OVM 2.2 and NFS Repository Problems

Question

Hi All.
I have recently started trying to upgrade our installation to 2.2
but have run into a few problems, mostly relating to the different
way that storage repositories are handled in comparison to 2.1.5.
We use NFS here to provide shared storage to the pools.
I wanted to setup a new two node server pool (with HA), so I upgraded
one of the servers to from 2.1.5 to 2.2 to act as pool master. That
worked ok and this server seems to be working fine in isolation:
master# /opt/ovs-agent-2.3/utils/repos.py -l
[ * ] 865a2e52-db29-48f1-98a0-98f985b3065c => augustus:/vol/OVS_pv_vpn
master# df /OVS
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
augustus:/vol/OVS_pv_vpn
               47185920 16083008 31102912 35% /var/ovs/mount/865A2E52DB2948F198A098F985B3065C
(I then successfully launched a VM on it.)
The problem is when I try to add a second server to the pool. I did
a fresh install of 2.2 and configured the storage repository to be the
same as that used on the first node:
vm1# /opt/ovs-agent-2.3/utils/repos.py --new augustus:/vol/OVS_pv_vpn
vm1# /opt/ovs-agent-2.3/utils/repos.py -r 865a2e52-db29-48f1-98a0-98f985b3065c
vm1# /opt/ovs-agent-2.3/utils/repos.py -l
[ R ] 865a2e52-db29-48f1-98a0-98f985b3065c => augustus:/vol/OVS_pv_vpn
When I try to add this server into the pool using the management GUI, I get
this error:
OVM-1011 Oracle VM Server 172.22.36.24 operation HA Check Prerequisite failed: failed:<Exception: ha_precheck_storage_mount failed:<Exception: /OVS must be mounted.> .
Running "repos.py -i" yields:
Cluster not available.
Seems like a chicken and egg problem: I can't add the server to the pool without a
mounted /OVS, but mounting /OVS is done by adding it to the pool? Or do I have that
wrong?
More generally, I'm a bit confused at how the repositories are
supposed to be managed under 2.2.
For exaple, the /etc/init.d/ovsrepositories script is still present,
but is it still used? When I run it, it prints a couple of errors and
doesn't seem to mount anything:
vm1# service ovsrepositories start
/etc/ovs/repositories does not exist
Starting OVS Storage Repository Mounter...
/etc/init.d/ovsrepositories: line 111: /etc/ovs/repositories: No such file or directory
/etc/init.d/ovsrepositories: line 111: /etc/ovs/repositories: No such file or directory
OVS Storage Repository Mounter Startup: [  OK  ]
Should this service be turned off? It seem that ovs-agent now takes
responsibility for mounting the repositories.
As an aside, my Manager is still running 2.1.5 - is that part of the
problem here? Is it safe to upgrade the manager to 2.2 while I still
have a couple of pools running 2.1.5 servers?
Thanks in adavance,
Robert.

Answer 1

rns wrote:
Seems like a chicken and egg problem: I can't add the server to the pool without a
mounted /OVS, but mounting /OVS is done by adding it to the pool? Or do I have that
wrong?You have that wrong -- the /OVS mount point is created by ovs-agent while the server is added to the pool. You just need access to the shared storage.
For exaple, the /etc/init.d/ovsrepositories script is still present,
but is it still used?No, it is not. ovs-agent now handles the storage repositories.
As an aside, my Manager is still running 2.1.5 - is that part of the
problem here? Yes. You absolutely need to upgrade your Manager first to 2.2 before attempting to create/manage a 2.2-based pool. The 2.1.5 Manager doesn't know how to tell the ovs-agent how to create/join a pool properly. The upgrade process is detailed in [the ULN FAQ|https://linux.oracle.com/uln_faq.html#10].