The Microsoft Loopback Adapter (MLA) is installed with a name "AFS" and a pre-assigned IP address of 10.254.254.253. The MLA is bound to the "Client for Microsoft Networks" service and not bound to the "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" service. If the MLA is unbound to "Client Microsoft Networks", the OpenAFS Client Service will become inaccessible when the machine is disconnected from the network. If the MLA is bound to "File and Printer Sharing ..." there will be a service type collision between the "AFS" SMB Service and the local machine's File Sharing Service. This will result in the OpenAFS client service becoming inaccessible and the "NET VIEW \\AFS" command will return a "System Error 52" message. To correct the problem:
stop the AFS Client Service
bind the "Client for Microsoft Networks" to the MLA
unbind "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" from the MLA
disable and then re-enable the MLA
start the AFS Client Service
When the MLA is not installedNETBIOS name published by OpenAFS SMB server must be unique because it is published on the public network. The unique name will take the form "MACHINE-AFS". One of the benefits of using the MLA is that the NETBIOS name does not have to be published on any adapter other than the MLA. Therefore the chosen name is no longer required to be globally unique. Instead the NETBIOS name associated with the AFS Client Service is simply "AFS" and portable UNC paths of the form \\AFS\cellname\path can now be used on all machines.