[OpenAFS] Installation and set up guide for Scientific Linux-7.5

[Adam Jensen]

Hi,

I would like to explore OpenAFS. Does anyone know of an up-to-date
installation and set up guide for SL-7.5? The software seems to be
available:

[***@moria ~]$ yum list openafs\*
Available Packages
openafs-1.6-sl.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-authlibs.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-authlibs-devel.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-client.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-compat.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-devel.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-kernel-source.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-kpasswd.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-krb5.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-module-tools.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-plumbing-tools.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-server.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security

But I haven't been able to find an accessible set of instructions that
don't require an extensive investment in research, study and translation
to a modern environment. Perhaps if those of you with some experience of
the technology could guide me through an installation and basic
configuration then my notes could be shaped into a guide.

I have an SL-7.5 server with LVM partitions /vicep{a..f} that are
currently 100GB each but there is plenty of storage space available to
expand the capacity of these partitions. I have an SL-7.5 laptop that
can act as a client. I also have two Ubuntu-18.04 machines that could be
clients, and I have a FreeBSD machine but OpenAFS doesn't seem to be
available in its ports system.

Given this basis, it might be possible to experiment with several
desirable scenarios and record a straightforward set of installation,
configuration, and administration instructions for each that would
enable people to assess the technology in a tractable, cost-effective way.

If this seems reasonable, I would love to get started.

Thanks!

PS - I've posted this to both the -docs and -info lists. Those familiar
with the community/culture might need to lead the conversation to the
best list by managing their "reply-to" addresses...

[Benjamin Kaduk]

Post by Adam Jensen
Hi,
I would like to explore OpenAFS. Does anyone know of an up-to-date
installation and set up guide for SL-7.5? The software seems to be
Available Packages
openafs-1.6-sl.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-authlibs.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-authlibs-devel.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-client.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-compat.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-devel.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-kernel-source.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-kpasswd.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-krb5.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-module-tools.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-plumbing-tools.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
openafs-1.6-sl-server.x86_64 1.6.23-289.sl7 sl-security
But I haven't been able to find an accessible set of instructions that
don't require an extensive investment in research, study and translation
to a modern environment. Perhaps if those of you with some experience of
the technology could guide me through an installation and basic
configuration then my notes could be shaped into a guide.

I think that http://docs.openafs.org/QuickStartUnix/index.html is the most
current "official" documentation; the source is in git at (e.g.)
http://git.openafs.org/?p=openafs.git;a=tree;f=doc/xml/QuickStartUnix;h=9e4fbd3f23b81696d98b1fcb68519364fe365d3f;hb=HEAD
if you were interested in supplying patches. (Contributions in other
forms, including what you describe below would also be welcome, of course!)

Post by Adam Jensen
I have an SL-7.5 server with LVM partitions /vicep{a..f} that are
currently 100GB each but there is plenty of storage space available to
expand the capacity of these partitions. I have an SL-7.5 laptop that
can act as a client. I also have two Ubuntu-18.04 machines that could be
clients, and I have a FreeBSD machine but OpenAFS doesn't seem to be
available in its ports system.

net/openafs exists, but is on a somewhat older version of openafs that
doesn't build on the most current versions of FreeBSD. 1.8.2 should build
okay from source, though, IIRC.

Post by Adam Jensen
Given this basis, it might be possible to experiment with several
desirable scenarios and record a straightforward set of installation,
configuration, and administration instructions for each that would
enable people to assess the technology in a tractable, cost-effective way.
If this seems reasonable, I would love to get started.

That seems reasonable to me. It might be best to work on the initial
versions in the wiki (e.g., under https://wiki.openafs.org/admin/index/).

Thanks for the offer!

-Ben

[Adam Jensen]

Post by Benjamin Kaduk

Post by Adam Jensen
But I haven't been able to find an accessible set of instructions that
don't require an extensive investment in research, study and translation
to a modern environment. Perhaps if those of you with some experience of
the technology could guide me through an installation and basic
configuration then my notes could be shaped into a guide.

I think that http://docs.openafs.org/QuickStartUnix/index.html is the most
current "official" documentation; the source is in git at (e.g.)
http://git.openafs.org/?p=openafs.git;a=tree;f=doc/xml/QuickStartUnix;h=9e4fbd3f23b81696d98b1fcb68519364fe365d3f;hb=HEAD
if you were interested in supplying patches. (Contributions in other
forms, including what you describe below would also be welcome, of course!)

I guess this is the document to start with:

https://wiki.openafs.org/admin/InstallingOpenAFSonRHEL/

The RHEL 6 to 7 changes are:

- systemctl is preferred over service/chkconfig
- firewalld is preferred over iptables
- the SELinux policy problem might have been fixed

I have no idea which parts of the AFS information needs to revised.
Would it be a big deal for an experienced user to spin up an SL-7.5
instance in a virtual machine and have a look at the situation?