VMwire Lab

How to update your Openfiler USB installation for better performance

Previously I wrote an article on How to install and run Openfiler on a USB key. I thought that everything was working fine but eventually found that NFS and CIFS performance was too slow. Upon reading a few forums and stumbling across this thread in particular, the reason was down to Openfiler requiring an update.

I have since tried to update the installation by running conary updateall at the CLI. Unfortunately, this installs an updated kernel (2.6.29.6-0.24.smp.gcc3.4.x86_64 (SMP)) and also a new ramdisk which makes all the hard work from the previous post defunct. This article shows you how to perform the update and then make a new initrd-usb-update.img to work with the new kernel.

So assuming you’ve made a successful USB key using the previous article, continue with the following to update your Openfiler installation and also make the updated Openfiler installation USB key bootable.

Update Openfiler

Let’s first update Openfiler.

1. Log into the CLI as root
2. Run

   conary updateall

3. This will take a while as it downloads around 26 packages and installs them.
4. Once complete insert the Openfiler CD into your drive and restart your system, making sure that it boots from CD.

Creating a new ramdisk that works with the new kernel

This part is more or less very much similar to the steps in the previous post, there are some minor additions that we need to make, but for completeness I’ve included all the steps here.

1. Once Openfiler finishes booting from the CD type.

   linux rescue

2. Go through the menus and select your region and keyboard and skip the automatic mounting of your installed OS. We will do this manually.
3. When the prompt appears, create a directory to mount the USB key.

   mkdir /mnt/sysimage

4. Now mount the / of the USB key onto /mnt/sysimage.

   mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/sysimage

   Note: your / partition may be /dev/sda3 instead, depending on how you setup your partitioning during the installation of Openfiler.
   

5. Now mount the boot partition of the USB key onto /mnt/sysimage/boot.

   mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sysimage

   Note: your / partition may be /dev/sda1 instead, depending on how you setup your partitioning during the installation of Openfiler.
   

6. Make the /mnt/sysimage your working environment by changing your root location so you are working on the file system on the usb key.

   chroot /mnt/sysimage

7. Copy the current initrd file to a temporary location where we can work on it.

   cp /boot/initrd-¹ /tmp/initrd.gz

   Note¹: now’s a good time to press TAB, there will now be two kernels, use 2.6.29.6-0.24.smp.gcc3.4.x86_64 as this is the updated kernel that was installed during the update.
   

8. Gunzip the initrd.gz file

   gunzip /tmp/initrd.gz

9. Make a temporary working directory

   mkdir /tmp/b

   We are using /tmp/b because /tmp/a already exists as the temporary working directory from the previous article.
   

10. Go into the new working directory

    cd /tmp/b

11. Extract the contents of the initrd file into /tmp/b.

    cpio –i < /tmp/initrd

12. Now we edit the init file to load the USB and SCSI drivers for the new initrd-usb-update.img ramdisk.

    nano init

13. Do a search for “mount –t proc /proc /proc” and add the following underneath this line. We want to load these USB and storage modules before any other modules that’s why these entries need to be at the top of the file. Note that there is a new module crc-t10dif.ko which is required by the new kernel to boot from USB and as such must be launch during init time.

    echo “Starting Openfiler on USB”

    echo “Loading scsi_mod.ko module”

    insmod /lib/scsi_mod.ko

    echo “Starting crc-t10dif.ko module”

    insmod /lib/crc-t10dif.ko

    echo “Loading sd_mod.ko module”

    insmod /lib/sd_mod.ko

    echo “Loading sr_mod.ko module”

    insmod /lib/sr_mod.ko

    echo “Loading ehci-hcd.ko module”

    insmod /lib/ehci-hcd.ko

    echo “Loading uhci-hcd.ko module”

    insmod /lib/uhci-hcd.ko

    echo “Loading ohci-hcd.ko module”

    insmod /lib/ohci-hcd.ko

    sleep 5

    echo “Loading usb-storage.ko module”

