[OpenAFS] Re: AFSDB records

[Andrew Deason]

On Tue, 4 May 2010 13:01:48 -0500
Andrew Deason <adeason@sinenomine.net> wrote:

> > Questions:
> >   * How can we migrate those clients to use the AFSDB-records without
> >   rebooting (will the kernel-resisdent list updated if the afsd
> >   started with -afsdb)?
> >   * Or is the reboot needed to get rid of the kernel-list?
[...] 
> Anyway, AFSDB records will not override static information set via
> CellServDB or 'fs newcell' (unless the CellServDB specifies no hosts).
> So, as far as I know, you need to reboot/restart the clients.

Actually, you can use 'fs newcell' to do this, though we don't document
that you can (and it looks like it's accidental, to me). If you give
0.0.0.0 as the only IP address(es) for a cell, it will effectively clear
the list. (or if you give it a hostname that doesn't exist, it will also
do that, but IMHO that's a bug)

So, if you do this:

fs newcell cell.name.foo 0.0.0.0

That client should use DNS lookups for dbserver information from then
on, assuming it was started with -afsdb. If it was not started with
-afsdb, that cell will become inaccessible until the client is
restarted, or you provide a dbserver list with 'fs newcell' again.

This seems a bit odd, though useful. Should we document this? Or should
we prevent this behavior, and perhaps create a new command / option to
clear the host list for a cell?

-- 
Andrew Deason
adeason@sinenomine.net