How To Install Ggscaler

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Product Release Notes

SFA OS Release 1.4.0.2

Revision A2

July 2013

GRIDScaler™ 2.0.0

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Important Information

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of DataDirect Networks, Inc. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose other than the purchaser’s personal use without the written permission of DataDirect Networks, Inc.

DataDirect Networks, the DataDirect Networks logo, DirectOS, DirectProtect, EXAScaler, GRIDScaler, Information in Motion, NAS Scaler, DirectMon, NoFS, ObjectAssure, SATAssure, Silicon Storage Appliance, S2A, Storage Fusion Architecture, SFA, Storage Fusion Fabric, xSTREAMScaler, Web Object Scaler, WOS are registered trademarks or trademarks of DataDirect Networks, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders.

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otherwise. The entire risk as to the results and performance of the product and software are assumed by you. The exclusion of implied warranties is not permitted by some jurisdictions; this exclusion may not apply to you.

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1.0 Overview

This document covers the features, installation, and errata for the 2.0.0 release of GRIDScaler. This release is applicable to the standard GRIDScaler solution for external and embedded storage platforms.

2.0 Features

This release of GRIDScaler (GS) updates the system software stack and includes the following new features.

GRIDScaler software components:

• RedHat Enterprise Linux/CentOS Enterprise Linux - 6.2 • Kernel - 2.6.32-220.34.2.el6.x86_64 • GPFS - 3.5.0.10 • MLNX_OFED 1.5.3-4.0.41 • Network drivers: - Myrinet – 1.5.3 - Intel IGB – 3.3.6

• DDN IB SRP – 1.8-0 with MLNX-OFED 1.5.3-4.0.41 SRP kernel modules • DDN Multipath – 1.3-4

• DDN GS core and utilities – 2.0.0 • DDN GS Bench – 1.0.3

New Features:

• New GRIDScaler upgrade support

• Support for public and private network GPFS configuration with SFA-12KE

• New clustered NAS (CIFS, NFS) functionality. To request a technology preview, please send an email to [email protected].

3.0 Installation

GRIDScaler is released as an ISO file that is designed to be installed on specific hardware platforms. The installation procedure is defined in the GRIDScaler Admin Guide.

4.0 Upgrades

GRIDScaler 2.0.0 can be installed either as a new installation or as an upgrade from previous GRIDScaler versions.

NOTE: If you are running GRIDScaler 1.4.0 or older, you must first update the system to GRIDScaler 1.5 using the old update mechanism. GRIDScaler 1.5 and newer can be updated directly to GRIDScaler 2.0.0. See the GRIDScaler Admin Guide for details. The upgrade procedure is defined in the GRIDScaler Admin Guide.

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5.0 Resolved Issues

The following defects have been fixed:

• Fix regression in GRIDScaler 1.6.1 where SCSI errors would be returned while using SRP. DE7378(DE7303)

• Sanity checks added to avoid accidental re-installation. DE5045

• If a system previously ran GRIDScaler 1.4.0, kdump could fail to work after upgrading to 1.5.0 or newer. The GRIDScaler 2.0.0 upgrade mechanism fixes this problem. DE7402

• In certain upgrade scenarios prior to GRIDScaler 2.0.0, it was possible that the wrong /boot partition was used to boot the system. This is resolved with the new upgrade mechanism. DE6342

• In rare situations, it was possible for a /dev/vdX device link path could include a partition number. A change was made to the udev rules to prevent this from happening. It only happened if someone put a partition directly on to a virtual disk, which is rare. DE7402

• gs_version.sh could report the wrong GRIDScaler version. DE7429 • Multipath fast failover is included in the OFED update. DE7462

• A work-around for ‘Clocksource tsc unstable’ messages, observable in the system logs and ‘dmesg’ on 12K-20E and 10KE, is included. This message will no longer be seen more than one time per boot. DE4620

