Add clients to a WEKA cluster on Azure

When deploying a WEKA cluster, it is possible to create clients using Terraform. After completing this step, you can expand the number of clients in your WEKA system by performing the following procedure.

Before you begin

• Create a client VM using one of the following methods:

  • Using the Azure Console: Create the client VM that meets the following requirements:

    • The Accelerated Networking feature must be enabled in the NICs.

    • The NICs must be configured with at least MTU 3900.

    • Ensure a supported OFED is installed.

    • Remove the secondary default gateway from the routing table.

    • If working with a different security type than the standard, for example, trusted launch virtual machines, clear the Enable secure boot option in the Configure security features.

  • Using a custom image of a WEKA client:

    • In the Azure console, search for the community image named weka with ID WekaIO-d7d3f308-d5a1-4c45-8e8a-818aed57375a. The weka custom image includes ubuntu 20.04 with kernel 5.4 and ofed 5.8-1.1.2.1.

    • Enable the Accelerated Networking feature in the NICs.

    • Configure the NICs to operate with at least MTU 3900.

• Ensure the client has enough available IP addresses in the selected subnet. Each core allocated to WEKA requires a NIC (and IP address).

Mount the filesystem

1. Create a mount point (only once):

mkdir /mnt/weka

1. Install the WEKA agent on your client machine (only once):

curl <backend server IP address>:14000/dist/v1/install | sh

Example:

curl http://10.0.0.7:14000/dist/v1/install | sh

1. Detect the existing network configuration. Run the command: ip a.

ip a command output example

root@jack:~# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 3900 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:0d:3a:8e:3a:67 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.0.0.30/24 brd 10.0.0.255 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::20d:3aff:fe8e:3a67/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: eth1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 4038 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:0d:3a:8b:d9:bd brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 10.0.0.31/24 brd 10.0.0.255 scope global eth1
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::20d:3aff:fe8b:d9bd/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: enP18334s1np0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,SLAVE,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 3900 qdisc mq master eth0 state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:0d:3a:8e:3a:67 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: enP39539s2np0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,SLAVE,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 4038 qdisc mq master eth1 state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:0d:3a:8b:d9:bd brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
6: dtap0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 4038 qdisc multiq state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:0d:3a:8b:d9:bd brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet6 fe80::20d:3aff:fe8b:d9bd/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

1. Once the WEKA cluster runs, you can mount clients to the filesystem using the following command:

mount -t wekafs <backend-server-IP-address>/<filesystem-name> -o net=<VF interface>/<synthetic network interface IP address>/mask -o mgmt_ip=<Management-IP> /mnt/weka

Where:

• <VF interface>/<synthetic network interface IP address>/mask: The VF interface and synthetic network interface are automatically paired and act as a single interface in most aspects used by applications. The synthetic interface always has a name in the form eth\<n\>. You can identify the VF interface and synthetic network interface pair by their common MAC address. In the example above, the VF interface is enP39539s2np0 (item 5), and the synthetic network interface is eth1 (item 3), which has the IP address and mask 10.0.0.31/24.

• <Management-IP>: In the example above, it the eth0 management IP 10.0.0.30.

Example:

mount -t wekafs 10.0.0.7/default -o net=enP39539s2np0/10.0.0.31/24 -o mgmt_ip=10.0.0.30 /mnt/weka

Using the Azure Console, the client instances are provisioned separately from the WEKA cluster.

Related topics

Mount filesystems