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NAME

       vos - Introduction to the vos command suite

DESCRIPTION

       The commands in the vos command suite are the administrative interface
       to the Volume Server and Volume Location (VL) Server. System
       administrators use vos commands to create, move, delete, replicate,
       back up and examine volumes, among other operations. The VL Server
       automatically records in the Volume Location Database (VLDB) changes in
       volume status and location that result from vos commands.

       The operations invoked by most vos commands are idempotent, meaning
       that if an operation is interrupted by a network, server machine, or
       process outage, then a subsequent attempt at the same operation
       continues from the interruption point, rather than starting over at the
       beginning of the operation. Before executing a command, the Volume and
       VL Servers check the current state of the volumes and VLDB records to
       be altered by the command. If they are already in the desired end state
       (or a consistent intermediate state), there is no need to repeat the
       internal steps that brought them there. Idempotency does not apply if
       the command issuer explicitly interrupts the operation with the Ctrl-C
       command or another interrupt signal. In that case, the volume is left
       locked and the administrator must use the vos unlock command to unlock
       it before proceeding.

       It is important that the VLDB accurately indicate the status of the
       volumes on file server machines at all times. vldb.DB0(5) and
       afs_volume_header(5) describe the information recorded in the VLDB and
       volume headers, respectively. If a vos command changes volume status,
       it automatically records the change in the corresponding VLDB entry.
       The most common cause of discrepancies between the VLDB and volume
       status on file server machines is interrupted operations; to restore
       consistency, use the vos syncserv and vos syncvldb commands.

       There are several categories of commands in the vos command suite:

       ·   Commands to create, move, and rename volumes: vos backup, vos
           backupsys, vos changeloc, vos create, vos move, and vos rename.

       ·   Commands to remove VLDB volume records or volumes or both: vos
           delentry, vos remove, and vos zap.

       ·   Commands to edit or display VLDB server entries: vos changeaddr and
           vos listaddrs.

       ·   Commands to create, size, and restore dump files: vos dump, vos
           restore, and vos size.

       ·   Commands to administer replicated volumes: vos addsite, vos
           release, and vos remsite.

       ·   Commands to display VLDB records, volume headers, or both: vos
           examine, vos listvldb, and vos listvol.

       ·   Commands to display information about partitions that house
           volumes: vos listpart and vos partinfo.

       ·   Commands to restore consistency between the VLDB and volume
           headers: vos syncserv and vos syncvldb.

       ·   Commands to lock and unlock VLDB entries: vos lock, vos unlock, and
           vos unlockvldb.

       ·   A command to report Volume Server status: vos status.

       ·   A command to change volume fields: vos setfields.

       ·   Commands to obtain help: vos apropos and vos help.

CAUTIONS

       Currently, the maximum size of a volume is 2 terabytes (2^31 bytes) and
       the maximum size of a /vicepX partition on a fileserver is also 2
       terabytes. The fileserver will not report an error when it has access
       to a partition larger than 2 terabytes, but it will probably fail if
       the administrator attempts to use more than 2 terabytes of space. In
       addition, there are reports of erroneous disk usage numbers when vos
       partinfo or other OpenAFS disk reporting tools are used with partitions
       larger than 2 terabytes.

OPTIONS

       The following arguments and flags are available on many commands in the
       bos suite. The reference page for each command also lists them, but
       they are described here in greater detail.

       -cell <cell name>
           Names the cell in which to run the command. It is acceptable to
           abbreviate the cell name to the shortest form that distinguishes it
           from the other entries in the /etc/openafs/CellServDB file on the
           local machine. If the -cell argument is omitted, the command
           interpreter determines the name of the local cell by reading the
           following in order:

           ·   The value of the AFSCELL environment variable.

           ·   The local /etc/openafs/ThisCell file.

           Do not combine the -cell and -localauth options. A command on which
           the -localauth flag is included always runs in the local cell (as
           defined in the server machine’s local /etc/openafs/server/ThisCell
           file), whereas a command on which the -cell argument is included
           runs in the specified foreign cell.

       -help
           Prints a command’s online help message on the standard output
           stream. Do not combine this flag with any of the command’s other
           options; when it is provided, the command interpreter ignores all
           other options, and only prints the help message.

       -localauth
           Constructs a server ticket using the server encryption key with the
           highest key version number in the local /etc/openafs/server/KeyFile
           file. The vos command interpreter presents the ticket, which never
           expires, to the Volume Server and VL Server during mutual
           authentication.

