| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
charles.michelich
BIAC Alum
USA
183 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 04 2004 : 5:45:59 PM
|
Two methods of accessing network file servers are currently used on Golgi.- CIFS (Common Internet File System) is normal Windows file sharing and can be used to access Windows servers such as Nernst, Gall and Hall.
- NFS (Network File System) is typically used on UNIX and Linux servers and can be used to access the NetApp servers (Hodgkin and Huxley) from Golgi.
Locating network file servers
For ease for use and to facilitate writing scripts which work on both Windows and UNIX/Linux, Golgi is setup to access both CIFS and NFS servers using the following convention:
~/net/server/share/
where ~/ is your home directory
For example \\Nernst\Data1 is accessed from ~/net/nernst/data1/.
These entries are actually just links (symbolic links) to the actual place that the server is mounted. By default, links are setup to all of the common BIAC shares on Gall, Hall, Nernst, Hodgkin, and Huxley. You can update your links to the most current list (maintained by Jimmy Dias) by typing:
lnshares
Accessing files on NFS servers
You can access your files on the NetApp servers (Hodgkin and Huxley) directly from ~/net/huxley/data/ and ~/net/hodgkin/data/ without any further action.
Example of listing files on \\Huxley\Data:
ls ~/net/huxley/data
Accessing files on CIFS servers
Files on Windows (CIFS) servers are accessed through a program called Sharity. Sharity allows you to mount Windows Networking (CIFS) shares as if they are part of the local filesystem. This means you can access files on Nernst or Gall directly from the p670 without having to SFTP or otherwise copy them.
In order to access files through CIFS, you must first login to the desired Windows server using cifslogin.
cifslogin server -U username -D domain
If your username is the same on Windows and Golgi, you do not need to specify -U username. (Note: If your Windows username is longer than 8 characters, they will not be the same, so you will need to specify your Windows username in this case.) The default domain is BIAC, so there is not need to specify -D domain if you are accessing a BIAC domain server.
You will remain logged into the server unless Sharity is restarted or you use cifslogout to disconnect.
cifslogout server
Example of listing files on \\Nernst\Data1 and \\Nernst\Data2:
cifslogin nernst
ls ~/net/nernst/data1
ls ~/net/nernst/data2
If you wish to access a BIAC CIFS server which is not setup by default, you can access the server as follows: (You can type ls /CIFS to determine if a server is accessable through this method)
lnshares //server/share
cifslogin server
If you wish to access a Non-BIAC CIFS server, you will need to mount the server manually as follows:
cifslogin server -U username -D domain
mkdir ~/net/server
mkdir ~/net/server/share
cifsmount //server/share ~/net/server/share
When you are done using the share, type the following to disconnect:
cifsumount ~/net/server/share
cifslogout server
To view the help for an individual Sharity command use -h with the particular command. (e.g. cifsmount -h). View a list of available Sharity commands using sharity -h.
|
Edited by - charles.michelich on Jun 08 2004 1:48:51 PM |
|
|
jimmy.dias
BIAC Alum
USA
210 Posts |
Posted - Sep 26 2005 : 12:50:16 PM
|
Hey all,
Some people have had problems accessing NFS mounts from Golgi. To test and see whether your user account is one of those, do the following.- If you are already logged in to Golgi, logout and then log back in.
- Update your links with lnshares
- List each of the directories for the NFS mounted servers( huxley, hodgkin, katz )
ls ~/net/huxley/data
ls ~/net/hodgkin/data
ls ~/net/katz/data
- If you get the following message
ls: /home/dias/net/huxley/data/: The file access permissions do not allow the specified action
your account can not access the servers using NFS.
*This is being looked into with Netapp, and I'll post here once the problem has been resolved. - However, there is a work-around. You can re-mount these servers using CIFS instead of NFS. Steps to do so are as follows:
- Force overwrite of existing symlink to point to CIFS location
ln -sf ~/net/huxley/data /CIFS/Huxley/Data - Login to CIFS server by providing your BIAC password
cifslogin -U <BIAC username> huxley by providing your BIAC password.
This is the same step described in section above "Accessing files on CIFS".
