












                                          Advanced File System Utilities
                                                            Version 4.0E
                                                           Release Notes



          These release notes for the Advanced File System (AdvFS)
          Utilities Version 4.0E describe enhancements, new features,
          and restrictions for this release. This entire kit can be
          installed on DIGITAL[TM] UNIX[R] Version 4.0 and later.

          These release notes are included in your distribution kit
          on the Software Product CD-ROM. The PostScript file is
          AFA435_RELNOTES.PS and the text file is titled
          AFA435_RELNOTES.TXT. See the document that came with your
          CD for instructions on how to locate and print the release
          notes from the CD.

          Copies of the release notes are also included in the
          software subset and are located in the /usr/advfs directory
          after you complete your software installation. The release
          notes are included in these locations to ensure they are
          accessible from the product directory after the CD-ROM
          distribution disc is unmounted.



          Enhancements and New Features

          AdvFS Utilities Version 4.0E can be installed on any
          DIGITAL UNIX Version 4.0 system. The following enhancements
          are new:

          o  Support for Diskless Management System (DMS)
             installation

          o  No deprecated command options. This means that on
             systems running Advanced Utilities Version 4.0E, the
             Advanced button no longer appears when you add a file
             domain. The base system automatically performs the
             additional file resource allocations that the
             administrator could set in prior versions.

          o  Improved defragment utility decreases the likelihood of
             system crashes. This update works on all DIGITAL UNIX
             Version 4.0 systems for which this kit is installed.

               [C] Digital Equipment Corporation 1998. All rights
                                     reserved.
           DIGITAL, the DIGITAL logo, and TruClusters are trademarks
             of Digital Equipment Corporation. UNIX is a registered
              trademark in the United States and other countries,
                licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd.






          The following enhancements are included in Advanced
          Utilities Version 4.0 and later:

          o  Integration with the Common Desktop Environment (CDE)

          o  A completely new AdvFS graphical user interface (GUI),
             dtadvfs

          o  AdvFS export of file system information, through SNMP,
             to clients such as Performance Manager

          o  Support for remote file system management through the
             AdvFS GUI

          o  A new manual, Advanced File System and Utilities for
             DIGITAL UNIX Guide to File System Administration

          o  Japanese Localization Subsets for Advanced Utilities
             Versions 4.0D and later



          Known Problems in this Release of the
          AdvFS GUI

          o  If a bad file domain exists, the system will panic at
             boot time when the agent, advfsd, attempts to activate
             it. This will occur even if the bad domain has been
             removed from the /etc/fstab file. Workarounds must be
             done in single-user mode. Do either of the following:

             -  Move the bad file domain from the /etc/fdmns
                directory to another directory. (This will make
                repairing the file domain difficult.)

             -  Repair the file domain.

             Reboot to multiuser mode.

          o  If you have a file domain with many filesets, none of
             which are mounted, the GUI may take a very long time to
             start. Solve this problem by mounting one of the
             filesets from the command line.

          o  If your file system is running either the TruCluster[TM]
             Production Server Software or the TruCluster Available
             Server Software, the GUI will issue a message at startup
             and whenever you change the file system configuration.
             The message reminds you to use the asemgr utility to
             update its configuration database. See the TruCluster
             Software Products administration documentation for more
             information.

             To turn off the message, use the -N flag when starting
             the GUI:

             # advfsd -N

          2  Advanced File System Utilities Release Notes






          o  There is a known DECthreads bug that causes advfsd to
             consume all available cycles on a host. A patch is
             available for DECthreads that remedies the problem: CLD
             # HPAQ206J8.

          o  There are some configurations where advfsd consumes
             considerable CPU and I/O resources. Following are some
             ways to handle this:

             -  Reduce the polling frequency of advfsd from the
                default of five minutes. In the AdvFS GUI, choose
                Options from the AdvFS menu and change the setting
                for the Agent state monitor.

