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Release Notes for HP-UX 10.30: HP 9000 Computers > Chapter 6 Major Changes for HP-UX 10.0 and 10.01

NFS Diskless

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As of 10.01, HP has replaced its proprietary technology for "diskless" clusters, commonly known as "DUX" (Distributed HP-UX), with the de facto UNIX standard, NFS Diskless. But HP is retaining the SAM system management tool as the mechanism for cluster management. SAM extends the base feature set of NFS Diskless so as to retain a key strength of "DUX": easy administration from a single seat. This set of enhancements is called Single Point Administration, or SPA for short.

Other Documents

  • For information on upgrading a "DUX" cluster to NFS Diskless, see Upgrading from HP-UX 9.x to 10.x.

  • For an introduction to NFS Diskless concepts, and important background on system administration, see the NFS Diskless Concepts and Administration White Paper, which is on your 10.x system in PostScript format in /usr/share/doc/NFSD_Concepts_Admin.ps. This file is also available in the "HP-UX Upgrade Tools for 9.x to 10.x" package.

  • For information on optimizing NFS client/server configurations, refer to the NFS Client/Server Configuration, Topology, and Performance Tuning Guide White Paper, which is on your 10.x system in PostScript format in /user/share/doc/NFS_Client_Server.ps.

  • For information on setting up and running a new cluster see Chapter 11, "Setting Up and Administering an HP-UX NFS Cluster," in the 10.01 version of the HP-UX System Administration Tasks manual, and the online help in SAM.

What Is NFS Diskless?

NFS Diskless is the industry standard technology for sharing file-system and other hardware and software resources amongst a group of computers connected by one or more LANs (Local Area Networks).

NFS Diskless is like HP's proprietary "DUX" technology (obsolete as of 10.0) in that it:

  • Allows clients to boot remotely from a kernel stored on a remote server

  • Allows the sharing of the root file system

  • Allows the sharing of other resources such as:

    • Swap

    • Non-root file systems

    • Spooled printers

But the underlying mechanisms are different:

Feature                  "DUX" Mechanism                 NFS Diskless Mechanism
======= =============== ======================

Shared file system Proprietary global mount NFS mounts

Private kernel, Context-Dependent Files HP-UX 10.0 File System
device files, etc. (CDFs) Layout

Remote boot RMP BOOTP/TFTP

Remote swap Device swap File-system swap

Client/server Link-level LAN address NFS/TCP-IP
communication

For more details, see “"DUX" versus NFS Diskless: Summary of Key Differences ”.

Reasons for the Change

  • Provides industry-standard file-sharing and remote boot technology

  • Provides basis for future sharing of heterogeneous operating systems and releases (but HP only, current release only, at 10.x)

  • Allows much greater flexibility in configuring and distributing hardware

New Features and Capabilities

  • A server can support clients on multiple LANs

  • A client can boot from a server on a different subnet

  • Any system running HP-UX 10.01 or later can swap to any NFS-mounted file system

  • Clients boot using standard BOOTP/TFTP protocols

    (Existing Series 700 clients with RMP in boot ROM will still boot correctly)

  • Clients can mount local CD-ROM file systems

  • Series 800 systems can be servers

New Parameter

The kernel parameter page_text_to_local controls whether, and where, executable code is swapped. How you set this parameter can affect the performance of an NFS Diskless client:

  • If page_text_to_local is off (0), executable code pages will not be swapped out, but must be re-read from disk if they have been cleared out of memory.

    This is the default.

  • If page-text-to-local is on (1), executable code pages will be swapped out, to the local disk, when they are cleared out of memory.

From this you can see that a client that swaps to its local disk, but executes applications that are not on the local disk, will perform much better if you turn page_text_to_local on (set it to 1).

Old ("DUX") Features No Longer Supported

  • Context-Dependent Files (CDFs)

    NFS Diskless uses the mechanisms provided in the 10.0 file system layout to separate private from shared files (see “The HP-UX 10.0 File System Layout ”.)

    Under 10.x, any CDFs left over from your 9.x system will appear as regular directories that have the SUID bit set.

  • Support for Series 300 and 400 systems as clients and servers

    HP-UX 10.x does not support Series 300 and 400 computers. See the Upgrading from HP-UX 9.x to 10.x manual for more information.

  • Automatic cluster-wide sharing of mounted file systems

    File systems must be shared explicitly (for example via NFS), but SAM-SPA provides global management services.

  • Cluster-wide shutdown

  • POSIX-compliant file system

  • Remote device swap

    NFS diskless uses file-system swap.

  • LAN break detection

    But clients will not panic if the LAN goes down; they will simply wait for communication to be re-established.

  • Support for configuring and reviewing Access Control Lists on (ACLs) on NFS clients

    Commands such as chacl(1) and setacl(1) will fail on an NFS-mounted (imported) file system. But you can still set up ACLs on the NFS server and they will be enforced on the NFS clients.

  • Distributed named pipes

    "DUX" allowed one client to read a named pipe written by another; NFS Diskless does not.

