Understanding the spectrumscale installation toolkit options

Use the following information to understand how to work with the spectrumscale installation toolkit, and toolkit options and limitations.

When you use the spectrumscale installation toolkit to install GPFS™, you do so in two stages:

Using a series of spectrumscale commands to add node and NSD specifications and configuration properties to the cluster definition file.
Using the spectrumscale install command to install GPFS on the nodes specified in the cluster definition file and to apply the configuration options to the cluster.

When you use the spectrumscale installation toolkit to deploy protocols, you do so in two similar stages:

Using a series of spectrumscale commands to specify environment details, to identify which protocols are to be enabled, and to define protocol-specific properties in the cluster definition file.
Using the spectrumscale deploy command to deploy protocols as specified in the cluster definition file.

If you already have an existing GPFS cluster, with GPFS started and at least one file system for the CES shared file system, you can just define protocol nodes in the cluster definition and then deploy protocols.

The topic Using the spectrumscale installation toolkit to perform installation tasks: Explanations and examples shows how to use these command options (listed in Table 1) to perform the installation and deployment. After you review the examples, you can tailor them according to your own needs and then proceed to implement them.

Table 1. `spectrumscale` command options for installing GPFS and deploying protocols
spectrumscale command option	Purpose
node add	Adds node specifications to the cluster definition file.
nsd add	Adds NSD specifications to the cluster definition file.
nsd clear	Clears all NSDs.
nsd delete	Removes a single NSD.
nsd list	Lists all NSDs currently in the configuration.
nsd modify	Modifies an NSD.
filesystem list	Lists all file systems that currently have NSDs assigned to them.
filesystem modify	Changes the block size and mount point of a file system.
auth file	Configures file authentication on protocols in the cluster definition file.
auth object	Specifies Object authentication on protocols in the cluster definition file.
config gpfs	Adds GPFS-specific properties to the cluster definition file.
install	Installs GPFS on the configured nodes, creates a cluster, and creates NSDs.
config protocols	Provides details about the GPFS environment to be used during protocol deployment.
config perfmon	Configures performance monitoring settings
config object	Defines object-specific properties to be applied during deployment.
deploy	Creates file systems and deploys protocols on your configured nodes.
config ntp	Configures NTP settings
upgrade	Upgrades the various components of the installation.

For additional details about these command options, see the spectrumscale command description in the IBM Spectrum Scale: Administration and Programming Reference.

Limitations of the spectrumscale installation toolkit

Before using the spectrumscale installation toolkit to install GPFS and deploy protocols, review the following limitations.

The toolkit does currently not support disabling protocols, uninstalling protocols, or uninstalling GPFS on an existing GPFS cluster. This must be done manually:
- For more detailed information about removing exports, see Managing protocol data exports in IBM Spectrum Scale: Administration and Programming Reference.
- For more detailed information about disabling protocol services, see Managing protocol services in IBM Spectrum Scale: Administration and Programming Reference.
- For information about uninstalling GPFS, see Steps to permanently uninstall GPFS and/or Protocols.
The toolkit currently supports only key-based SSH authentication. If host-based SSH authentication is configured, either set up key-based SSH authentication temporarily for use with the toolkit, or follow the manual steps in Manually installing the GPFS software packages on Linux nodes.
The toolkit will not configure any exports on SMB or NFS. For information about configuring Cluster Export Services and creating exports, see Configuring Cluster Export Services and Managing protocol data exports in IBM Spectrum Scale: Administration and Programming Reference.
The toolkit does not support multiple clusters being defined in the cluster definition.
The toolkit does not currently install or manage packages specific to the IBM Spectrum Scale™ Advanced Edition such as the Crypto package. To use these features after using the installation toolkit you will need to install or upgrade them manually by following the steps in Manually installing the GPFS software packages on Linux nodes.
The toolkit does not support authentication reconfiguration. Also, the toolkit does not use the authentication section of the cluster definition file during upgrade. If you want to change the authentication method, see Modifying authentication method in IBM Spectrum Scale: Administration and Programming Reference.

Configuration changes required to enable spectrumscale installation toolkit to collect core dump data

In order to collect core dumps for debugging programs in provided packages, the following system configuration changes need to be made on all protocol nodes in the cluster:

Install the abrt-cli rpm if not already installed. For example, run rpm -qa | grep abrt-cli to check if already installed, or yum install abrt-cli to install the rpm.
Set OpenGPGCheck=no in the /etc/abrt/abrt-action-save-package-data.conf file.
Set MaxCrashReportsSize = 0 in the /etc/abrt/abrt.conf file.
Start (or restart) the abort daemon (for example, run systemctl start abrtd to start the abort daemon after a new install, or systemctl restart abrtd if the daemon was already running and the values in steps 2 and 3 were changed).

For additional details, refer to documentation about ABRT-specific configuration.

Additional setup steps applicable for NFS

A core dump might not be generated for code areas where the CES NFS process has changed credentials. To avoid this, do the following steps:

Insert the following entry into the /etc/sysctl.conf file:
```
fs.suid_dumpable = 2
```
Issue the following command to refresh with the new configuration:
```
sysctl -p
```
Verify that /proc/sys/fs/suid_dumpable is correctly set:
```
cat /proc/sys/fs/suid_dumpable
```
Note: The system displays the following output if it is correctly set:
```
2
```

If you are reinstalling with the spectrumscale installation toolkit

If you are reinstalling with the spectrumscale installation toolkit, you must perform some cleanup procedures first. See Cleanup procedures required if reinstalling with the spectrumscale installation toolkit.