OpenAFS Client for Linux

Details

The OpenAFS client can be installed on any Linux distribution but the details of how to do so vary. You will need root permission and usually some familiarity with a command line. The process is complicated by the necessity for a kernel module that must match the kernel you are running.

Some distros (Ubuntu and Debian) make installation relatively straightforward by including OpenAFS in their repository.  Other distros (Red Hat/CentOS, Fedora, SUSE) have RPMs on the OpenAFS website. This also works well except there is sometimes a lengthy delay between when a distro releases a new kernel and when the OpenAFS project releases a matching kernel module RPM. To avoid this issue, we recommend using DKMS which is a system to automatically compile new kernel modules as necessary. Note: DKMS requires that you have gcc (a C compiler) and various other development tools installed.

We've done our best to create useful instructions here but there are a lot of variables so if you need help installing the OpenAFS client on your Linux machine, contact us Research.Computing@dartmouth.edu.

Prerequisites

You will need to know your Linux distribution (Red Hat, Ubuntu, etc.), the architecture for that distro (x86_64, i686, i386), and our cell name which is northstar.dartmouth.edu

  1. Determining Linux distribution: In a terminal window type cat /etc/*-release You may get multiple lines of output. Look for something like:
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation release 6.5 (Santiago) - this is Redhat Enterprise version 6
      • Fedora Release 20 (Heisenbug) - this is is Fedora 20
  2. Determining architecture: Type uname -m in a terminal window. It should be one of these three values:
      • x86_64
      • i686
      • i386
  • As previously mentioned, you will need gcc if you want DKMS to create kernel modules automatically. Type gcc --version in a terminal window. If you have gcc, the output will include a line similar to   
    • gcc (GCC) 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-44)

Installing the OpenAFS Client on Red Hat Enterprise Linux using DKMS

  1. Install the dkms rpm from the EPEL repository.  See using the EPEL repository.
  2. Download the appropriate RPMs for your system from the OpenAFS website. There are four that you need: openafs, openafs-client, openafs-krb5, and dkms-openafs. Be sure to get the right architecture (i.e. x86_64 or i686) and release (e.g. RHEL6=el6). Below are links to the versions (x86_64 only) we are using internally.  These should be a safe bet but may not always be the latest.
  3. Become root: su - root
  4. If you did not have gcc, here is the command to install it (plus a few other prerequisites). yum install flex kernel-headers kernel-devel glibc-headers glibc-devel gcc
  5. Install the five RPMs which you downloaded in steps 1 and 2. As long as you do not have other like-named RPMs in your download directory, you can do: yum install openafs*.rpm dkms*.rpm
  6. Set the default cell with: echo northstar.dartmouth.edu > /usr/vice/etc/ThisCell
  7. Start the client: service openafs-client start
  8. The client should now be running. Note, in the future it will start automatically at boot time. Some quick tests to verify functionality are:
    • df -h -> should see a line that starts with AFS and ends with /afs.
    • kinit netid@KIEWIT.DARTMOUTH.EDU -> use your Dartmouth NetID and you should be prompted for your NetID password
    • aklog  -> If your NetID has been enabled for AFS access, you will see no output from this command, but the next command will show an AFS token
    • tokens -> should see an AFS token listed for the numeric UID that is associated with your NetID.

Installing on Fedora using DKMS

  1. Download the appropriate RPMs for your system from the OpenAFS website. There are four that you need: openafs, openafs-client, openafs-kpasswd, and dkms-openafs.  Be sure to get the right architecture (x86_64 or i686) and release (e.g. Fedora 20 = fc20).
  2. Become root: su - root
  3. If you did not have gcc, here is the command to install it (plus a few other prerequisites). yum install flex kernel-headers kernel-devel glibc-headers glibc-devel gcc
  4. Install the dkms RPM from the Fedora repo: yum install dkms  Do not combine this with the next step.
  5. Install the four RPMs which you downloaded in step 1. As long as you do not have other like-named RPMs in your download directory, you can do: yum install openafs*.rpm dkms*.rpm"
  6. Set the default cell with: echo northstar.dartmouth.edu > /usr/vice/etc/ThisCell
  7. Set the client to start at boot time: systemctl enable openafs-client.service
  8. Start the client manually for right now: systemctl start openafs-client.service
  9. The client should now be running.  Some quick tests to verify functionality are:
    • df -h -> should see a line that starts with AFS and ends with /afs.
    • klog username -> use your AFS username and you should be prompted for your AFS password
    • tokens -> should see an AFS token listed

Uninstalling the OpenAFS Client

RHEL/CentOS/Fedora: As root, yum erase openafs openafs-client openafs-kpasswd dkms-openafs

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