[DRBD-user] (newbie question) DRBD 9, pure controller without data storage

Roland Kammerer roland.kammerer at linbit.com
Tue Dec 5 20:51:19 CET 2017

Note: "permalinks" may not be as permanent as we would like,
direct links of old sources may well be a few messages off.


On Tue, Dec 05, 2017 at 06:28:05PM +0000, Riches Jr, Robert M wrote:
> (Follow-up question below.  Apologies for the inconsistent quoting style.  I don't know
> how to force Outlook to do more consistent quoting.)
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: drbd-user-bounces at lists.linbit.com [mailto:drbd-user-bounces at lists.linbit.com] On Behalf Of Roland Kammerer
> Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2017 1:17 AM
> To: drbd-user at lists.linbit.com
> Subject: Re: [DRBD-user] (newbie question) DRBD 9, pure controller without data storage
> 
> On Mon, Dec 04, 2017 at 11:10:16PM +0000, Riches Jr, Robert M wrote:
> > (This is a newbie question.)
> > 
> > Having got non-LVM version 9 drbdadm working with two storage nodes 
> > and a few no-local-storage nodes, I'm attempting to graduate to using 
> > drbdmanage and LVM.  My goal is to have two storage nodes, one pure 
> > controller node without data storage, and a few no-local-storage 
> > compute nodes.  However, I don't understand the green box in Figure 5 
> > in the User's Guide, labeled as a 'Control node', 'controlvolume is a 
> > local LV', 'pure Controller', and 'nodes without data storage'.  This is the figure:
> > 
> > https://docs.linbit.com/ug-src/users-guide-9.0/images/drbdmanage-venn.
> > png
> > 
> > The only LVM volume group I see mentioned in chapter 5 of the DRBD 9 
> > UG is the one it suggests to name 'drbdpool'.  However, if the pure 
> > controller has no data storage, how can the controlvolume be a local 
> > LV.  Can someone please enlighten a newbie on what seem to be contradictory descriptions?
> 
> There are two types of storage drbdmange can use:
> - the control volume (which is the cluster wide database, 2x4MB, always
>   on thick LVM)
> - the storage for your actual DRBD resources (LVM/ZFS thin/thick).
> 
> That makes 4 combinations:
> - The node has a copy of the control volume, that makes it a "control
>   node". It can then provide storage for DRBD resources or not (control
>   node or pure controller). A use case for a pure controller might be a
>   "quorum node" that just has a copy of the cluster DB. Let's say you
>   have 3 nodes, one of them is a pure controller, one of the other nodes
>   fails then the cluster can continue as it still has 2 nodes with a
>   copy of the control volume.
> - The node does not have a copy of the cluster DB and gets its cluster
>   DB from another node via TCP. These are satellites. They can have
>   local storage for DRBD resources or not.
> 
> Regards, rck
> -----End Of Original Message-----
> 
> Thank you for that explanation/clarification.  I think I understand now.  Let
> me make sure my understanding is correct, especially concerning the size and
> contents of the VGs:
> 
> - A "quorum node" will have a VG named 'drbdpool' that needs only enough space
> for the control volume.  It will be added by doing
> "drbdmanage add-node --no-storage <nodeName> [IPaddress]"
> 
> - Each other "control node" will have a VG named 'drbdpool' with enough space
> for the control volume _and_  the DRBD resources.  It will be added by doing
> "drbdmanage add-node <nodeName> [IPaddress]" (no options).
> 
> - A "pure client" node will have _no_ VG.  It will be added by doing
> "drbdmanage add-node --satellite --no-storage <nodeName> [IPaddress]".
> 
> - If I determine that an external node is one of the droids I'm looking for,
> it will have _no_ VG.  It will be added by doing
> "drbdmanage add-node --external <nodeName> [IPaddress]".
> 
> Is that correct?

yes.

Regards, rck



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