Installation And Configuration; Requirements; Operating System; Network - Dell DX6000 Installation And Configuration Manual

Chapter 2. Installation and Configuration

2.1. Requirements

2.1.1. Operating System

DX Storage CSN has been developed and tested with 64-bit RHEL 5.5; other RHEL versions or
Linux distributions are not currently supported. Subsequent installation instructions will assume a
pre-installed RHEL Linux environment with either internet connectivity or an alternately configured
RHEL yum repository for use in installing required 3rd party packages.

2.1.2. Network

The CSN requires access to both the external network as well as a dedicated internal network.
The internal private network ensures the DX Storage cluster traffic is protected from unauthorized
access and also that the external network is isolated from both the PXE network boot server
(including DHCP) and cluster multicast traffic. Allocation of the address space in the internal network
is broken down as follows, depending on the network size selected during initial configuration (small
or large):
Network Size
small (/24)
large (/16)
The CSN range provides IPs for the various services on the Primary and Secondary CSNs. The
3rd Party range is provided for 3rd party applications that need to run on the internal network to
interface with the DX Storage cluster. The DHCP range provides an initial IP to DX Storage nodes
during their initial boot until permanent addresses can be assigned to each DX Storage process by
the CSN. Other applications using the CSN's DHCP server on the internal network will reduce the
number of DX Storage that can be booted at the same time. The Netboot range is used to provide
the permanent IPs for all DX Storage processes.
From a network configuration standpoint, the CSN will automatically allocate half of the detected
NICs to the internal network and half of detected NICs to the external network. All NICs allocated
to a network are bonded into a bond interface using Linux mode 6, or balance-alb, bonding. In
configurations where there is both an onboard NIC card as well as an add-on card and the hardware
supports detection of the difference between the two, the internal/external network allocation will
be disbursed across both cards for redundancy. The CSN NIC assignments may not match the
physical NIC ports.
Note
Network switch configuration is outside the scope of the CSN software. Switches must
be properly configured by an experienced system administrator to ensure correct
connectivity and bonding mode support. In particular, administrators must be careful to
not connect the configured internal network ports to the external network.

2.2. Primary vs. Secondary

With two CSNs on an internal network, there must be one CSN designated as the primary. The
primary CSN is responsible for responding to DHCP requests for the internal network and also
Copyright © 2010 Caringo, Inc.
All rights reserved
CSN 3rd Party
x.y.z.0-16 x.y.z.17-32
x.y.0.0-254 x.y.1.0-254
DHCP
x.y.z.33-48
x.y.2.0-254
3
DX Storage
Netboot
x.y.z.49-254
x.y.3.0-
x.y.255.254
Version 2.0
December 2010