             -  The more disk groups and volumes there are in LSM,
                the longer it takes to poll the system. If possible,
                decrease the number.

             -  Decrease the number of unmounted filesets. It takes
                longer to gather statistics on unmounted filesets.
                Inactive domains (domains with no mounted filesets)
                are particularly slow. Use the disks.ignore file as
                explained below.

             -  By default, the agent examines every disk on the
                system. When there are several offline HSC devices or
                spun-down disk drives, agent performance will be
                significantly reduced. Use the
                /var/opt/advfsd/disks.ignore file to ignore such
                disks.

                Each line of the disks.ignore file contains a DIGITAL
                UNIX disk name with no directory partition letter.
                For example, if you want to ignore /dev/rz3d, enter
                rz3 in the disks.ignore file.

                You cannot ignore an LSM volume by including the LSM
                volume name in the disks.ignore file; you must list
                the disks from which the LSM volume is built. To
                ignore a complete disk group, you must list all the
                disks in it. Because all partitions on the listed
                disks will be ignored, unexpected results may occur
                if a disk has partitions belonging to more than one
                disk group.

                The disks.ignore file is processed each time the
                disks are checked. This means that if a disk fails or
                becomes unavailable (such as in an Available Server
                Environment), you can add the disk name to the
                disks.ignore file and the agent will ignore it. Once
                the disk is available, remove the entry from the
                file. There is no need to stop the agent.

             -  If neither dtadvfs nor Performance Manager is
                running, you can stop the agent with the following
                command:


                        Advanced File System Utilities Release Notes  3






                # /sbin/init.d/advfsd stop

                If you have stopped the agent and then want to run
                dtadvfs, restart the agent with the following
                command:

                # /sbin/init.d/advfsd start

                Wait a few minutes, then start the GUI.

          o  If you don't want to start the agent by default at boot
             time but you still want to be able to run it, move the
             /sbin/rc3.d/S53advfsd file to another directory. Move
             the file back to the original location to start the
             agent automatically at boot time. If you want to remove
             the agent permanently, use the setld command. For
             example, for revision number 435, enter:

             # setld -d AFAADVDAEMON435

          o  The AdvFS GUI and agent log files can grow very large.
             Periodically check the sizes of the following files to
             see that they are not using too much disk space:

             /var/opt/advfsd/logs/advfsd

             /var/opt/dtadvfs/advfs_gui.log

             If it is necessary to remove the log files, exit the
             GUI. From the command line stop the agent and remove the
             two files. Restart the agent, wait a few minutes, and
             then restart the GUI.

          o  If you run dtadvfs from a dtterm window, unset
             XFILESEARCHPATH so that the dtadvfs application defaults
             file can be loaded.

          o  If you delete a file domain and the GUI still shows its
             associated volumes as in use, you must manually change
             the disk label on the device(s) by using either the
             disklabel(1) command or the CDE Disk Configuration
             utility. You must also manually change the disk label if
             you remove a volume from a file domain and the GUI does
             not show the volume as available.

          o  If you attempt to perform several actions
             simultaneously, the GUI may not be able to track them.
             You may receive the error message Object key is invalid
             or the error message Can't get the object data, where
             object is host, file domain, fileset, clone, volume,
             device, or partition. Exit and restart the GUI.

          o  If the GUI appears to be hung or unexplained error
             messages appear, check for the following:

             -  Network overload: The GUI cannot get configuration
                data in a reasonable number of attempts.

          4  Advanced File System Utilities Release Notes






             -  System overload: The agent gets few or no CPU cycles.

