[gpfsug-discuss] GPFS systemd and gpfs.gplbin

[Skylar Thompson]

Thanks, Jonathan, I've been thinking about how to manage this as well and
like it more than version-locking the kernel.

On Wed, Jun 09, 2021 at 09:28:07PM +0100, Jonathan Buzzard wrote:
> 
> So you need to apply a kernel update and that means a new gpfs.gplbin :-( So
> after going around the houses with several different approaches on this I
> have finally settled on what IMHO is a most elegant method of ensuring the
> right gpfs.gplbin version is installed for the kernel that is running and
> thought I would share it.
> 
> This is assuming you don't like the look of the compile it option IBM
> introduced. You may well not want compilers installed on nodes for example,
> or you just think compiling the module on hundreds of nodes is suboptimal.
> 
> This exact version works for RHEL and it's derivatives. Modify for your
> preferred distribution. It also assumes you have a repository setup with the
> relevant gpfs.gplbin package.
> 
> The basics are to use the "ExecStartPre" option of a unit file in systemd.
> So because you don't want to be modifying the unit file provided by IBM
> something like the following
> 
> mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/gpfs.service.d
> echo -e "[Service]\nExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/yum --assumeyes install
> gpfs.gplbin-%v" >/etc/systemd/system/gpfs.service.d/install-module.conf
> systemctl daemon-reload
> 
> How it works is that the %v is a special systemd variable which is the same
> as "uname -r". So before it attempts to start gpfs, it attempts to install
> the gpfs.gplbin RPM for the kernel you are running on. If already installed
> this is harmless and if it's not installed it gets installed.
> 
> How you set that up on your system is up to you, xCAT postscript, RPM
> package, or a configuration management solution all work. I have gone for a
> very minimal RPM I call gpfs.helper
> 
> We then abuse the queuing system on the HPC cluster to schedule a "admin"
> priority job that runs as soon as the node becomes free, which does a yum
> update and then restarts the node.
> 
> 
> JAB.
> 
> -- 
> Jonathan A. Buzzard                         Tel: +44141-5483420
> HPC System Administrator, ARCHIE-WeSt.
> University of Strathclyde, John Anderson Building, Glasgow. G4 0NG
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-- 
-- Skylar Thompson (skylar2 at u.washington.edu)
-- Genome Sciences Department (UW Medicine), System Administrator
-- Foege Building S046, (206)-685-7354
-- Pronouns: He/Him/His