  • Global PIDs (Process Identifiers)

    PIDs are managed on an NFS Diskless node just as they are on a standalone machine.

  • Automatic clock synchronization.

    You must synchronize the client's clock with the cluster time when you add the client via SAM.

  • Certain tunable parameters. (See “Details of Changes for NFS Diskless”.)

For more information:

"DUX" versus NFS Diskless: Summary of Key Differences

The following table summarizes the differences between "DUX" and NFS Diskless clusters, and shows how the SAM-SPA system management tool both extends base NFS functionality and makes it easier to manage.

"DUX" Feature   NFSD equivalent    SAM-SPA enhancement     9.x-10.x change
===============================================================================
Series 700 Series 700
can be clients can be clients
or servers or servers

Series 300/400 Series 300/400 Series 300/400
systems can be not supported cannot upgrade to
clients 10.x and cannot
boot remotely from
10.xut
can import and
and export file
systems.

Series 800 Series 800 Series 800 can be
systems not supported as cluster server, can
supported servers only import and export
at 9.0 file systems and
swap remotely,
but cannot boot
from remote server
"DUX" Feature   NFSD equivalent    SAM-SPA enhancement     9.x-10.x change
===============================================================================
Proprietary bootp/tftp Supported on S700
remote boot only (S800s can be
(RMP) servers).

rbootd(1M) modified
so existing S700s
can boot via NFS.

Clients can boot
across subnet.

Server can support
clients on more than
one LAN card.

File sharing File sharing via Global file system HP-UX now uses
via global NFS management services industry-standard
mount NFS mechanism but
Temporary mounts allows global man-
(not entered in agement via SAM-SPA
/etc/fstab) not
supported by this
service.


Shared/private V.4 file system CDFs no longer
file separ- layout separates supported
ation via CDFs private from
(context- shared directories.
dependent
files)
"DUX" Feature   NFSD equivalent    SAM-SPA enhancement     9.x-10.x change
===============================================================================
Remote or Remote dynamic Remote device swap
local device swap or local not supported.
or dynamic device or
swap dynamic swap Any node can
swap dynamically
to any remote
system (not just to
those with common
cluster server).

Server does not
have to swap to own
disk space.

Swap files not
freed on reboot.

CDROM Mounts supported CDROM volumes
file system on any node can be mounted
(CDFS) on any 10.x system.
support for
mounts on
server only
"DUX" Feature   NFSD equivalent    SAM-SPA enhancement     9.x-10.x change
===============================================================================
POSIX-compliant None The NFS diskless
file system file system is not
POSIX-compliant.

Shared None Global printer
spooling and management services
printing permit sharing

Cluster-wide (Can NFS-mount Cluster-wide backup Service runs on
backup all file systems service backs up cluster server only,
to one server) all private roots though shared
and all shared file systems can
file systems. be backed up
from any node.


Shared mail None Mail service New "private" mail
supports both management service
cluster-wide (for a single node)
and private gives greater
mail management. flexibility than
before.
"DUX" Feature   NFSD equivalent    SAM-SPA enhancement     9.x-10.x change
===============================================================================
Cluster- (NIS) Support for "Private" option
wide user global user and is new.
and group group id's and
id's home directories. Global id's depend
"Private" id's on symbolic links
can also be to group and
configured. password files;
be careful not to
unlink.

Cluster- None Support for Clocks do not
wide time synchronizing synchronize automat-
synchron- cluster time ically as before;
ization via NTP must be configured
(via SAM) when
client is config-
ured.

Distributed None Distributed named
named pipes pipes not supported.
"DUX" Feature   NFSD equivalent    SAM-SPA enhancement     9.x-10.x change
===============================================================================
Global Process None Each node will
Identifiers manage its own PIDs
(PIDs)

Shared /tmp /tmp can be Must NFS mount /tmp
NFS mounted explicitly if you
need to share it.

Shared Access None ACLs cannot be
Control Lists configured on
(ACLs) clients, but will
work on clients
when configured on
server.


Menu-driven None Similar menus
cluster
config.

Remote Task New SAM feature
Monitor for clusters.

Details of Changes for NFS Diskless

New Commands

The commands dcnodes(1M) and dcnodesd (1M)replace cnodes. dcnodes(3X) is the corresponding library routine. Refer to the dcnodes(1) manpage for more information.

swcluster(1M) manages installing and removing software in NFS Diskless clusters.

