| VOS(1) | AFS Command Reference | VOS(1) |
vos - Introduction to the vos command suite
The commands in the vos command suite are the administrative interface to the Volume Server and Volume Location (VL) Server. System administrators use vos commands to create, move, delete, replicate, back up and examine volumes, among other operations. The VL Server automatically records in the Volume Location Database (VLDB) changes in volume status and location that result from vos commands.
The operations invoked by most vos commands are idempotent, meaning that if an operation is interrupted by a network, server machine, or process outage, then a subsequent attempt at the same operation continues from the interruption point, rather than starting over at the beginning of the operation. Before executing a command, the Volume and VL Servers check the current state of the volumes and VLDB records to be altered by the command. If they are already in the desired end state (or a consistent intermediate state), there is no need to repeat the internal steps that brought them there. Idempotency does not apply if the command issuer explicitly interrupts the operation with the Ctrl-C command or another interrupt signal. In that case, the volume is left locked and the administrator must use the vos unlock command to unlock it before proceeding.
It is important that the VLDB accurately indicate the status of the volumes on file server machines at all times. vldb.DB0(5) and afs_volume_header(5) describe the information recorded in the VLDB and volume headers, respectively. If a vos command changes volume status, it automatically records the change in the corresponding VLDB entry. The most common cause of discrepancies between the VLDB and volume status on file server machines is interrupted operations; to restore consistency, use the vos syncserv and vos syncvldb commands.
There are several categories of commands in the vos command suite:
Currently, the maximum quota for a volume is 2 terabytes (2^41 bytes). Note that this only affects the volume's quota; a volume may grow much larger if the volume quota is disabled. However, volumes over 2 terabytes in size may be impractical to move, and may have their size incorrectly reported by some tools, such as fs_listquota(1).
The following arguments and flags are available on many commands in the vos suite. The reference page for each command also lists them, but they are described here in greater detail.
Do not combine the -cell and -localauth options. A command on which the -localauth flag is included always runs in the local cell (as defined in the server machine's local /etc/openafs/server/ThisCell file), whereas a command on which the -cell argument is included runs in the specified foreign cell.
Use this flag only when issuing a command on a server machine; client machines do not usually have a /etc/openafs/server/KeyFile file. The issuer of a command that includes this flag must be logged on to the server machine as the local superuser "root". The flag is useful for commands invoked by an unattended application program, such as a process controlled by the UNIX cron utility or by a cron entry in the machine's /etc/openafs/BosConfig file. It is also useful if an administrator is unable to authenticate to AFS but is logged in as the local superuser root.
Do not combine the -cell and -localauth options. A command on which the -localauth flag is included always runs in the local cell (as defined in the server machine's local /etc/openafs/server/ThisCell file), whereas a command on which the -cell argument is included runs in the specified foreign cell. Also, do not combine the -localauth and -noauth flags.
/vicepa = vicepa = a = 0
/vicepb = vicepb = b = 1
After /vicepz (for which the index is 25) comes
/vicepaa = vicepaa = aa = 26
/vicepab = vicepab = ab = 27
and so on through
/vicepiv = vicepiv = iv = 255
The -frompartition and -topartition arguments to the vos move command also accept this notation.
The -fromserver and -toserver arguments to the vos move command also accept these name formats.
To issue most vos commands, the issuer must be listed in the /etc/openafs/server/UserList file on each server machine that houses or is to house an affected volume, and on each database server machine. The most predictable performance results if all database server and file server machines in the cell share a common UserList file. Alternatively, if the -localauth flag is included, the issuer must be logged on to a server machine as the local superuser "root".
To issue a vos command that only displays information, no privilege is required.
vos_addsite(1), vos_apropos(1), vos_backup(1), vos_backupsys(1), vos_changeaddr(1), vos_convertROtoRW(1), vos_clone(1), vos_copy(1), vos_create(1), vos_delentry(1), vos_dump(1), vos_endtrans(1), vos_examine(1), vos_help(1), vos_listaddrs(1), vos_listpart(1), vos_listvldb(1), vos_listvol(1), vos_lock(1), vos_move(1), vos_partinfo(1), vos_release(1), vos_remove(1), vos_remsite(1), vos_rename(1), vos_restore(1), vos_setfields(1), vos_shadow(1), vos_size(1), vos_status(1), vos_syncserv(1), vos_syncvldb(1), vos_unlock(1), vos_unlockvldb(1), vos_zap(1), CellServDB(5), UserList(5)
IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.
This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell.
| 2022-12-22 | OpenAFS |