UPSERVER(8)

📦
version 1.8.16.1 · 11 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 UPSERVER 💖

okay bestie, so this is upserver from the OpenAFS manual, section 8 (that's the sysadmin-commands girlypop section, iykyk). It's the Initializes the server portion of the Update Server one. Let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

upserver — literally just here to Initializes the server portion of the Update Server. That's the whole job. That's the assignment. Periodt. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

upserver [<directory>+] [-crypt <directory>+]
    [-clear <directory>+] [-auth <directory>+]
    [-rxbind] [-help]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So. The upserver command initializes the server portion of the Update Server (aka the upserver process). And in the conventional setup — like, the normal everyday vibe — its binary file lives in the /usr/lib/openafs directory on a file server machine. 🗂️✨

Now, real talk: you don't normally run the upserver command at the command shell prompt. Instead it gets placed into a file server machine's /etc/openafs/BosConfig file with the bos create command. That's the move. 🎀

But if it is ever issued at the command shell prompt, the issuer must be logged onto a database server machine as the local superuser "root". No exceptions, bestie, that's the vibe check. 👑

So what does it actually do? The upserver command specifies which of the directories on the local disk are eligible for distribution, in response to requests from the client portion of the Update Server (the upclient process) running on other machines. And here's the fun part — if no directories are specified, the upserver process distributes the contents of any directory on its local disk. Wild, I know. 😭

The upserver process can distribute a directory's contents in encrypted or unencrypted form. By default, it does not use encryption unless an upclient process requests it — and lowkey that default is equivalent to setting the -clear flag. When the -crypt flag is provided, the upserver process only fulfills requests for encrypted transfer. Encrypted or nothing, babe. 🔐

Also the upclient and upserver processes always mutually authenticate, whether or not the data they pass is encrypted. They use the key with the highest key version number in the /etc/openafs/server/KeyFile file to construct a server ticket for mutual authentication. It's giving trust issues but make it cryptographic. 💀

One more thing — this command does not use the syntax conventions of the AFS command suites. So provide the command name and all option names in full. No abbreviations, no shortcuts, we're doing this properly. 🌈

⚠️ CAUTIONS ⚠️

🚨 Do not use the Update Server to distribute the contents of the /etc/openafs/server directory without the -crypt flag. The contents of this directory are sensitive. Like, genuinely. Please. Bestie. I'm begging. 🫣

💜 OPTIONS 💜

  • <directory>+ — Names each directory to distribute in unencrypted form. Why unencrypted? Because they appear before the first -crypt or -clear flag on the command line — position matters, queen. 👑 If this argument is omitted, all directories on the machine's local disk are eligible for distribution.
  • -crypt <directory>+ — Precedes a list of one or more directories that the upserver process distributes only in encrypted form. Locked down, protected, secure. ✨
  • -clear <directory>+ — Precedes a list of one or more directories that the upserver process distributes in unencrypted form unless the upclient process requests them in encrypted form. And heads up: use this argument only if a list of directories headed by the -crypt flag precedes it on the command line. Order is everything, no cap. 🎀
  • -auth <directory>+ — Precedes a list of one or more directories which the upserver process distributes using a form of encryption that is intermediate in complexity and security between the unencrypted and encrypted levels set by the -clear and -crypt arguments. Do not use this argument, because the upclient process does not have a corresponding argument that it can use to request data transfer at this level. So it's a flop, basically — it exists but there's no matching request on the other side. 🙈
  • -rxbind — Bind the Rx socket to the primary interface only. (If not specified, the Rx socket will listen on all interfaces.) Pick your lane energy. 🔥
  • -help — Prints the online help for this command. All other valid options are ignored. The classic "I only want the help, thanks" move. 💅

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

Okay so the following example bos create command defines and starts an upserver process on the host machine "fs1.example.com". The last parameter (enclosed in quotes) instructs the upserver process to distribute the contents of the /usr/lib/openafs directory in unencrypted form and the contents of the /etc/openafs/server directory in encrypted form. Queen behavior, honestly. 👑

% bos create  -server fs1.example.com -instance upserver -type simple \
    -cmd "/usr/lib/openafs/upserver /usr/lib/openafs -crypt /etc/openafs/server"

👑 PRIVILEGE REQUIRED 👑

The issuer must be logged in as the superuser "root" on a file server machine to issue the command at a command shell prompt. It is conventional instead to create and start the process by issuing the bos create command. 💖

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

BosConfig(5), bos_create(8), upclient(8)

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.

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 this gem came to you from OpenAFS, dated 2026-07-27, sitting pretty as UPSERVER(8). slay, go distribute responsibly ✨💅🦋

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