    insmod /lib/usb-storage.ko

    sleep 5

14. Do a search for insmod /lib/scsi_mod.ko, insmod /lib/sd_mod.ko, insmod /lib/ehci-hcd.ko, insmod /lib/uhci-hcd.ko and /lib/crc-t10dif.ko and remove these duplicate entries from the rest of the file. We do not want these loaded again.
15. Save the file and exit with CTRL X, then Y, or if you used vi then :wq!
16. Now we need to copy all of the modules in Step 13 into our working directory.
17. Go to the drivers directory

    cd /lib/modules/²/kernel/drivers

    Note²: just press tab to fill in this bit, there will now be two kernels, use 2.6.29.6-0.24.smp.gcc3.4.x86_64 as this is the updated kernel that was installed during the update.
    

18. Copy all of the modules in Step 13 to /tmp/b/lib.

    cp scsi/scsi_mod.ko /tmp/b/lib

    cp scsi/sr_mod.ko /tmp/b/lib

    cp scsi/sd_mod.ko /tmp/b/lib

    cp usb/host/ehci-hcd.ko /tmp/b/lib

    cp usb/host/uhci-hcd.ko /tmp/b/lib

    cp usb/host/ohci-hcd.ko /tmp/b/lib

    cp usb/storage/usb-storage.ko /tmp/b/lib

    cp /lib/modules/2.6.29.6-0.24.smp.gcc3.4.x86_64/kernel/lib/crc-t10dif.ko /tmp/b/lib

19. Now let’s package the contents of the working directory /tmp/b into our new initrd-usb-update.img.

    cd /tmp/b

    find . | cpio –c –o | gzip -9 > /boot/initrd-usb-update.img

20. Now all we need to do is edit the /boot/grub/menu.1st file to tell the kernel to use the new ramdisk that we just created. Remember that this new ramdisk is currently located in /boot/ (aka /dev/sda1) and is called initrd-usb-update.img.

    nano /boot/grub/menu.1st

21. Find the line starting with initrd /vmlinux-…………………… and replace with

    initrd /initrd-usb-update.img

22. Save the file and reboot the computer, remove the CD and allowing it to boot from the USB key. You now have your new updated Openfiler installation booting from the USB key directly.

Turn off flow control for SMB Clients

For better CIFS performance turn off your network adapter flow control. I can achieve a sustained 60 mb/s transfer between my Macbook and Openfiler once flow control is turned off. I was only achieving around 30 mb/s previously.

Turn off flow control for ESXi hosts using NFS/iSCSI to Openfiler

First understand what flow control is before performing the follow actions, the following articles provide good cases for either enabling or disabling flow control and auto-negotiation for flow control.

http://www.telecom.otago.ac.nz/tele301/student_html/ethernet-autonegotiation-flow-control.html – not to be confused with auto-negotiation of flow control.

http://virtualthreads.blogspot.com/2006/02/beware-ethernet-flow-control.html

Since this is my lab I’m going to disable flow control completely.

To do this on ESXi hosts follow these instructions or use VMware KB 1013413.

1. Enable Remote SSH for the ESXi host first.
2. Use your favourite SSH client and log in as root (assuming you can, disable lock-down mode etc).
3. Run the following command to list all your vmnic interfaces, make a note of the vmnic that is used to connect to the Openfiler Server.

   esxcfg-nics –l

4. In my case it’s just vmnic0 (I’m using a HP Microserver), type the following command to see the current flow control status of that adapter.

   ethtool –show-pause vmnic0

5. Run the following commands to set auto-negotiation or RX flow control or TX flow control, any combination is possible.
6. To disable flow control for sent and received traffic, use the command:

   ethtool –pause tx off rx off

7. To disable auto-negotiation of flow control, use the command:

   ethtool –pause autoneg off

1. Open the /etc/rc.local file using a text editor and append the same commands used in Step 6, placing each on its own line. Then save the file.
2. For an ESXi host, save the configuration change using the command:

   /sbin/auto-backup.sh

   The commands added to the /etc/rc.local file will be executed at startup, persisting the configuration changes across reboots. As they are executed in Step 6, no reboot is required for them to take effect.

How to setup Active Directory authentication on Openfiler

Setup Active Directory Authentication

The steps must be performed in this order, otherwise you’ll get a headache trying to work out why you cannot see any Groups listed.

