GlusterFS is a system that provides network storage which has the ability to be made fault-tolerant, redundant and scalable. It’s a great option for applications that need access to large files, such as scientific grade storage solutions. What the file system does is aggregates and memory sources through a single global namespace into a pool of storage and it is accessible through multi-file level protocols.
The great thing about GlusterFS is that it is very easy to use and maintain. Here’s how you can set up your own NAS with GlusterFS.
What You Need:
- A network
- GlusterFS
- Linux Boxes
1. Set Up Your Network
Your best bet is connecting GlusterFS to Gigabit Ethernet and a huge array of servers, plus storage devices. If you don’t have these on hand, two computers or VMs are usually sufficient, particularly if you are just getting the hang of it.
2. Install Your Server
Glusterfs is included in the repository of many Linux distros. Before installation, you can first compare the version numbers between the website and your distro. Keep in mind you might have to manually update the clients. If you have a pretty recent version, you can install the server by typing (in Debian-based distro):
sudo apt-get install glusterfs-server
3. Switch to Static IP and Adding/Removing Volumes
Open up the file “etc/network/interfaces”:
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
and remove the line (if present) ifacetho0 inet dynamic, then add the lines:
auto eth0 iface eth0 inet static address 192.168.0.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.0.1 broadcast 192.168.0.255 network 192.168.0.0
Restart your machine and make sure the network is working. If it does, type in the following:
gluster volume create testvol 192.168.0.100:/data
Typing this will create a volume “testvol” which will be stored on the server. Your files will then be located in the “/data” directory which is in the root system and what GlusterFS considers a brick.
To verify that it works, type:
gluster volume start testvol
You can remove the volume later on by typing both:
gluster volume stop testvol
and
gluster volume delete testvol
4. Mounting the Volume Locally
You can do this easily by finding:
mkdir /mnt/gluster
Then, use the command below to mount it.
mount.glusterfs 192.168.0.100:/ testvol /mnt/glusterfs echo "It works" > /mnt/gluster/test. txt
Make sure it works before proceeding.
5. Sharing It Over NFS
More recent versions automatically give NFS access to volumes. You still need to add a portmap package to the server in order to make it work though. To do you this, all you need to do is to add a mount point:
sudo mkdir /mnt/nfsgluster
and type:
sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.0.100:/ testvol /mnt/nfstest/ -o tcp,vers=3
To make a client mount the share on boot, add the details of the GlusterFS NFS share to /etc/fstab in the normal way. For our example, add the line:
192.168.0.100:7997:/testvol / mnt/nfstest nfs defaults,_netdev 0 0
That’s it!
Conclusion
Once you’re set up, you can add a new server by following the above steps. Make sure you give your new server a different IP address. To check the status of your new server, type:
gluster peer probe 192.168.0.101 gluster peer status
If you’d like to work with names rather than IP addresses for your servers, you need to add them to the hosts file on your admin machine. All you have to do is edit /etc/hosts with your text editor and add a line (e.g. 192.168.0.101) for each server.
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Sarah Li Cain
Sarah is a professional blogger and writer who specializes in all things tech, education and entrepreneurship. When she isn’t writing awesome things for her clients or teaching cute kids how to write, you can find her meditating, doing yoga, and making illustrations for her children’s books.
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