question for R80.30 NFS client support

[Wolfgang]

Dear Checkmates,

with R80.30 comes support for a NFS client:

"Added NFSv4 (client) support (NFS v4.2 is the default NFS version used)"

Does these mean now we can mount on the SMS a NFS share from an external storage system for maybe the log-partition ?

This will become a really nice feature.

regards

Wolfgang

[PhoneBoy]

We've supported NFS for a while, just an older version of it.
Not sure we've QAed it for the express purpose of a log partition.
Prior to R80.30, since we didn't support NFS file locking, it may have been a bad idea to use it for that purpose.

[Wolfgang]

Dameon,

can you please check this internal if it will be supported or not.

Thanks Wolfgang

[PhoneBoy]

Can ask around but my gut feeling says this may not be the best idea even if supported.

[Wolfgang]

Why dou you think this is not a good idea Dameon?
From my point of view it is a very good idea having the log-partition mounted from an external system. With that you're very flexible with the logs.
- mount it on any other server
- size enhancement is no problem
- high disk performance for that partition
- better to backup
- keeps SMS small in size

Wolfgang

[PhoneBoy]

Blocking that can occur from the additional networking traffic being the main concern I have.

[Wolfgang]

This is not a problem. The storage for our typically VMware environment is mounted via NFS. This NFS-traffic is running in dedicated network environment without any other traffic.
ESX-server mounts the storage via NFS, you have to create virtual disks on top of that and add it to the virtual machine of the SMS. Then you have to extend log-partition via LVM.

Mounting direct in SMS via NFS is only one simple step and very easy.

Wolfgang

[BHolanda]

@Wolfgang, I agree with you. There would be a lot advantages in using nfs to store the log partion, since manage virtual machines with big virtual disks is always complex.

@PhoneBoy, do you have any news about this subject?

My team is about to update to version and this question about nfs for log partiton arose in our discussions.

[PhoneBoy]

If you have this requirement, please work with your local Check Point office.
Just for facts: nfs4 supported was added into R80.30 in 3.10 kernels.
However it is not enabled by default and the SK that describes how to enable it is internal.

[elicro]

@WolfgangNFS is being used as a second or third tier storage in most of the log cases.

ESX do not use locking at all, it uses it's own locking mechanism.

For any logging which requires both sync and async support I would recommend to use only for archiving.

I do not have too much experience with Gaia OS but in the linux world NFS is used for storage with a layer of caching above.

On a loaded FW logging can be really hard on the disks...