Defining Cell Membership for Client Processes
| Chapter 2. Installing the First AFS Machine |

## Defining Cell Membership for Client Processes

Every AFS client machine has a copy of the /usr/vice/etc/ThisCell file on its local disk to define the machine's cell membership for the AFS client programs that run on it. The ThisCell file you created in the /usr/afs/etc directory (in Defining Cell Name and Membership for Server Processes) is used only by server processes.

Among other functions, the ThisCell file on a client machine determines the following:

- The cell in which users gain tokens when they log onto the machine, assuming it is using an AFS-modified login utility

- The cell in which users gain tokens by default when they issue the aklog command

- The cell membership of the AFS server processes that the AFS command interpreters on this machine contact by default

1. Change to the /usr/vice/etc directory and remove the symbolic link created in Starting the BOS Server.

          # cd /usr/vice/etc
          # rm ThisCell

2. Create the ThisCell file as a copy of the /usr/afs/etc/ThisCell file. Defining the same local cell for both server and client processes leads to the most consistent AFS performance.

          # cp  /usr/afs/etc/ThisCell  ThisCell

Copying Client Files to the Local Disk |  | Creating the Client CellServDB File