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

Chapter 2.

Getting Started

This chapter describes procedures for initial setup of GFS 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 GFS, make sure that you have noted the key characteristics of the GFS
Section 1.4, "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 GFS 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 GFS setup consists of the following tasks:
1. Setting up logical volumes
2. Making a GFS files system
3. Mounting file systems
Follow these steps to set up GFS initially.
1. Using LVM, create a logical volume for each Red Hat GFS 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 GFS file systems on logical volumes created in Step 1. Choose a unique name for each file
system. For more information about creating a GFS file system, refer to
File System".
You can use either of the following formats to create a clustered GFS file system:
gfs_mkfs -p lock_dlm -t ClusterName:FSName -j NumberJournals BlockDevice
GFS"). Also, make sure that the clocks on the GFS
Section 3.1, "Creating a
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