12.3 Notes for OSCAR and Rocks Users

Both OSCAR and Rocks use NFS. Rocks uses autofs to mount home directories; OSCAR doesn't. (Automounting and autofs is discussed briefly in Chapter 4.)

PVFS is available as an add-on package for OSCAR. By default, it installs across the first eight available nodes using the OSCAR server as the metadata server and mount point. The OSCAR server is not configured as an I/O server. OSCAR configures PVFS to start automatically when the system is rebooted.

With OSCAR, PVFS is installed in the directory /opt/pvfs, e.g., the libraries are in /opt/pvfs/lib and the manpages are in /opt/pvfs/man. The manpages are not placed on the user's path but can be with the -M option to man. For example,

[root@amy /]# man -M /opt/pvfs/man/ pvfs_chmod

The PVFS utilities are in /opt/pvfs/bin and the daemons are in /opt/pvfs/sbin. The mount point for PVFS is /mnt/pvfs. Everything else is pretty much where you would expect it to be.

PVFS is fully integrated into Rocks on all nodes. However, you will need to do several configuration tasks. Basically, this means following the steps outlined in this chapter. However, you'll find that some of the steps have been done for you.

On the meta-server, the directory /pvfs-meta is already in place; run /usr/bin/mkmgrconf to create the configuration files. For the I/O servers, you'll need to create the data directory /pvfs-data but the configuration file is already in place. The kernel modules are currently in /lib/modules/2.4.21-15.EL/fs/ and are preloaded. You'll need to start the I/O daemon /usr/sbin/iod, and you'll need to mount each client using /sbin/mount.pvfs. All in all it goes quickly. Just be sure to note locations for the various commands.