[Charlug] Self-reintroduction

[Jason Edgecombe]

Lawrence Teo wrote:
> Hi Jason,
>
> I've also been hanging around on the list but have yet to be able to 
> attend a meeting.. I do recognize your name from the UNCCLUG list. :)
>
> I have two questions about AFS which I would really appreciate if you 
> could answer..
>
> 1. How is the Arla project related to the OpenAFS project?
>
> 2. My company's a multi-platform shop.. we run Ubuntu, OpenBSD, Macs, 
> Windows XP and Vista. Can OpenAFS be used to set up a file server that 
> all these systems can access? If yes, what kind of setup is required 
> on the client side?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Lawrence
Hi Lawrence,

I recognize you from the UNCCLUG list as well.

1. AFS is a network filesystem protocol. Both OpenAFS and Arla are 
implementations of the AFS protocol. Arla was started because some folks 
didn't like the IBM Public license under which OpenAFS is licensed. I 
think Arla is under a BSD/MIT-like license. As I recall Arla has a 
working client, but I don't know if they have a working fileserver. 
Arla, OpenAFS, and IBM/Transarc AFS are interoperable . OpenAFS the heir 
apparent of IBM/Trancsarc AFS and so it tends to be the protocol 
standard setters as well.

2. Absolutely! In my opinion, OpenAFS' support for different platforms 
is second only to NFS and SMB/CIFS. You need an AFS client, 
OpenAFS/Arla, installed on each client machine. There is an AFS client 
all of the platforms that you mention. Arla has better BSD support than 
OpenAFS, but all other platforms have good OpenAFS clients, BSD servers 
run well, though. Check on the Openafs-info list or 
irc://freenode/openafs about BSD support.

AFS is a global filesystem, you can setup a client on your existing 
machines to browse other AFS cells/site without needing to set up a 
fileserver. Obviously, you will need your own fileserver to host your 
own files, but you can try out the client without a fileserver. When you 
set up your own cell, you have to add the IP addresses of your cell/DB 
server(s) to a config file on each client or add some special DNS 
entries. Before you set up a  new cell and fileserver, you will need to 
set up Kerberos 5.

Since you are on the UNCCLUG list, are you a College of Engineering 
student or have a Mosaic account? If so, you can set up an AFS client 
and save files into your Mosaic AFS account.

I would be happy to answer any other questions that you or anyone else 
has about AFS. Also, there are lots of helpful people on the IRC channel 
irc://freenode/openafs and the openafs-info mailing list at 
https://lists.openafs.org/mailman/listinfo/openafs-info (self-signed SSL 
cert)

Sincerely,
Jason