What is OpenAFS?
OpenAFS is the open source release of the Andrew File System (AFS), a global, distributed file system. Indiana University's data storage service, the Research File System, is based on OpenAFS.
Each OpenAFS site has its own OpenAFS cell which is comparable to a
Windows domain and is usually named after the institution or a
research group that administers it. For example, CERN's OpenAFS cell
is called cern.ch and Argonne National Laboratory's
OpenAFS cell is called anl.gov. IU's OpenAFS cell is
called IU.EDU.
OpenAFS allows sharing of disk space among hosts by letting all AFS
participants on the Internet share one logical file space. The root
level directory is /afs, with Internet domains such as
indiana.edu descending from there. For example,
/afs/umich.edu/... could be a directory. OpenAFS
directories worldwide become available to a user with access to a host
with an OpenAFS client installed. OpenAFS is currently in widespread
use in academia and in scientific labs around the world.
Also see:
Last modified on July 11, 2007.
