[ofa-general] Installing nfs-rdma with OFED-1.4.1

Fri Jun 26 07:31:50 PDT 2009

Latest news:  I've bodged the installation, but I'm having problems
with nfs.mount now.

Since everything worked with nfs-rdma on the development server, I
manually copied the kerel-ib rpm file from there, and installed that
on top of the default infiniband install on the live server, using the
command:

# rpm -iv --replacepkgs kernel-ib.......

With that done modprobe xprtrdma now works.

Since the kernel-ib file appears to be the only one modified as
nfsrdma support is added, I assume this is all that's needed.  Can
anybody confirm if this is ok, or whether I'm going to break things
horribly by doing this?

I also have nfs v1.1.6 installed, but it doesn't seem to understand
the rdma option.  The system is still using tcp by default, and if I
try to use rdma, I get this:

# mount -o rdma, port=20049 server:path /mnt
mount.nfs: Unsupported nfs mount option: rdma

However, nfs is definitely the correct version:
# mount.nfs -V
mount.nfs (linux nfs-utils 1.1.6)

Even using the mount.rnfs utility supplied with OFED doesn't help:
# rpm -iv rnfs-utils-1.1.5-2.OFED.i386.rpm
# mount.rnfs server:path /mnt -o rdma,port=20049
mount.rnfs: Unsupported nfs mount option: rdma

And if I use mount.rnfs without the rdma option, "cat /proc/mounts"
reports that it's just using tcp.

I'm getting read speeds of around 400MB/s using regular NFS which
isn't bad, but I know I can achieve over 900MB/s with this server over
Infiniband, so there's still some way to go.

Ross

On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 2:06 PM, Ross Smith<myxiplx at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Ok, I've made a little more progress.
>
> The issue with nfs-utils was solved by installing efsprogs-devel, and
> mount.nfs is now reporting that it's running v1.1.6.
>
> I still can't install OFED with nfs-rdma on the live server though, it
> appears that it's unable to use the rpm package to install with nfs
> support.
>
> I've now discovered how to use the ofed.conf file, and this is the
> procedure I'm following:
>
> - On the development server, I run install.pl and perform a standard install
> - Once that finishes, I edit the resulting ofed.conf and add nfsrdma=y
> - Still on the development server I run:
>  # install.pl -c ofed.conf
> - That can be seen to install most items from the rpm, and to
> recompile kernel-ib with the nfsrdma option.
> - I then package up the OFED folder with tar, and send it to the live server
> - On the live server I run the same command:
>  # install.pl -c ofed.conf
>
> Despite it running with exactly the same options, I get the error:
>
> "/lib/modules/2.6.18......./build/scripts is required to build kernel-ib RPM.
> Please install the corresponding kernel-source or kerenel-devel RPM."
>
> If I exclude the nfsrdma option and repeat all the above steps, the
> script installs fine from the pre-compiled RPM.
>
> It looks to me like a problem with the install script when choosing nfs-rdma.
>
> Does anybody have any suggestions as to how I can work around this?
> Am I able to simply install the RPM files manually?
>
> Ross
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 12:25 PM, Ross Smith<myxiplx at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> Thanks Robert,
>>
>> Looking through your notes, we've followed similar steps.  I should
>> mention that I do have Infiniband working on this server, including
>> ipoib.  It's purely the nfs-rdma part I'm struggling with.
>>
>> My latest attempt has been to attempt a custom install, selecting
>> nfs-rdma manually.  That worked fine on the development server, but
>> when I attempted to run it on the live server I had an error:
>>
>> "/lib/modules/....../build/scripts is required to build kernel-ib RPM.
>> Please install the corresponding kernel-source or kernel-devel RPM.
>> tk rpm is required to install ibutils"
>>
>> The problem is, for XenServer, you can't get the kernel-source on the
>> live server, instead Citrix ship a DDK (driver development kit)
>> virtual machine, which is a pre-built system with all the kernel
>> sources you need.
>>
>> OFED builds fine on the DDK machine, and for the default installation,
>> I can compile everything there and then transfer the OFED folder (with
>> the compiled RPM files) to the live server.  At that point install.pl
>> runs fine, without needing to re-compile things.
>>
>> However, it appears that when I choose some elements in the custom
>> install, it is not using these RPM files, and is trying to compile
>> kernel-ib again from scratch.
>>
>> I have attached a file listing the custom modules I have chosen in
>> case it helps.
>>
>> Ross
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 11:42 AM, Robert Dunkley<Robert at saq.co.uk> wrote:
>>> Hi Ross,
>>>
>>> I installed OFED 1.3.1 (Older I know) with other options OK on a Centos
>>> 5.2 Dom0 (Separate Xen install on Centos, not "Xen Server"), here is
>>> some notes I took (I used the GUI installer)
>>>
>>> Hope this helps,
>>>
>>> Rob
>>>
>>> 1.      Download the OFED package from
>>> http://www.openfabrics.org/downloads/OFED/
>>> 2.      Extract it: tar -xvzf OFED-1.3.1.tgz
>>> 3.      Check for the dependencies by running ./install.pl and choosing
>>> documentation ("0").
>>> 4.      Install all required dependencies using yum install package nam.
>>> For Centos dependencies try: yum install gcc libstdc++-devel
>>> libsysfs-devel tcl tcl-devel tk pciutils-devel kernel-devel rpm-build
>>> gcc libtool bison flex tcl-devel swig gcc-c++ libtool kernel-xen-devel
>>> zlib-devel You may need to run the yum command three times (It takes a
>>> few runs for all the dependencies to sort themselves out)
>>> 5.      It is recommended you now upgrade the kernel to make sure the
>>> sources match it. For centos do: yum upgrade kernel (Or yum upgrade
>>> kernel-xen for Xen setups)
>>> 6.      Run ./install.pl again but this time choose to install ("2") and
>>> choose custom install ("4").  See the appendix for a recommendation on
>>> which modules to install.
>>> 7.      Install should now complete, if it fails check the log (Most
>>> likely you have not installed a required software package - go back to
>>> step 3)
>>> 8.      Say yes to configuring IPOIB (If you plan to use it) and
>>> manually set the IP and subnet. When it asks for a network it wants the
>>> base network address (If given an IP of 192.168.10.12 on a 255.255.255.0
>>> subnet then the "Network" would be 192.168.10.0)
>>> 9.      Reboot
>>> 10.     Check the install using /etc/init.d/openibd status. This should
>>> show one interface for each Infiniband port (First will be "ib0"). You
>>> should also see quite a few modules loaded, the important ones are
>>> (mlx4_ib & mlx4_core - QLogic drivers, mthca - Mellanox driver, ib_core
>>> & ib_addr - core services, rdma_ucm & rdma_cm - RDMA, ib_cm & ib_ipoib -
>>> IPOIB and ib_uverbs - Direct/Verb)
>>> 11.     Run ibstat - This should display the installed devices and their
>>> firmware versions and hardware / GUI IDs. If you need to update the
>>> firmware for Mellanox see
>>> http://www.mellanox.com/support/firmware_download.php I find it easier
>>> to update using Windows and the WinOF software (Windows equivalent of
>>> OFED - Available here: http://www.openfabrics.org/downloads/WinOF/ ).
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: general-bounces at lists.openfabrics.org
>>> [mailto:general-bounces at lists.openfabrics.org] On Behalf Of Ross Smith
>>> Sent: 26 June 2009 11:36
>>> To: nfs-rdma-devel at lists.sourceforge.net; general at lists.openfabrics.org
>>> Cc: Yehonatan Yossef
>>> Subject: [ofa-general] Installing nfs-rdma with OFED-1.4.1
>>>
>>> Hello everyone,
>>>
>>> Can anybody help me get nfs-rdma installed on CentOS 5.2 (actually
>>> Citrix XenServer), with OFED-1.4.1?
>>>
>>> The default install of OFED doesn't include nfs-rdma, and I'm
>>> struggling to work out which components I do and don't need for a
>>> custom build.
>>>
>>> What I would like to include is:
>>> - Core infiniband components
>>> - Drivers for Mellanox Infinihost III Lx (MHES14)
>>> - IPoIB
>>> - nfs-rdma
>>> - troubleshooting and diagnostic tools (ibstat, ibtracert, ibswitches,
>>> ibhosts, etc...)
>>>
>>> My last attempt was following the instructions from OFED 1.4 - I
>>> edited ofed.conf to add nfsrdma=y, and attempted a default install.
>>> However after running install.pl, that change appears to have been
>>> overwritten.
>>>
>>> I am also having problems updating mount.nfs on this machine.  Both
>>> nfs-utils-1.1.6 and nfs-utils-1.2.0 fail to install with the error:
>>> "blkid/blkid.h: No such file or directory", and I cannot yet find a
>>> source for this file.
>>>
>>> Finally, my understanding is that nfs-rdma is in beta status for
>>> CentOS 5.2, but I couldn't see any open bugs on the tracker, are there
>>> any issues I should be aware of?
>>>
>>> thanks,
>>>
>>> Ross
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