VOS_CHANGEADDR(1)

📦
version 1.8.16.1 · 10 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

✨ vos_changeaddr — the AFS girlies' guide ✨

okay bestie, welcome to vos_changeaddr(1) from the AFS Command Reference 💖 this is the one that edits (or yeets) a file server machine's entry in the VLDB, and honestly? it's giving "careful, this is a loaded weapon" energy. let's go. 🦋

🌸 NAME 🌸

vos_changeaddr — changes or removes a file server machine's entry in the VLDB 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

vos changeaddr -oldaddr <original IP address>
    [-newaddr <new IP address>] [-remove] [-force]
    [-cell <cell name>] [-noauth] [-localauth]
    [-verbose] [-encrypt] [-noresolve]
    [-config <config directory>]
    [-help]

vos changea -o <original IP address>
    [-ne <new IP address>] [-r] [-f]
    [-c <cell name>]
    [-noa] [-l] [-v] [-e] [-nor]
    [-co <config directory>]
    [-h]

yes, there's a short-flag version too, because typing is hard and we respect that 🫶

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so. vos changeaddr removes a server entry from the Volume Location Database (VLDB) when you pair the -remove flag with the -oldaddr argument. that's the main gig, periodt.

but here's the thing — there must be no VLDB entries that list the machine as a site for any version of a volume. like, none. zero. if there are some, you gotta deal with them first, bestie: use vos move or vos remove to move or remove those volumes. no skipping this step, the VLDB will simply not have it 🙈

and when is removing a VLDB server entry the vibe? when you're taking the corresponding file server machine out of service. that's the moment. 👑

if you just wanna see all the VLDB server entries, that's a different command — use vos listaddrs. don't come to vos changeaddr for a looky-loo, it's not that kind of command. 🌈

🚨 CAUTIONS 🚨

okay this is the serious section, bestie, sit down and sip your drink. 🍓

combining the command's -oldaddr and -newaddr arguments is no longer the appropriate way to change the IP address registered for a file server machine. like, it's deprecated-deprecated. not the move.

AND (this is the part that really gets me 😭) if a machine is multihomed and its server entry includes several addresses, then the address you give with the -newaddr argument replaces ALL of the addresses currently listed in the server entry that includes the address specified by the -oldaddr argument. so it just... wipes them all. which effectively makes the machine single-homed with respect to AFS operations. and that is probably not the desired result. 💀

the recommended method for changing the IP addresses in a server entry is instead to restart the fs process group (which includes the File Server) after using the utilities provided by the operating system to reconfigure the machine's network interfaces. that's the icon move. ✨ for a description of how the File Server constructs and registers a list of its network interfaces in the VLDB, see sysid(5).

and if, counter to recommended usage, you do use this command to change the IP address in a server entry? it does not also change the names of machine entries in the Protection Database. so operations fail when they refer to a protection group that has an obsolete IP address in it. 🙈 fix that with the pts rename command to change the names of machine entries that correspond to the addresses you changed with this command. and if you're changing the address of a database server machine, you also need to update the client and server versions of the CellServDB file on every machine. every. single. one. no cap. 💅

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -oldaddr <original IP address> — specifies the IP address currently registered for the file server machine in the VLDB server entry. if there are multiple addresses registered for a multihomed machine, you can use any of them to identify the server entry. pick your fave, they all work the same. 🎀
  • -newaddr <new IP address> — specifies the new IP address that replaces all currently registered addresses. unless the -force option is given, vos changeaddr will refuse to change addresses when the address given in -oldaddr is registered with a multihomed server entry in the VLDB. see "CAUTIONS" above, bestie, this is the exact thing we were yelling about. 🚨
  • -remove — removes from the VLDB the server entry that includes the address specified by the -oldaddr argument. this is the main character use case honestly. 👑
  • -force — overrides the multihomed server entry check when the -oldaddr and -newaddr options are combined. the -force flag is provided for historical compatibility and is not recommended. it's giving "it still exists because removing it would break stuff." 🫠
  • -cell <cell name> — names the cell in which to run the command. do not combine this argument with the -localauth flag. for more details, see vos(1).
  • -noauth — assigns the unprivileged identity "anonymous" to the issuer. do not combine this flag with the -localauth flag. for more details, see vos(1).
  • -localauth — constructs a server ticket using a key from the local /etc/openafs/server/KeyFile file. the vos command interpreter presents it to the Volume Server and Volume Location Server during mutual authentication. do not combine this flag with the -cell argument or -noauth flag. for more details, see vos(1).
  • -verbose — produces on the standard output stream a detailed trace of the command's execution. if this argument is omitted, only warnings and error messages appear. for when you wanna watch it happen in real time. 👀
  • -encrypt — encrypts the command so that the operation's results are not transmitted across the network in clear text. available in OpenAFS versions 1.4.11 or later and 1.5.60 or later. 🔐
  • -noresolve — shows all servers as IP addresses instead of the DNS name. very useful when the server address is registered as 127.0.0.1 or when dealing with multi-homed servers. available in OpenAFS versions 1.4.8 or later and 1.5.35 or later. ✨
  • -config <configuration directory> — set the location of the configuration directory to be used. this defaults to /etc/openafs, except if -localauth is specified, in which case the default is /etc/openafs/server. this option allows the use of alternative configuration locations for testing purposes. 🧪
  • -help — prints the online help for this command. all other valid options are ignored. it said what it said. 💅

🌟 EXAMPLES 🌟

the following command removes the VLDB server entry that includes the IP address 192.12.107.214.

% vos changeaddr -oldaddr 192.12.107.214 -remove

clean. simple. effective. ate. 🎀

👑 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 👑

issuer must be listed in the /etc/openafs/server/UserList file on the machine specified with the -oldaddr argument and on each database server machine. all of them. no sneaking in the side door. 🚪

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

CellServDB(5), UserList(5), sysid(5), fileserver(8), pts_rename(1), vos(1), vos_listaddrs(1)

IBM Corporation 2000. <http://www.ibm.com/> All Rights Reserved.

This documentation is covered by the IBM Public License Version 1.0. It was converted from HTML to POD by software written by Chas Williams and Russ Allbery, based on work by Alf Wachsmann and Elizabeth Cassell.

okay bestie that's the whole thing 🫶 this page ships with OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27, and it lives under the manual name VOS_CHANGEADDR(1). go forth, change those addresses responsibly (or better yet, restart that fs process group like the cautions section begged you to 😭), and remember: read the CAUTIONS twice. mwah. 💖✨🦋🎀

📦 where this page comes from