[OpenAFS] OpenAFS for Windows IFS Status

Jeffrey Altman jaltman@your-file-system.com
Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:53:10 -0400


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    The release will be issued from openafs.org.<br>
    <br>
    The release will be an official release from the openafs-devel-1_7_x
    branch.<br>
    <br>
    I'm not going to qualify it as beta any more than Apple qualifies a
    new major release as beta.=C2=A0 The code has been heavily tested and=

    implements just about everything an application can ask of a Windows
    file system.=C2=A0 It is better integrated with Windows than all of t=
he
    previous SMB based clients.=C2=A0 Will it work perfectly for all
    applications ever developed?=C2=A0 Probably not.=C2=A0 There are boun=
d to be
    some use cases that the code has simply never been exposed to.=C2=A0 =
Will
    the code work better than the SMB based client for most users?=C2=A0
    Absolutely, especially if they are on Windows 7.=C2=A0=C2=A0 Are ther=
e still
    things that can be done to improve it? Definitely. <br>
    <br>
    I will discuss the future as part of the release announcement.<br>
    <br>
    Jeffrey Altman<br>
    <br>
    <br>
    <br>
    On 9/6/2011 1:14 PM, Ben Howell wrote:
    <blockquote cite=3D"mid:4E665501.3050302@gmail.com" type=3D"cite">Wil=
l
      that "release" on/about Sep. 15 be a alpha/beta/dev release, or an
      actual public release?
      <br>
      <br>
      =C2=A0- Ben
      <br>
      <br>
      On 9/3/11 1:44 PM, Jeffrey Altman wrote:
      <br>
      <blockquote type=3D"cite">On 9/3/2011 11:01 AM, Lars Schimmer wrote=
:
        <br>
        <blockquote type=3D"cite">Hi!
          <br>
          <br>
          Due to the outstanding Windows 7 bug annoying us very deeply,
          we search
          <br>
          for a solution to this problem.
          <br>
        </blockquote>
        The solution to the Windows 7 bug is the OpenAFS for Windows
        client with
        <br>
        native installable file system driver which will be released as
        the
        <br>
        1.7.x development series.
        <br>
        <br>
        Now that 1.6.0 has finally been released work will begin on
        creating the
        <br>
        openafs-devel-1_7_x branch from which the IFS windows client
        will be
        <br>
        issued.=C2=A0 The first official release from OpenAFS.org will be=

        1.7.1.=C2=A0 I
        <br>
        am hoping that we will be able to release on or around the 15th
        of Sept.
        <br>
        <br>
        The IFS client will bring some significant changes from the SMB
        client.
        <br>
        <br>
        No Loopback Adapter
        <br>
        -------------------
        <br>
        <br>
        Now that a native IFS driver (afsredir.sys / afsredirlib.sys) is
        used,
        <br>
        there is no need to install the Microsoft Loopback Adapter.=C2=A0=

        Sites that
        <br>
        have experienced problems due to the 10.254.254.253 address
        registration
        <br>
        on multiple machines will be able to remove or disable the
        adapter once
        <br>
        and for all.
        <br>
        <br>
        No Delays After a Resume
        <br>
        ------------------------
        <br>
        <br>
        Windows Vista and 7 shutdown the network stack when the machine
        is
        <br>
        suspended.=C2=A0 This causes problems when the machine resumes
        because the
        <br>
        network path to \\AFS is not immediately accessible.=C2=A0 This i=
s no
        longer
        <br>
        an issue with the IFS driver.
        <br>
        <br>
        No "AFS" server name collisions
        <br>
        -------------------------------
        <br>
        <br>
        It is now possible to add a machine named "AFS" to domain or
        subnet
        <br>
        without breaking the OpenAFS for Windows client.
        <br>
        <br>
        Performance Improvements
        <br>
        ------------------------
        <br>
        <br>
        The transaction rate and throughput performance of the SMB
        client was
        <br>
        limited by the "SMB client&lt;-&gt;=C2=A0 loopback&lt;-&gt;=C2=A0=
 SMB
        server" performance:
        <br>
        54MB/sec maximum on 32-bit systems and 63MB/sec on 64-bit
        systems.=C2=A0 The
        <br>
        IFS client is capable of throughput rates to/from cache up to
        800MB/sec
        <br>
        depending on the system I/O bus and backing store capabilities.
        <br>
        <br>
        Symlinks to UNC Paths permit a cohesive name space
        <br>
        --------------------------------------------------
        <br>
        <br>
        It has always been possible to create reparse points in MS DFS
        that
        <br>
        refer to \\AFS paths.=C2=A0 It is now possible to create symlinks=
 in
        AFS
        <br>
        that refer to arbitrary UNC paths.=C2=A0 This permits the
        construction of
        <br>
        a cohesive name space that spans across both AFS and DFS
        storage.
        <br>
        <br>
        Reparse Points
        <br>
        --------------
        <br>
        <br>
        AFS Mount Points and Symlinks are exported by the file system
        <br>
        as Windows reparse points with a Microsoft assigned tag value.
        <br>
        Tools that are OpenAFS reparse point aware can create, query
        <br>
        and remove AFS symlinks and mount points without requiring
        knowledge
        <br>
        of AFS pioctls.=C2=A0 The explorer shell will be able to delete a=

        mount
        <br>
        point or symlink as part of a recursive directory tree removal
        without
        <br>
        crossing into the reparse point target.
        <br>
        <br>
        AFS Volumes are Windows File Systems
        <br>
        ------------------------------------
        <br>
        <br>
        Each AFS volume is represented in the Windows kernel as a
        distinct
        <br>
        file system.=C2=A0 This will permit AFS volume quotas to viewed a=
s
        <br>
        Windows file system quotas.
        <br>
        <br>
        <br>
        Authentication Groups
        <br>
        ---------------------
        <br>
        <br>
        AFS Tokens are associated with Windows user names in the SMB
        client.
        <br>
        With the IFS client, tokens are associated with Authentication
        Groups.
        <br>
        By default, an authentication group is allocated for each User
        SID
        <br>
        and Logon Session Id combination.=C2=A0 In addition, it is possib=
le
        for
        <br>
        processes to create additional Authentication Groups.=C2=A0 Each
        thread in
        <br>
        a process can select an Authentication Group within the process
        as the
        <br>
        active Authentication Group.=C2=A0 This will permit AFS aware IIS=

        modules
        <br>
        to associate AFS credentials with a particular incoming
        request.=C2=A0 An
        <br>
        IIS implementation of File Drawers will be the preferred
        implementation
        <br>
        once it is developed.
        <br>
        <br>
        One of the significant benefits of Authentication Groups within
        the
        <br>
        Windows environment is that Windows services (svchost.exe,
        csrss.exe,
        <br>
        etc.) which impersonate user processes will seamlessly gain
        access
        <br>
        to the user's AFS credentials for the lifetime of the
        impersonation.
        <br>
        <br>
        <br>
        Explorer Shell Integration
        <br>
        --------------------------
        <br>
        <br>
        The AFS Explorer Shell integration will gain support for symlink
        <br>
        and mount point overlay icons, tool tips, and Property dialog
        pages
        <br>
        that replace many of the existing AFS Context Menu dialogs.
        <br>
        <br>
        <br>
        Jeffrey Altman
        <br>
        <br>
      </blockquote>
    </blockquote>
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