Stanford OpenAFS Client Software
On this page:
Description
IT Services packages OpenAFS client software for both Windows (XP/Vista) and OS X. This software provides an alternative to SFTP clients like SecureFX (for Windows) and Fetch (for OS X) for users who frequently access files in AFS and who would benefit from being able to work directly with files stored on the server.
The client software is not something that IT Services develops: OpenAFS is an actively developed open source project that produces frequent updates to the client and server software. As new updates are available IT Services evaluates them and produces our own installers to configure the client for use with our AFS infrastructure and to provide a simple GUI application to allow users to easily mount AFS directories. Users of Stanford Desktop Tools (Windows, Mac) can have SDT keep their OpenAFS client updated automatically.
The clients we distribute through this site have been tested by IT Services and found to generally work on the same systems we use to test the Essential Stanford Software applications. However unlike most of the software available on ESS, the OpenAFS clients are not routinely tested on wide varieties of desktop systems before being released. As a result, we have traditionally seen users encounter more issues with this software than with our ESS offerings. Where possible we will report problems we find to the OpenAFS developers in order to help improve future versions of the clients.
Who should use this software?
If you need to occasionally update your personal or department web page then you will likely be better off using an SFTP client like SecureFX (for Windows) and Fetch (for OS X).
Users who might benefit from using the OpenAFS clients:
- Users who want to directly access or edit files stored in AFS, as opposed to copying the file to a local drive, editing it and then copying it back to the server
- Users who work very frequently with files stored in AFS
Client Software
To obtain the AFS client software and learn more about OS-specific issues please see the following pages:
