vos(1)

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,
       vos listaddrs vos setaddrs, and vos remaddrs.

   *   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 end Volume Server transactions: vos endtrans.

   *   A command to change volume fields: vos setfields.

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

CAUTIONS

   Currently, the maximum quota for a volume is 2 terabytes (2^41 bytes).
   Note that this only affects the volume's quota; a volume may grow much
   larger if the volume quota is disabled. However, volumes over 2
   terabytes in size may be impractical to move, and may have their size
   incorrectly reported by some tools, such as fs_listquota(1).

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

   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_endtrans(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), CellServDB(5),
   UserList(5)

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.

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