NAMEI vs. inode based file server
There are two different flavours of the AFS file server (the fs process): One uses inodes to store AFS data (volumes, files, metadata), the other uses real files.
The inode-based server needs a file system which supports access by inode and usually a special fsck is required so that the AFS data is not corrupted (since the server does some behind-the-scenes stuff with the file system). The NAMEI file server does not pose any unusual constraints on the underlying filesystem - it's an ordinary userspace program working with (silly-named) files.
You can easily see that you are using an NAMEI file server if there is a directory named AFSIDat and with subdirectories like + and +1 in your /vicep*.
-- Tino Schwarze - 25 Jul 2003
Recommended Partition Types for use with ?OpenAFS
| namei Server | Server vicexx Partition Types |
|---|---|
| Any system type | Basically any filesystem you like, as the new namei file server does not do any fancy stuff behind the scenes but only accesses normal files (their names are a bit strange though). |
| inode Server | Server vicexx Partition Types |
|---|---|
| sun4x_5[789] | ufs w/o logging |
| aix_4[345] , aix_51 | jfs |
| sgi_65 | XFS |
| ppc_darwin_14 | ??? |
| alpha_dux[40,50,51] | ufs , no AdvFS support |
| Client | Cache (/usr/vice/cache)Partition Types |
|---|---|
| i386_linux24 | ext2, ext3 |
| sun4x_5[789] | ufs without logging or dedicated ufs cache partition with logging, vxfs |
| aix_4[345] , aix_51 | jfs |
| sgi_65 | XFS |
| ppc_darwin_14 | ??? |
| These Don't Work | ?ReiserFS, vxfs (HP-UX, Solaris), AdvFS (OSF1/DigitalUnix/CompaqUnix/Tru64Unix) |
Further, ?Tru64Unix 5.1 has only server support on ufs. The client is supported under Arla including AdvFS (but no server support as of Apr 2002). Server and client should work under DU4.0 and ?Tru64Unix 5.0.
- Question: Does this table imply that clients can't use the NAMEI backend and still need a specific filesystem? Will this ever change?
-- Todd Lewis - 06 Nov 2002
- Another Question: Does this mean that you can use an NFS mount point as a /vicexx if you use a NAMEI fileserver?
-- Chris McClimans - 25 Jul 2003