man-page-updates-20070726

[openafs.git] / doc / man-pages / pod8 / afsd.pod

diff --git a/doc/man-pages/pod8/afsd.pod b/doc/man-pages/pod8/afsd.pod
index 24c0788..27c58a1 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/man-pages/pod8/afsd.pod
+++ b/doc/man-pages/pod8/afsd.pod
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ B<afsd> S<<< [B<-blocks> <I<1024 byte blocks in cache>>] >>>
      S<<< [B<-confdir> <I<configuration directory>>] >>>
      S<<< [B<-logfile> <I<Place to keep the CM log>>] >>>
      [B<-waitclose>] [B<-shutdown>] [B<-enable_peer_stats>]
-     [B<-enable_process_stats>] [B<-help>]
+     [B<-enable_process_stats>] [B<-dynroot>] [B<-help>]
 
 =for html
 </div>
@@ -530,6 +530,36 @@ GetStatus, and so on) sent or received, aggregated over all connections to
 other machines. To display or otherwise access the records, use the Rx
 Monitoring API.
 
+=item B<-dynroot>
+
+The standard behaviour of the AFS client without the B<-dynroot> option is
+to mount the root.afs volume from the default cell on the F</afs> path. The 
+F</afs> folder and root.afs volume traditionally shows the folders for 
+F<ThisCell> and other cells as configured by the AFS cell administrator.
+
+The B<-dynroot> option changes this. Using this option, the AFS client does
+NOT mount the root.afs volume on F</afs>. Instead it uses the contents of
+the F<CellServDB> file to populate the listing of cells in F</afs>. This
+is known as a DYNamic ROOT. A cell is not contacted until the path
+F</afs/I<cellname>> if accessed. This functions similarly to an automounter.
+The main advantage of using B<-dynroot> is that the AFS client will
+start properly even without network access, whereas the client not using
+B<-dynroot> will freeze upon startup if cannot contact the default cell
+specified in F<ThisCell> and mount the root.afs volume. Dynamic root mode
+is also sometimes called travelling mode because it works well for laptops
+which don't always have network connectivity.
+
+Two advantages of not using dynroot are that listing F</afs> will usually
+be faster because the contents of F</afs> are limited to what the AFS
+administrator decides and that symbolic links are traditionally created
+by the AFS administrator to provide a short name for the cell (i.e.
+cellname.domain.com is aliased to cellname).  However, with dynroot, the
+local system administrator can limit the default contents of F</afs> by
+installing a stripped-down F<CellServDB> file, and if dynroot is in effect,
+the F<CellAlias> file can be used to provide shortname for common AFS cells
+which provides equivalent functionality to the most commonly used symbolic
+links.
+
 =item B<-help>
 
 Prints the online help for this command. All other valid options are