Go to Services | Enable SMB/CIFS server.

Click on SMB/CIFS Setup.

1. Change the NetBIOS name to just the hostname of the server (do not include the domain).

Navigate to Accounts | Expert View. Configure for your environment, note the CAPITALIZATION of some of the fields.

Click on Use Kerberos 5 and enter your domain details, note the CAPITALIZATION of some of the fields.

Now click on Accounts | Group List and if done successfully, you should see your Domain groups.

How to install and run Openfiler on a USB key

Install Openfiler onto the USB Key

1. Disconnect all hard disks from the server.
2. Boot from the Openfiler CD and install Openfiler by invoking the linux expert command and installing as normal onto your USB key, taking into account your partitioning to fit onto your USB key and also making a record of which partitions are your /boot and your / partitions.

Create a new ramdisk that includes the USB drivers.

1. When installation is complete, reboot the server with the Openfiler CD still in the drive and then type

   linux rescue

2. Go through the menus and select your region and keyboard and skip the automatic mounting of your installed OS. We will do this manually.
3. When the prompt appears, create a directory to mount the USB key.

   mkdir /mnt/sysimage

4. Now mount the / of the USB key onto /mnt/sysimage.

   mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/sysimage

   Note: your / partition may be /dev/sda3 instead, depending on how you setup your partitioning during the installation of Openfiler.
   

5. Now mount the boot partition of the USB key onto /mnt/sysimage/boot.

   mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sysimage

   Note: your / partition may be /dev/sda1 instead, depending on how you setup your partitioning during the installation of Openfiler.
   

6. Make the /mnt/sysimage your working environment by changing your root location so you are working on the file system on the usb key.

   chroot /mnt/sysimage

7. Copy the current initrd file to a temporary location where we can work on it.

   cp /boot/initrd-¹ /tmp/initrd.gz

   Note¹: now’s a good time to press TAB
   

8. Gunzip the initrd.gz file

   gunzip /tmp/initrd.gz

9. Make a temporary working directory

   mkdir /tmp/a

10. Go into the new working directory

    cd /tmp/a

11. Extract the contents of the initrd file into /tmp/a.

    cpio –i < /tmp/initrd

12. Now we edit the init file to load the USB and SCSI drivers for the new initrd-usb.img ramdisk.

    nano init

13. Do a search for “mount –t proc /proc /proc” and add the following underneath this line. We want to load these USB and storage modules before any other modules that’s why these entries need to be at the top of the file.

    echo “Starting Openfiler on USB”

    echo “Loading scsi_mod.ko module”

    insmod /lib/scsi_mod.ko

    echo “Loading sr_mod.ko module”

    insmod /lib/sr_mod.ko

    echo “Loading sd_mod.ko module”

    insmod /lib/sd_mod.ko

    echo “Loading ehci-hcd.ko module”

    insmod /lib/ehci-hcd.ko

    echo “Loading uhci-hcd.ko module”

    insmod /lib/uhci-hcd.ko

    echo “Loading ohci-hcd.ko module”

    insmod /lib/ohci-hcd.ko

    sleep 5

    echo “Loading usb-storage.ko module”

    insmod /lib/usb-storage.ko

    sleep 5

14. Do a search for insmod /lib/scsi_mod.ko, insmod /lib/sd_mod.ko, insmod /lib/ehci-hcd.ko and insmod /lib/uhci-hcd.ko and remove these duplicate entries from the rest of the file. We do not want these loaded again.
15. Save the file and exit with CTRL X, then Y, or if you used vi then :wq!
16. Now we need to copy all of the modules in Step 13 into our working directory.
17. Go to the drivers directory

    cd /lib/modules/²/kernel/drivers

    Note²: just press tab to fill in this bit, you should only have one kernel.
    

