Troubleshooting

FAQ

• How can I get tokens from another cell when logged in a UNIX-machine at RZG ?
  There are two things to consider here.
  The Kerberos REALM and the AFS-Cell.
  If the Kerberos REALM is version 5 only (like e.g. MPA), then you first need to get a
  Kerberos ticket and then use it to create an AFS-token.
  So, in order to get a token from another Cell, you can do the following :
  

  kinit USERNAME@KRB-REALM
  aklog -c AFSCell

  NOTE: this will overwrite your present KRB5-ticket, unless you specify another ticket cache (env KRB5CCNAME) for this shell
  
• As an example use following for the MPA :
  

  kinit USERNAME@MPA-GARCHING.MPG.DE
  aklog -c mpa-garching.mpg.de

• What are these .__afsNNN files ?
  Sometimes you happen to see files starting with .__afsNNN and wonder where they come from.
  Those files are created by the client when one application has a opened a file, but on the same client
  this very file was deleted. On closing the (original) file, this .__afsNNN file will be deleted. It may happen due to
  some kind of error condition that the client does not remove this. Then, it will be removed by the next file-system
  check ("salvage") or you just do it your self.
  

General problems known to cause errors :

• Computer time correct ?
  Please check that the time on your client is correct.
• Do I have a token ?
  Check that you have a valid token. Tokens expire after some amount of time, thus a sudden loss of access rights can occur.
• Which version do I have ?
  Please use the the recommended version 1.6 for unix and 1.7  for  windows (or any later version) when accessing AFS.

Windows :

• Even a reboot does not help: remove the cache-file
• When using an Client prior to version 1.7, make sure you are using the AFS-Loopback-Adapter.
  or even better: upgrade to 1.7.x
  

Unix :

• X-connection does not work:
  When logging into a remote machine via ssh, something like :
  

  xauth: timeout in locking authority file

  appears and then no X-application can be started.
  The problem here is, that when logging in, you do not get an AFS-token when logging in remotely. The solution is to either use an authority file which is local on the remote machine or to make sure that you get a token when logging in.