using right now for file
> sharing?  What are the current problems that you are experiencing?
>
> Why did you decide to look at AFS in the first place?
>
> <<CDC
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> OpenAFS-info mailing list
> OpenAFS-info@openafs.org
> https://lists.openafs.org/mailman/listinfo/openafs-info
>

------=_Part_83489_21670452.1178539357538
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

<br><br>Hello Friends i am a newbie and i need to install open afs on my scientific linux machine!<br>i would like to know if there is any binary distribution available for scientific linux??<br><br>On the webpage of Open afs documentation is available for installation using the Binary version 
<br>If there sis no binary binary version available for scientific linux then is it advisale to install from source ?<br>if yes do we need to create all the afa related directories like<br><br>/usr/afs<br>/usr/vice<br>/usr/vice/etc
<br><br>thanks in advance<br><br>warm regards<br><span class="sg"><span><span>gaurav</span></span></span><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 5/7/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Christopher D. Clausen</b> &lt;<a href="mailto:cclausen@acm.org">
cclausen@acm.org</a>&gt; wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Adnoh &lt;<a href="mailto:adnoh@users.sourceforge.net">
adnoh@users.sourceforge.net</a>&gt; wrote:<br>&gt; By &quot;Backup&quot; I mean the typical type of backup - one snapshot of the<br>&gt; data at the weekend and some<br>&gt; incremental backups every day. i don&#39;t think this is posible with
<br>&gt; backup volumes - so i thought about volume dumps.<br><br>Backup volumes must reside on the same server and partition as the RW<br>volume.&nbsp;&nbsp;You could use backup volumes, dump them, and copy the dump<br>files to a central location, even into a different AFS volume on another
<br>server.&nbsp;&nbsp;That isn&#39;t the most efficient backup program though.<br><br>&gt; i don&#39;t want to have all the volumes in our headquarter. so every<br>&gt; time a user openes his word-doc or similar it would be completly
<br>&gt; transfered over our VPN - and I can hear the people crying &quot;our<br>&gt; fileservers are too slow !&quot; so seperate fileservers in every district<br>&gt; would be a good choice, I think - would&#39;nt they ?
<br><br>That is an option.&nbsp;&nbsp;There are of course problems with doing either.<br>Remember that the AFS clients themselves cache read-only data.&nbsp;&nbsp;So if<br>most of your data is only being read and not written back that often, it
<br>might make sense to have only centrally located AFS servers.<br><br>It might also make sense to have AFS DB servers hosed locally at each<br>district, although I&#39;m not sure what would happen if the network goes<br>
out and quorum is lost.&nbsp;&nbsp;Otherwise certain information will still need<br>to come from the central DB server in order for AFS to function<br>properly.<br><br>&gt; i thought about every district his own fileserver with the special
<br>&gt; volume for them and a readonly volume in our headquarter released<br>&gt; every night - so i could do the volume dump - i&#39;m not very trusted<br>&gt; with the &quot;backup&quot; command yet.<br><br>By default, the AFS client prefers to use readonly volumes, so if you
<br>create a replica of a volume, the data will immediately become readonly.<br>You can however manualy force the mount point to be RW (-rw option to fs<br>mkm) and this way you can have an RW volume in each local district and
<br>still be able to clone the data to other servers using vos release.&nbsp;&nbsp;All<br>volume rights must go to directly to the RW volume.&nbsp;&nbsp;The AFS client does<br>not detect when you want to make a write and find the proper RW volume.
