[261] in Resnet-Forum
Re: File access across campus
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joel P. Cooper)
Fri Apr 29 11:44:06 1994
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 1994 10:22:58 -0500
To: mlbarrow@MIT.EDU (Michael L. Barrow), resnet-forum@MIT.EDU
From: joel.p.cooper.1@nd.edu (Joel P. Cooper)
At 10:56 PM 4/28/94 -0400, Michael L. Barrow wrote:
>How many DOS boxes do you have using the NFSxAFS translator? We used it
>here at MIT and wouldn't exactly call it a "service" -- so to speak. It
>will eat files if you try to write, etc. It's my understading that
>Transarc warns about the use of this beast.
As I said, we are "experimenting" with this. We currently have about 10
clients active at any one time. Our DOS folks have had some learning
curves to climb so it hasn't gone as fast as I'd like. We also aren't
getting adequate performance out of the NFS server/NFS-AFS translator
yet--some things are unacceptably slow, according to the testers. We are
messing w/ AFS cache settings to optimize this.
The only Transarc warnings I know about (and I would love to be
corrected/shown others) is that the translator compromises security to the
extent that NFS security can be compromised: if you're smart enough to
steal a UID you might well be able to hijack a token and get away with it.
I've not heard anything about the write problem. The only problem we did
have w/ writing was with the NFS default write buffer size of 8K. We had
some faster INTEL boxes that would choke trying to write a file of larger
than 5K. Reducing the write buffer size on the client to 1K solved the
problem. There have been no reported problems of files getting messed up
or eaten in the 4 months we've been testing.
I'd be interested to hear from you a little more about what you do w/ this.
In fact, here's my standard "20 questions" if you've got a minute:
What is your installed base of clients?
Do you use packet drivers, ODI, both?
Do you do any license management of DOS software? If so, with what?
Have you had any problems with DOS software not working properly using PC-NFS?
What do you use for IP applications--things like NCSA/BYU Telnet, NUPOP,
Trumpet, etc. or the SunSoft stuff?
Do you have any history w/ Novell or did you start w/ PC-NFS?
What kind of PCs do you use? Have you had any compatibility problems w/ PC
hardware and PC-NFS?
Thanks,
Joel
---
Joel P. Cooper Phone: 219-631-7221
Asst. Director, Networking Services Fax: 219-631-8201
Office of University Computing Email: joel.p.cooper.1@nd.edu
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Data to the People
