I am having a hard time explaining the differences between Windows Files system trees and AFS with it's symlinks and connections to someone. They are a visual person. Google has failed me so far.

Anyone happen to have a visually intensive explanation of AFS or know where one is?

The biggiest issue is explaining how different file spaces are connected via symlinks.

thanks!

9/27/2006 11:36:46 AM

they teach this in e115 - i'd suggest using their material - better yet tell the person to take the class

9/27/2006 11:54:40 AM

http://courses.ncsu.edu/e115/common/laptop/text/chapter6/afs.html (actually had that still bookmarked)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define%3A+symlink&btnG=Google+Search
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symlink

"Microsoft has indicated that Windows will support true symbolic linking as of the release of Windows Vista/Windows Longhorn Server. Another option under Windows, junction points (which require NTFS 5.0), resemble symbolic links more closely than do Windows shortcuts." -wikipedia

symbolic links are making their way into the windows file system anyways

9/27/2006 12:46:14 PM

I never appreciated symlinks until after I got my powerbook.

9/27/2006 12:58:48 PM

and FYI anyone wanting to see/use these Windows Junction Points, Sysinternals has a tool that'll do just that: http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Junction.html

I've already seen them all over the place in Vista

9/27/2006 1:05:52 PM

I think the reason you are having issues is because you are not making an apples to apples comparison. NTFS is a file system. AFS is a network file system. Symlinks are common to almost all file systems, network or otherwise. NTFS goes onto a hard drive. AFS volumes are essentially big files that sit in Unix (UFS on Solaris I think). As you browse around AFS most of the folders you see are not directories or symlinks, but are mount points that connect volumes together.

But when you throw in an AFS client and the AFS DB, you get a whole crapton of volumes on hundreds of servers that can be hooked together in any hierarchy you want. It doesn't even have to be the classical tree structure. We have AFS volumes that are mounted up in multiple places, even multiple cells. And other AFS volumes are replicated across multiple servers. We've even got orphaned volumes that hang out waiting to get mounted back in so they are accessable again.

So what you really are trying to explain is the difference between a normal file system and a network one. The best anology I've heard is that a network file system is like poetry magnets that you put on your fridge.

9/29/2006 12:00:52 AM

^ you hit the nail. I'm having a bitch of a time explaining things to him. Thanks for the other links. I sat for 45 minutes yesterday with a big white board explaining it and I think he got it finally. I admit since I'm new to it, while I completely understand it explaining it in a graphical way he could grasp was hard. Add in my inability to draw well and that complicated things.

9/29/2006 8:11:12 AM