<br>You can modify the code to make it behave that way, but there are<br>reasons for not doing that.<br><br>You could also run an AFS cell in each district and vos dump<br>incrementals from the volumes and copy them to a central fileserver and
<br>restore them there.&nbsp;&nbsp;Volumes do not have to be restored to the cell they<br>were dumped from.<br><br>However, you might simply be better off using a more common network<br>filesystem like NFS or samba and using something like rsync to backup
<br>the data nightly.&nbsp;&nbsp;You mentioned a VPN.&nbsp;&nbsp;Since the network link is<br>already encrypted, you don&#39;t require filesystem encryption?&nbsp;&nbsp;Or do you?<br><br>I&#39;ve not used the AFS &quot;backup&quot; command.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ever.<br>
<br>&gt; but I don&#39;t know how I could set up the &quot;shared&quot; part where every<br>&gt; user in every district can read/write to it.<br><br>You just set ACLs with the fs setacl command.&nbsp;&nbsp;Unless I again am<br>misunderstanding what you mean by &quot;shared.&quot;
<br><br>&gt; so if you tell me which information you need to know I can provide<br><br>You might want to read through:<br><a href="http://www.dementia.org/twiki/pub/AFSLore/FurtherReading/NFS_on_steroids">http://www.dementia.org/twiki/pub/AFSLore/FurtherReading/NFS_on_steroids
</a><br>and<br><a href="http://reports-archive.adm.cs.cmu.edu/anon/home/anon/itc/CMU-ITC-053.pdf">http://reports-archive.adm.cs.cmu.edu/anon/home/anon/itc/CMU-ITC-053.pdf</a><br><br>Those are old, but are short and explain how volumes work.&nbsp;&nbsp;It seems as
<br>though you are trying to use AFS like NFS or samba, creating a single<br>large share point and allowing everyone to write in it.&nbsp;&nbsp;This is not the<br>best way to use AFS, although it mostly works.&nbsp;&nbsp;Replicating single large
<br>volumes can take a long time, especially over slow links.<br><br>Can you describe a &quot;distrcit office&quot; in more detail?&nbsp;&nbsp;How many users?<br>Is there technical staff there to diagnose problems with an AFS server,
<br>if they occur?&nbsp;&nbsp;Are the offices always connected to the network?&nbsp;&nbsp;What<br>type of connection do they have?&nbsp;&nbsp;Bandwidth?&nbsp;&nbsp;Latency?&nbsp;&nbsp;Do users work<br>out of different offices at different times?&nbsp;&nbsp;How much data do you need
<br>to store at each district?&nbsp;&nbsp;Do you use Kerberos 5 currently within your<br>organization?&nbsp;&nbsp;A single realm?&nbsp;&nbsp;Or a realm per district?&nbsp;&nbsp;What kind of<br>budget do you have for hardware and software for this project?&nbsp;&nbsp;How<br>
reliable is the network link?&nbsp;&nbsp;Do you have any off-site backup or<br>disaster recovery requirements?&nbsp;&nbsp;Any specific features that the project<br>MUST do?&nbsp;&nbsp;Any features that the project SHOULD do?&nbsp;&nbsp;Anything else that<br>would be nice to do?&nbsp;&nbsp;How much data are we talking about here?&nbsp;&nbsp;Total
<br>and at each district?&nbsp;&nbsp;What is the &quot;change rate&quot; of your data?&nbsp;&nbsp;How much<br>data is modified per day or per week as a percentage of the total data?<br>What are your projected storage requirements for 1 year?&nbsp;&nbsp;2 years?&nbsp;&nbsp;3
<br>years?&nbsp;&nbsp;5 years?&nbsp;&nbsp;10 years?&nbsp;&nbsp;What are you using right now for file<br>sharing?&nbsp;&nbsp;What are the current problems that you are experiencing?<br><br>Why did you decide to look at AFS in the first place?<br><br>&lt;&lt;CDC<br>
<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>OpenAFS-info mailing list<br><a href="mailto:OpenAFS-info@openafs.org">OpenAFS-info@openafs.org</a><br><a href="https://lists.openafs.org/mailman/listinfo/openafs-info">
https://lists.openafs.org/mailman/listinfo/openafs-info</a><br></blockquote></div><br>

------=_Part_83489_21670452.1178539357538--