Use NFS for SAS server shared deployment/installation/configuration/backup directories ?

[BigSASFan]

Dear Fellow SAS Admin,

I would never use NFS for SAS datasets, neither permanent SAS libraries, or WORK/UTILLOC filesystems.

But I do have a question regarding the possibility to use NFS for some SAS deployment/installation/configuration/backup directories.

For example, our SAS platform is on a Solaris operating system, it composed of the following servers:

     1. SAS Metadata Server Cluster: has three SAS Metadata Servers. All three servers:

               - share SAS Metadata server backup directory;

               - share SAS Metadata server installation directory;

      2. SAS Compute Server Cluster (GRID): has three SAS GRID nodes. All three GRID nodes:

                - share SAS GRID compute server installation directory;

                - share SAS GRID compute server configuration directory;

     3. SAS Mid-tier Server Cluster: has two SAS Mid-tier Servers. The two servers:

                - share SAS Mid-tier installation directory;

     4. All the above SAS tiers & servers, :

                - share a centralized SAS Configuration Backup Vault;

                - share SAS Software Depot directory;

The above shared directories or filesystems are not for SAS datasets, or WORK/UTILLOC filesystems, but for SAS deployment/installation/configuration/backup purposes.

My question is, what's your opinion to use NFS for these shared directories or filesystems? It should be fine for NFS to be used for SAS Software Depot, but how about the others ?

Thanks in advance !

[JuanS_OCS]

Hello @BigSASFan,

You can implement NFS, of course, but beware, you would be accepting certain risks. I would highly recommend to read any document for SAS Grid regarding File Systems. You can start with:

http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings17/SAS0569-2017.pdf

I personally think NFS is OK for things that are not running all the time, such as static files, SAS Depot, backup directories and perhaps even some log files location. But I hardly trust NFS the availability/health of my Production systems, meaning configuration directories, binaries (installation dir), WORK, and other critical areas for performance and availability.

[nhvdwalt]

Fully agree with @JuanS_OCS. Be cautious with NFS. It's a quick fix to resolve many problems, but comes with costs and risks.

I totally get the point about sharing install, config and backups dirs. However, if you have multiple Grid nodes, what do you use to share data across the Grid nodes ? A shared file system is a crucial part of any Grid deployment, so just curious about the strategy for the Grid compute nodes.

If you really really need to use NFS, then I would suggest you investigate some options for the most optimum setup between SAS and NFS. I recall once there was a good paper about setting up Isilon with SAS. You might not be going the Isilon route, but there are some good tips and tricks in there for SAS + NFS.