May 24-28, 2010

Speakers: Rune Ljungbjörn

Title: AFS as the underlying layer for globally runnable software

Abstract:

Aetey Global Technologies AB is delivering software to be run without installation, on top of a global file system / file name space. This combines the advantages of the wide choice of Posix-compatible software and globality comparable to web applications.

Currently the operation has been extended to deploy AFS as the underlying layer, besides Coda. This addition has been made possible due to the existence of dynroot on the client side, thus avoiding the need for client administration.

There is a limited but fully functional desktop environment and software collection available via /afs/0l.se/dapty ("zero ell").

The move presented some advantages:

• reasonable availability of deployment knowledge
• availability for multiple platforms

and some challenges

• lack of anonymous authentication (server for an anonymous user)

TODO items

• try to use AFS disconnected mode for one-user machines
• research possibilities to provide or approximate secure anonymous access

Slides: