[OpenAFS] Basic OpenAFS questions

[Lars Schimmer]

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outsider wrote:
| I'm considering using OpenAFS on my home system/LAN, but have a few
questions
| first (things thate not quite clear) before I take the plunge.
|
| 1. Is AFS a tool that is used on top of existing file systems? Do I sti=
ll
| format my partition with ext3 and then add it to OpenAFS ? Or does the
| partition get formated using the OpenAFS FS?

Ok. To make it a bit clearer:
OpenAFS is a "network" filesystem. Best use is with a dedicated
fileserver and clients.
The 1(or more) fileservers hold each one or more partitions (format it
with the fs you like) in which the OpenAFS fileserver saves the data of
the cell.

For a client, you mount the /afs/ filespace into the root dir (on
windows you mount it as a drive or use a UNC path \\AFS\ ).
Which tells you, for a client you only need to install the client and
the local partition of the client keeps untouched.
All data in the /afs/ tree will be read/saved by the OpenAFS Client to
the fileservers.

| 2. On a setup with multiple drives/shares/partitions how does OpenAFS
manage
| where data gets written? Does it fill up one volume before moving on th=
e
| next? Does it spread the data evenly between all the volumes?

With more than one partition, the AFS admin needs to decide, on which a
volume (smallest logical unit in OpenAFS) will resist. Or the admin uses
a script which distributes the volumes across the partitions.

| 3. If I remove a drive from the OpenAFS system, will that drive still b=
e
| readable on it's own? (I guess this will be answered by question 1)

The data inside of the fileserver partition (which was a datastorage for
the OpenAFS fileserver) is readable, but the data is stored in a kind of
database, you need to use some scripts to get clear files out of it.

| Thank you.
| a.


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
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