Changes to Commands and Files

The following commands have new options to support NFS Diskless:

Command         Option    Function
======= ====== ========

swapon(1M) -t Allows choice of type of swap entry
(in /etc/fstabformerly /etc/checklist)
to be processed

mount(1M) -Q Causes mount to ignore file systems
already mounted

Commands, Parameters, Options No Longer Supported

The following commands were specific to "DUX" and are no longer supported:

ccck(1M)
cdf(4)
cfuser(1M)
cluster(1M)
cnodes (1)
context(5)
cps(1)
csp(1M)
cwall(1M)
getcontext(1)
makecdf(1M)
showcdf(1M)

The following commands had "DUX"-specific options that are no longer supported:

Command              Options
======= =======

bdf(1M) -L
chmod(1) -H
fbackup(1M) -H
find(1) -hidden -type H
ftio(1) -H
last(1M) -c
ls(1) -H
mount(1M) -L
pax(1) -H
pwd(1) -H
reboot(1M) -l -b
sync(1M) -l
syncer(1M) -l
tar(1) -H
umount(1M) -L
users(1) -c
who(1) -c

The following library and system calls are disabled or unsupported:

cnodes(2)
cnodeid(2)
getcontext(2)
diskless_stats(2)
endccent(3c)
fgetccent(3c)
ftwh(3c)
getccent(3)
getccid(3c)
getccnam(3c)
getcdf(3c)
getcontext(2)
gethcwd(3c)
hidecdf(3c)
lsync(2)
mkrnod(2)
nftwh(3c)
setccent(3c)
setcontext(2)

cnodes and cnodeid return zero if called on 10.01, and getcontext, setcontext, diskless_stats, lsysnc and mkmod return the EOPNOTSUPP error. The remaining calls in the above list are not recognized on 10.01.

The following kernel parameters were specific to "DUX" and are no longer supported:

num_cnodes
serving_array_size
server_node
using_array_size
dksless_fsbufsn
gcsp
rdu
server_node
check_alive_period
retry_alive_period
selftest_period
reboot_option

Upgrading a Cluster to 10.01

HP has provided tools to upgrade a 9.x "DUX" cluster to 10.01 NFS Diskless. You can then upgrade the NFS Diskless cluster. To upgrade from "DUX", you need the package "HP-UX Upgrade Tools for 9.x to 10.x" and the manual Upgrading from HP-UX 9.x to 10.x, which is part of the package.

A Useful Script

The nfsstat command displays statistical information about the NFS and Remote Procedure Call (RPC) interfaces to the kernel. The NFS Client/Server Configuration, Topology, and Performance Tuning Guide White Paper (on your 10.01 system in /usr/share/doc/NFS_Client_Server.ps) provides a script for collecting these statistics. Here is the source for that script.

#! /usr/bin/ksh
#
#This is a sample script that runs the nfsstat command at given
#intervals and normalizes the output.
#
# Get a series of nfsstat reports and normalize over time.
# Results are reported "per second", whatever the window used.
#
# Invoked as: Program-name interval nfsstat_flags runtime
# All time units are in seconds.
#
# Output:
# The output is similar to the nfsstat format appropriate to the option
# requested with the addition of a % value which is the percent that
# particular field is of the number of calls.

export PATH="/usr/bin/:$PATH"
if [ "$1" = "-f" ] ; then
fileinput=1
shift
echo using files $*
else
if [ "$1" != "" ] ; then
window=$1
else
window=${WINDOW:-60}
fi
echo Window=$window
ttime=$3
if [ "$ttime" = "" ] ; then
ttime=9999999
fi
starttime=$SECONDS
fi
( if [ "$fileinput" = "" ] ; then
while [ "$ttime" -gt $SECONDS ] ; do
let w2=ttime-starttime
if [ "$w2" -le "$window" ] ; then
echo Last window = $w2 >&2
window=$w2
fi
echo "elapsedtime: $et"
/usr/bin/nfsstat $2
echo `'
sleep $window
endtime=$SECONDS
let et=endtime-starttime
starttime=$SECONDS
done
else
echo "elapsedtime: 600" # Assumes data taken over 10 minute interval
cat $*
fi
) | awk `
BEGIN { firsttime=1 }
$1 == "" { firsttime = 0; next}
$1 == "elapsedtime:" {et=$2;print "";
if (firsttime == 1 ) { printf ("Started at ")}
system("date +%D\\ %X"); next}
/^$/ {if (firsttime != 1) { print "" };next}
/^Client |^Server / {class=$0
if (firsttime != 1) { print class }
next}
/^[a-zA-Z]/ {labelstr=$0
for (i=1; i%<= NF; i++) {
label[i]=$i
if (label[i] == "calls" ) {
totcalls=deltaval
}
if (firsttime!=1) {printf("%8s/s ",label[i])}
} if (firsttime != 1) { print "" }
numlabels=NF
getline
datastr=$0
for (i=1;i%<=numlabels;i++) {
if (NF == 2*numlabels) {
datapos=i*2-1
}
else {
datapos=i
}
val=$datapos
if (firsttime != 1) {
deltaval=val-lastval[class label[i]]
if (label[i] == "calls" ) {
totcalls=deltaval
if (totcalls == 0 )
{ totcalls=1 }
}
printf ("%6.2f %2d%% ", deltaval/et,\\
int(100*deltaval/totcalls+0.5))
}
lastval[class label[i]]=val
}
if (firsttime != 1) { print "" }
next
}
{print "error on line: " $0}
` -
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