Overview of the installation toolkit
The installation toolkit automates the steps
that are required to install GPFS™, deploy protocols, and
install updates and patches.
For a release-wise list of
features available in the installation toolkit, see Table 1.
When you are using the installation toolkit, you provide environmental information and the installation toolkit installs, configures, and deploys the optimal configuration, dynamically creating a cluster definition file.
This install toolkit enables you to do the following tasks:
- Install and configure GPFS.
- Add GPFS nodes to an existing cluster.
- Deploy and configure SMB, NFS, Object, and performance monitoring tools over GPFS.
- Perform verification before installing, deploying, or upgrading. It includes checking whether passwordless SSH is set up correctly.
- Configure authentication services for protocols.
- Enable and configure call home and file audit logging functions.
- Upgrade GPFS and all protocols and install patches.
Installation and configuration are driven through commands.
In the self-extracting package, the installation toolkit is in
this
location:
location_extracted_to/5.0.x.x/installer
Using the installation toolkit is driven from the spectrumscale command in the installer directory, and this directory can optionally be added to the path.
Note: The installation toolkit installs the Chef configuration
management tool, a Python-based tool wrapped around Opscode Chef technologies, enabling
configuration management and deployment at scale. For more information, see Apache license information (www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).
The installation toolkit operation consists of four phases:
- User input by using spectrumscale commands
- All user input is recorded into a cluster definition file in /usr/lpp/mmfs/5.0.x.x/installer/configuration
- Review the cluster definition file to make sure that it accurately reflects your cluster configuration.
- As you input your cluster configuration, you can have the toolkit act on parts of the cluster by not specifying nodes that might have incompatible Operating systems, OS levels, or architectures.
- A spectrumscale install phase
- Installation acts upon all nodes that are defined in the cluster definition file.
- GPFS and performance monitoring packages are installed.
- Call home and file audit logging packages might be installed.
- GPFS portability layer is created.
- GPFS is started.
- A GPFS cluster is created.
- Licenses are applied.
- GUI nodes might be created and the GUI might be started upon these nodes.
- NTP, performance monitoring, GPFS ephemeral ports, and cluster profile might be configured.
- NSDs might be created. Note: File systems are not created during installation.
- A spectrumscale deploy phase
- Deployment acts upon all nodes that are defined into the cluster definition file.
- File systems are configured. It is possible to configure file systems only during the deployment phase if you do not want protocols.
- SMB, NFS, and Object protocol packages are copied to all protocol nodes.
- SMB, NFS, and Object services might be started.
- Authentication might be configured.
- File audit logging and message queue might be configured.
- Licenses are applied.
- GUI nodes might be created and the GUI might be started upon these nodes.
- NTP, performance monitoring, call home, file audit logging, GPFS ephemeral ports, and cluster profile might be configured.
- NSDs might be created.
- A spectrumscale upgrade phase
- Upgrade acts upon all nodes input into the cluster definition file.
- All installed/deployed components are upgraded.
- Upgrades are sequential with multiple passes. For more information, see IBM Spectrum Scale installation toolkit - upgrade process flow.
- The IBM Spectrum Scale™ GUI might be upgraded and restarted upon upgrade.
Note: The upgrade phase does not allow new function to be enabled. In the upgrade phase, the required packages are upgraded, but adding functions must be done either before or after the upgrade.
The following table lists the features available in the installation toolkit in the reverse chronological order of
releases.
Release | Features |
---|---|
5.0.2.x |
|
5.0.1.x |
|
5.0.0.x |
|
4.2.3.x |
|
4.2.2.x |
|
4.2.1.x |
|
4.2.0.x |
|
4.1.1 [Initial release of the installation toolkit] |
|