*Remember folks, this login has to be done every time Golgi is rebooted. Doesn't happen very often but sometimes I have to take Golgi down to install patches and for upgrades.
- To undo this link (once your NFS mount starts working again), you can do the following
- Remove CIFS symlink rm ~/net/huxley/data
- Run lnshares to re-create your missing links.
NOTE and WARNING!! to the courageous few not using bputil
If you are running batch scripts on the storage servers themselves and are using CIFS, make sure your scripts and underlying applications handle these network interruptions. Network interuptions occur less frequently when using NFS but they do happen. SPM99 and SPM2 are great examples of applications that do NOT handle network interruptions well. If at all possible, have your batch scripts copy all your data over to your local drive (/data/users/username) and then do the processing. If you were to do this, do not forget to copy everything back, and even more importantly, do not forgot to cleanup after yourself when done. If you are not a batch script writer, use bputil because its easy to use and does all this under the hood.
Cheers,
Jimmy
|
Edited by - jimmy.dias on Oct 19 2005 12:08:52 PM |
 |
|
|
jimmy.dias
BIAC Alum
USA
210 Posts |
Posted - Sep 27 2005 : 10:44:51 AM
|
By the way, if you've already been set up to use the above work-around, that is your symbolic link points to /CIFS/Server/Data for huxley, hodgkin, or katz instead of /mnt/Server/data, then you WILL get the following error when running lnshares.
quote:
/usr/local/bin/lnshares failed: Cannot create symbolic link!
Symbolic link already exists but points to the wrong location!
currently: /home/<username>/net/hodgkin/data -> /CIFS/Hodgkin/Data/
requested: /home/<username>/net/hodgkin/data -> /mnt/hodgkin/data
This error can be ignored because the workaround detailed above to use CIFS instead of NFS has already been done (most likely by me). Since I've posted details of what I've done above, I expect to no longer get these requests. :) Again,
***Those of you using CIFS instead of NFS have to remember to cifslogin to the appropriate servers.***
The -U option for cifslogin is for your BIAC username and the password you type in is your BIAC password, NOT your Golgi username and password.
Additional Notes
- Once your Golgi account is first created, it may take up to 24 hours for the UID to be mapped to your Windows account for the NFS mount to work properly. Francis maintains this mapping.
- If you don't have access to the storage server from Windows, have the PI for that experiment ID email Francis requesting data access to that experiment. If you do have it from Windows and not Linux, re-read above posts.
- If its an NFS server, you've logged out and logged back in several times, its been more than 72 hours since you've gotten the AIX account mail, and the link ~/net/Server/data does not list properly (i.e. ls), go ahead and apply the workaround detailed above.
Cheers,
Jimmy |
Edited by - jimmy.dias on Oct 19 2005 11:57:48 AM |
|
|
|
jimmy.dias
BIAC Alum
USA
210 Posts |
Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 12:04:09 PM
|
Much thanks to Dharol for editing and elucidating the above posts.
Jimmy |
|
|
|
tankersley
BIAC Alum
USA
143 Posts |
Posted - Mar 22 2007 : 12:14:28 PM
|
Dear forums:
I'm having trouble gaining access to goldman\data on golgi. The following is true:
1. I have a current symbolic link to goldman\data
2. I can cd ~/net/goldman
and ls ~/net/goldman/data
3. I have updated with lnshares
When i try to cifslogin i get the following error:
[tankersl@golgi: ~/net/goldman] $ cifslogin goldman -U tankersl
tankersl's password on goldman:
DOS: Access denied
Should I apply the workaround detailed in http://www.biac.duke.edu/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=381&SearchTerms=,storage, or do I have a different problem?
Thanks,
Dharol
|
|
|
|
jimmy.dias
BIAC Alum
USA
210 Posts |
Posted - Mar 22 2007 : 12:24:53 PM
|
Try: cifslogin goldman -U tankersley
The -U stands for username for the domain you are logging into, since your username on both systems are not the same. You'll need to enter your BIAC domain password.
Jimmy |
Edited by - jimmy.dias on Mar 22 2007 12:26:07 PM |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Connecting to network file servers from Golgi
