Getting Started; Prerequisite Tasks; Initial Setup Tasks - Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 5 - GLOBAL FILE SYSTEM 2 Manual

Chapter 2.

Getting Started

This chapter describes procedures for initial setup of GFS2 and contains the following sections:
Section 2.1, "Prerequisite Tasks"
•
Section 2.2, "Initial Setup Tasks"
•

2.1. Prerequisite Tasks

Before setting up Red Hat GFS2, make sure that you have noted the key characteristics of the GFS2
Section 1.1, "Before Setting Up
nodes (refer to
nodes are synchronized. It is recommended that you use the Network Time Protocol (NTP) software
provided with your Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution.
Note
The system clocks in GFS2 nodes must be within a few minutes of each other to prevent
unnecessary inode time-stamp updating. Unnecessary inode time-stamp updating
severely impacts cluster performance.

2.2. Initial Setup Tasks

Initial GFS2 setup consists of the following tasks:
1. Setting up logical volumes.
2. Making a GFS2 files system.
3. Mounting file systems.
Follow these steps to set up GFS2 initially.
1. Using LVM, create a logical volume for each Red Hat GFS2 file system.
Note
You can use init.d scripts included with Red Hat Cluster Suite to automate
activating and deactivating logical volumes. For more information about init.d
scripts, refer to Configuring and Managing a Red Hat Cluster.
2. Create GFS2 file systems on logical volumes created in Step 1. Choose a unique name for each
file system. For more information about creating a GFS2 file system, refer to
a File System".
You can use either of the following formats to create a clustered GFS2 file system:
mkfs.gfs2 -p lock_dlm -t ClusterName:FSName -j NumberJournals BlockDevice
GFS2"). Also, make sure that the clocks on the GFS2
Section 3.1, "Making
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