stfsclient

Creates or destroys a virtual client.

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram
>>-stfsclient-- -create--+-------------+------------------------>
                         '-client_name-'

>--+-server_name-------+--+---------+--+----------------+------->
   '-server_IP_address-'  '-:--port-'  '- -fstype--name-'

>--+---------+--+--------------------+-------------------------->
   '- -quiet-'  '- -nettype--+-tcp-+-'
                             '-udp-'

>--+---------------------------------------------+-------------->
   '- -devices--=--+-dir--=--directory---------+-'
                   |         .-/dev/sd*[a-z]-. |
                   '-pat--=--+-pattern-------+-'

>-- -converter--8859-1-----------------------------------------><

or

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram
>>-stfsclient-- -destroy--+-------------+--+----------------+--><
                          '-client_name-'  '- -fstype--name-'

Parameters

–create
Creates a new virtual client.
–destroy
Destroys an existing virtual client.
client_name
Identifies the unique name of the virtual client that you want to create or destroy. Each client connecting to the metadata servers must have a unique client name. The default client name is the host name of the client system.
server_name
Specifies the host name of a metadata server in the SAN File System. The metadata server that you specify informs the global namespace image of all other metadata servers.

This parameter is not required if this is not the first mount for a particular virtual client.

server_IP_address
Specifies the IP address, in dotted decimal notation, of a metadata server in the SAN File System.
port
Specifies the port number of the specified metadata server. The default is 1700.
–fstype name
Specifies the name of the file-system type. The file system must be of the STFS type, but you can choose any name for that type when you load the file-system driver on the client system. You must use the same name that you used to load the file-system driver. The default name is stfs.

Use this parameter when you load multiple instances of the file-system driver on the same client system. The file-system type name connects the file-system driver instance with a global namespace image.

–devices
Determines which devices, also called disks or logical unit numbers (LUNs), that the virtual client considers as SAN File System volumes. The default is –devices=pat='/dev/sd*[a-z]', where [a-z] represents any single alphabetic characters (a-z). Enclose the pattern in single quotes so the shell does not expand the asterisk characters.

In addition to creating the virtual client, this command discovers which disks, or candidates, are available to the virtual client as volumes and transmits the candidate list to the virtual client. The –devices parameter controls the candidates list.

dir=directory
The candidate list is made up of those devices that have device special files in the specified directory (for example: –devices=dir=/dev/stfsdisk).

The easiest way to mount the global namespace is to specify –devices=pat=/dev/sd*[a-z], where * represents any alphanumeric character (a-z, A-Z, 0-9). Specifying the parameter in this way causes the client to look at every SCSI-disk-like device in the system. Whatever looks like a SAN File System disk is accessed when the metadata server refers to that disk's SAN File System disk identifier. For SDD devices, specify –devices=pat=/dev/vpath*[a-z].

If you want the client to be more selective about what disks it considers available, you can create a /dev/stfsdisk directory, put device-special files (or symbolic links) for your candidates in it, and use –devices=dir=/dev/stfsdisk.

pat=pattern
The candidate list is made up of those devices that have device-special files whose file specifications match the specified pattern. You can use * wildcards in the last (filename) component but not in the directory components (for example, –devices=pat=/dev/sd*[a-z]). For SDD devices, specify –devices=pat=/dev/vpath*[a-z].
none
The candidate list is empty. Use this value when you want to establish the candidate list with a separate command, perhaps using a selection method more sophisticated than the stfsclient command offers.
–quiet
Turns off informational messages for this command. This parameter does not affect error messages.
–nettype
Specifies the protocol to be used between the client and server (UDP or TCP). All clients must use the same protocol. The default is TCP.

Prerequisites

You must have root privileges to use this command.

Description

This command creates or destroys a virtual client. A virtual client is an entity that communicates with a metadata server and, indirectly, with other SAN File System clients. In this release, only one virtual client can be used per client machine. The terms virtual client and client can be used interchangeably.

A virtual client is associated with exactly one SAN File System. There is one file cache and one set of disk candidates per virtual client. Each virtual client that is running on the same system is as separate as if it were running on a different system. They share nothing except the file-system drive code that they execute.

A SAN File System virtual client is uniquely identified in the context of its file-system driver, and in the context of its SAN File System, by its client name.

To use the files in a global namespace, the virtual client must have a global namespace image. Creating a global namespace image makes the directory structure in the global namespace appear in the client's file structure. To create a global namespace image, use the stfsmount command.

A client can access and create data that is stored in a global namespace. Each virtual client can access data on multiple images in the same global namespace.

The client considers a file to be one file even if it appears with two different file names in two different global namespace images.

For Linux™ clients, to view the existing SAN File System virtual clients, look in the proc/fs file system, in the directory named after the file-system type (usually stfs). In that directory, there is a subdirectory for each virtual client. The name of the subdirectory is the same as the client name.

Example

Create a virtual client The following example creates a virtual client with the candidates as volumes that have device-special files, with file specifications that match the pattern sd*[a-z] for non-SDD devices. (For SDD devices, the pattern would be vpath*[a-z]):
stfsclient -create MDS1:1700 -devices=pat=/dev/sd*[a-z]  -converter 8859-1

Parent topic: Linux-client commands

Related tasks
Starting a Linux client
Stopping a Linux client

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