Announce: ClusterNFS

[Gregory R. Warnes]

 				ClusterNFS
				----------

		 http://queenbee.fhcrc.org/ClusterNFS/ 
		 

ClusterNFS is patched "Universal NFS Daemon" (UNFSD) that allows multiple
diskless clients to nfs mount the same root filesystem by providing
"interpreted" file names.

When a client requests the file "/path/filename" , the ClusterNFS server
checks for the existence of files of the form "/path/filename$$KEY=value$$". 
If such a file exists and the client has a matching value for KEY, this
file is returned. If the client does not have a matching value or no such
file exists, the file request proceeds as normal. Currently supported keys
include, HOST (hostname), IP (IP number), UID (user id), GID (group id),
and CLIENT (matches any nfs client).

By naming all machine-specific files "filename$$IP=aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd" and
naming files which are the same for all clients "filename$$CLIENT$$", the
server and all clients can share the same root partition. This makes it
easy to set up and maintain a pool of diskless machines.  The ClusterNFS
home page is hosted on a small Beowulf cluster http://queenbee.fhcrc.org
which has been constructed in this fashion.

More Information, including source code and documentation is available at

		http://queenbee.fhcrc.org/ClusterNFS/ 
 

-Gregory