[Gluster-devel] Multiple NFS Servers (Gluster NFS in 3.x, unfsd, knfsd, etc.)

[Gordan Bobic]

Shehjar Tikoo wrote:
> ----- "Gordan Bobic" <gordan at bobich.net> wrote:
>> I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but Google has failed
>> me 
>> and it is rather related to the upcoming Gluster NFS export feature. 
>> What I'm interested in knowing is whether it will be possible to run 
>> Gluster NFS export for glfs mounts while using knfsd as per standard
>> for 
>> exporting non glfs paths?
> 
> With native NFS there'll be no need to first mount a glusterFS
> FUSE based volume and then export it as NFS. The way it has been developed is that
> any glusterfs volume in the volfile can be exported using NFS by adding
> an NFS volume over it in the volfile. This is something that will become
> clearer from the sample vol files when 3.0.1 comes out.

It may be worth checking the performance of that solution vs the 
performance of the standalone unfsd unbound to portmap/mountd over 
mounted glfs volumes, as I discovered today that the performance feels 
very similar to native knfsd and server-side AFR, but without the 
fuse.ko complications of the former and the buggyness of the latter 
(e.g. see bug 186: 
http://bugs.gluster.com/cgi-bin/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=186 - that bug 
has been driving me nuts since before 2.0.0 was released)

I'd hate to see this be another wasted effort like booster when there is 
a solution that already works.

> The answer to your question is, yes, it will be possible to export your
> local file system with knfsd and glusterfs distributed-replicated volumes
> with Gluster NFS translator BUT not in the first release.

See comment above. Isn't that all the more reason to double check 
performance figures before even bothering?

In fact, I may have just convinced myself to acquire some iozone 
performance figures. Will report later.

>> e.g. if /home is a glfs mounted volume and /usr/src is on a raw block
>>
>> device, will it be possible to have /home handled by the glfs NFS
>> export 
>> while having /usr/src handled by the native knfsd?
>>
> 
> Also, you'll be able to export both using the Gluster NFS server and
> not need the knfsd at all but that is irrelevant for you I suppose.

You mean use glusterfsd to export both glfs volumes and raw disk 
volumes? Why on earth re-invent unfsd?

> The NFS translator right now does not make it possible for
> the knfsd and Gluster NFS to co-exist on the same box(even if the above
> options are used) but it is not hard to do and I will include this option
> in one of the subsequent releases.

Let me get some iozone figures on unfsd in this new performance enhanced 
way vs. server-side AFR glfs client. It may end up saving you some effort.

>> One possible work-around I can think of is to have one daemon listen
>> for 
>> NFS connections on TCP and the other on UDP, but this is a bit lame.
> BTW, we're only supporting NFS over TCP in the upcoming NFS translator.

Hmm... I'm not sure of that's a good thing or a bad thing...

Gordan