Mixed Mode Deployments and Limitations

The AuriStor File System was designed to permit in-place migrations without a flag day. However, there are restrictions and limitations depending on the mix of OpenAFS and AuriStor clients and servers within the cell.

AuriStorFS Client with AFS Volume Location Server

The AuriStorFS client when communicating with an AFS Volume Location Server is restricted to AFS capabilities.

Enhanced RxGK authentication and AES-256/SHA-1 security are not possible within the cell
File Servers must listen on port 7000 and IPv6 cannot be supported

AuriStorFS Client with AFS File Server

The AuriStorFS client when communicating with an AFS File Server is restricted to AFS capabilities.

Rx performance is better than an AFS client but is degraded
RxKAD authentication and FCRYPT wire privacy MUST be used even if the cell supports RxGK
Mandatory Security Levels are not enforced
Timestamps, Sizes, Volume IDs, and File IDs are restricted
Mandatory lock requests are ignored
Additional round trips are required for volume status information, locks after create, and other RPCs
Quota and volume size information may be faked

AuriStorFS File Server and AFS Volume Location Server

The AuriStorFS File Server can be deployed in an OpenAFS cell but is restricted to AFS capabilities.

RxGK authentication cannot be enabled
File Server must listen on port 7000
Volume ID name space restricted to AFS limits
Only AFS compatible capabilities can be advertised
Security policy requirements cannot be enforced
IPv6 addresses cannot be published

AFS File Server and AuriStorFS Location Server

The AFS file server can be deployed in an AuriStorFS cell with the following restrictions.

File server cannot enforce or advertise mandatory security level requirements
File server must listen on port 7000
RxGK is unavailable
File server cannot host volumes with IDs larger than 2^32-1
File server cannot be a replica site for volumes stored on an AuriStor file server

AFS and AuriStorFS Volume Server Interoperability

AFS and AuriStorFS file servers can be deployed within a single cell with the following restrictions:

Volumes cannot be replicated from an AuriStorFS server to an AFS server.
Volumes cannot be moved from an AuriStorFS server to an AFS server if there would be data loss

ACL data
Volume attributes
Directories with more entries than the AFS limits
Extended attributes and alternate data streams

All data transfers are protected with FCRYPT and not AES-256/SHA-1
Rx performance is improved over AFS to AFS but degraded compared to AuriStorFS to AuriStorFS

AFS Client and AuriStorFS Location And File Servers

AFS clients are restricted to the capabilities of the AFS protocol and the RxKAD security class. AFS clients can continue to interoperate within an AuriStorFS cell provided that the AuriStor servers are not configured to require the use of RxGK, keyed cache managers, combined tokens, or AES-256/SHA-1 wire privacy. In addition, AFS clients experience the following restrictions:

Volumes with IDs larger than 2³²-1 are inaccessible
Directories that contains objects with per-object ACLs are inaccessible
Directories containing more entries than can be represented in AFS are inaccessible
Extended attributes and alternate data streams are hidden. Deletion of the object will delete the extended attributes and alternate data streams without notice
Mandatory locks cannot be requested but will be enforced when issued to other clients
Read-write volume replicas are unavailable
Volume quotas and sizes will be faked if the actual sizes are larger than 2³¹ KBs
No ability to enable directory ACL inheritance
Other restrictions as required to enforce security policies and prevent data corruption