PowerScale: How to force all NFS clients to access NFS exports using aliases, instead of full paths

Summary: PowerScale (Isilon) clusters offer a configuration change to show and allow access to only NFS aliases instead of the full path in /ifs.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Instructions

PowerScale (Isilon) clusters offer the ability to share an NFS export using an alias. This allows a client to mount using the alias instead of using the full /ifs path.
In the default configuration, a cluster can be mounted using either a configured alias or the NFS export's path.
This article shows a configuration change that enables access using only the alias.

This configuration change requires an NFS service restart, which could be a disruptive change for some NFS clients. This configuration change also applies to all access zones.

Implementation

  1. Run this command to change the configuration:
    isi_gconfig registry.Services.lwio.Parameters.Drivers.nfs.MountdMustUseAlias=1
  2. Restart the NFS service with:
    /usr/likewise/bin/lwsm restart onefs_nfs


More information

For comparison, here is how the output of showmount -e looks before and after the change.

Before, showing an alias (/netgroup and multiple exports):
$ showmount -e 192.168.1.31
Export list for 192.168.1.31:
/netgroup           (everybody)
/ifs/data/netgroup  (everybody)
/ifs/data           (everybody)

After, showing only the alias:
$ showmount -e 192.168.1.31
Export list for 192.168.1.31:
/netgroup  (everybody)

Accessing the NFS export that does not have a configured alias results in a permission denied error for a client.
$ mount -t nfs -o "vers=3" 192.168.1.31:/ifs/data
/mnt/test mount.nfs: access denied by server while mounting 192.168.1.31:/ifs/data

Affected Products

Isilon, Isilon, Isilon A100, Isilon A200, Isilon A2000, Isilon F800, Isilon F810, Isilon Gen6.5, Isilon Gen6, Isilon H400, Isilon H500, Isilon H5600, Isilon H600, Isilon HD400, Isilon ICH-DEEP Chassis, Isilon ICH-NORM Chassis, Isilon NL400 , Isilon NL410, PowerScale OneFS, Isilon S200, Isilon S210, Isilon X200, Isilon X210, Isilon X400, Isilon X410, PowerScale Archive A300, PowerScale Archive A3000, PowerScale B100, PowerScale Deep Chassis, PowerScale F200, PowerScale F600, PowerScale F900, PowerScale Hybrid H700, PowerScale Hybrid H7000, PowerScale Normal Chassis, PowerScale P100 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000214653
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 09 Oct 2023
Version:  2
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