Preparing the environment on Linux nodes

Before proceeding with installation, prepare your environment by following the suggestions in the following sections.

Add the GPFS bin directory to your shell PATH

Ensure that the PATH environment variable for the root user on each node includes /usr/lpp/mmfs/bin. (This is not required for the operation of IBM Storage Scale, but it can simplify administration.)

Other suggestions for cluster administration

GPFS commands operate on all nodes that are required to perform tasks. When you are administering a cluster, it can be useful to have a more general form of running commands on all nodes. A suggested way to do this is to use an OS utility like dsh or pdsh that can run the commands on all nodes in the cluster. For example, you can use dsh to check the kernel version of each node in your cluster:
# uname -opr
3.10.0-693.el7.x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

When you have dsh set up, you can use it to install IBM Storage Scale on a large cluster. For details about setting up dsh or a similar utility, review the documentation for the utility.

Verify that that prerequisite software is installed

Before installing IBM Storage Scale, it is necessary to verify that you have the correct levels of the prerequisite software that is installed on each node in the cluster. If the correct level of prerequisite software is not installed, see the appropriate installation manual before proceeding with your IBM Storage Scale installation.

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

For the most up-to-date list of prerequisite software, see the IBM Storage Scale FAQ in IBM® Documentation.

The FAQ contains the latest information about the following:
  • Supported Linux® distributions and kernel levels
  • Recommended or required RPM levels
  • Software recommendations
  • Configuration information

For more information, see GPFS and network communication.