Transarc AFS Client for NT Tami Kramer CERN

AFS Client for NT Enables access to files in the worldwide AFS filespace from NT workstations Supports Windows Explorer for browsing files Version - AFS 3.4a Patch 9.3 Several problems reported to Transarc have been resolved AFS is an acronym for the Andrew File System, developed at Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, under sponsorship from IBM. AFS is marketed by Transarc Corporation and has been chosen by the Open Software Foundation as the basis of it’s Distributed File System DFS. AFS is a network-distributed file system comparable to Sun’s NFS. It distiguishes between client and server machines. AN AFS client enables users to access data residing on AFS servers transparantly as if they were stored on a local disk. AFS servers in turn provide disk storage for files and directories. AFS is being used as the main networked file system for interactive Unix systems at CERN.

Installation - AFS Client for NT Easily installable - Setup interface Requires ~ 6Mb on system disk and at least 16 Mb of RAM Recommend increasing the pagefile by 50 Mb Most files go into \Program Files\Transarc\AFS\AFSClient Adds Transarc program dir to path

Configuration - AFS Client AFS filespace is referred to by \\hostname-afs\all Can define submounts of the form \\hostname-afs\userid Control panel interface for config Shell extensions (right-click) AFS menu for AFS files (Auth, ACL’s, etc…)

Authentication Logging in to NT also authenticates user on AFS (if NT and AFS userid and password are identical) In the default configuration this gives tokens valid for 25 hours Unlock screen does not refresh AFS tokens - This can produce confusing error messages/results

Implementation on NICE NT Easily installable from the NICE Start Menu - Install requires Local Administrator privileges Maps drive P: to the AFS filespace Authentication - shortcut on the Desktop to user’s AFS home directory. Checks if the user has valid tokens and prompts for them, if not. Patches distributed “on demand” with NICE FOR MORE INFO... Http://niceafs.web.cern.ch

Usage Statistics 150 out of ~600 NT clients at CERN have installed the AFS Client

NICE Applications from AFS Have tested AFS as an Application server for NICE Very few problems were found Bugs Excel Add-ons don’t work Problem with file update notification (Dev Studio and Explorer) Features Token refresh problems Difference in the way Unix/NT handle files

Summary AFS NT Client is well-integrated Support for the product is good Very useful for physicists who wish to take advantage of the extensive AFS disk space resources available at CERN or those who just want access to the AFS filespace

Questions??