Initializing a Storage Cluster

Owned by Rumena Zlatkova (Deactivated)
Last updated: May 23, 2024 by Anjali Tyagi
4 min read

This section describes how to initialize a Swarm node.

Platform Server

Skip this section if using Platform Server: these tasks are already performed.

Follow the readme file in the software distribution that describes how to set up the drive and what to copy over from the software distribution to set up a new USB flash drive with Swarm. Those steps must be completed before beginning edits of the node.cfg on the USB drive. See Creating USB Flash Boot Media.

Warning

Verify no one (including IT personnel and any on-site contractors) reboots a non-Swarm system while a Swarm-configured USB is mounted. The drives can be reformatted, with permanent data loss if a computer accidentally boots from a Swarm USB.

Editing the Configuration File

This section describes how to configure a storage cluster node by manually editing the node and/or cluster configuration file.

Note

A fail-safe timer mechanism is included in the Swarm startup process that restarts the boot process if the boot error screen displays for more than 15 minutes. This reboot is intended to compensate for temporary network loss and is canceled if a keyboard is used on the console.

Manually edit the node.cfg file:

  1. Open the .cfg file on the USB flash drive or PXE configuration server in a text editor.

  2. Set the setting disk.volumes = all. This setting allows Swarm use of all available volumes on the node. 

  3. Set the cluster.name configuration setting to the name of the cluster. Use an IANA-compatible domain name, such as cluster.example.com.
    Important — Configure all nodes in the cluster with the same cluster name.

  4. Modify the network configuration to assign node IP addresses if DHCP is not being used.

  5. Set other configuration settings as desired.

  6. Save and close the .cfg file.

  7. Verify the USB flash drive is safely unmounted or stopped if a node boots from a USB flash drive; otherwise, changes are not saved to the .cfg file.

  8. Verify a valid license.txt file is located in the caringo directory.

  9. Set up and configure the NTP server. See Configuring an External Time Server

  10. Set up and configure the syslog server. See https://perifery.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/public/pages/2443811797

  11. Boot the Swarm node.

Configuring the Storage Volumes

Swarm reads the disk.volumes setting from the node and/or cluster configuration files to determine which disks can be used for content storage. Swarm is pre-configured with a dummy value that prevents the disks on the cluster nodes from being reformatted during the installation procedure. An administrator must edit the disk.volumes setting value with the keyword all or with a list of disks Swarm can use for storage after Swarm is installed.

The easiest way to use all disks in a node for content storage is to use the keyword all:

disk.volumes = all

Swarm automatically excludes the Swarm USB flash drive from being used for storage when using the all keyword.

Set disk.volumes to a space-separated list of drive identifiers to set the disk device names.

Swarm uses standard Linux volume identifiers such as/dev/sda and /dev/sdb. Use the Swarm System Menu or access the Swarm node using another Linux system if volume identifiers cannot be identified.

Using the preceding example, set disk.volumes to:

disk.volumes = /dev/sda /dev/sdb

Configuring the DHCP or Static Network

The easiest way to set up the cluster is to configure DHCP to automatically assign an IP address to each cluster node. DHCP is used by default in a CSN configuration. A DHCP server is needed in the network connected to the cluster nodes. Swarm can be booted from the USB flash drive or network environment when completed.

Edit the network.ipAddress, network.netmask, and network.gateway settings in the node and/or centralized configuration files to assign static IP addresses to the nodes. Set all three settings when using the static IP address configuration option. In a centralized configuration environment, these settings must be set in a custom configuration file on each cluster node because this information cannot be shared between the nodes.

Edit the IP address, network mask, and default gateway settings on the nodes:

Network Settings

network.ipAddress = 10.20.30.101  network.netmask = 255.255.255.0  network.gateway = 10.20.30.1

  1. Open the centralized configuration file or open the configuration file on the first node.

  2. Edit the network settings in the file.

  3. Repeat for each node if editing the node configuration file. No additional changes are required if editing the centralized configuration file.

Setting the Admin Passwords

Booting Swarm Nodes

Verify the basic configuration requirements are completed and the USB flash drive is inserted into the USB port on the cluster node if booting nodes from a USB flash drive. The Swarm operating system loads into system RAM and the caringo\node.cfg file is read from the USB flash drive after the hardware self-test is completed.

Verify the network boot environment is configured and online if booting the nodes from a network. Boot the nodes when completed.

A monitor may be attached to the node, but is not required.

See Creating USB Flash Boot Media.

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