                If neither of the above appears to be the problem,
                the agent is probably hung. Exit the GUI. From the
                command line stop the agent. Restart the agent, wait
                a few minutes, and then restart the GUI.

          o  If you are running configuration tasks simultaneously,
             and more than one task fails, the error messages in the
             resulting error dialog boxes may be incorrect.

          o  When you execute a task that locks a domain, like
             balance or defragment, the domain icon may not reflect
             the locked state. All tasks are still handled correctly.

          o  The GUI does not save the preferences that are set in
             the Options dialog box, except for the agent state
             monitor interval. Each time the GUI is started, it uses
             a predefined set of default options. The agent state
             monitor interval is also saved between restarts of the
             agent.

          o  If you rename a fileset that has not been previously
             mounted, you will not get an updated entry in the
             /etc/fstab file. You must edit the /etc/fstab file
             manually.

          o  Single clicking a file domain, fileset, clone, or volume
             in an object dialog only highlights the object. Menu
             items in the object dialog still reference the original
             object.

          o  Performing a sort on data fields marked unavail may
             produce unreliable results.

          o  Adding or removing a volume from a file domain does not
             immediately change the fileset size that is displayed.
             The correct fileset size will appear when the GUI is
             next updated. After a few minutes, you may also manually
             update the GUI by selecting Refresh from the View menu.

          o  If you create a new file domain, fileset, or clone, or
             if you add a volume, and the new entry does not appear
             in the GUI, exit and restart the GUI.

          o  When you create a new file domain or fileset, you can
             only set the free space alert as a percentage of the
             available space.

          o  If you change the size of a file domain or fileset, and
             a free space alert is set on the object, the free space
             alert value may no longer be appropriate. The free space
             alert values are evaluated using actual size (for
             example, kilobytes), not percentage of space. Reset the
             free space alert threshold value as needed.



                        Advanced File System Utilities Release Notes  5






          o  If you are using the Japanese subset of the GUI, you
             must enter a space character after any text you type in
             a dialog box in order for the option buttons to be
             properly activated.

          o  The Help buttons in the error dialog boxes do not work.

          o  Since dtadvfs is an X and Motif application, it may be
             affected by bugs internal to X and Motif. In general,
             these can be ignored.

          o  If you do not run dtadvfs within the CDE environment,
             strange characters may appear in the help text.

          o  Full keyboard support as defined in the Motif style
             guide is not fully implemented for this release.

          o  Double click a file domain, fileset, clone, or volume
             icon on an object tree to display a dialog box specific
             to it. The double-click function is not implemented for
             hosts, devices, or partitions. It is also not
             implemented for the volume icon in the Devices and
             Volumes window.



          Known Problems with AdvFS-LSM Interactions

          o  Due to limitations in LSM, it is not possible to
             determine if an LSM volume is in use or not unless one
             of the following conditions is true:

             -  The volume is mounted.

             -  The volume is part of an existing AdvFS domain,
                mounted or not.

             If neither of the above is true, the GUI will treat the
             LSM volume as available. If such a volume is used to
             create a new file domain or is added to an existing file
             domain, any data on the LSM volume will be lost.

          o  Do not use LSM to change the size of an LSM volume that
             is in use by an AdvFS file domain. AdvFS is unable to
             accommodate the change.

          o  If you have added the LSM volume /dev/vol/volname to a
             file domain from the command line, the GUI does not
             recognize that it is the same as
             /dev/vol/rootdg/volname. In the Devices and Volumes
             window this volume will appear to be either unknown, if
             the domain has mounted filesets, or available, if the
             domain has no mounted filesets. If the volume appears to
             be available, and if you try to add it to a file domain,
             you will get an error message stating that it is already
             in use.


          6  Advanced File System Utilities Release Notes






          o  If you encapsulate a volume in use by AdvFS into LSM
             while the AdvFS GUI is running, the volume name in the
             AdvFS GUI will not update to reflect this change. Exit
             and restart the GUI to display the correct name for the
             volume.



          Known Problems with AdvFS-PM Interactions

          o  Prior to Advanced Utilities Version 4.0A, some file
             system metrics were incorrectly reported to the
             Performance Manager (PM). These metrics will be reported
             incorrectly unless you upgrade PM to a version after
             Version 4.0.











































                        Advanced File System Utilities Release Notes  7
