FS_CSCPOLICY(1)

🌸 fs_cscpolicy — AFS Command Reference (OpenAFS) 🌸

okay bestie, so this is a page from the OpenAFS command reference, and it's about fs_cscpolicy. Fair warning before you even scroll: this one is Windows only 🪟, and it's a little bit of a legacy situation. Let's get into it 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

fs_cscpolicy — change the client side caching policy for AFS shares, [Windows only] 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

fs cscpolicy [-share sharename [-manual|-programs|-documents|-disable] ]

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so the fs cscpolicy command does two things: it sets the client side caching policy for one specific AFS share, or it shows you a list of the policies. that's it, that's the gig 💖

one important thing — this command can only change the policy of one share at a time. no bulk edits, sorry bestie 😭

and out of the policy options <pink>-manual</pink>, <pink>-programs</pink>, <pink>-documents</pink>, and <pink>-disable</pink>, you can pick only one. just one. the default policy is <pink>-manual</pink> ⭐

also!! after you change the policy on a share, you have to close all the applications that accessed files on that share, or restart AFS Client, before the change actually takes effect. no cap, it won't kick in otherwise 🫶

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⚠️ CAUTIONS ⚠️

okay this is the part where I hold your hand, because there's some real stuff here 🙈

• this command is only available on Windows. that's the whole vibe.
• using this functionality is not recommended. like, genuinely. Windows Offline Folders do not work well with AFS, because the AFS server is always present.
• back when this functionality was contributed and incorporated, people believed it was safe for the AFS cache manager to return BADNETPATH errors when a single file server or volume was inaccessible. it is now known that returning those errors causes the Microsoft SMB redirector to drop the connection to the AFS server, which results in serious side effects 💀
• this functionality is specific to use with the Microsoft SMB redirector. Client Side Caching (Offline Folders) is built into that driver and will not be present in the native AFS redirector — so this functionality will be removed at a future date. bestie, it's on borrowed time 😭

ngl, if you were thinking about leaning on this for something important, maybe don't. it's giving deprecated energy.

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -share sharename — the name of the share whose policy you're changing. (if you omit it, no share policy gets changed at all — nothing happens, king 💅)
• -manual — specifies manual caching of documents.
• -programs — specifies automatic caching of programs and documents.
• -documents — specifies automatic caching of documents.
• -disable — disables caching. periodt.

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✨ OUTPUT ✨

when you're changing the policy of a share, you get this:

CSC policy on share "share" changed to "policy".
Close all applications that accessed files on this share or restart AFS Client for the change to take effect.

when you're displaying policies, you get this:

policyname = policy

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✨ EXAMPLES ✨

this one disables all caching on the share "AFS1" 🔥

% fs cscpolicy -share AFS1 -disable

and this one displays all the policies currently in effect 👑

% fs cscpolicy

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✨ PRIVILEGE REQUIRED ✨

the issuer must have AFS Client Administrator access — and yes, that applies whether you're displaying or setting policies. both. no skipping 🎀

plus, to actually change policies, the issuer must be a Windows Administrator, because the policy information is stored in a protected area of the Windows Registry. that's just how it is, iykyk 🦋

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✨ COPYRIGHT ✨

this document was written by Mike Robinson, and is released under the IBM Public License Version 1.0. Jeffrey Altman made several corrections, clarifications, and additions 🌈

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🫶 this dropped as part of OpenAFS on 2026-06-25, and it's FS_CSCPOLICY(1) if you need to cite it in your group chat. go forth and cache responsibly (or like, don't, per the cautions) 💖✨🎀