18. Copy all of the modules in Step 13 to /tmp/a/lib.

    cp scsi/scsi_mod.ko /tmp/a/lib

    cp scsi/sr_mod.ko /tmp/a/lib

    cp scsi/sd_mod.ko /tmp/a/lib

    cp usb/host/ehci-hcd.ko /tmp/a/lib

    cp usb/host/uhci-hcd.ko /tmp/a/lib

    cp usb/host/ohci-hcd.ko /tmp/a/lib

    cp usb/storage/usb-storage.ko /tmp/a/lib

19. Now let’s package the contents of the working directory /tmp/a into our new initrd-usb.img.

    cd /tmp/a

    find . | cpio –c –o | gzip -9 > /boot/initrd-usb.img

20. Now all we need to do is edit the /boot/grub/menu.1st file to tell the kernel to use the new ramdisk that we just created. Remember that this new ramdisk is currently located in /boot/ (aka /dev/sda1) and is called initrd-usb.img.

    nano /boot/grub/menu.1st

21. Find the line starting with initrd /vmlinux-…………………… and replace with

    initrd /initrd-usb.img

22. Save the file and reboot the computer, remove the CD and allowing it to boot from the USB key. You now have your Openfiler installation booting from the USB key directly.

New Openfiler for the VMwire lab

Openfiler is a very cool NAS/SAN product that is completely free. I just purchased some brand new SATA III controllers and disks so I’ve decided to migrate my storage from Freenas running on my HP Microserver to my old Dell PE SC440. Doing so will free up the HP Microserver to run vSphere and allow me to expand my current lab capacity of 1.7Tb to a whopping 7.4Tb. This article details my configuration steps and acts as a means for me to document my VMwire lab and I thought that others may benefit from my experience.

Hardware

The Total SATA 3 ports is 6, plus an additional 4 SATA 2 ports from the onboard adapter.

I have disabled all the SATA 2 ports from within the BIOS as I will only be using the SATA 3 ports from the three Add-in cards to support my 5 Seagate disks in a RAID-5 aggregate.

Overview of the Openfiler Setup

I have already setup my Openfiler Server by following the instructions from http://vmwire.com/2011/06/12/how-to-install-and-run-openfiler-on-a-usb-key/ to install Openfiler onto the Kingston DataTraveller+ 2Gb USB Key. Networking is setup and everything is working nicely ready for the configuration of the new RAID-5 Array.

Below is a screenshot of the Openfiler Hardware Information.

Setting up the Software RAID

I’m using software RAID due to the fact that SATA III RAID Controllers with 5 or more ports are currently still very expensive. The HighPoint RocketRaid 630 and the ASUS S6U3 Controllers are relatively cheap and can be picked up for less than £20 each.

1. You can view the list of block devices available to use on Openfiler by navigating to Volumes | Block Devices.

Openfiler has successfully picked up the 5 new disks and we can now manage them.

To set up the Software RAID we must first partition the disks as “RAID array member” partitions.

To do this you must click in each of the block devices and create a “RAID array member” partition. Remember to leave /dev/sda alone as this is the boot device.

1. Clicking on /dev/sdb brings up the partitioning page.
2. Select RAID array member from the Partition Type drop down menu and then just click on Create.

Continue creating the partitions on the remaining four disks by repeating Step 1.

Once complete the Block Device Management should look something like this.

Now we are ready to create the RAID Array. To do this we need to navigate to Volumes | Software RAID and create the array.

I’m going to create a RAID-5 (parity) array with a 64kB chunk size.

The Seagate disks only have about 1.82Tb usable capacity, so a RAID-5 array with 5 disks would give a total of 7.4Tb usable capacity.

Setting up the Volume Group

We can create the Volume Group by navigating to Volumes | Volume Groups.

I’ve decided to create a single volume group for all my services – CIFS, NFS, iSCSI and FC. We will then create Volumes from this single Volume Group to carve up the storage. The resulting Volume Group Management page will then look something like this.

That’s our Volume Group setup complete. You would never need to revisit the Volume Group Management page ever again, unless you either rebuild your disks or create new Volume Groups from new disks. For reference the path for this Volume Group is /dev/md0/volg_raid5/.

Setting up a new Volume

Now we can start carving up our 7.4Tb usable capacity by creating Volumes and then assigning these Volumes to specific services.

We can manage this by using the Add Volume page. I’m going to add a new 1Tb NFS volume for my VMware virtual machines.

