Before exporting a DCE LFS aggregate or a non-LFS partition (non-LFS aggregate) from a File Server machine, you must ensure that an RPC binding exists for the DCE path name of the machine and that a DFS server principal and account exist for the machine. You must also ensure that a server entry exists for the machine. The RPC binding is created in CDS, the DFS server principal is created in the Registry Database, and the server entry is registered in the FLDB. (See Preparing for Exporting for a description of these prerequisites and additional requirements for exporting.)
Prior to exporting a DCE LFS aggregate, you must use the newaggr command to construct the aggregate from a raw disk partition. This command formats the partition for use as a DCE LFS aggregate. It is similar to the UNIX newfs command, which is used to format a partition. You issue it once for each DCE LFS aggregate that you want to create. The partition to be initialized as a DCE LFS aggregate must be neither mounted locally nor exported to the DCE namespace when you issue the newaggr command.
Conversely, before exporting a non-LFS partition for use as an aggregate in DFS, you must create the partition and mount it locally using the newfs and mount commands or their equivalents. You must also create an entry for the partition in the local fstab file or its equivalent.
To make data on a DCE LFS aggregate or non-LFS partition available in the DCE namespace, you must issue the dfsexport command to export the aggregate or partition. Before using the dfsexport command, include an entry in the dcelocal/var/dfs/dfstab file for each aggregate or partition to be exported. The dfsexport command reads the dfstab file to determine which aggregates and partitions can be exported. It then exports the indicated devices. You typically add the dfsexport command to a machine's initialization file (/etc/rc or its equivalent) to automatically export aggregates and partitions at system startup. Note that the dfsexport command will not export an aggregate or partition that is currently exported.
Because a non-LFS partition can store only one fileset, you register that fileset in the FLDB with the fts crfldbentry command before you export the partition to the namespace. Using the fts crfldbentry command, you specify a name to be associated with the fileset; the FL Server allocates a fileset ID number for the new fileset. You use this fileset ID number when you create the entry for the partition in the dfstab file. After the partition is exported, you use the fts crmount command to create a mount point for the fileset that the partition contains. The fts crmount command makes a fileset visible in the DCE namespace.
Conversely, you must use the dfsexport command to export a DCE LFS aggregate to the DCE namespace before the aggregate can store filesets. Once a DCE LFS aggregate is exported, you can create filesets on it with the fts create command, and you can create mount points for the filesets with the fts crmount command. You specify a name for a DCE LFS fileset with the fts create command; the fileset is automatically assigned an ID number and registered in the FLDB.
Note that files from a non-LFS partition should not be open when you export the partition. DFS grants tokens for files from a non-LFS partition that are accessed after the partition is exported, but it cannot grant tokens for files from the partition that are accessed before the partition is exported. As a result, DFS cannot effectively synchronize file access between users who opened files before the partition was exported and users who open files after the partition is exported because only the latter have tokens.
The following topics describe these steps and the commands that are used to perform them in more detail. (See Part 2 of this guide and reference for more information about a specific DFS command.)
More:
Exporting Aggregates and Partitions at System Startup
Removing Aggregates and Partitions from the Namespace
Using DCE LFS Filesets Locally