VOS_CREATE(1)

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version 1.8.16.1 · 10 versions
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💖 VOS_CREATE(1) 💖

okay bestie, settle in, because this is the vos create page from the AFS Command Reference and honestly? it's giving "building a whole new little home for your files." ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

vos_create — creates a read/write volume and its associated VLDB entry. yes, a whole volume, no big deal 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

vos create -server <machine name>
    -partition <partition name>
    -name <volume name>
    [-maxquota <initial quota (KB)>]
    [-id <volume id number>]
    [-roid <RO volume id number>]
    [-cell <cell name>]
    [-noauth] [-localauth] [-verbose]
    [-encrypt] [-noresolve]
    [-config <config directory>]
    [-help]

vos cr -s <machine name> -p <partition name>
    -na <volume name> [-m <initial quota>]
    [-i <volume id number>]
    [-r <RO volume id number>]
    [-c <cell name>] [-noa] [-l] [-v]
    [-e] [-nor]
    [-co <config directory>]
    [-h]

like, there's the long way and the short way and they're the same command, she just has two outfits 💜

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so vos create makes a read/write volume with the name you put in -name, at the exact spot you named with -server and -partition. and while she's at it, she also allocates or sets the following, no cap:

  • Volume ID numbers for the read/write volume and its associated read-only and backup volumes — tho heads up, this command does not actually create those latter two types of volume. a volume ID number is an identification number guaranteed to be unique within a cell. 👑
  • An access control list (ACL) that's associated with the volume's root directory, and it takes the same name as the volume's mount point once you mount the volume with the fs mkmount command. An entry that grants all seven permissions to the members of the system:administrators group gets automatically placed on the ACL. (also! the File Server by default always implicitly grants the "l" (lookup) and "a" (administer) permissions on every ACL to members of system:administrators, even when the group doesn't appear on an ACL — if you wanna change that set of rights on a server-by-server basis, use the -implicit argument to the fileserver initialization command. iykyk.)
  • The volume's space quota, which defaults to 5000 kilobyte blocks. use -maxquota if you want a different quota, or use the fs setquota command to change the volume's quota after you mount it with fs mkmount. ✨

the volume is empty when it's created, bestie. to actually reach it through the Cache Manager, mount it in the file space with fs mkmount. that's the vibe. 🌈

💀 CAUTIONS 💀

ok so listen carefully, this part matters:

currently, the maximum quota for a volume is 2 terabytes (2^41 bytes). and note that this only affects the volume's quota — a volume can actually grow much larger if the volume quota is disabled. BUT. 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 like… be aware, fr fr. 😭

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -server <server name> — names the file server machine where the read/write volume gets created. give her the machine's IP address or its host name (fully qualified, or just an unambiguous abbreviation, she's flexible like that). for details, see vos(1).
  • -partition <partition name> — names the partition on which to create the read/write volume, on the file server machine you gave to -server. give the partition's complete name with the preceding slash (like "/vicepa") or use one of the three acceptable abbreviated forms. for details, see vos(1).
  • -name <volume name> — the name for your read/write volume. max length is 22 characters, and it can include any alphanumeric or punctuation character. by convention, periods separate the fields in a name. ⚠️ do not tack on the .backup or .readonly extension to a read/write volume name — those are reserved for the Volume Server to add to the read/write name when it creates those backup and read-only volumes respectively. don't steal her job.
  • -maxquota <initial quota> — the maximum amount of disk space the volume can use. the size should be a positive integer followed by an optional suffix: "K" for kibibytes (1024 bytes, the default), "M" for mebibytes (1024 kibibytes), "G" for gibibytes (1024 mebibytes), and "T" for tebibytes (1024 gibibytes). the value 0 (zero) grants an unlimited quota, but the size of the disk partition housing the volume places an absolute limit on its size anyway. if you omit this, the default value is "5000K". 🍓
  • -id <volume ID> — specifies the volume ID for the read/write volume. if this option isn't specified, or the volume ID you give is 0, a volume ID gets allocated automatically. the auto-allocated IDs should be fine for almost all cases, so you should almost never need to specify this. periodt.
  • -roid <readonly volume ID> — specifies the volume ID for the readonly volume corresponding to the read/write volume being created. the readonly volume will not be created; this merely says what volume ID the readonly volume will use when it's created. if you specify a volume ID of 0 here, no readonly volume ID gets assigned to the created volume immediately — but a readonly volume ID can still be assigned later when vos addsite is run, and if a volume doesn't have a readonly volume ID associated with it by the time vos release is run, a volume ID will be allocated for it.

if this option isn't specified, the default readonly volume ID is one number higher than the read-write volume ID, whether or not that ID was manually specified.

and just like -id, the default allocated volume IDs should be sufficient for almost all cases, so you should almost never need to specify them explicitly. this option is available in OpenAFS versions 1.5.61 or later. 👑

  • -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 the -noauth flag. for more details, see vos(1).
  • -verbose — produces a detailed trace of the command's execution on the standard output stream. if you omit this, only warnings and error messages show up.
  • -encrypt — encrypts the command so the operation's results aren't 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. super useful when the server address is registered as 127.0.0.1 or when you're 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> — sets 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 lets you use alternative configuration locations for testing purposes. 🧚
  • -help — prints the online help for this command. all other valid options are ignored. she's not listening to anybody else.

🌟 OUTPUT 🌟

the Volume Server produces this message to confirm she created the volume:

Volume <volume_ID> created on partition <partition_name> of <machine_name>

look at her go 💅

🫶 EXAMPLES 🫶

this command creates the read/write volume "user.pat" on the /vicepf partition of the file server machine "fs4.example.com":

% vos create -server fs4.example.com -partition /vicepf -name user.pat
Volume user.pat created on partition /vicepf of fs4.example.com

ate. no crumbs. 🔥

👑 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 👑

the issuer must be listed in the /etc/openafs/server/UserList file on the machine specified with the -server argument 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". main character energy only, sorry. 💜

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

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. iconic collaborators honestly 🫶

and that's the whole page bestie!! this was the OpenAFS vos create manual, dated 2026-07-27 — go forth and create volumes, you absolute legend ✨💖🎀

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