Using NFS as a file system type with HP Serviceguard A.11.20 on HP-UX and Linux

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Introduction
This white paper explains how to configure packages that need access to an NFS-imported file system as shared
storage. This capability is available as of HP Serviceguard version A.11.20. In previous releases, Serviceguard has
supported only direct-attached storage, using technologies such as SCSI, Fibre Channel, or SAS.
Note: Although HP Serviceguard A.11.20 supports NFS-imported storage, direct attached storage is still recommended over NFS for
performance reasons.
Audience
This document is for users of HP Serviceguard A.11.20 who want to configure packages that import and mount remote
file systems via NFS.
HP also provides the HP Serviceguard NFS Toolkit, which provides high availability for an NFS server. This capability is
different from what is described in this white paper; see the hp.com/go/hpux-serviceguard-manual documentation for
more information.
It is assumed that the reader has an understanding of HP Serviceguard.
Serviceguard support for NFS on HP-UX and Linux
Overview
In HP Serviceguard A.11.19 and earlier, the storage groups and file systems that were activated by the Serviceguard
packages had to be available locally; remote mounting was not supported. This meant that an application could not be
managed by Serviceguard if the application’s storage was remote. As of A.11.20, HP Serviceguard can manage such
applications via packages that import remote storage using the Network File System. This feature does not in itself
provide High Availability (HA) for the NFS client or server, but HA for the NFS server is supported by the HP Serviceguard
NFS Toolkit.
Supported configurations
• Supported only on HP-UX 11i v3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 and later, 6 and later.
• Supported only for modular-style failover packages (see chapter 6 of the latest version of Managing Serviceguard
Manual for information about package types).
• Supported only on Serviceguard A.11.20, or later
Recommendations
• If the storage is directly connected to all the nodes and shared, configure the storage as a local file system rather than
using the NFS option.
• The same NFS share or files should not be written by multiple nodes or applications at the same time.
• A given NFS share should be mounted on only one mount point at any time.
• Only the cluster nodes may have access to the file systems they import.
• Do not use AutoFS on the cluster nodes that are configured to run the NFS package. Serviceguard assumes that an
NFS share that is used as part of the Serviceguard package is not mounted on any node before the NFS package starts.
If AutoFS mounts the NFS share on the Serviceguard node, the mount may fail on startup or failover.
• Disable CacheFS for all the file systems used by the Serviceguard NFS packages on all the cluster nodes that are
configured to run the NFS package.