Installing IBM Spectrum Scale on Linux nodes and deploying protocols

Use this information for installing IBM Spectrum Scale™ on Linux nodes and deploying protocols.

Before installing IBM Spectrum Scale, you must review Planning for GPFS and the IBM Spectrum Scale FAQ in IBM® Knowledge Center.

Installing IBM Spectrum Scale without ensuring that the prerequisites listed in Hardware requirements, Software requirements, and Installation prerequisites are satisfied can lead to undesired results.

There are three methods available for installing IBM Spectrum Scale on Linux nodes.

Installation method	Description
Manual	You can install the GPFS software packages using the rpm command (for SLES and Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or the dpkg command (for Debian and Ubuntu Linux). For more information, see Manually installing the IBM Spectrum Scale software packages on Linux nodes.
Installation toolkit	On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x and SLES 12, you can install GPFS and deploy protocols using the installation toolkit. Note: Object protocol is not supported on SLES 12. On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8, you can use the installation toolkit to install GPFS. Note: Protocols, call home, and management GUI are not supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8. For more information, see Installing IBM Spectrum Scale on Linux nodes with the installation toolkit. For information on limitations if you are using the installation toolkit, see Limitations of the installation toolkit.
Installation GUI	You can use the installation GUI to install IBM Spectrum Scale system. However, the scope of installation related activities that can be done using the installation GUI is limited. For more information, see Installing IBM Spectrum Scale by using the graphical user interface (GUI).

Installation method

Description

Manual

You can install the GPFS software packages using the rpm command (for SLES and Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or the dpkg command (for Debian and Ubuntu Linux).

For more information, see Manually installing the IBM Spectrum Scale software packages on Linux nodes.

Installation toolkit

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x and SLES 12, you can install GPFS and deploy protocols using the installation toolkit.
Note: Object protocol is not supported on SLES 12.
On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8, you can use the installation toolkit to install GPFS.
Note: Protocols, call home, and management GUI are not supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.8.

For more information, see Installing IBM Spectrum Scale on Linux nodes with the installation toolkit.

For information on limitations if you are using the installation toolkit, see Limitations of the installation toolkit.

Installation GUI

You can use the installation GUI to install IBM Spectrum Scale system. However, the scope of installation related activities that can be done using the installation GUI is limited.

For more information, see Installing IBM Spectrum Scale by using the graphical user interface (GUI).