AFS File System

• Computer Systems Lab Documentation
  • 2 HOW-TOs and Other Advanced Documentation
    • 2.1 AFS File System
      • 2.1.1 Introduction
      • 2.1.2 AFS Commands Quick Reference
      • 2.1.3 File-related Commands
        • 2.1.3.1 Quotas
        • 2.1.3.2 Recursively Copying Files and AFS ACLs
      • 2.1.4 Access Control and AFS Groups
        • 2.1.4.1 Access Control Lists (ACLs)
        • 2.1.4.2 Access Control Commands
        • 2.1.4.3 Access Permissions (Rights)
        • 2.1.4.4 AFS groups
        • 2.1.4.5 AFS Group Commands
        • 2.1.4.6 Advanced AFS Group topics
      • 2.1.5 AFS Authentication
        • 2.1.5.1 Tokens
        • 2.1.5.2 Reauthentication

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2.1.1 Introduction

AFS is a distributed file system that enables sharing files across both local area and wide area networks.

AFS is based on a distributed file system originally developed at the Information Technology Center at Carnegie-Mellon University that was called the Andrew File System.

Some useful features of AFS:

• In conjuction with Kerberos, AFS provides a global authentication system (all passwords are verified with a site-wide database).
• Access Control Lists (ACLs) provide more flexibility in setting file access permissions than traditional Unix file systems.
• Users can access AFS files at remote sites, if given appropriate permissions.

See Also:

• link to kerberos FAQ, howto
• Transarc (AFS vendor)
• Transarc AFS Technical Information site

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2.1.2 AFS Commands Quick Reference

This table lists the most common AFS commands used by users. All commands have two help functions: command help and command option -help.

File Service Commands
fs listquota [path] fs lq [path]	list the AFS quota for the volume containing file or directory path. If no path is specified, the current directory is used.
fs listacl [path] fs la [path]	List the Acess Control List for the directory path (or the directory containing path). If no path is specified, the current directory is used.
fs setacl path user acl fs sa path user acl	Set the Acess Control List for the user user on the directory path.
fs copyacl srcpath destpath	Copy the Acess Control Lists from the directory srcpath to the directory destpath. Note that this does not delete the existing Access Control Lists from destpath.
afs_rseta path user acl	Recursively set the Acess Control List for the user user on the directory path and all subdirectories of path.
fs whereis [path]	Print the name of the AFS Fileserver for the volume containing file or directory path If no path is specified, the current directory is used.
AFS Group Commands
pts creategroup username:group	Create a group named username:group. username must be your username.
pts adduser user username:group	Add user user to group username:group. Usually username is your username.
pts removeuser user username:group	Remove user user from group username:group. Usually username is your username.
pts membership user	List the groups user is a member of
pts membership username:group	List the members of group username:group
pts listowned username	List the groups owned by username
Authentication Commands
tokens	Print information about the AFS Authentication Token of the current process authentication group (PAG).
kalog	Renew/Create Kerberos Ticket and AFS Token
Miscellaneous Commands
up srcdir destdir	Recursively copy srcdir to destdir, preserving AFS Access Control Lists.

See Also:

• Access Control Commands
• AFS Group Commands

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2.1.3 File-related Commands

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2.1.4 Access Control and AFS Groups

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2.1.5 AFS Authentication

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