Coda File System

Coda File System User and System Administrators Manual

M. Satyanarayanan

                       
                   

Maria R. Ebling

                       
                   

Joshua Raiff

                       
                   

Peter J. Braam

                       
                   

Jan Harkes

                       
                   

Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 Coda Team

The Coda File System is a descendant of the Andrew File System. Like AFS, Coda offers location-transparent access to a shared Unix file namespace that is mapped on to a collection of dedicated file servers. But Coda represents a substantial improvement over AFS because it offers considerably higher availability in the face of server and network failures. The improvement in availability is achieved using the complementary techniques of server replication and disconnected operation. Disconnected operation proven especially valuable in supporting portable computers. This document is a reference manual for Coda users and system administrators.

Table of Contents
Preface
1. Further Reading
2. Acknowledgments
1. Getting Started
1.1. What is Coda?
1.2. Getting clued in with the Coda terminology.
1.3. Organization of the client
1.3.1. The kernel module and the cache manager
1.3.2. Utilities
1.4. Server organization
1.5. Authentication
1.6. Coda File Protection
1.7. Disconnected Operation
1.8. Hoarding
1.9. Repairing Conflicts
2. Common Scenarios
2.1. Constructing a hoardfile
2.2. Hoarding for a Weekend
2.3. Re-integrating After Disconnection
2.4. Dealing With a Flaky Network
2.5. Re-integrating Over the Phone Line
2.6. Repairing an Inconsistent Directory
2.6.1. Server/Server Conflicts
2.6.2. Local/Global Conflicts
3. System Overview
3.1. Machines
3.2. Processes
3.3. Data Location
4. Obtaining Coda
5. Configuring Kernels for use with Coda clients
5.1. VFS Interface
5.2. Configuring a Linux kernel
5.3. Configuring a FreeBSD kernel
5.4. Configuring a NetBSD kernel
6. Installing and Configuring a Coda Client
6.1. Installing and Configuring the Coda Client Binaries and Documentation
6.2. Linux and the BSD's: running venus, the client cache manager
6.3. Windows 95: Starting and Configuring a Coda client
6.4. Upgrading from a previous Release
6.5. Configuration changes made by venus-setup
7. Installing a Coda Server
7.1. Introduction
7.1.1. Recoverable Virtual Memory
7.1.2. Server Disk Organization
7.2. Installation and Configuration
7.2.1. Installing the Coda Server Binaries and Documentation
7.2.2. Configuring A Coda Server
7.2.3. Exploring replication
7.3. Underneath vice-setup
7.3.1. RVM Initialization
7.3.2. Update Monitor
7.3.3. Authentication Database
8. Troubleshooting
8.1. Basic Troubleshooting
8.2. Client Problems
8.3. Server Problems
8.4. Disconnections.
8.5. Advanced Troubleshooting
8.6. Troubleshooting on Windows 95
8.6.1. Common problems
8.6.2. Restrictions
9. Volume Administration
9.1. Concepts
9.2. Creating a Volume
9.3. Mounting a Volume
9.4. Deleting a Volume
9.5. Dumping and Restoring a Volume
9.5.1. Creating a dump of a replicated volume
9.5.2. Restoring volume dumps
9.6. Building the volume databases
9.7. Getting Volume Information
10. User Administration
10.1. Short introduction to pdbtool
10.2. Adding a new user
10.3. Upgrading existing user.coda and group.coda databases
10.4. Upgrading from the coda.pdb/name.pdb databases used in 5.2.0/5.2.2
11. The Backup System
11.1. Introduction: Design of the Coda Backup Subsystem
11.2. Installing a Coda Backup Coordinator Machine
11.3. Incremental Dumps
11.4. Tape files
11.5. Restoring a backup clone
11.6. Backup Scripts
12. Reinitializing Coda Servers after a Disaster
12.1. Obtaining Backup Dump Files
12.2. Reinitializing the Servers
References
A. Quick Reference
B. System Configuration Files
List of Tables
3-1. Server processes
7-1. Example of Partitions for a Coda Server
9-1. Coda volume types
A-1. Popular commands
List of Figures
1-1. Coda file-system view at a workstation.
3-1. Typical Coda server organization.
3-2. Typical processes on file-server
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    Preface