           Use this flag only when issuing a command on a server machine;
           client machines do not usually have a /etc/openafs/server/KeyFile
           file.  The issuer of a command that includes this flag must be
           logged on to the server machine as the local superuser "root". The
           flag is useful for commands invoked by an unattended application
           program, such as a process controlled by the UNIX cron utility or
           by a cron entry in the machine’s /etc/openafs/BosConfig file. It is
           also useful if an administrator is unable to authenticate to AFS
           but is logged in as the local superuser root.

           Do not combine the -cell and -localauth options. A command on which
           the -localauth flag is included always runs in the local cell (as
           defined in the server machine’s local /etc/openafs/server/ThisCell
           file), whereas a command on which the -cell argument is included
           runs in the specified foreign cell. Also, do not combine the
           -localauth and -noauth flags.

       -noauth
           Establishes an unauthenticated connection to the Volume Server and
           VL Server, in which the servers treat the issuer as the
           unprivileged user "anonymous". It is useful only when authorization
           checking is disabled on the server machine (during the installation
           of a file server machine or when the bos setauth command has been
           used during other unusual circumstances). In normal circumstances,
           the servers allow only privileged users to issue commands that
           change the status of a volume or VLDB record, and refuses to
           perform such an action even if the -noauth flag is provided. Do not
           combine the -noauth and -localauth flags.

       -partition <partition name>
           Identifies the AFS server partition on a file server machine that
           houses, or is to house, the volumes of interest, or about which to
           list information. The vos command interpreter accepts any of the
           following four name formats:

              /vicepa     =     vicepa      =      a      =      0
              /vicepb     =     vicepb      =      b      =      1

           After /vicepz (for which the index is 25) comes

              /vicepaa    =     vicepaa     =      aa     =      26
              /vicepab    =     vicepab     =      ab     =      27

           and so on through

              /vicepiv    =     vicepiv     =      iv     =      255

           The -frompartition and -topartition arguments to the vos move
           command also accept this notation.

       -server <machine name>
           Identifies the file server machine that houses, or is to house, the
           volumes or AFS server partitions of interest. Provide the machine’s
           IP address in dotted decimal format, its fully qualified host name
           (for example, "fs1.abc.com"), or the shortest abbreviated form of
           its host name that distinguishes it from other machines. Successful
           use of an abbreviated form depends on the availability of a name
           resolution service (such as the Domain Name Service or a local host
           table) at the time the command is issued.

           The -fromserver and -toserver arguments to the vos move command
           also accept these name formats.

       -noresolve
           Shows all servers as IP addresses instead of the DNS name. This is
           very useful when the server address is registered as 127.0.0.1 or
           when dealing with multi-homed servers. The -noresolve option is
           available in OpenAFS versions 1.4.8 or later and 1.5.35 or later.

       -verbose
           Produces on the standard output stream a detailed trace of the
           command’s execution. If this argument is omitted, only warnings and
           error messages appear.

PRIVILEGE REQUIRED

       To issue most vos commands, the issuer must be listed in the
       /etc/openafs/server/UserList file on each server machine that houses or
       is to house an affected volume, and on each database server machine.
       The most predictable performance results if all database server and
       file server machines in the cell share a common UserList file.
       Alternatively, if the -localauth flag is included, the issuer must be
       logged on to a server machine as the local superuser "root".

       To issue a vos command that only displays information, no privilege is
       required.

SEE ALSO

       CellServDB(5), UserList(5), vos_addsite(1), vos_apropos(1),
       vos_backup(1), vos_backupsys(1), vos_changeaddr(1),
       vos_convertROtoRW(1), vos_clone(1), vos_copy(1), vos_create(1),
       vos_delentry(1), vos_dump(1), vos_examine(1), vos_help(1),
       vos_listaddrs(1), vos_listpart(1), vos_listvldb(1), vos_listvol(1),
       vos_lock(1), vos_move(1), vos_partinfo(1), vos_release(1),
       vos_remove(1), vos_remsite(1), vos_rename(1), vos_restore(1),
       vos_setfields(1), vos_shadow(1), vos_size(1), vos_status(1),
       vos_syncserv(1), vos_syncvldb(1), vos_unlock(1), vos_unlockvldb(1),
       vos_zap(1)

COPYRIGHT

       IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

       This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0.
       It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams
       and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell.