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Brian Elliott Finley edited this page Aug 2, 2023 · 7 revisions

New and Improved!

Now supports FlashStorage as well as SMClient compatible storage!
(v20.8.4 and newer)

Visual HOWTOs

Videos

The "GPFS Goodies" package includes:

brians_own_hot-add_script

    Hot delete any devices that don't have disk devices associated
    with them (stale LUNs), and hot-add any new devices.

multipath.conf-creator

    Create and optionally deploy a multipath configuration
    appropriate for your LUNs and storage servers.

gpfs_stanzafile-creator

    This script will auto-create a GPFS StanzaFile (written to
    STDOUT) that should be considered an example of how you can
    appropriately balance your disk devices across your NSD servers
    for best performance.  It may be used as-is in many cases.

test_block_device_settings

    This program will summarize key block device settings that
    impact the performance when accessing your disk subsystems.  It
    makes no changes to your system, and is safe to run on live
    production systems.

tune_block_device_settings
    
    This program will examine your environment including GPFS,
    storage servers, disk subsystems, and LUNs, to calculate best
    practice block device tuning settings.  It will create a single
    udev rules file with the tuning settings, using one entry for
    each LUN, and optionally deploy it to each participating storage
    server.


Be sure to take a look at the HOWTO as well as other docs, examples,
and half-baked goodies in:

    /usr/share/gpfs_goodies

Project Page

https://github.com/finley/GPFS-Goodies

Contributions

If you'd like to contribute, please send email to 
Brian Finley <[email protected]>.

Example output from GPFS Goodies commands:

gpfs_goodies

    [root@box ~]# gpfs_goodies
    
    gpfs_goodies v20.9.5
    
    Please try one of the following commands.  They're listed in the order
    of their typical use, from start to finish.  It's OK -- they're all
    safe, and won't do anything but show help information if run with either
    no arguments, or with --help or -h as an argument.
    
        brians_own_hot-add_script
    
            Hot delete any devices that don't have disk devices associated
            with them (stale LUNs), and hot-add any new devices.
    
        multipath.conf-creator
    
            Create and optionally deploy a multipath configuration
            appropriate for your LUNs and storage servers.
    
        gpfs_stanzafile-creator
    
            This script will auto-create a GPFS StanzaFile (written to
            STDOUT) that should be considered an example of how you can
            appropriately balance your disk devices across your NSD servers
            for best performance.  It may be used as-is in many cases.
    
        test_block_device_settings
    
            This program will summarize key block device settings that
            impact the performance when accessing your disk subsystems.  It
            makes no changes to your system, and is safe to run on live
            production systems.
    
        tune_block_device_settings
            
            This program will examine your environment including GPFS,
            storage servers, disk subsystems, and LUNs, to calculate best
            practice block device tuning settings.  It will create a single
            udev rules file with the tuning settings, using one entry for
            each LUN, and optionally deploy it to each participating storage
            server.
    
    
        Be sure to take a look at the HOWTO as well as other docs, examples,
        and half-baked goodies in:
    
            /usr/share/gpfs_goodies
    


brians_own_hot-add_script

    brians_own_hot-add_script [--help|--version|--status|--yes]
    
        All options can be abbreviated to minimum uniqueness.
    
        This program will hot delete any devices that don't have disk
        devices associated with them (stale LUNs), and hot-add any new
        devices.
    
        --help
    
            Show this help output.
    
        --version
    
            Show this program's version number.
    
        --status
    
            Show the current LUN count, but don't actually do anything or
            make any changes.  This count will include all LUNs connected to
            the system, including local devices.
    
        --yes
    
            Hot delete any devices that don't have disk devices associated
            with them (stale LUNs), and hot-add any new devices.
    
            It's important to perform the hot-delete prior to the hot-add,
            as a disk that's no longer present may be still be considered as
            connected, and thus prevent detection of a new disk in that same
            position.
    
            The hot-delete function should be considered "safe", in that it
            won't remove the representation of any disk that is actually
            present and in use, but will only operate on disks that have
            already been removed.  If a disk has been re-located, it's stale 
            SCSI representation will be removed from it's old location and 
            then hot-added in it's new location.
    
            If it all in doubt, look at the code in this script, and make
            your own determination as to the impact of it's operation and/or
            try it in your test environment first.  
            
            You do have a test environment, right?
    
    
        Support: 
        
            This software is provided as-is, with no express or implied
            support.  However, the author would love to receive your
            patches.  Please contact Brian E. Finley <[email protected]>
            with patches and/or suggestions.
    
    
    SUGGESTION:  Please specify either --status or --yes.
    

     
multipath.conf-creator

    [root@box ~]# multipath.conf-creator
    
    multipath.conf-creator v20.9.5
    
        Part of the "gpfs_goodies" package
    
    Usage:  multipath.conf-creator [OPTION...] [--auto-detect | subsystem1 subsystem2...]
    
        Options can be abbreviated to minimum uniqueness.  For example, you 
        could use "-h" or "--h" instead of "--help".
    
        --help
    
        --version
    
        --auto-detect
    
            Highly recomended!
    
            This command will use the output from "SMcli -d" to determine the list
            of subsystems to use.  
            
            If you _don't_ specify this option, you'll need to specify a list of
            subsystems on the command line instead:
    
              multipath.conf-creator subsystem1 subsystem2 etc...
    
    
        --deploy SERVER[,SERVER,...]
    
            Install the following files on each specified server:
            
              - /etc/multipath.conf
                 The file generated by this tool.
            
              - /etc/modprobe.d/scsi_dh_alua.conf
                 Reduce boot time when connected to multipath devices, and eliminate
                 some harmless, but noisy SCSI errors that may be displayed. 
            
              - /var/mmfs/etc/nsddevices
                 Tells GPFS to use your new multipath devices as NSD disks (and to
                 not use any other devices).  Once installed, just run it as a
                 script to see which devices it's choosing.
            
    	I'll also re-build the initrd or initramfs to include your new
    	multipath.conf and scsi_dh_alua.conf files.
    
    
        --out-file FILE
    
            Where FILE is the name you want to use for your shiny new
            multipath.conf file.
    
            Default:  I'll choose one for you and tell you what I've named it.
    
            Example:  --out-file /tmp/multipath.conf.test_run
    
    
        --no-blacklist
    
            Don't blacklist any disks.  By default, this tool will create a
            multipath.conf file that blacklists the local disks.  
            
            Please verify before rebooting your nodes by running 
            'multipath -v3' and examining the output for blacklisted devices.
    
    
        Currently Supported Storage Controllers should include all IBM DS
        Storage Manager (SMClient) compatible subsystems and IBM FlashSystem
        storage.  Testing has been performed on the following models:
    
            FlashSystem 820     DS3860      DCS3700 
            DS3512              DS3524
    
    
        Support: 
        
            This software is provided as-is, with no express or implied
            support.  However, the author would love to receive your
            patches.  Please contact Brian E. Finley <[email protected]>
            with patches and/or suggestions.
    
            To request support for an additional storage subsystem, please
            email the output from 'lsscsi' to <[email protected]>.  Emails
            that have an actual storage subsystem attached (or at least
            remote access to one) are likely to get the most attention. ;-)
    
    
    
    -->  Please run as root
    


gpfs_stanzafile-creator

    gpfs_stanzafile-creator v20.9.5
    
        Part of the "gpfs_goodies" package
    
    Description:
    
        gpfs_stanzafile-creator will auto-create a GPFS StanzaFile that will appropriately
        balance NSD device access across your NSD servers for best
        performance.  
        
        The resultant StanzaFile can be used as-is with the mmcrnsd command,
        and should provide balanced NSD device access from clients (good
        performance) if the following assumptions are true:
    
            That each group of NSD servers specified with each
            --server-group argument:
               
            a) have access to all of the same shared disk devices
    
            b) have been prepared for multipath use with the GPFS Goodies
               multipath.conf-creator tool
    
        If the assumptions above are not true for your environment, you may
        need to hand edit the StanzaFile before use.  If you find you need
        to do this, please email the author(s) with before and after copies
        of your StanzaFile, and any other relevant details, and we will try
        to improve the tool to handle your situation in a future release.
        
        If you are satisfied with the StanzaFile you've created, you can use
        mmcrnsd to initialize the disks (see "man mmcrnsd" for more details):
    
            mmcrnsd -F GPFS_Goodies.StanzaFile
    
        Have fun!  -Brian Finley
    
    
    Usage:  gpfs_stanzafile-creator [OPTION...] --servers SERVER[,SERVER,...]
    
        Options can be abbreviated to minimum uniqueness.  For example, you 
        could use "-h" or "--h" instead of "--help".
    
        --help
    
        --version
    
        -sg, --server-group SERVER[,SERVER,...]
    
            A comma delimited list of servers that are all connected to the
            same multi-pathed disk subsystem(s) (a building block).  Make
            sure that you use the names of the servers as they appear in the
            'Admin node name' column of the output from the 'mmlscluster'
            command.
    
            May be specified multiple times if you have multiple building
            blocks.
    
            Example:  --sg nsd1,nsd2 --sg nsd3,nsd4 --sg nsd5,nsd6
                 or:  --server-group s1,s2,s3 --server-group s4,s5,s6
    
    
        --paths N
            
            Number of paths each server has to each disk.  
            
            For example, if each server has 2x cables connected to each disk
            subsystem, then you would specify 2.  
    
            Default:  2
    
    
        --out-file FILE
    
            Where FILE is the name you want to use for your shiny new
            multipath.conf file.
    
            Default:  I'll choose one for you and tell you what I've named it.
    
