This page explains some nuances of the Andrew File System (AFS), which we use to serve home directories.

Basic Architecture

Using the shared filesystem involves a combination of Kerberos and OpenAFS.

File conventions

The /afs tree contains shared filesystems. /afs/hcoop.net (symlinked from /afs/hcoop as well) is our piece of the AFS-o-sphere. Subdirectories include:

• /afs/hcoop.net/user, the home of home directories

• /afs/hcoop.net/user/U/US/$USERNAME, $USERNAME's home directory

• /afs/hcoop.net/common/etc, the home of non-platform-specific fun stuff like DomTool

Connecting to AFS from an HCoop server

I found this handy summary of the commands that must be run:

• http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/remoteaccess/LinuxOpenAfs/kreset_debian/kreset

On our servers, it seems sufficient to run: