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Install GlusterFS, FUSE and other requirements.

emerge -pv fuse glusterfs
[ebuild  N    ] sys-fs/fuse-2.8.5  492 kB
[ebuild  N    ] sys-cluster/glusterfs-3.1.1  USE="-emacs -extras fuse (-infiniband) -static-libs -vim-syntax" 2,024 kB

Ensure the proper modules are loaded.

On Gluster Server systems ensure that the glusterd daemon is started on boot. 

 rc-config add glusterd default

GlusterFS Server NFS Style

This setup will simply use a single system as a Gluster server, similar to a singluar NFS type system. Replace, $name, $host, $path with proper value, $path can reference an existing directory. 

gluster volume create $name transport tcp $host:$path
gluster volume start $name

Simple huh? Now when glusterd is stop/started this volume will be retained. If you are curious about this information look in /var/lib/glusterd.

Connecting a Client

Almost too easy, simply mount it. $host is the Gluster server, $name is the name of the exported volumne and $path is the local path to mount to. 

root@desk # mount -t glusterfs $host:$name $path
# eg:
root@desk # mount -t glusterfs carbon:raid /mnt/raid

GlusterFS as NFS Replacment

In the most simplest configuration GlusterFS can be used in similar fashion to NFS. This configuration has a central GlusterFS server that allows multiple clients to connect. One nice thing to notice is that the clients have no configuration on themselves. The client configuration information is obtained from the server on demand.

GlusterFS Server

This is a single server (but could be more) and it exports only one directory from it's file-system. This directory could be itself mounted on top of LVM or some RAID devices, or whatever posix compatible volume type you choose. There are two methods available, one using a single server side volfile and one that creates a volfile for the server and each of the exports. 

# file: /etc/glusterfs/central-server.vol

# low level volume
volume posix
  type storage/posix
  # this is the directory on this host we want to export
  option directory /mnt/raid
end-volume

# layer locking on top
volume big
  type features/locks
  subvolumes posix
end-volume

# and export as server
volume server
 type protocol/server
 # allow everyone
 option auth.addr.big.allow *
 option client-volume-filename /etc/glusterfs/glusterfs-client.vol
 option transport-type tcp/server
 # option volume-filename.big-key /etc/glusterfs/red.vol
 subvolumes lock
end-volume

Server Side Client Configuration volfile

This file is created on the server and clients will reference it when mounting 

volume big
    type protocol/client
    option transport-type tcp
    option remote-host carbon     # IP address of the remote brick
    option remote-subvolume big   # name of the remote volume
end-volume

# volume red
#  type protocol/client
#  option transport-type tcp
#  option remote-host 192.168.0.1    # IP address of the remote brick
#  option remote-subvolume red       # name of the remote volume
# end-volume

GlusterFS Client

This machine needs no special configuration for Gluster, just the gluster installation. Below we will mount the exported share, and show an example of automounting 

root@host # glusterfs --volfile-server=gfs00 /mnt/raid

See Also