[OpenAFS] Alternative AFS-Implementations

[FBO]

Hi AFS-Fans,

Does anyone have experience with "alternative AFS-Implementations"
(different from OpenAFS)?
What about ARLA or MS-AFS? What are the differences, advantages,
disadvantages, critical bugs,...
Performance and stability ist most interesting.
What are the best arguments for and ( I hope they don't exist :-) )
against OpenAFS?
Are there any Documents available, comparing different AFS-Implementations?

Thank you for all answers.

FBO

[Jimmy Engelbrecht]

Post by FBO
Hi AFS-Fans,

Hi!

Post by FBO
Does anyone have experience with "alternative AFS-Implementations"
(different from OpenAFS)?
What about ARLA or MS-AFS? What are the differences, advantages,
disadvantages, critical bugs,...

We have been running running arla in production over 2 years.
We have now about 140 Linux-boxes running arla.

* arla does not die when you do "ls -al /afs"

* arla never crashes the kernel, if it crashes only the userdeamon dies,
which can just be restarted.

* we have expierienced better performance on some operations with arla on
Linux 2.4 than OpenAFS 1.2.2

* arla's utilities (for ex. vos) does not provide all features you want, we
use sometimes the openafs-utilities (which are compatible) on hosts that
run arla.

* arla does not crash or hang the mashine when you disconnect it from the
network. I do not recommend openafs on laptops.

* arla does not provide a userful filerserver-environment yet. We run
OpenAFS.

* arla 0.35 does caching on whole files.

I do not recommend arla for Solaris yet. On Solaris we run Openafs.

Arla works fine on *BSD, Linux, and almost fine on Tru64.

Post by FBO
Performance and stability ist most interesting.
What are the best arguments for and ( I hope they don't exist :-) )
against OpenAFS?

Compared to what ? NFS ?

Post by FBO
Are there any Documents available, comparing different AFS-Implementations?

i dont think so.

/Jimmy

[FBO]

Post by Jimmy Engelbrecht

Post by FBO
Hi AFS-Fans,

Hi!

Post by FBO
Does anyone have experience with "alternative AFS-Implementations"
(different from OpenAFS)?
What about ARLA or MS-AFS? What are the differences, advantages,
disadvantages, critical bugs,...

We have been running running arla in production over 2 years.
We have now about 140 Linux-boxes running arla.
* arla does not die when you do "ls -al /afs"
* arla never crashes the kernel, if it crashes only the userdeamon dies,
which can just be restarted.

Very interesting. I do have 2 PCs that are unable to do a clean shutdown
(without a crash) when openafs was started before.
3 of my other PCs do not have a problem with that (same kernel, same distri,...).

Post by Jimmy Engelbrecht
* we have expierienced better performance on some operations with arla on
Linux 2.4 than OpenAFS 1.2.2

That sounds interesting, too. Which operations?

Post by Jimmy Engelbrecht
* arla's utilities (for ex. vos) does not provide all features you want, we
use sometimes the openafs-utilities (which are compatible) on hosts that
run arla.
* arla does not crash or hang the mashine when you disconnect it from the
network. I do not recommend openafs on laptops.
* arla does not provide a userful filerserver-environment yet. We run
OpenAFS.
* arla 0.35 does caching on whole files.
I do not recommend arla for Solaris yet. On Solaris we run Openafs.
Arla works fine on *BSD, Linux, and almost fine on Tru64.

Is there a WinNT-Client, too?

Post by Jimmy Engelbrecht

Post by FBO
Performance and stability ist most interesting.
What are the best arguments for and ( I hope they don't exist :-) )
against OpenAFS?

Compared to what ? NFS ?

I meant "compared to other AFS-implementations"... :-)

[Derek Atkins]

Post by FBO
Very interesting. I do have 2 PCs that are unable to do a clean shutdown
(without a crash) when openafs was started before.
3 of my other PCs do not have a problem with that (same kernel, same distri,...).

What version of Linux and what version of OpenAFS? There were some
problems with the shutdown sequence, but we think we've them all
in 1.2.4/5. If you still have this problem in 1.2.5, please report
it.

-derek

[FBO]

Post by Derek Atkins

Post by FBO
Very interesting. I do have 2 PCs that are unable to do a clean shutdown
(without a crash) when openafs was started before.
3 of my other PCs do not have a problem with that (same kernel, same distri,...).

What version of Linux and what version of OpenAFS? There were some
problems with the shutdown sequence, but we think we've them all
in 1.2.4/5. If you still have this problem in 1.2.5, please report
it.

Linux Kernel is 2.4.18 with xfs-patch 1.1. There are some more extensions
patched into the kernel but none (except of xfs) is filesystem related.
The Kernel is compiled on another machine ( with PII-cpu ), optimization
is set to "586".

OpenAFS Version is 1.2.5 but earlier versions caused the same problem.

It's not really critical because the systems shut down correctly
and the "Power Down"-message is displayed.

Maybe it's the processor?

mekong $ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 5
model : 8
model name : AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor
stepping : 12
cpu MHz : 350.799
cache size : 64 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr mce cx8 pge mmx syscall 3dnow k6_mtrr
bogomips : 699.59


FBO

[Derek Atkins]

Post by FBO
Linux Kernel is 2.4.18 with xfs-patch 1.1. There are some more extensions
patched into the kernel but none (except of xfs) is filesystem related.
The Kernel is compiled on another machine ( with PII-cpu ), optimization
is set to "586".

Are you running your client cache on an xfs partition???

