[296] in Info-AFS_Redistribution
AFS 3 Programmer's Reference Suite
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dawn_Hinton@transarc.com)
Mon Aug 26 18:33:30 1991
Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1991 16:39:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: Dawn_Hinton@transarc.com
To: Info-AFS@transarc.com
The hardcopy version of the AFS 3 Programmer's Reference Suite will be
available for purchase from Transarc in mid-September. The suite is
technical documentation intended for developers who wish to gain a
better understanding of the AFS 3 programming interface. The initial
suite will include an Architecture Overview and descriptions of the
interfaces to the Rx RPC Facility, BOS Server, File Server/Cache
Manager, Protection Server and Volume Server/VL Server. The
interface to the Authentication Server will be provided later in 1991.
The cost for the suite is $75.00 plus shipping and includes the
documents, tabbed dividers and binder. The documents are not
available individually. Electronic versions of the individual documents
are being made available to all AFS users with Internet access under
/afs/grand.central.org, as announced previously by Ed. Zayas.
You can order the suite from your AFS Sales Representative. If you
aren't sure who that is, call the Transarc switchboard at (412) 338-4400.
Brief descriptions of the documents follow:
Architecture Overview
---------------------
Describes the full set of AFS 3 servers and agents in a coherent way,
illustrating their relationships to one another and examining their
interactions.
Rx RPC Facility
---------------
Specifies the design and operation of the Rx remote procedure call (RPC)
and LWP light process pacakges used by all AFS agents.
Authentication Server
---------------------
Describes the AFS Kerberos-based security environment and its
primary active agent, the Authentication Server, which is primarily
responsible for issuing objects called "tickets" that authenticate
users to the file system. The tickets are stored securely by the
Cache Manager (see below) on AFS client machines. Both RPC
interfaces and user-level library calls are covered.
BOS Server
----------
Describes the AFS "nanny" service that simplifies AFS system
administration. The BOS Server monitors the other AFS server
processes running on its machine, restarting them when they fail,
starting them automatically and in the proper order after system
reboot, and answering queries about their status. It also accepts
commands through which administrators can remotely start and stop
processes, and install new server software.
File Server/Cache Manager
-------------------------
Explains the workings and interfaces of the two primary AFS
agents, the File Server and Cache Manager. The File Server
controls disk storage on file server machines and regulates
file access. The Cache Manager, which runs in the kernel on
AFS client machines, accesses the files stored on file server
machines and presents them to users as though they were stored
locally.
Protection Server
-----------------
Describes the server process that maps printable user names
to internal AFS identifiers. The Protection Server allows users
to create, remove and manipulate "groups" of users, which can
be placed on AFS access control lists (ACLs).
Volume Server/Volume Location Server
-------------------------------------
Describes the servers that manage the conceptual "containers" (volumes)
housing related files in AFS, and map the contents of volumes to
file tree locations.
