This document describes how to use cron and other non-interactive systems to run programs on computers using AFS in Stanford Computer Science Department. Some familiarity with AFS is assumed.
One of the advantages of using AFS is that it offers strong protection for files by requiring Kerberos authentication and access-control list permissions in order to access files. The downside to this strong security is that it is more difficult to run programs that do not interact with anyone, such as daemons, mail delivery agents, and cron jobs.