Installation prerequisites

These are the several prerequisites for installing IBM Storage Scale including those for installing protocols and performance monitoring.

Required packages for supported Linux® distributions

For the list of packages that must be installed on the system before you can install IBM Storage Scale, see Software requirements.

For a list of supported operating systems, architectures, and kernels, see IBM Storage Scale FAQ in IBM® Documentation.

Cleanup required if you previously used the Object Redpaper configuration process

If you have already configured the system with OpenStack software to use GPFS (following instructions from the Object Red paper) be sure to follow the Object cleanup steps in Cleanup procedures required if reinstalling with the installation toolkit before you start any installation activity.

Same version required on protocol and quorum nodes

If you want to run protocols in a mixed-version cluster, the protocol nodes and all of the quorum nodes must be running on the same version.

Note: For the object protocol, the GPFS software is not required on the node that hosts the Keystone identity service if it is deployed on a separate node from the GPFS protocol nodes.

Additional GPFS requirements

If you want to run protocols, Cluster Configuration Repository (CCR) must be available.
mmchconfig release=LATEST must be run.
A GPFS cluster and a file system are required. If this infrastructure does not already exist, you must install the GPFS software, create a GPFS cluster and create a file system. You can use the installation toolkit to do these tasks. For more information, see Using the installation toolkit to perform installation tasks: Explanations and examples.
The GPFS file system must be mounted on all GPFS protocol nodes.
It is strongly recommended to configure the file system to only support NFSv4 ACLs. You can use the installation toolkit to do this task also if you use the installation toolkit to install GPFS. For more information, see Using the installation toolkit to perform installation tasks: Explanations and examples.
Alternatively, you can use the -k nfs4 parameter for mmcrfs. NFSv4 ACLs are a requirement for ACL usage with the SMB and NFS protocols. For more information, see examples in mmcrfs command.
Quotas are not enabled by default in GPFS file systems but are recommended for use with SMB and NFS protocols. For more information about quota management, see Enabling and disabling GPFS quota management.

Create a CES shared root directory and object fileset

The installation toolkit sets up a shared root directory for use by the CES protocol services. The CES shared root (cesSharedRoot) is required to store CES shared configuration data and support protocol recovery and other protocol-specific operations.

The starting point of this shared directory tree is called the CES shared root directory. The cesSharedRoot parameter defines the path to this directory, which is used only by protocol services and is not intended for user data. This directory tree can reside anywhere in a IBM Storage Scale file system. To keep protocol data separate from user data, use a dedicated file system. Once this option is set, changing it requires a restart of GPFS.

You can configure the CES shared root directory by using the installation toolkit, especially if you use the toolkit to install IBM Storage Scale and create file systems. For more information, see Using the installation toolkit to perform installation tasks: Explanations and examples.

If you prefer to configure the cesSharedRoot before launching the installation toolkit, follow these steps:

Create a file system or fileset to serve as the CES shared root directory. The recommended minimum size is 4 GB.

Use the following command to set the CES shared root path::

mmchconfig cesSharedRoot=path_to_the_filesystem/fileset_created_in_step_1

For object, the installation toolkit creates an independent fileset in the GPFS file system that you name.

SSH and network setup

The node used for initiating installation of SMB and NFS protocols by using the installation toolkit must be able to communicate through an internal or external network with all protocol nodes to be installed. All nodes also require SSH keys to be set up so that the installation toolkit can run remote commands without any prompts. Examples of prompts include a prompt for a remote node's password or a prompt for a yes or no question. No prompts should occur when using SSH among any cluster nodes to and from each other, and to and from the node designated for installation.

For information on ports required by IBM Storage Scale, see Securing IBM Storage Scale by using a firewall and IBM Storage Scale port usage.

For examples of how to open firewall ports on different operating systems, see Examples of how to open firewall ports.

Repository setup

The installation toolkit contains all necessary code for installation. However, for manual installation or installation with the installation toolkit, there might be base operating system packages required as prerequisites. To satisfy any prerequisites, it is necessary for your nodes to have access to a DVD repository or an external repository accessible by network. Repositories containing IBM Storage Scale dependencies include the following x86_64 example:

rhel-x86_64-server-7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server

For information on setting up repositories on Red Hat Enterprise Linux nodes, see Configuring Yum and Yum Repositories (https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/7/html/System_Administrators_Guide/sec-Configuring_Yum_and_Yum_Repositories.html).

For information on setting up repositories on SLES nodes, see Managing Software Repositories and Services(https://documentation.suse.com/sles/15-SP1/html/SLES-all/cha-yast-software.html#sec-yast-software-instsource).

For information on setting up repositories on Ubuntu nodes, see Repositories/Ubuntu(https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu).

Important: You must disable all configured EPEL repositories on all nodes added to the installation toolkit before proceeding with installation, deployment or upgrade.

Network time protocol (NTP) setup

You must configure time synchronization on all nodes in your cluster by using tools such as NTPD and Chrony. IBM Storage Scale necessitates all clocks to be in sync for installation, deployment, upgrade, and cluster operation. For information about using these tools with the operating system on your nodes, see the respective operating system documentation.

Collection of core dump data

For information about changing configuration to enable collection of core dump data from protocol nodes, see Configuration changes required on protocol nodes to collect core dump data.