Transcript HEP-customized AFS Client for WNT [email protected] Background  One of the goals of our GENTES project is to provide the common authentication and common filestore.

HEP-customized AFS Client for WNT
[email protected]
Background

One of the goals of our GENTES project is to
provide the common authentication and common
filestore for UNIX and WNT workstations.

AFS presents itself as an excellent means to fulfill
this task.
Existing solution for common authentication
comes from the University of Notre Dame

The team led by Gary L. Dobbins substituted the
standard WNT authentication with that of AFS.
They have used the Microsoft login extension
mechanism, MS_GINA.
We were however missing certain things...

In particular, we missed the home directory
mapping to a predefined disk letter ("P:" in our
case).

We also wanted to make sure that any
customization the user does for standard MS
tools during his session survives between
sessions.
 And we needed a clean installation procedure…
Results

So we have built an installable InstallShield
binary, where we have mixed:
- Official Transarc AFS Client for WNT.
- ND_GINA authentication extensions.
- Our customization of user environment.
More detail

Once installed, our product allows for NT login of any
user with valid AFS credentials.

The user's home directory is mapped to the "P:" disk:
P:== /afs/<cellname>/user/<one-letter-prefix>/username

HKEY_CURRENT_USER WNT registry key is saved to
~username/.ntprofile subdirectory, this allows to
preserve user's preferences and applications' settings
between sessions.
Product availability
1. To be able to use this product, the site should
legally possess a valid AFS/NT Client License.
2. On the top, as Prof. G. Dobbins asked us not to
diffuse the ND_GINA technology outside
CASPUR, the interested site should first contact
him and get his distribution kit.

Once a site is in conformity with both these
requirements, we'll be happy to pass our
customized client to them.
References

ND_gina:
http://www.nd.edu/~dobbins/ntarch/nd_gina_doc.html
Gary Dobbins <[email protected]>
Director, Platforms
University of Notre Dame
Office of Information Technologies

GENTES Home Page
http://www.gentes.uniroma1.it/Info/info.html