New And Changed Features; Performance, Scalability, And Economy; Superior Performance And Scalability - Red Hat GLOBAL FILE SYSTEM 5.2 Manual

Chapter 1. GFS Overview

1. New and Changed Features

This section lists new and changed features included with the initial release of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.
• GULM (Grand Unified Lock Manager) is not supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. If your
GFS file systems use the GULM lock manager, you must convert the file systems to use the
DLM lock manager. This is a two-part process.
• While running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, convert your GFS file systems to use the DLM
lock manager.
• Upgrade your operating system to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, converting the lock manager
to DLM when you do.
For information on upgrading to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and converting GFS file systems
to use the DLM lock manager, see Configuring and Managing a Red Hat Cluster.
• Documentation for Red Hat Cluster Suite for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 has been expanded
and reorganized. For information on the available documents, see
Documentation".

2. Performance, Scalability, and Economy

You can deploy GFS in a variety of configurations to suit your needs for performance,
scalability, and economy. For superior performance and scalability, you can deploy GFS in a
cluster that is connected directly to a SAN. For more economical needs, you can deploy GFS in
a cluster that is connected to a LAN with servers that use GNBD (Global Network Block Device).
The following sections provide examples of how GFS can be deployed to suit your needs for
performance, scalability, and economy:
• Section 2.1, "Superior Performance and Scalability"
• Section 2.2, "Economy and Performance"
Note
The deployment examples in this chapter reflect basic configurations; your needs
might require a combination of configurations shown in the examples.

2.1. Superior Performance and Scalability

You can obtain the highest shared-file performance when applications access storage directly.
2
Section 2, "Related