• During an upgrade, connectx.conf could be lost, resulting in the Mellanox cards running in an unintended mode (like IB instead of Ethernet). This issue is resolved in the new upgrade mechanism. DE8182

• A security issue was identified in the RHEL / CentOS 6.2 kernel. Updated kernels are installed to avoid the problem. DE8207

• Previously, multipath.conf would not be replaced in an upgrade. We have determined it is better to replace this with the new one for most customers. Customers wishing to use their old multipath.conf can pick up the file from the backup that is done as part of the upgrade

operation. DE8486

• Fixed dependency packaging issues so the Dell System E-Support Tool will now successfully run on Dell servers after being downloaded. DE8897

6.0 Known Issues

• Various versions of GPFS can co-exist in certain situations. Support for this is defined by IBM. Upgrading the cluster one node at a time without taking the filesystem down is called a rolling upgrade. A full re-installation with no rolling upgrade is required when going from GRIDScaler 1.4.0 or older to 1.5.0. From 1.5.0 to 2.0.0, the upgrade mechanism supports rolling upgrades. • GRIDScaler support of IPv6 is not supported in this release.

• Jumbo frames are disabled in /var/mmfs/etc/mmfsup. Enable jumbo frames based on switch-level support and network fabric stability with larger frames.

• Running the command mmcrnsd to create NSDs may encounter the message "mmcrnsd: Disk device sfaxxxx refers to an existing NSD". The work around is to make sure the system time of NSD servers and clients is synchronized with NTP server, and run

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Issues specific to External Solutions

• The GS NSD servers will not perform optimally for some operations if the BIOS profile is set to “Energy efficiency” or “Performance per Watt” mode. Select BIOS profile with “Maximum Performance” as shown below.

System BIOS Settings

 Processor Settings

• Logical Processor <Disabled>  System Profile Settings

• System Profile <Custom>

• CPU Power Management <Maximum Performance> • Memory Frequency <Maximum Performance> • Turbo Boost <Enabled>

• C1E <Disabled>

• C States <Disabled> • Monitor/Mwait <Disabled> • Memory Patrol Scrub <Standard> • Memory Refresh Rate <1x> • Memory Operating Voltage <Auto>

Issues specific to Embedded Solutions

• The opensmd service should be run outside the embedded appliance in InfiniBand installations.

7.0 Support

NOTE: When requesting support, please run /opt/ddn/gs/scripts/gs_showall.sh on the subset of nodes with problems and NSD servers. Send the generated output to DDN Support for analysis.

Please contact DataDirect Networks Support at any time for assistance. Support can be reached by the following methods:

Web

Support Portal https://portal.ddnsupport.com Portal Assistance [email protected]

Technical Support Bulletins http://www.ddn.com/en/technical-support-bulletins

Email

Support Email [email protected]

Mailing List Subscriptions https://ddntsr.com/mailman/listinfo/tsr-announce

Telephone

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8.0 Appendix A: Supported Solution Components

The following solution components are supported by this release of GRIDScaler:

Storage

• SFA12K and SFA10K • SFA12K-20E and SFA10K-E

SAN Connectivity • Fibre-Channel (8G) • InfiniBand (QDR, FDR) Servers • x86_64 architecture only Client Networks • 1G/10G/40G Ethernet

• InfiniBand (IPoIB, RDMA verbs on QDR/FDR) • Bonded 1G Ethernet

Client Protocols

• Native GPFS Client (RHEL, SLES, OEL, Windows Server 2008 x64(SP2), Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7 Ultimate/Pro)

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9.0 Appendix B: Summary of Changes

This appendix summarizes changes to the GPFS licensed program and the GPFS library.

GPFS Version 3 Release 5

This topic summarizes changes to the GPFS licensed program and the GPFS library for version 3, release 5.

