How to Configure glusterfs on centos and RHEL

GlusterFS

GlusterFS is a free software originally developed by Gluster, Inc., then after Red Hat, Inc., acquired Gluster in 2011. By using this software we can make a very large storage, that is combining multiple storage servers with the help of interconnect like 1G Ethernet or Infiniband. In simple terms we can say aggregate multiple storage servers to form a large storage that can be accessed by clients.

Advantages of GlusterFS:-

• Open Source
• Scale storage size up to several petabytes
•  High Performance & IO
• You can deploy GlusterFS with the help of commodity hardware servers

Following Types of volume can be created in your GlusterFS Environment:-

• Distributed
  
• Replicated
  
• Striped
  
• Distributed Striped
  
• Distributed Replicated
  
• Distributed Striped Replicated
  
• Striped Replicated
  

NOTE:- brick is an export directory on a server

1) Distributed 

This type of volume simply distributes the data evenly across the available bricks in a volume.most basic GlusterFS volume type is a “Distribute only” volume, if I write 100 files, on average, fifty will end up on one server, and fifty will end up on another. This is faster than a “replicated” volume. 

Now we are going to configure a distributed volume using 2 servers which can be able to use from GlusterFS Clients

OS Version:- RHEL 6.5
Server1 Hostname:- server1.example.comServer1 IP :- 172.66.249.15
Server2 Hostname:- server2.example.comServer2 IP :- 172.66.249.16
Client Machine Hostname:- client.example.comClient IP :- 172.66.249.17

Step1:- Login to Server 1 then configure as follows. 

First download the repo file:-

Then Install the necessary Components:-

 start the glusterd service

Add IP and hostname entry to /etc/hosts file this is the file used to determine the IP address that corresponds to a host name

Format and Mount the partition 

[NOTE:- Configure the same settings in server2 ]

 STEP 2:- Login to Server 2 then configure as follows

[root@server2 ~]# wget http://download.gluster.org/pub/gluster/glusterfs/LATEST/CentOS/glusterfs-epel.repo -P /etc/yum.repos.d

[root@server2 ~]# yum -y install glusterfs-server

[root@server2 ~]# /etc/init.d/glusterd start

Starting glusterd: [ OK ]

[root@server2 ~]# chkconfig glusterd on

[root@server2 ~]# vi /etc/hosts

172.66.249.15 server1.example.com server1

172.66.249.16 server2.example.com server2

172.66.249.17 client.example.com client

[root@server2 ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes

64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 20480 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x000c7fe4

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 2 501 512000 83 Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

/dev/sda2 502 20480 20458496 8e Linux LVM

Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Disk /dev/mapper/vg_server1-lv_root: 18.8 GB, 18798870528 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2285 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/mapper/vg_server1-lv_swap: 2147 MB, 2147483648 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 261 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb: 26.8 GB, 26843545600 bytes

64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 25600 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

# create a directory for GlusterFS volume

[root@server2 ~]# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb

[root@server2 ~]# mkdir /server2/disk2 -p

[root@server2 ~]# mount /dev/sdb /server2/disk2/


Then again go to the server1

Create a gluster volume by using this command

[root@server1 ~]# gluster volume create My_GFS_Volume
server1:/server1/disk1/volume1 server2:/server2/disk2/volume2

Next you should start the volume then only you can access it from client

STEP 3:- Install and Configure the Client Components

[root@client ~]# wget http://download.gluster.org/pub/gluster/glusterfs/LATEST/CentOS/glusterfs-epel.repo -P /etc/yum.repos.d

[root@client ~]# yum -y install glusterfs glusterfs-fuse

 mount the volume on /mnt

2) Replicated

This type of volume is maintain the copy of data on all the bricks, but number of replicated volumes you want to create is depends on your choice (or) need. It is mainly used for better reliability and data redundancy.
For creating replicated:-