Installing NFS4 on CentOS 5 and 6

Taken from Installing NFS4 on CentOS 5 and 6 (my alternative Linux Cluster Blog). This tutorial is a guide on how to install NFSv4 on CentOS 5 and 6.

Step1: Installing the packages

# yum install nfs-utils nfs4-acl-tools portmap

Some facts about the tools above as given from yum info.
nfs-utils -  The nfs-utils package provides a daemon for the kernel NFS server and related tools, which provides a much higher level of performance than the traditional Linux NFS server used by most users.
This package also contains the showmount program.  Showmount queries the mount daemon on a remote host for information about the NFS (Network File System) server on the remote host. For example, showmount can display the clients which are mounted on that host. This package also contains the mount.nfs and umount.nfs program.
nfs4-acl-tools – This package contains commandline and GUI ACL utilities for the Linux NFSv4 client.
portmap - The portmapper program is a security tool which prevents theft of NIS (YP), NFS and other sensitive information via the portmapper. A portmapper manages RPC connections, which are used by protocols like NFS and NIS.
The portmap package should be installed on any machine which acts as a server for protocols using RPC.


Step 2: Exports the File System from the NFS Server (Similar to NFSv3 except with the inclusion of fsid=0)

/home           192.168.1.0/24(rw,no_root_squash,sync,no_subtree_check,fsid=0)
/install        192.168.1.0/24(rw,no_root_squash,sync,no_subtree_check,fsid=1)

The fsid=0 and fsid=1 option provides a number to use in identifying the filesystem. This number must be different for all the filesystems in /etc/exports that use the fsid option. This option is only necessary for exporting filesystems that reside on a block device with a minor number above 255.one directory can be exported with each fsid option.

Exports the file system

# exportfs -av

Restart the NFS service

# service nfs start

If you are supporting NFSv3,  you have to start portmap as NFSv3 requires them. As such, NFSv4 does not need to interact with rpcbind[1], rpc.lockd, and rpc.statd daemons. For more information see Fedora Chapter 9.  Network File System (NFS) – How it works for a more in-depth understanding.

# service portmap restart

Step 2: Client Mapping

# mount -t nfs4 192.168.1.1:/ /home

Updating the udev configuration on CentOS

This is a add-on to the blog entries

1. "Device eth0 does not seem to be present" on cloned CentOS VM
2. Cannot get device settings No such device.

After modifying and updating the udev configuration as seen in the 2 blog entries. You can reload the new udev configuration in the memory. Use the command start_udev

# start_udev

Update the network configuration.

# service network restart

Further information,

1. Look at Changing the ethX to Ethernet Device Mapping in EL6

Tools for OpenFlow

What is OpenFlow?

Taken from http://www.openflow.org/

OpenFlow is an open standard that enables researchers to run experimental protocols in the campus networks we use every day. OpenFlow is added as a feature to commercial Ethernet switches, routers and wireless access points – and provides a standardized hook to allow researchers to run experiments, without requiring vendors to expose the internal workings of their network devices. OpenFlow is currently being implemented by major vendors, with OpenFlow-enabled switches now commercially available.

Tools for Software Defined Network Controller

1. Floodlight
2. Nox

Go Parallel - Wonderful Resource for Parallel Software Development

Go Parallel Website which is sponsored by Intel and partnership with Geeknet has provided a portal for parallel software development from video, tutorials, videos news etc.

Do checkout the site.

NFS4 Information from the University of Michigan

NFSv4 information can be found from the University of Michigan Centre for Information Technology Integration Project NFS Version 4 Open Source Refrence Implementation

I like the rfc3530 definition of NFS v4 definition as written in the site

The Network File System (NFS) version 4 is a distributed filesystem protocol which owes heritage to NFS protocol version 2, RFC 1094, and version 3, RFC 1813. Unlike earlier versions, the NFS version 4 protocol supports traditional file access while integrating support for file locking and the mount protocol. In addition, support for strong security (and its negotiation), compound operations, client caching, and internationalization have been added. Of course, attention has been applied to making NFS version 4 operate well in an Internet environment. 

 Interesting  and relevant information

1. NFSv4 wiki
   (Includes information on 4.1, pNFS prototype)
2. Connectathon Test Suite
3. General troubleshooting recommendations
4. Performance and Stress tests for NFS