OpenAFS for Windows
OpenAFS is the world's foremost location independent file system. With OpenAFS for Windows, users of Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, 2003, XP64, Vista (32-bit and 64-bit editions) and Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit editions) can make the most of this proven data sharing solution. The OpenAFS Project provides binary installation packages appropriate for both individual users and organizations with thousands of members.
Contents:
The following guidelines should be used for choosing an installer type. If you are upgrading from a previous installation, select the same type of installer, EXE or MSI, as was previously installed on the system. If you are installing for the first time, choose the EXE if you are installing manually and the MSI if you either need to customize the installation package (via a transform) or wish to deploy via Active Directory Group Policy.
Each installer is provided in debug and non-debug versions. The debug versions should be installed only when you are experiencing a problem and you need to assist the OpenAFS developers in debugging the problem. The non-debug version is optimized for performance, does not generate logging information by default, and does not install symbol files.
All of the installers are produced and signed by Secure Endpoints Inc.. If the signature is missing do not complete the installation process and send e-mail to openafs-security@openafs.org
Secure Endpoints Inc. periodically publishes a report on the current status of OpenAFS for Windows development. The most recent report was published in July 2008. Read it today!
(updated 28 July 2008)
Features:
- Starting with the 1.5.50 release of OpenAFS for Windows, each of the AFS Client Service, the AFS Explorer Shell Extension, and the command-line tools are Unicode enabled. No longer is OpenAFS restricted to accessing file system objects whose names can be represented in the locale specific OEM code page. This has significant benefits for end users. Most importantly it permits non-Western languages to now be used for file system object names in AFS from Microsoft Windows operating systems. Now that Unicode names are supported, Roaming User Profiles and Folder Redirection will no longer fail when a user attempts to store an object with a name that cannot be represented in the OEM code page.
- Compatible with all OpenAFS and IBM/Transarc AFS Servers
- Support for all editions of Windows Vista
- 2007 Daylight Savings Time corrected C Runtime Library DLLs
- AFS credentials module for MIT Kerberos for Windows Network Identity Manager
- Support for 64-bit File Sizes on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows
- Support for 64-bit Windows XP/2003/R2/Vista
- Implements Windows Byte Range Locking backed by AFS File Server Locks
- Implements Inline Bulk Status RPCs which speeds up directory listings
- Uses GetCapabilities RPCs to probe the server status
- Logs fs crypt state to the Windows Event Log
- Supports OutputDebugString debugging of the RX Library
- New command: fs uuid [-generate]
- Improved CIFS protocol compatibility
- Hard Dead and Connection Timeout values restricted to the CIFS Session Timeout value.
- Improved handling of Windows Standby/Hibernate modes when network access is not available
- Significant performance improvements when searching directories containing hundreds or thousands of files and sub-directories
- Reduced time required for file open operations
- Fixes a write data corruption error that exists in all versions of OpenAFS prior to 1.5.15
- Increased cache hit ratio for data written to AFS by the local client
- Eliminates "out of volumes" and "out of buffers" panic conditions
- Improved behavior when used from behind Network Address Translation (NAT) devices
- As of 1.5.18, OpenAFS for Windows no longer attempts to push Kerberos v5 tickets into the logon session. This functionality is available in MIT Kerberos for Windows 3.1 and above.
- Fixes a bug that could result in a failure of Microsoft Windows to boot successfully. See Security Advisory OPENAFS-SA-2007-002
- Improved Explorer Shell behavior when viewing directories without "read" permission.
- Lower CPU utilization and overall performance improvements than 1.5.20 and earlier
- The AFS Server Manager no longer terminates unexpectedly
- Infinite recursions in chains of directory objects up to 512 levels deep are detected and prevented.
- Data that is known to be valid will continue to be served by the cache manager when all servers are down.
- Improved directory search performance when compared to 1.5.21 and earlier. Especially after directory updates and when searching for files that do not exist.
- Partial chunks are written to the file server whenever possible improving write performance.
- Default chunk size increased to 1MB from 128KB as of 1.5.23 improving read and write performance.
- The 1.5.31 release fixes a bug that would prevent failover when a volume cannot be attached by a single file server instance.
- The 1.5.32 more than doubles the throughput of both reads and writes when compared to previous releases. One 1Gbit/second networks peak transfer rates of up to 32MB/second have been recorded between the cache manager and the file server.
- The 1.5.39 release fixes several memory leaks.
- The 1.5.51 release fixes bugs introduced in 1.5.50 related to the fs and symlink commands as well as large file support.
Documentation:
Supported Platforms::
- Windows Server 2008 (X86 and AMD64)
- Windows Vista (X86 and AMD64) including SP1
- Windows 2003 64 (AMD64)
- Windows XP 64 (AMD64)
- Windows 2003 R2
- Windows 2003 including SP1
- Windows XP including SP2
- Windows 2000 Workstation and Server
* Installers for Itanium systems are unavailable. Organizations interested in support for Itanium should consider donating a development/test system to OpenAFS. Known Issues:
- If a *beta* AFS plug-in for Network Identity Manager is installed, it must be uninstalled before OpenAFS 1.5.51 is installed. Otherwise, an error indicating that the plug-in cannot be installed because the appropriate version of OpenAFS is not installed will be generated.
- The AFS plug-in for Network Identity Manager provided as part of OpenAFS 1.5.51 requires MIT Kerberos for Windows 3.1 or above.
- Directory and File Change Notifications are ignored when accessing AFS via UNC paths
- Windows Vista Specific Issues
- The help files provided with OpenAFS are in .HLP format. WinHlp32.exe must be downloaded separately from Microsoft. Secure Endpoints Inc. is funding the development of compatible HtmlHelp (.CHM) files.
- The AFS Systray Tool (afscreds.exe) and AFS Control Panel (afs_config.exe) are not User Account Control (UAC) compatible. In order to start/stop the AFS service or to modify the configuration of the AFS client service they must be "Run as Administrator".
Downloads for 32-bit Windows operating systems: Vista/R2/2003/XP/2000:
Downloads for 64-bit Windows operating systems: Vista/R2/2003/XP:
Support for 32-bit Windows Applications on 64-bit Windows operating systems
This installer is required for any 32-bit applications that require use of AFS libraries. This includes 32-bit versions of MIT Kerberos for Windows.
Note: In 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows there are 64-bit and 32-bit versions of the command prompt and the Explorer Shell. It is very important that when installing applications that the installers be started from a 64-bit process. It is strongly recommended that the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel be used to initiate installations on 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems.
OpenAFS for Windows depends on MIT Kerberos for Windows (KFW) to provide Kerberos 5 functionality. The recommended version of KFW for OpenAFS for Windows 1.5.51 is version 3.2.2. 64-bit releases of KFW are available from Secure Endpoints Inc.