Preparing a cluster that contains ESS for adding protocols

Use this information to prepare a cluster that contains ESS for adding functions such as NFS, SMB, object, GUI, and performance monitoring.

Before you add protocols to a cluster that contains ESS, ensure that:
  • The cluster that contains ESS is active and online.
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux® 7.x is installed on nodes that are going to serve as protocol nodes.
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x base repository is set up on nodes that are going to serve as protocol nodes.
  1. Use the ESS GUI or CLI to create a CES shared root file system.
    Note: The CES shared root file system must be at least 4 GB and it must not be encrypted.
  2. On all nodes that are going to serve as protocol nodes, download and extract the IBM Storage Scale protocols standard or advanced packages.
    For information on extracting packages, see Extracting the IBM Storage Scale software on Linux nodes.
  3. On all nodes that are going to serve as protocol nodes, install core GPFS RPMs from the /usr/lpp/mmfs/5.x.x.x/gpfs_rpms.
    Attention: Ensure that you do not install packages such as perfmon, gui, callhome, java, and protocols now. These components are installed and configured with the protocols deployment.

    The core GPFS RPMs that need to be installed include:

    • gpfs.base
    • gpfs.gpl
    • gpfs.license.xx
    • gpfs.gskit
    • gpfs.docs
    • gpfs.msg.en_US
    • gpfs.compression
    • gpfs.adv (optional)
    • gpfs.crypto (optional)
  4. Add the nodes that are going to serve as protocol nodes to the cluster by using the mmaddnode command.
  5. Enable the Cluster Configuration Repository (CCR) on the cluster if it is not enabled already.

Attention: If GPFS levels between protocol nodes and ESS differ significantly, ensure that the nodes with the newer code level of GPFS are designated as both quorum and manager nodes. For example, old ESS systems with GPFS 4.1.0-8 are incompatible with CES. These ESS systems can be a part of a cluster with protocols only if they are not designated as quorum and manager nodes.

This aspect requires careful planning and administration because:

  • By default, ESS nodes are designated as quorum and manager nodes.
  • In some cases, there might not be extra nodes outside of ESS to make sure that only nodes with the newer code level are designated as quorum and manager nodes.

  1. Verify that passwordless SSH is working between all nodes in the cluster.
  2. Verify that firewall ports are set correctly.
  3. Verify that the CES shared root file system is mounted and that it is set to auto mount.
  4. Set NFSv4 ACLs for file systems that are going to be used for protocol data, if they are not set already.
  5. On one of the nodes that are going to serve as protocol nodes, run the installation toolkit to start deploying protocols.
    Note:
    • Designate only the nodes that you plan to use as protocol nodes. Do not designate existing ESS nodes such as EMS or I/O nodes as protocol nodes.
    • Point to existing file systems only. Do not attempt to create new file systems or NSDs for this purpose.

    For information about deploying protocols in an existing cluster by using the installation toolkit, see Deploying protocols on an existing cluster and spectrumscale command.