Client setup

Client protocol extension

Install a suitable kernel module

% rpm -q kernel-module-openafs-`uname -r`
kernel-module-openafs-2.6.18-128.1.10.el5-1.4.7-68.2.SL5.i686 

Upon startup of the afs service, the following should show up:

# service afs restart
...
# dmesg | grep patch                           
libafs with   'rxosd support' 'vicep-access' patches 

(vicep-access is not necessary for RxOSD operation per se, but is required for making proper use of a Lustre or GPFS backend.)

Proper afs commands

Install a suitable openafs package

# rpm -q openafs
openafs-1.4.10.osd.vpa.r691-77alma.sl5.x86_64 
# fs protocol
Enabled protocols are  RXOSD (1 parallel streams on connections with rtt > 10 ms). 
# osd help
osd: Commands are:
... 

Memory cache

When using a cluster filesystem backend, memcache has proven to be the fastest alternative (at least for Lustre via Infiniband).

In /etc/sysconfig/afs:

OPTIONS="-memcache -stat 8192 -chunksize 20 -daemons 8 -volumes 64" 

This selects memcache and boosts the chunk size to 1MB. To avoid a low overall number of cache chunks:

CACHESIZE="262144" 

256 MB seems a reasonable size.

Accessing a cluster filesystem backend

E.g. Lustre:

• Make sure the shared vice partition is accessible:

  # ln -s /vicepal /lustre/... 

  or resp.

  # mount -t lustre 141.34.218.7@tcp:/zn_test /vicept 

  (see "Using a Lustre storage backend" below)

• make the client detect the vice partition

  # service afs-vicep-access restart 
  ...
  # dmesg | tail
  ...
  Visible OSD 2 lun 37 cell 33 == ifh.de 

Fileserver setup

Adding an rxosd service

It is sensible to have fileserver and rxosd processes share the same machines. This way, access to files even in a single volume can be spread to all fileservers (given that clients don't access the same (set of) file(s) all the time).

• create a dedicated vice partition

  # mkdir /vicepc
  <edit /etc/fstab>
  # mount /vicepc
  # touch /vicepc/OnlyRxosd 

  • The last command ensures that the fileserver process will not claim this partition.

• create the service instance (with admin privileges or -localauth)

  # bos create <server-machine> rxosd simple /usr/afs/bin/rxosd 

  • There is no harm in doing this even before creating a vice partition.

• add the new OSD to the OSDDB

  # osd createosd -id <id> -name <osd-name> -ip <machine-ip> -lun <lun> 1m 64g 

  id

  must not have existed in the OSDDB before, check with osd l -all

  osd-name

  must also be unique

  lun

  numeric representation of the vice partition, /vicepa is 0, /vicepc is 2 and /vicepal is 37

  size constraints

  1m and 64g are arbitrary. Note that the minimum size directly influences what files get stored to OSD. If this is done before creating vice partition and/or service instance, the OSD will appear as "down" in the osd l output. No harm done.

Using a Lustre storage backend

Basically, this is the same process as adding a regular rxosd service. The vice partition resides in a Lustre filesystem, however.

A larger maximum file size for your Lustre-OSD is not required, the fileserver will never get to see a size that surpasses any client's cache size.

Lustre mountpoint

E.g.

# mount -t lustre 141.34.218.7@tcp:/zn_test /vicept 
# touch /vicept/OnlyRxosd 

The rest is identical to the above.

Symlink

If Lustre is mounted anywhere else:

# ln -s /lustre/vpxl /vicepal
# touch /vicepal/OnlyRxosd
# touch /vicepal/AlwaysAttach 

The last command enables the use of a regular directory as a vice partition. The rest is identical to the above.

Database servers

Packages

If appropriate openafs-server packages are in use, there is nothing to do.

# rpm -q openafs-server
openafs-server-1.4.10.osd.vpa.r657-74alma.2.sl5.x86_64
# rpm -qf /usr/afs/bin/osdserver
openafs-server-1.4.10.osd.vpa.r657-74alma.2.sl5.x86_64 

For a minimum intrusion on existing DB servers, use the dedicated openafs-osdserver package:

% rpm -q openafs-server openafs-osdserver
openafs-server-1.4.7-68.2.SL5.x86_64
openafs-osdserver-1.4.10.osd.vpa.r689-76alma.sl5.x86_64
% rpm -qf /usr/afs/bin/osdserver 
openafs-osdserver-1.4.10.osd.vpa.r689-76alma.sl5.x86_64 

It has no dependencies and will install regardless of the rest of your local AFS installation.

Launching the OSDDB service

With admin privileges:

bos create <db-machine> osddb simple /usr/afs/bin/osdserver 

Once the osdservers are up and running, clients should be able to see this:

% osd l
 id name(loc)     ---total space---      flag  prior. own. server lun size range
  1 local_disk                                 wr  rd                 (0kb-1mb) 

The local_disk entry is a default.