[101] in Kakapo Windows Team
Re: New OpenAFS (2003-09-15) msi available for testing
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Thomas L. Thornton)
Fri Sep 19 16:05:08 2003
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 16:05:06 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <200309192005.h8JK56gj021266@the-rim.mit.edu>
From: "Thomas L. Thornton" <tomt@MIT.EDU>
To: kakapo@MIT.EDU
FYI, this may clarify to you our next steps in addressing OpenAFS on
XP that boot slowly.
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 15:37:07 -0400
To: contact-container-admins@mit.edu
From: Richard Edelson <redelson@MIT.EDU>
Subject: New OpenAFS (2003-09-15) msi available for testing
Hi,
Since the deployment of OpenAFS to win.mit.edu in the beginning of August
with the 8-06-2003 version there have been successive releases which have
fixed various bugs that have arisen. There have been new installer builds
on 8-11-2003, 8-13-2003, 9-03-2003, and now 9-15-2003.
One notable bug that has not been completely resolved until now was a delay
in initializing some shell functions in connection with certain network
services. This caused anywhere from an additional 3 to 12 minute delay
booting Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 machines.
We spent considerable time debugging this problem, and determined the cause
to be the behavior of a newer API for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
that Microsoft had recommended we use with the OpenAFS client. Windows 2000
is not affected because the AFS client called the old API since the new one
does not exist on this platform.
During this time we also determined that disabling the "Network
Connections" and "WebClient" services prevented the shell calls from being
made at system bootup that create the delay when the OpenAFS client is
installed. The services can be started later with no ill effects, and we
could have even scripted that to happen automatically. But we preferred
that this solution only be a contingency plan.
Although there are some reservations about using an undocumented Microsoft
API, we currently believe that the API will not be dropped or changed until
the release of Longhorn, which is still a significant time in the future.
At the same time there are reservations about disabling services even if we
can make them start later because it would tend to be more visible to some
users and might affect a small number of users. However, we have tested
both methods with our own machines and have not encountered any significant
issues.
At this time, the development team feels more comfortable deploying this
revised version of AFS. From our testing, this version eliminates the delay
on Windows XP machines, and also appears to eliminate the delay on Windows
Server 2003 machines.
Before deploying this domain wide, we are accepting requests for those who
wish to participate in a short pilot deployment period. Those of you who
request to participate will have their container added to a Moira list
called openafs-2003-09-15. Once your containers/machines have been added to
the openafs-2003-09-15 list, we will send you a confirmation email. At
that point, you should reboot the appropriate machines. The existing
version of OpenAFS will be uninstalled, and the new version will be
installed. You can verify the new binaries are on your machine by noting
the date on the files in the %programfiles%\afs\client\program directory,
or by verifying the version "1.3.5" after clicking Support Information in
Add/Remove Programs. Let us know how it goes. And please report any
problems or bugs using sendbug, or send email to pismere-bugs@mit.edu with
as many details as possible.
Our operations and development staff expect the pilot phase to last about a
week, at which time there will be a notification about the domain wide
deployment of the new OpenAFS client. I would like to thank all of you who
have participated and assisted in this process in the past, your
contributions have been extremely valuable. Thank you.
Win.mit.edu Operations and Development teams