            Example:  --out-file /tmp/gpfs_stanzafile-creator.StanzaFile
    
    
        Support: 
        
            This software is provided as-is, with no express or implied
            support.  However, the author would love to receive your
            patches.  Please contact Brian E. Finley <[email protected]>
            with patches and/or suggestions.
    
            To request support for an additional storage subsystem, please
            email the output from 'lsscsi' to <[email protected]>.  Emails
            that have an actual storage subsystem attached (or at least
            remote access to one) are likely to get the most attention. ;-)
    
    
    --> Please try --server-group
    
    

test_block_device_settings

    test_block_device_settings v20.5
    
        Part of the "gpfs_goodies" package
    
    
    This program will summarize key block device settings that impact the
    performance when accessing your disk subsystems.  It makes no changes to
    your system, and is safe to run on live production systems.
    
    Usage:  test_block_device_settings [OPTION...]
    
        All options can be abbreviated to minimum uniqueness.
    
        --help
    
            Show this help output.
    
        --version
    
            Yup.  These are the only two options. ;-)
    
        --test
    
            Perform the test.  This should be considered a safe action.
    
    
        Support: 
        
            This software is provided as-is, with no express or implied
            support.  However, the author would love to receive your
            patches.  Please contact Brian E. Finley <[email protected]>
            with patches and/or suggestions.
    
    
    
    -->  Please run as root
    


tune_block_device_settings

    tune_block_device_settings v20.9.5
    
        Part of the "gpfs_goodies" package
    
    Usage:  tune_block_device_settings --filesystem FSNAME [OPTION...]
    
        tune_block_device_settings should be considered BETA code at this point.  
               
        All options can be abbreviated to minimum uniqueness.
    
        This program will examine your environment including GPFS, storage
        servers, disk subsystems, and LUNs, to calculate best practice block
        device tuning settings.  It will create one udev rules file per file
        system with the new tuning settings, using one entry for each LUN,
        and optionally deploy it to each participating storage server.
    
        This tool is intended to be run with GPFS 'active' on all the NSD
        servers serving your specified file system.
    
        Note that it will skip over and ignore any GSS file systems.  GSS block
        device settings are tuned directly by the GSS software stack.
        
        --help
    
        --version
    
        --filesystem FSNAME
    
            Where FSNAME is the name of the file system whose block devices
            should be tuned.
    
    
        --disks-per-array (NN|NN:POOLNAME,[...])
    
            Where NN is the number of disks in each array.  
            
            Often, each LUN presented to the OS represents one RAID array in
            the storage subsystem.  Here are some examples by array type:
    
              Value for NN    Array Type
              ------------    --------------------------------------------
                   8          8+2p RAID6        (8 data + 2 parity disks)
                   8          8+3p Reed Solomon (8 data + 3 parity disks)
                   4          4+1p RAID5        (4 data + 1 parity disk)
                   1          1+1m RAID1        (1 data + 1 mirrored disk)
    
            Hint #1:  If all of your disks are in the same kind of array
            (e.g.: RAID6 with 8 data disks + 2 parity disks), then you can
            simply use the "NN" format, even if you have multiple file
            systems and multiple pools.
    
            Hint #2:  If you don't know what all this "pool" stuff is about,
            then you probably only have one pool (the "system" pool).  Try
            "mmlspool FSNAME" to have a look if you're curious.
    
            NN - If only "NN" is specified, then it is assumed that NN
            represents the number of disks per array across all file systems
            and living on all pools served by "--servers" (or you only have
            one pool per file system).
    
            NN:POOLNAME - The number of disks (NN) per array across all
            arrays in pool POOLNAME that are part of file system FSNAME.
    
            Examples:
    
                --disks-per-array 8
                --disks-per-array 4:system,8:tier2
    
            Default: 8
    
    
        --test
    
            Create the rules, but don't deploy them.  This is the default
            action if --deploy is not specified.
    
    
        --deploy
    
            Deploy and activate the resultant udev rules file to each
            participating storage server.  Participating storage servers are
            identified by their role as an NSD server for any of the LUNs in
            active file systems.  Execute the command "mmlsnsd" for a list
            of these servers.
            
            The name of the udev rules file on the target NSD servers will
            be: /etc/udev/rules.d/99-gpfs_goodies-FSNAME.rules
    
    
        --out-file FILE
    
            The name of your resultant udev rules file.  This file can be
            given any name you like.  
    
            If you also use the --deploy option, this file will still be 
            deployed to your storage servers with the name of:
            
                /etc/udev/rules.d/99-gpfs_goodies-FSNAME.rules
    
            Example:  --out-file /tmp/my_shiny_new_udev_rules_file.conf
    
            Default:  I'll choose one for you and tell you what I've named
            it.
    
    
        Support: 
        
            This software is provided as-is, with no express or implied
            support.  However, the author would love to receive your
            patches.  Please contact Brian E. Finley <[email protected]>
            with patches and/or suggestions.
    
    
    -->  Try "--filesystem FSNAME"

Also see:

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