Economy And Performance; Gfs Functions; Cluster Volume Management - Red Hat GFS 5.2.1 Administrator's Manual

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1.2.3. Economy and Performance

Figure 1-3 shows how Linux client applications can take advantage of an existing Ethernet topology
to gain shared access to all block storage devices. Client data files and file systems can be shared with
GFS on each client. Application and device failover can be fully automated with mirroring, failover
software, and redundant devices.
LAN
GNBD
servers
Shared Files
Disk
Disk
1
C
A
Mirrored disk pairs for data availability
Figure 1-3. GFS and GNBD with Direct-Attached Storage

1.3. GFS Functions

GFS is a native file system that interfaces directly with the VFS layer of the Linux kernel file-system
interface. GFS is a cluster file system that employs distributed metadata and multiple journals for
optimal operation in a cluster.
GFS provides the following main functions:

Cluster volume management

•
Lock management
•
Cluster management, fencing, and recovery
•
Cluster configuration management
•
Clients
Applications
GFS
Disk Disk
Disk
1
A B
C
Disk
1
B
Chapter 1. GFS Overview