## NAMEI vs. inode based file server
There are two different flavours of the AFS file server (the fs process): One uses inodes to store AFS data (volumes, files, metadata), the other uses real files.
The inode-based server needs a file system which supports access by inode and usually a special fsck is required so that the AFS data is not corrupted (since the server does some behind-the-scenes stuff with the file system). The NAMEI file server does not pose any unusual constraints on the underlying filesystem - it's an ordinary userspace program working with (silly-named) files.
You can easily see that you are using an NAMEI file server if there is a directory named `AFSIDat` and with subdirectories like `+` and `+1` in your `/vicep*`.
-- Tino Schwarze - 25 Jul 2003
## Recommended Partition Types for use with [[OpenAFS]]
namei Server |
Server vicexx Partition Types |
Any system type |
Basically any filesystem you like, as the new namei file server does not do any fancy stuff behind the scenes but only accesses normal files (their names are a bit strange though). |
inode Server |
Server vicexx Partition Types |
sun4x_5[789] |
ufs w/o logging |
aix_4[345] , aix_51 |
jfs |
sgi_65 |
XFS |
ppc_darwin_14 |
??? |
alpha_dux[40,50,51] |
ufs , no AdvFS support |
Client |
Cache (/usr/vice/cache )Partition Types |
i386_linux24 |
ext2 , ext3 |
sun4x_5[789] |
ufs without logging or dedicated ufs cache partition with logging, vxfs |
aix_4[345] , aix_51 |
jfs |
sgi_65 |
XFS |
ppc_darwin_14 |
??? |
These Don't Work |
[[ReiserFS]], vxfs (HP-UX, Solaris), AdvFS (OSF1/DigitalUnix/CompaqUnix/Tru64Unix) |
Further, [[Tru64Unix]] 5.1 has only server support on ufs. The client is supported under Arla including `AdvFS` (but no server support as of Apr 2002). Server and client should work under DU4.0 and [[Tru64Unix]] 5.0.
- **Question:** Does this table imply that clients can't use the NAMEI backend and still need a specific filesystem? Will this ever change?
-- Todd Lewis - 06 Nov 2002
- **Another Question:** Does this mean that you can use an NFS mount point as a /vicexx if you use a NAMEI fileserver?
-- Chris McClimans - 25 Jul 2003