How to Setup AFP Service on Scientific Linux 6

I setup Samba service for a group of Mac users for file sharing. After a couple of months, the users are not satisfied with the performance and constant problems with permissions. I then setup AFP service and see if it works better. The setup did not take long and the users are happy with it so far. This is the first time I setup AFP service. I just want to write down the steps I used to install it so I can refer to them later.

1. The service is provided by netatalk package. The first step is to install it if it’s not already installed.

   sudo yum install netatalk

2. Edit netatalk.conf. On Scientific Linux 6, the configuration files are in /etc/netatalk. Make sure you have these lines.

   CNID_METAD_RUN=yes
   AFPD_RUN=yes
   ATALKD_RUN=no
   PAPD_RUN=no
   TIMELORD_RUN=no
   A2BOOT_RUN=no
   

3. Edit afpd.conf in the same directory. Note that I want to use Kerberos, so I included them in here. Otherwise, you can remove uams_gss.so and the second line.

    - -tcp -noddp -uamlist uams_dhx.so,uams_dhx2.so,uams_gss.so -nosavepassword \
   -k5service afpserver -k5keytab /etc/krb5.keytab -k5realm MYCOMPANY.COM

4. Edit AppleVolumes.default and have this line at the end.

   /path_to_afp_share allow:@groupname options:usedots,upriv

   replace the path_to_afp_share with the path of the directory you want to share. Replace the groupname with your group.

5. Start the netatalk service

   sudo service netatalk start
   

6. Test the AFP service. If it runs OK, type this command to set it to run at boot.

   sudo chkconfig netatalk on