Note, the client machines only need to know about the database machines. AFS, however, is truly global. The database servers for cells is located in a file called CellServDB , and is updated periodically from transarc. Volumes, mount points and ACLs. AFS stores volumes on a partition.
Volumes have separate owners and quotas.
They can be freely moved between fileservers. The mount point is like a symbolic link. When you enter a directory that is a mount point, the client asks the vlserver for information about where that volume is located. The client also asks the ptserver if you have access to the volume. Access is controlled by Access Control Lists attached to each directory.