QUESTION:
My customer is looking for the best way to implement NIS/NFS to allow
their users in 4 different geographic locations to be able to login
from an Xstation and see the same environment (ex. password, group,
home directory, and application files) from any Xstation in their
network. Each of the four locations will be configured as follows:
XSTATION <----> Bootserver <--------/---------> Application Server
(LAN)(WAN)
We are proposing IBM Xstation 140s, but NCD, Techtronix, HP, and others
are competing for the business. The bootservers are 7011-250s with the
exception of one location which will be using SUN Sparc 10s. The
bootservers will be providing local login support, Xserver code for the
Xstations, fonts, and Motif Window Manager. The application servers will
run all the user applications (character and GUI), and store all the
user data files.
We are looking for recommendations on how to implement NIS/NFS to
provide transparency to the end user. Where should the NIS Master and
Slave(s) reside? How should NFS be configured? What naming conventions
should we use for mount points? What directories should be mounted
(ex. /home, /usr, etc.) and how should it be implemented?
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A: It is difficult for me to make a recommendation without the
following information.
1) What will the physical network be like, i.e. where are
the routers, bridges, WAN's, LAN's, terminals. A diagram
would be very helpful. My fax # is (512) 823-7146.
2) Will employees be traveling from one subnet location to
another subnet location?
3) How transparent do you wish the configurations to be? Should
the machines appear identical from a sysadmin's view or just
from the user's perspective?
4) How many users will be at each location?
5) How much time does the sysadmin have for managing the network?
6) Do you wish to have all data files at a central location or
only on the application servers?
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QUESTION:
Answers to your questions.
1) I will fax a network diagram later this morning.
2) There are four cities involved. In Texas, it is Dallas, Houston, and
San Antonio. In Arkansas, it is Little Rock. The SWBT assigned class
"B" address range is 132.201.XXX.XXX. They currently do not use
subnetting. The users will travel between the four locations.
3) From a SysAdmin point of view, the machines should be configured
consistently between the various cities. However, NFS mount points
could be named based on the name of the machine or the city. From
the users perspective, it needs to be transparent.
4) Following is a count of the concurrent users by city:
110 for Dallas
75 for Houston
75 for Little Rock
90 for San Antonio
5) There is a SysAdmin staff of 5 to 7 people that will be supporting
this network full-time. We have discussed SysAdmin tools such as
DSMIT, NV/6000, Perf Toolbox, etc. to help with the SysAdmin tasks.
6) The application files will reside on the 7013-5XX in each of the
respective cities.
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A: First, I would consider using AFS rather than NFS. AFS is a product
of TransArc USL which allows for remote file system mounting that is
much more reliable than NFS over X.25 WAN's. AFS is also much
simpler to set up and maintain than NFS. Either way, there are
two options for the file servicing:
1) Have each application server hold all local applications and
data files, then cross mount (via NFS or AFS) the other three
application server's file systems. This would make the machines
at all locations look alike.
2) Place all files and applications on the 7013-580 in Dallas, then
for the other three locations, mount the entire application file
system from Dallas on the local application server.
I am split right down the middle on this one. The second option
makes for easy administration, but if the applications are disk
intensive the network could loose performance. The first option
provides some redundancy in that if you loose one of the application
servers, any one of the other three could double up and take its
place, assuming the applications are common to all locations.
As far as a naming convention, I would mount each
filesystem under the city name like such:
/usr/apps/dallas
/usr/apps/santonio
/usr/apps/lrock
/usr/apps/houston
I would also use the 7013-580 in Dallas as the NIS login server.
You could make the other three application servers slaves, but
I cannot justify the increase in administration for the small
increase in performance. I would, however, if each location were
a subnet.
Overall, my pic would be: AFS, single file server/NIS- no slaves.
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QUESTION:
The WAN is NOT X.25, it is TCPIP and the customer requirement is NFS.
Please diagram an example of how the NFS mounting would take place
between the bootservers and the application servers, and between the
application servers. Also, how wouln NIS be configured with the
bootservers, application server slaves, and the Dallas Master NIS
server.
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A: Normally I would refer you to InfoExplorer, but in this case,
I will elaborate.
NOTE: This howto is based on AIX 3.2.5. For other AIX levels,
the smit actions will be different, be the theory is the same.
First, I'll explain how the NIS will be setup.
The NIS master will be the 7013-580 in Dallas. This machine will
hold the master copy of /etc/hosts. This file will contain the IP
addresses of each machine on the network along with its
corresponding machine name. The format of this file is:
# IP Address Hostname Nickname (optional)
# -----------------------------------------------------------------
132.201.123.123 Test1.dallas.ibm.com Test1
You will want to edit this file before you do anything else, making
sure that you list every machine on the network, and ensuring that
each IP address is only used once.
After this, run "smitty yp" on the 7013-580 in Dallas. REMEMBER,
at any time in smit, you may press F1 to get help.
NOTE: At every prompt that says "START ???? now, on system restart
or both" enter BOTH.
1) Select "Change NIS Domain Name of this Host" and enter your
domain name. Press Enter.
2) Select "Configure / Modify NIS" and then select "Change NIS
Domain Name of this Host" and enter your domain name.
Press enter.
