[OpenAFS] OpenAFS on windows - profile in AFS, who uses it?

[Lars Schimmer]

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Lars Schimmer wrote:
> HI!
>=20
> Just out of interest:
> which site (beside our cell) is using OpenAFS as filestore for Windows
> Profile and customers working on this?

Good to see we are not the only cell working with profiles in AFS space.
We use 1.4.6 linux servers, Win XP SP2 and at least 1.5.27 OpenAFS
Windows clients.
So far it works mostly.
Biggest problems:

1. slowness - Users reports of LONG loading times for 400-1000 MB
roaming profiles, up to 20 minutes
2. as in computergraphic, we handle 10-400 MB models with our programs.
Getting this via the fileserver at 5-6 MB/sec is kinda slow.
The cache on AFS is written as a single file, I would prefer a partition
as it can't be defragmented
3. reliability - some days windows hit a error while saving the profile
and no "readable" info could be found - I assume mostly unicode problems
4. the context menu - nearly all workstations has it disabled as it
"send the explorer into a timeout" - from 1.5.x on til now for the most
active win users the context menu is a problem - right click on a file
OUT of AFS space keep the system freeze for ~60 sec til the context menu
appears. For files in AFS space it appears direct. Til yet I haven't
found any solution why it freezes, as in all my test accounts it just
doesn't appear, even on workstations on which the other users have that
problem
5. Office - haven't tested with latest OpenAFS, but nearly 1 year ago
one workstation had big problems with office files in AFS space -
read/write a file to AFS freezed the machine for 1-2 minutes, even with
debugging on we could only say "openAFS works correct".

We only got 5-10 people working every day with windows roaming profile
in AFS space, maybe this list seems to be harsh, but thats just
collected issues/probs/wishes from 2 years practise.

Some can't be solved, e.g. speed of network.
I just want to know if these problems are problems to the others or if
these are not known so far...
(and yes, I know some parts are solved IF the new binding of OpenAFS as
a native Windows drive is ready)


MfG,
Lars Schimmer
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TU Graz, Institut f=FCr ComputerGraphik & WissensVisualisierung
Tel: +43 316 873-5405       E-Mail: l.schimmer@cgv.tugraz.at
Fax: +43 316 873-5402       PGP-Key-ID: 0x4A9B1723
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