<body>
<h1>How To Run Tahoe-LAFS</h1>
- <p>This is how to run a Tahoe-LAFS client or a complete Tahoe-LAFS grid. First you
- have to install the Tahoe-LAFS software, as documented in <a
- href="install.html">install.html</a>.</p>
+ <p>This is how to run a Tahoe-LAFS client to connect to an
+ existing grid, or how to set up a complete Tahoe-LAFS grid. First
+ you have to install the Tahoe-LAFS software, as documented
+ in <a href="install.html">install.html</a>.</p>
<p>The <code>tahoe</code> program in the <code>bin</code> directory is
used to create, start, and stop nodes. Each node lives in a separate base
directory, in which there is a configuration file named <code>tahoe.cfg</code>. Nodes
read and write files within this base directory.</p>
- <p>A grid consists of a set of <em>storage nodes</em> and <em>client nodes</em>
- running the Tahoe-LAFS code. There is also an <em>introducer node</em> that
- is responsible for getting the other nodes talking to each other.</p>
+ <p>A grid consists of a set of <em>storage nodes</em>
+ and <em>client nodes</em> (also known as <em>gateway nodes</em>)
+ running the Tahoe-LAFS code. There is also an <em>introducer
+ node</em> that is responsible for getting the other nodes talking
+ to each other. Which grid of storage servers your client will
+ connect to is determined solely by the introducer—if you configure
+ your node to connect to a certain introducer then your node will
+ only use those storage servers provided by that introducer. If you
+ configure your node to connect to a new introducer of your own
+ creation (see below), then your node will not connect to any
+ storage servers until you've created some storage servers and told them
+ to register themselves with that introducer.</p>
<p>If you're getting started we recommend you try connecting to
the <a href="http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/TestGrid">the
- public test grid</a> as you only need to create a client node.
- When you want to create your own grid you'll need to create the
- introducer and several initial storage nodes (see the note about
- small grids below).</p>
+ public test grid</a>—you will need to create only a gateway node
+ to do that. When you want to create your own grid you'll need to
+ create the introducer and several initial storage nodes (see the
+ note about small grids below).</p>
<p>If the Tahoe-LAFS <code>bin</code> directory is not on your PATH, then
in all the command lines below, specify the full path to <code>bin/tahoe</code>.</p>
<h3>The SFTP and FTP frontends</h3>
<p>You can access your Tahoe-LAFS grid via any <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSH_file_transfer_protocol">SFTP</a> or
- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Transfer_Protocol">FTP</a> client.
+ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Transfer_Protocol">FTP</a> client.
See <a href="frontends/FTP-and-SFTP.rst">FTP-and-SFTP.rst</a> for how to set this up.
On most Unix platforms, you can also use SFTP to plug Tahoe-LAFS into your computer's
local filesystem via <code>sshfs</code>.
-
+
<p>The <a href="http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/SftpFrontend">SftpFrontend</a> page
on the wiki has more information about using SFTP with Tahoe-LAFS.</p>
projects / tahoe-lafs / tahoe-lafs.git / blobdiff