If you are installing from packages (such as Debian .deb or Fedora/SuSe .rpm files), you should now install all of the available OpenAFS packages for your system type. Typically, these will include packages for client and server functionality, and a seperate package containing a suitable kernel module for your running kernel. Consult the package lists on the OpenAFS website to determine the packages appropriate for your system. The preparer of such packages may have included some helper scripts to partially automate the creation of a new cell; such scripts can supersede much of the procedures described in the rest of this document.

If you are installing from a tarfile, or from a locally compiled source tree you should create the /usr/afs and /usr/vice/etc directories on the local disk, to house server and client files respectively. Subsequent instructions copy files from the distribution tarfile into them.

   # mkdir /usr/afs
   # mkdir /usr/vice
   # mkdir /usr/vice/etc