Mixed operating system support with the installation toolkit

You can use the installation toolkit to install GPFS and deploy protocols in a cluster that contains nodes that are running on different operating systems. Several validations are done when you use the spectrumscale command in a mixed operating system cluster.

The following operating systems are supported with the installation toolkit in a mixed operating system cluster.

Table 1. Operating systems supported with the installation toolkit in a mixed cluster
CPU architecture Operating system
x86_64
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux® 7.x
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x
  • SLES 15
  • Ubuntu 20.04 and 22.04 1
s390x
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux7.x
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x
  • SLES 15

For latest information about supported operating systems, see IBM Storage Scale FAQ in IBM® Documentation.

Note:
  • The object protocol is not supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
  • The object protocol is not supported on SLES and Ubuntu.
  • The object protocol is not supported on the s390x architecture.
  • The object protocol is not supported on the ARM architectures.
Important:
  • For using the installation toolkit in a mixed operating system cluster, all protocol nodes must be running on the same operating system. However, nodes that are running on different minor versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x or 8.x can be designated as protocol nodes in the same cluster.
  • For using the installation toolkit in a mixed operating system cluster, all nodes must have the same CPU architecture.

The installation toolkit performs the required validations in a mixed operating system cluster to prevent users from attempting any configurations that are not supported. These validations include the following.

Table 2. Validations by the installation toolkit in a mixed operating system cluster
Operation that is attempted with the installation toolkit Validations done
Node addition by using the spectrumscale node add NodeName command

Check whether the operating system of the target node is supported. If it is not supported, an error occurs.
Protocol node designation by using the spectrumscale node add NodeName -p command
  • Check whether the operating system of the target node is SLES 15. If it is SLES 15, a warning is generated that states: Object protocol is not supported on SLES 15.
  • Check whether all protocol nodes being added are running on the same operating system. If you attempt to add protocol nodes running on different operating systems, then that operation is not allowed.

    For example, if you have added a protocol node running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x and then you try to add another protocol node running on SLES 15, then that operation is not allowed.
Protocol enablement by using the spectrumscale enable Protocol command

Check whether the protocol being enabled is supported on the operating system that is running on the node. If the protocol is not supported, an error occurs and you cannot continue with the installation and deployment.

For example, if you try to enable object on a node running on SLES 15, an error occurs.

Mixed operating system support during upgrade

During the upgrade precheck, the installation toolkit performs a comparison of the versions of the installed packages with the versions of packages in the repository. In a mixed operating system cluster, the comparison is done with the package repository applicable for the operating system running on the respective nodes.
Note: 1 On Ubuntu nodes in a mixed operating system cluster, upgrades by using the installation toolkit are not supported. As a workaround, you can use the installation toolkit to upgrade a mixed operating system cluster with Ubuntu nodes in two hops. For more information, see Upgrading mixed operating system cluster with Ubuntu nodes.