Managing LVM Storage

For most server environments you are going to have a disk for the OS and possibly a disk for additional data. And in most cases, you would define the layout of the disks in a kickstart file using Logical Volume Manager (LVM). LVM is a robust mechanism to achieve this and is fully supported in …

Managing Files

Controlling files on a minion is a common operation that SaltStack does well. The basic principle is that if the file is changed on the minion, then a state run should return it back to a known State as dictated by the Salt Master. However, you can also use the file as a template and …

Managing CRON via SaltStack

One of the key messages this guide aims to emphasize is “simplicity”. Hand in hand with “simplicity” is “Visibility”, if you can see something related to a State then you can get a better idea of the implications the State will have. One of the powerful features of the UNIX environment has been the CRON …

Using the Salt Stack Scheduler

Overview SaltStack provides a built in scheduling system that allows you to run any functions you could run in a state file. Of particular interest in this article is using the scheduler to periodically run highstates on a Salt Minion and a couple of the management tools to list and remove those scheduled jobs. Prerequisites …

Using PVMOVE

LVM is one of the main stay storage technologies in almost all Linux installations and while adding a Logical Volume (LV) is common, migrating an LV is a task that many System Administrators baulk at. Over time, most Linux Systems that have growing storage needs tend to suffer from add-hoc storage allocation which results in …

HPC Rebuild – 12 Months on

It’s great to be able to review work you have done in the past and then be able to re-factor it for the current climate and in 2023 we will be contracted to re-engineer and upgrade the HPC platform we designed and built for one of Australia’s most prestigious Medical Research Institutes back in 2020-2021. …

Programmatically add LACP

Implementing a Link Aggregation Group (LAG) that uses LACP to aggregate all the defined ethernet links is a well used and documented process. However under Redhat/CENTOS 7 and 8 the addition of NetworkManager can both throw a spanner in the mix and allow an easy way to dynamically add LACP during a kickstart install. During …

Build a Lustre High Performance Cluster

Coming Soon using v2.12.5 Overview Building a (Non HA) Cluster Todo – TCP LNET Overview Metadata Server Todo – Installing the Components – e2fsprogs, kmod, lustre Todo – Recommended Storage Needs (RAID-10 stripes) Todo – /etc/fstab entry for mount on boot. Object Storage Servers Todo – Installing the Components – e2fsprogs, kmod, lustre Todo – …