Post by FBO
It's not really critical because the systems shut down correctly
and the "Power Down"-message is displayed.

Ok, then I wont worry about it ;)

Post by FBO
Maybe it's the processor?

Unlikely.

-derek

[FBO]

Post by Derek Atkins

Post by FBO
Linux Kernel is 2.4.18 with xfs-patch 1.1. There are some more extensions
patched into the kernel but none (except of xfs) is filesystem related.
The Kernel is compiled on another machine ( with PII-cpu ), optimization
is set to "586".

Are you running your client cache on an xfs partition???

No, my cache is placed on a ext2-3765KB-RamDisk. Months ago i started with
cache on a xfs-partition but not a single ls ran without showing garbage.

FBO

[Jason Edgecombe]

hi,

have you tried the poweroff command instead of shutdown? I know that
between versions of Red hat, they changed shutdown to not poweroff.

Post by FBO
It's not really critical because the systems shut down correctly
and the "Power Down"-message is displayed.

Jason Edgecombe

[FBO]

Post by Jason Edgecombe
hi,

Hello,

Post by Jason Edgecombe
have you tried the poweroff command instead of shutdown? I know that
between versions of Red hat, they changed shutdown to not poweroff.

Shutdown always worked for me and most of my machines still do a
clean shutdown, switching power off finally...

FBO

[Jimmy Engelbrecht]

Post by FBO
That sounds interesting, too. Which operations?

Dont know for sure, but users compain that "du -k" is about 2-8 times
slower on our linux boxes if it runs openafs.

I have NOT checked it out myself.

du -k

Post by FBO
Is there a WinNT-Client, too?

somebody os working on it, and actually get paid fulltime by
"Stockholms Universitet" however it is not ready yet.

/Jimmy

[j***@subtle.org]

I haven't seen any online so I figured I'd pipe and ask:

Does anyone have any notes or docs on upgrading an OpenAFS server
(specifically from 1.2.3 to 1.2.5 on linux_2.4). I have a very small
cluster of servers, all but one being just file servers and one
fileserver/backupserver/kaserver/vlserver/etc. I'm not sure what the best
methods are and would be interested in hearing what works, what doesn't
and why.

Thanx in advanced,

jeff...

[Derrick J Brashear]

Post by j***@subtle.org
Does anyone have any notes or docs on upgrading an OpenAFS server
(specifically from 1.2.3 to 1.2.5 on linux_2.4). I have a very small
cluster of servers, all but one being just file servers and one
fileserver/backupserver/kaserver/vlserver/etc. I'm not sure what the best
methods are and would be interested in hearing what works, what doesn't
and why.

client: install the new afsd and kernel modules using whatever package
system you use or by putting the files into the locations of the old ones.
reboot.

server: install the new binaries using whatever package system you use, or
by installing them where the existing ones are (possibly /usr/afs/bin,
possibly not). bos restart (servername) -all -bosserver

you'll have an outage while the fileservers reattach volumes, which
basically takes an amount of time determined by how much you have. For a
small fileserver you won't notice.

it should "just work"

[j***@subtle.org]

"just work", eh? Ok... I'll give it a shot... as long as theres little
risk of losing any of the volumes.

/me crosses fingers.

thanx for the help.

jeff...

Post by Derrick J Brashear

Post by j***@subtle.org
Does anyone have any notes or docs on upgrading an OpenAFS server
(specifically from 1.2.3 to 1.2.5 on linux_2.4). I have a very small
cluster of servers, all but one being just file servers and one
fileserver/backupserver/kaserver/vlserver/etc. I'm not sure what the best
methods are and would be interested in hearing what works, what doesn't
and why.

client: install the new afsd and kernel modules using whatever package
system you use or by putting the files into the locations of the old ones.
reboot.
server: install the new binaries using whatever package system you use, or
by installing them where the existing ones are (possibly /usr/afs/bin,
possibly not). bos restart (servername) -all -bosserver
you'll have an outage while the fileservers reattach volumes, which
basically takes an amount of time determined by how much you have. For a
small fileserver you won't notice.
it should "just work"
_______________________________________________
OpenAFS-info mailing list
https://lists.openafs.org/mailman/listinfo/openafs-info

[Derek Atkins]

There is little risk.

-derek

Post by j***@subtle.org
"just work", eh? Ok... I'll give it a shot... as long as theres little
risk of losing any of the volumes.
/me crosses fingers.
thanx for the help.
jeff...

Post by Derrick J Brashear

Post by j***@subtle.org
Does anyone have any notes or docs on upgrading an OpenAFS server
(specifically from 1.2.3 to 1.2.5 on linux_2.4). I have a very small
cluster of servers, all but one being just file servers and one
fileserver/backupserver/kaserver/vlserver/etc. I'm not sure what the best
methods are and would be interested in hearing what works, what doesn't
and why.

client: install the new afsd and kernel modules using whatever package
system you use or by putting the files into the locations of the old ones.
reboot.
server: install the new binaries using whatever package system you use, or
by installing them where the existing ones are (possibly /usr/afs/bin,
possibly not). bos restart (servername) -all -bosserver
you'll have an outage while the fileservers reattach volumes, which
basically takes an amount of time determined by how much you have. For a
small fileserver you won't notice.
it should "just work"
_______________________________________________
OpenAFS-info mailing list
https://lists.openafs.org/mailman/listinfo/openafs-info

_______________________________________________
OpenAFS-info mailing list
https://lists.openafs.org/mailman/listinfo/openafs-info