[Gluster-devel] option client-volume-filename (was) Re: Fwd: [Gluster-devel] proposals to afr

[Matt Paine]

Hi Chris, your mail almost got lost in another thread :)

>      Now I'm really confused.  This option is on the server side.
> Presumably when the client is started it already knows where the file
> is due to -f on the client side.  I don't understand.
> 
>> Its used by '-s' option of glusterfs client for getting the specification
>> file from server.


The client configuration can be pulled in through two different ways:

1) through a local config file specified by -f

OR....

2) pulled in through the servers copy.


If you pull it in through the server then you don't need to distribute a 
new client file to every client every time its modified (when the client 
re-mounts, it will request the config file again from the server and get 
the updated one).

It also means that every client will have a compatable config file. I.e. 
if a volume is ment to be for a union, then all the clients will use it 
as a union if they get there spec files from the server. However, a 
client *may* try to use half of the union directly. This will not be an 
ERROR in the strict sense of the word, but that client will now be 
violating the union filesystem policy.


Hope this clears up some confusions (and doesn't add to it :)


Matt.