[OpenAFS] OpenAFS does not work under Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

[Florian Kruse]

Hi!

I've just installed OpenAFS 1.4.11 under Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)  
on my MacBook Pro to access files in my CERN home directory (cell cern.ch 
). The installation procedure seems to have worked: With an active  
Kerberos ticket I can do aklog and access my files on the terminal  
(cd, ls, touch and other terminal commands like vi work).

However, accessing the files via the Finder does *not* work. Opening / 
afs or other directories in the Finder just does not show any files.  
Instead the corresponding Finder window is busy all the time (spinning  
wheel in lower right corner). After several hours of waiting no files  
show up.

Trying to find a solution I stumbled upon this:

http://www.openafs.org/pipermail/openafs-info/2009-March/030962.html

However, my situation is slightly different: The files do not show up  
at all. Even trying to open a directory with only a few files and no  
subdirectories doesn't work. Odd thing here: If I try to open a  
directory via Cmd-Shift-G in the Finder it can check if the directory  
actually exists (entering a non-existing path there returns a "folder  
can't be found", entering a valid path eventually closes the Goto  
window and brings an empty and busy Finder window).

If I try to open files in other Mac OS applications (i.e. native Mac  
OS GUI apps) this doesn't work as well (obviously open/save dialogs  
use the same mechanisms as the Finder). However, if I launch an  
Application from the Terminal (e.g. launch Xcode from there with  
a .cpp file as argument), the file can be opened normally. Saving  
afterwards (via Cmd-S and therefore avoiding save dialogs) takes  
approx. 10 seconds but eventually works.

Because DNS servers were the problem in the above mentioned thread,  
I'm was testing this at home (see update below). My MacBook is behind  
a small DSL Router (AVM Fritz!Box). I never had any DNS problems  
(quite the contrary, DNS is normally very fast). Disabling icon  
previews in the Finder didn't help as well.

Does anyone experience similar difficulties or --even better-- has an  
explanation/fix for my problem?

Thanks in advance! Greetings,

Florian

P.S. Update: Today, I tested this with the same MacBook from my  
university office. Here I have a unique IP address and "real" Internet  
connection. Suddenly everything works fine. Probably the problem will  
not vanish when I get home. I assume, using AFS behind a small DSL  
router with the Finder makes some problems. But why?