VOS_CLONE(1)

📦
version 1.8.16.1 · 10 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 VOS_CLONE(1) 💖

okay bestie, gather round — this is the vos clone page from the AFS Command Reference, section 1 of the manual, and it is a lot. buckle up 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

vos_clone — makes a shared-space copy of a volume on a partition. yes, literally a copy-on-write situation. it's giving "we share the outfit but you can change the accessories" 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

vos clone [-id] <volume name or ID>
    [-server] <server name>
    [-partition] <partition name>
    [-toname <volume name on destination>]
    [-toid <volume ID on destination>]
    [-offline] [-readonly] [-readwrite]
    [-cell <cell name>] [-noauth] [-localauth]
    [-verbose] [-encrypt] [-noresolve]
    [-config <config directory>]
    [-help]

vos cl [-i] <volume name or ID>
    [-s] <server name>
    [-p] <partition name>
    [-ton <volume name on destination>]
    [-toi <volume ID on destination>] [-o]
    [-reado] [-readw]
    [-c <cell name>] [-noa]
    [-l] [-v] [-e] [-nor]
    [-co <config directory>]
    [-h]

so yes, clone has a lil nickname and it's cl, and the short version of the short version abbreviates everything. slay but also relax 😭

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The vos clone command creates a copy-on-write copy of a volume, and it lives on the same partition and the same server as the parent volume. no traveling, no long-distance relationship, they're roommates 🫶

so what even is a clone? a clone is a copy of a volume that only stores the changes from the parent volume. that's the whole flex. cloning is a primitive operation — like, the building-block kind — and it's used by the vos move, vos backup, and vos release commands. a clone works using the same mechanism as a backup volume, except a clone is persistent. so you can use clone volumes as point-in-time copies of the parent volume… but bestie, they must be used with care. ⚠️

💀 CAUTIONS 💀

Not me warning you dramatically but fr fr, listen:
  • This command is not used during normal OpenAFS administration and may have adverse effects on the VLDB if not used properly! This command should only be used by an expert. like, actual expert. not "I read a blog once" expert. 👑
  • If you delete or move the parent volume, your clone volume becomes inaccessible — but plot twist, it's still in the VLDB and still on disk, and it needs to be cleaned up manually. have fun with that 😭
  • There is a maximum limitation of 7 clones when using the namei fileserver. You may safely create up to 4 clones using the vos clone command. The other three clone slots are used by:
    • the backup volume
    • a read-only replica
    • the temporary clone that is created when executing a vos move, vos dump, or other vos commands

so those three slots? already booked. no vacancy. 🙈

  • Some commands do not work properly on clone volumes. vos move is one such command. it's giving "we don't serve your kind here" 💀
  • Currently, the maximum quota for a volume is 2 terabytes (2^41 bytes). Note that this only affects the volume's quota; a volume may grow much larger if the volume quota is disabled. However, volumes over 2 terabytes in size may be impractical to move, and may have their size incorrectly reported by some tools, such as fs_listquota(1). so it's not a hard wall, it's more like… a vibe-based soft wall? 🧚

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

  • -id <volume name or ID> — specifies either the complete name or the volume ID number of a read/write volume. (this is the one you'd normally just hand over positionally, iykyk)
  • -server <machine name> — identifies the file server machine where the source volume resides. Provide the machine's IP address or its host name — either fully qualified or using an unambiguous abbreviation. For details, see vos(1).
  • -partition <partition name> — names the partition where the source volume resides. Provide the full partition name (for, example, /vicepa) or one of the abbreviated forms described in vos(1).
  • -toname <volume name for new copy> — the complete name of the new volume to create.
  • -toid <volume id for new copy> — the complete id of the new volume to create.
  • -offline — leaves the new volume flagged as off-line in the volume database.
  • -readonly — flags the new volume as read-only in the volume database.
  • -readwrite — flags the new volume as read-write in the volume database.
  • -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. ✨
  • -encrypt — encrypts the command so that the operation's results are not transmitted across the network in clear text. This option is 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. This is very useful when the server address is registered as 127.0.0.1 or when dealing with multi-homed servers. This option is 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. periodt.

⭐ OUTPUT ⭐

This command has no output unless "-verbose" is specified or there is an error. so if it's quiet, that's the goal, bestie 💖

👑 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 👑

The issuer must be listed in the /etc/openafs/server/UserList file on the machines specified with the -toserver and -fromserver arguments and on each database server machine. If the -localauth flag is included, the issuer must instead be logged on to a server machine as the local superuser "root". no shortcuts, sorry 🎀

🍓 SEE ALSO 🍓

vos(1), vos_backup(1), vos_copy(1), vos_move(1), vos_shadow(1)

Copyright 2008 Jason Edgecombe <jason@rampaginggeek.com>

This documentation is covered by the BSD License as written in the doc/LICENSE file. This man page was written by Jason Edgecombe for OpenAFS.

and that's the whole page, bestie 🌸 this one came from OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27, and it's the VOS_CLONE(1) page — go create clones responsibly, mwah 💅🦋✨

📦 where this page comes from