3.5.1 Matrix Server Administration Guide

Chapter 8: Configure MxFS-Linux 158

This type of configuration provides the best possible utilization of

resources in the matrix, while also preserving high availability.

Active-Passive Failover Configuration

In an active-passive configuration, one or more nodes act as a backup for

all of the Virtual NFS Services running on the other nodes. The passive

nodes are running NFS, but are not the primary for any Virtual NFS

Services. If an Export Group monitor reports a failure on an active node,

the associated Virtual NFS Service will fail over to a passive node, which

will begin hosting the Export Group. This type of configuration is useful

when the NFS service workload is reaching the capacity of the active

servers and they will not be able to absorb the workload from another

server if it should fail over.

Guidelines for Creating Virtual NFS Services

When creating Virtual NFS Services, follow these guidelines:

• When planning the Virtual NFS Services needed for your matrix, first

determine the network services that will be available to your clients.

Then determine the IP addresses for those services. You will need to

create a Virtual NFS Service for each IP address.

• Choose hostnames that differ from your actual server names. Virtual

NFS Services are independent of specific servers, and their names

should be independent as well.

• Use an IP address that is on the same subnet as the network interfaces

where it will be configured.

• Update the DNS name service or the /etc/hosts file with the virtual

hostnames and IP addresses. (For improved performance, the

Management Console caches hostname lookups. If your DNS changes,

you may need to restart the console so that it will reflect the new

hostname.)

•Do not use ifconfig or another tool to configure the IP address in the

operating system or a system startup script. Matrix Server configures

the operating system appropriately to support the Virtual NFS

Service.