Does OpenStack work with pNFS?

[florianf]

We're currently discussing the best strategies to build an OpenStack environment using a NetApp cDOT system. The question came up, if pNFS is supported (probably more an OS thing) and if anyone has experience with it. Did someone already try pNFS in an OpenStack environment? Does it work? What prerequisites have to be fulfilled?

[esker · Accepted solution]

There are a variety of ways pNFS could be used in currently released OpenStack (e.g. the file backend option for Glance, mounting an export to /var/lib/nova/instances on compute nodes), but for Cinder it will become a default in Icehouse and later should the OS resident on the compute node support it (and, of course, if you're using the NetApp NFS Cinder driver).  The review for the change is here:

https://review.openstack.org/#/c/71279/

Once that gets accepted into Icehouse directly we'll evaluate providing a back port for Havana.

[esker]

Also, if you haven't already, please review the NetApp OpenStack Deployment & Operations Guide posted here on this communities site for general guidance around deploying OpenStack w/ clustered ONTAP.