3) Select "Configure this Host as a NIS Master Server". Enter
the names of the three application servers in San Antonio,
Houston, and Little Rock in the field "Host that will be slave
servers". Enter "yes" in all other fields. Press enter
This concludes the NIS configuration on the Dallas node.
The NIS setup on the remaining three application servers to
configure them as slave servers is as follows:
1) Run "smitty yp" on each application server , select
"Configure/ Modify NIS". Select "Configure this Host as a
NIS Slave Server. Enter the full name of the 7013-580 in
Dallas in the field "HOSTNAME of the master server". Set all
other options to "yes". Press enter.
This concludes the NIS setup on the NIS slave machines.
FOR ALL MACHINES ON THE NETWORK:
1) Run "smitty yp" on each machine, select "Configure
/ Modify NIS". Select "Configure this Host as a NIS
Client". Press enter. Press enter again.
THIS CONCLUDES THE NIS SETUP.
Originally, I had said it would be better to place all files on
the 7013-580 in Dallas - Since I'm walking you through the setup,
let's go ahead and spread the files over all of the application
servers. The NFS configuration will be as follows:
To start NFS running on the application servers:
1) On each of the application servers, run "smitty _nfs".
Select "Configure NFS on this system", then select
"Start NFS" and press enter. Press enter again.
To create the directory structure needed for the applications:
1) On each of the application servers, create the following
directories:
/apps
/apps/dallas
/apps/houston
/apps/santonio
/apps/ltrock
To export the directories on each application server:
1) On each application server, run "smitty _nfs", select
"Add a directory to the Exports List" and press enter.
Under "PATHNAME of directory to export", enter the
/apps/.local_city_name. directory.
2) Enter the following options:
MODE to export directory read-write
Anonymous UID .-2.
Use SECURE option no
EXPORT now, restart or both both
Press enter.
To mount remote file systems from other application servers:
1) Run "smitty _nfs" on each system. Select "Add a filesystem
for mounting". Now it gets tricky - you will have to repeat
this three times for each of the remote sites. The pathname
of mount point will be /app/.city_name.. The pathname of the
remote directory will be the same. The HOST on which the
directory resides will be the name of the application server
in the remote city. Enter the following options:
Use SECURE mount option no
Mount now,add entry... both
/etc/filesystems entry will... yes
MODE for this NFS file system read-write
ATTEMPT mount in foreground... background
Number of times to attempt mount 3
All other options leave at default.
When done, you will have completed nine mounts - three on each
of the application servers.
Now, you may install your local applications on each application
server, under the /apps/.local_city_name. directory.
I will diagram what you have just done:
________________________________________________________________________
| DALLAS LITTLE ROCK |
| |
| TERM's----BOOTSERVER #1 #2 BOOTSERVER------TERM's |
| | | |
| APPLICATION APPLICATION |
| SERVER #1 SERVER #2 |
| \ / |
| \---------\_________/--------/ |
| | | |
| | WAN | |
| |___________| |
| /--------/ \-------\ |
| / \ |
| APPLICATION APPLICATION |
| SERVER #3 SERVER #4 |
| | | |
| TERM's----BOOTSERVER #3 #3 BOOTSERVER------TERM's |
| |
| SAN ANTONIO HOUSTON |
|______________________________________________________________________|
AP #1 is handles all NIS name servicing, passwords, and user ID's.
Each AP Server is exporting its local app's to the three other AP
servers. Each AP server is mounting the app's from each of the three
other AP servers. Therefore, each AP server has a directory structure
like this:
/apps/dallas - for DALLAS AP server this is local
/apps/houston - at Dallas, this is a remote system
/apps/santonio - at Dallas, this is a remote system
/apps/ltrock - at Dallas, this is a remote system
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QUESTION:
The users will login directly to the bootservers. I think I would
rather have my HOME directory located on the applicable application
server. What do you recommend? If you agree with me, how would NFS be
setup for the bootservers?
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A: Sorry I didn't mention it. The best way to set up the home
directories is very similar to the way we set up the applications.
On the application servers and the bootservers, create a common
directory, such as /users, then place each branch's home
directories under a separate directory beneath /users.
Like this:
/users/houston
/users/santonio
/users/ltrock
/users/dallas
The setup will be very similar to the application NFS setup.
On every bootserver, you need to run "smitty _nfs", select
"Configure NFS on this system" and press enter. Then select
"Start NFS" and press enter. Be sure The line "Start now,
on system restart, or both?" has the value BOTH.
On the application servers, export the /users/.local_city_name.
by following the section above labeled "To export the directories
on each application server", substituting /users/.local_city_name.
for /apps/.local_city_name..
On each bootserver, mount the user directories by following the
section above labeled "To mount remote file systems from other
application servers:"; except you will be running "smitty _nfs"
on each bootserver rather than on the application servers, and
exchanging /users/.local_city_name. for /apps/.local_city_name.
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This item was created from library item Q671951 CVZKD
Additional search words:
COMMUNICATIO CVZKD GUIDE HELP IMPLEMENTING IX NFS NIS OCT94 OZNEW
OZNOTPID RISCSYSTEM RISCTCP SOFTWARE TCPIP URGENT
WWQA: ITEM: RTA000048981 ITEM: RTA000048981
Dated: 04/1996 Category: RISCTCP
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