pvfs2tab.5

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.TH PVFS2TAB 5 "SEPTEMBER 2003"  PVFS2 "PVFS2 Manuals"
.SH NAME
pvfs2tab \- information about pvfs2 volumes
.SH DESCRIPTION
Any program that uses PVFS2 will consult a 
.B pvfs2tab
file for information about how to convert a path name into information like
which servers to contact and what files to request.

Programs will look for a 
.B pvfs2tab
file in several places

.I /etc/pvfs2tab
.RS
The default location of the file
.RE
.I pvfs2tab
.RS
If there is no 
.I /etc/pvfs2tab 
file, then a program will look in the current directory for a file called 
.I pvfs2tab
.RE
.I PVFS2TAB_FILE environment variable
.RS
This environment variable overrides any system-wide or local files.  Programs
will look for a file located at the value of the environment variable.
.RE

.SH FORMAT
The file format is similar but not identical to 
.B fstab
(5), and looks like
"<bmi_address>/<fs_name> <mountpoint> pvfs2 <options> 0 0"  .

.I bmi address
.RS
Takes the form <protocol>://<hostspec>
.I <protocol>
is the name of the communications protocol used by bmi ("gm", "tcp", "ib").
.I <hostspec> 
is the name of any metadata server.  This format is method-dependent.  For
example, a <hostspec> for the "tcp" method would look like "foo.bar.com:2344".
Other methods may express hosts in different ways.
.RE
.I <fs_name> 
.RS
is the name of a PVFS file system on that server.
.RE
.I <mountpoint>
.RS
is the virtual mountpoint used by pvfs2 clients.
.RE
.I <options>
.RS
will generally be "default" for a standard set of options.  Two other options
are currently available.  The option "flowproto=<flow_method>" can be used to
specify an alternate flow protocol method.  The option "encoding=<encoding>"
can be used to select a per-file system wire encoding mechanism, one of
"direct", "le_bfield", or "xdr".

.SH BUGS
Please report all bugs to the pvfs2 bugzilla (http://bugzilla.mcs.anl.gov/pvfs/)
.SH AUTHOR
The PVFS2 development team (pvfs2-developers@beowulf-underground.org)
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR pvfs2-server (1),
.BR pvfs2-statfs (1)
.BR pvfs2-ping (1)
.BR pvfs2-cp (1)
.BR pvfs2-genconfig (1)