IMPORTANT: Nodes running GPFS 3.5 can coexist and interoperate with nodes running GPFS 3.4. GPFS

3.5 is not compatible with GPFS 3.3 or earlier versions. After installing GPFS 3.5 on some nodes in the cluster, nodes that are still running GPFS 3.3 or earlier will not be able to join the cluster. Similarly, in a multicluster environment in which clusters are remotely

mounting file systems from other clusters, if one of the clusters is migrated to GPFS 3.5, the remaining clusters are expected to be at GPFS 3.4 or later.

Changes to the GPFS licensed program for version 3, release 5 include the following:

Active file management

Active file management (for Linux nodes) is a scalable, high-performance, remote file data caching solution integrated with the GPFS cluster file system. It leverages the inherent scalability of GPFS to provide a scalable, multi-node, consistent cache of data exported by a remote file system cluster.

IPV6 exploitation

IPV6 exploitation provides a means to address the growing number of addressable endpoints on the Internet that require or create data.

Snapshot clones

Snapshot clones enable efficient file copy creation through clones of files (including files in snapshots) without incurring the overhead of copying all of the data blocks. Related features include mmclone split and redirect; policy file macros; and clone snap, copy, and show. See the list of new and changed commands that follows.

Snapshot support of filesets

Snapshot support was extended to permit creating snapshots of individual filesets, which allows finer-grained preservation of user data in point-in-time copies.

Fileset support

Fileset support was extended with the addition of independent filesets to support fileset snapshots, and now provides more dynamic expansion of inodes and improved efficiency for file management operations.

Improved user and group quotas

Improved user and group quotas allow control of these quotas by fileset owners.

Windows Native Port

Currently, GPFS on Windows requires the Subsystem for Unix Applications (SUA) from Microsoft for its operation. This requirement is being reduced over time. In this release of GPFS, the GPFS daemon no longer uses SUA. The use of the POSIX Threads (PThreads) API to provide an implementation of the POSIX standard thread API on Windows is introduced. SUA continues to be required for the use of GPFS administrative commands.

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SELinux support

SELinux is supported with GPFS. For information about currently supported distributions, see GPFS Frequently Asked Questions at

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/clresctr/vxrx/topic/com.ibm.cluster.gpfs.doc/gpfsc lustersfaq.html.

Various performance-related enhancements:

The following enhancements may lead to performance improvements:

• Log files are now striped across all metadata disks, providing relief from unbalanced disk usage in small clusters. As each log file resides on a single disk and different nodes use different log files, the number of different log files may be much smaller than the number of metadata disks, leading to unbalanced disk usage.

• With the new NSD multi-queue feature, the single incoming queue is split into multiple queues with one or more NSD worker threads assigned to each queue, providing SMP scalability improvements.

• Allowing data for small files and directories to be stored in the inode has the potential advantages of speeding up directory scans and reducing disk I/O for small file workloads.

Reliability, availability, and serviceability improvements

Two new events were added to the mmaddcallback command (which registers user-defined commands that GPFS executes when particular events occur):

• A new tiebreaker event, allowing the administrator to define which side is to survive a network partition between quorum nodes, was added for improved availability in a two-node cluster.

• The -event diskDown and -param %diskName parameters can be used to ensure that desired corrective action is taken when a disk has been marked down and I/O is no longer being done to that disk.

Continued Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) enhancements

Continued ILM enhancements include the following:

• The --choice-algorithm option of the mmapplypolicy command, which specifies the algorithm that will be used to choose candidate files. Accelerated candidate selection may improve performance when processing large candidate lists.

• The --scope option of the mmapplypolicy command, which indicates the scope of the policy engine scan.

• The --split-margin n.n option of the mmapplypolicy command, which specifies the percentage within which the fast-choice algorithm is allowed to deviate from the LIMIT and THRESHOLD targets specified by the policy rules.

Platform-independent commands and an API for accessing the extended attributes of a file

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GPFS Native RAID

Details are provided in GPFS: Advanced Administration; commands are described in GPFS:

Administration and Programming Reference. Not supported on GPFS 3.5 without APAR

IV16031. For more information, see the GPFS Frequently Asked Questions at