To do this navigate to Volumes | Add Volume.

Upon creating this new Volume, the path for this Volume will then be /dev/md0/volg_raid5/nfs01/.

Setting up a new Sub-folder on a Volume

Now that we have created a Volume, we can now create a Sub-folder in which we can make a Share. I’m going with a 1:1 allocation of Volume to Sub-folder in my lab, so the naming conventions reflect this.

To do this, navigate to the Shares page. The screen should be similar to this.

We can create the new Share by clicking on the VMware Virtual Machines link.

Now we can create a new sub-folder, I’m going to call mine nfs01-vm01.

The Shares page will now display the following.

Setting up a new Share

To create the actual nfs01-vm01 NFS share that is mounted on our vSphere servers we need to make the share from the Sub-folder created in “Setting up a new Sub-folder from a Volume”.

1. Click on the nfs01-vm01 link and then click on the Make Share button.
2. Select the “Public guest access” radio button and click on Update.

1. Now scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “RW” radio button underneath the NFS column, and then click on Update.

Note that you need to have setup network access configuration prior to doing any of these steps. This is not covered in this guide.

Again, for reference this nfs01-vm01 NFS share for use by VMware vSphere hosts has a path of /mnt/volg_raid5/nfs01/nfs01-vm01/.

Mounting the NFS share

The NFS volume is now ready to be mounted by VMware vSphere hosts. Just use /mnt/volg_raid5/nfs01/nfs01-vm01 as the “Folder” mount point.

Happy days!

[NEW]

Setting up a new Volume for CIFS

Now I can start carving up my remaining 6.4Tb usable capacity by creating Volumes and then assigning these Volumes to specific services. For this part I’m going to create a new Volume for CIFS.

We can manage this by using the Add Volume page. I’m going to add a new 3Tb CIFS volume for my Windows file storage.

To do this navigate to Volumes | Add Volume.

Upon creating this new Volume, the path for this Volume will then be /dev/md0/volg_raid5/cifs01/.

Setting up a new Sub-folder on a Volume for CIFS

Now that we have created a new Volume for CIFS, we can now create a Sub-folder in which we can make a Share. I’m going with a 1:1 allocation of Volume to Sub-folder in my lab, so the naming conventions reflect this.

To do this, navigate to the Shares page. The screen should be similar to this.

We can create the new Share by clicking on the Windows File Share.

Now we can create a new sub-folder, I’m going to call mine cifs01-smb01.

The Shares page will now display the following.

Setting up a new Share for CIFS

To create the actual cifs01-smb01 CIFS share that can be used for SMB file storage we need to make the share from the Sub-folder created in “Setting up a new Sub-folder on a Volume for CIFS”.

1. Click on the cifs01-smb01
   link and then click on the Make Share button.

1. Select the “Controlled access” radio button and click on Update.

1. Now scroll to the Group access configuration section in the middle and select the primary group for this CIFS share and also set Read or Read/Write Permissions for this share based on your Active Directory Groups. I’ve already created a Security Group called “openfiler cifs users” with which my AD account VIRTUAL\Hugo.Phan is a member of. Once done click Update.

    Note that to use Active Directory authentication, you must set up Authentication under the Accounts section. I’ve written a guide here http://vmwire.com/2011/06/13/how-to-setup-active-directory-authenticaton-on-openfiler/.

1. Now scroll all the way down to the bottom and configure the Host access configuration to the /mnt/volg_raid5/cifs01/cifs01-smb01/ Volume. Choose the options relevant to your environment, I’m making this share R/W accessible by all my devices in my network – 192.168.200.0/24. Then just click on Update to finish.

Note that you need to have setup network access configuration prior to doing any of these steps. This is not covered in this guide.

Again, for reference this cifs01-smb01 CIFS share for use as network file storage over the network has a path of /mnt/volg_raid5/cifs01/cifs01-smb01/.

Connecting to the SMB Share

The SMB share is now ready to be used by client computers. To connect just open a UNC path to it. of.virtual.local is the FQDN of my Openfiler Server.

Now enter your domain credentials.

Job done!