Pre-Installation Tasks

Software Installation Guide Table of Contents

In this Chapter:

What Not to Do

Please do not perform the following tasks, as these tasks (among others) are performed automatically, or will conflict with the software:

LNET Configuration

LNET provides the client network infrastructure required by the Lustre file system. It supports many commonly used network types such as InfiniBand and Ethernet.

Basic LNET configuration can be performed using the Integrated Manager for Lustre software GUI. This is done before creating the Lustre file system. In this early version of GUI-based LNET configuration, it is intended that the file system will exist on a single LNET and that all servers and clients are on this LNET. In this case, you can perform LNET configuration from the GUI and the configuration information is saved in a reserved file called /etc/modprobe.d/iml_lnet_module_parameters.conf. Do not manually edit this file. Simply follow the instructions in the Integrated Manager for Lustre software Help.

If you wish to configure more advanced features (such as routes and IP networks), then you should do this manually, in a separate file contained in the /etc/modprobe.d directory. Please see the configuration guide Configuring LNet Routers for File Systems based on Integrated Manager for Lustre software* and also see the Lustre Operations Manual, Chapter 9

Server Configuration

The following are pre-installation configuration requirements for servers. These requirements apply to ALL servers unless specifically noted.

Note: If you are installing Lustre on servers that have been previously configured as ZFS file system servers, first re-provision all servers with the correct, supported operating system. Then install Lustre as described herein. Any existing file system data will be lost.

  1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS Linux version 7.7 must be installed. All servers should be running the same OS and version.

    • Do not install CMAN (Cluster Manager) or other packages that use the Red Hat fence agents. Integrated Manager for Lustre software will have package conflicts. Remove all such packages from all systems.

  2. For servers running Red Hat Linux, each server must be registered with RHN (Red Hat Network) and have the optional channel installed. Following is one example of how to accomplish this. Please reference your site instructions for more information.

     subscription-manager register --autosubscribe\
 --username=\$redhat\_register\_user\
 --password=\$redhat\_register\_password
 yum -y install yum-utils
 yum-config-manager --enable rhel-7-server-optional-rpms

  3. Next, you will need to configure hostname resolution of all Lustre nodes, on each Lustre node. Dynamic hostname resolution (DNS) can be used to perform this step. If DNS is not being used, you can perform this manually as follows:

    • Set useful hostnames and ensure you have a functioning /etc/hosts file. Give each server a unique name, such as manager, mds1, mds2, oss1 and oss2. You should be able to ping <hostname> and ssh freely between systems (dependent on a functional /etc/hosts file).

    • An /etc/hosts file might have something like this in it when complete:

      10.0.0.101 manager
10.0.0.102 ost1
10.0.0.103 mds1
10.0.0.104 mds2
10.0.0.105 ost2

  4. Copy your /etc/hosts file to all servers.

  5. Use ssh-copy-id to copy your ssh public key to each server so that your servers are able to ssh into each other without having to enter a password.

  6. Yum needs to be functional, with any needed proxies, and default yum repositories must be fully configured. Run yum update to verify that yum updates occur successfully. yum search vim will reveal if you cannot connect to your configured repositories.

  7. Ensure that NTP is not running on any system. Integrated Manager for Lustre software will manage NTP.

  8. Ensure that ssh root access ssh -l root <hostname> works from the server that will be hosting the Integrated Manager for Lustre software dashboard, to all other file system servers.

  9. Properly configure the firewall to allow access to your distribution’s yum repositories and any external NTP service. You should also be able to ssh between the Lustre servers and the manager server without having to enter a password.

Note: If a storage node (a Lustre server) is to be used as a metadata server (MDS), to properly enforce Lustre file permissions, the MDS must have access to the same UID/GID database as the Lustre clients.

For example, if the Lustre clients are using LDAP to provide network-wide user account information, the MDS must be configured to check LDAP for user account information. If a pair of nodes has been configured as HA peers for an MDT, LDAP must be configured on both nodes to ensure proper functionality in the event of a failover.

Note: Non-root users should be prevented from logging into storage nodes.

Client Requirements

A client accessing your Lustre file system (created with Manager for Lustre software) must be running Integrated Manager for Lustre software 6.3.0.0 client software. See Configuring Clients for instructions on installing software and configuring clients.

LNET provides the client network infrastructure required by the Lustre file system and LNET must be configured for each client. See LNET Configuration.

Linux Kernel Rebuilds and Patches

The installation of Integrated Manager for Lustre software will replace your existing Linux kernel on all servers.

Firewall Considerations

Integrated Manager for Lustre software runs on servers running RHEL or CentOS, version 7.7. The firewalled package needs to be installed and configured for all file system servers before installing Integrated Manager for Lustre software. The Integrated Manager for Lustre software installation process will then modify the firewall configuration as needed for Integrated Manager for Lustre software to operate.

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