Using multiple file systems to distribute spool I/O on primary computer

You can distribute I/O activity across multiple file systems to improve throughput.
The /aiw file system contains the spool directories for the entire RICOH ProcessDirector system. You can extend the /aiw file system by defining partitions on the primary computer and mounting them under the /aiw file system to distribute spool processing.

It is recommended that you use an additional hard drive that is the same size as your /aiw file system (80 + GB) and a dedicated SCSI channel or bus port for the additional partition.

To define a new partition and mount it in the spool directory on the primary computer:
  1. Stop the system:
    1. On each secondary computer, log in as the RICOH ProcessDirector system user (aiw1 is the default) and enter stopaiw.
    2. On the primary computer, log in as the RICOH ProcessDirector system user and enter stopaiw.
  2. On the primary computer, log in as the root user.
  3. Enter this command to change to the spool directory:
    • cd /aiw/aiw1/spool
  4. If the spool directory does not exist, the command fails and you see this message: No such file or directory. If that happens, enter these commands:
    1. cd /aiw/aiw1
    2. mkdir spool
    3. chown systemuser:group spool,
      where systemuser is the RICOH ProcessDirector system user (aiw1 is the default) and group is the RICOH ProcessDirector group (aiwgrp1 is the default).
    4. chmod 775 spool
    5. cd /aiw/aiw1/spool
  5. From the aiw/aiw1/spool directory, enter this command to create a new spool directory on the primary computer:
    • mkdir newspooldirectory
    • newspooldirectory is any valid directory name on your system.
  6. Use YaST (Yet another Setup Tool) System ⇒ Partitioner to define the new partition and where it is to be mounted. The mount point is: /aiw/aiw1/spool/newspooldirectory
  7. Enter these commands to specify the appropriate permissions:
    1. cd /aiw/aiw1/spool
    2. chown systemuser:groupnewspooldirectory
    3. chmod 775 newspooldirectory
  8. If you have secondary servers, you must export a new directory or partition:
    1. To export the newspooldirectory directory to remote secondary servers use rw,no_root_squash,sync mount options.
    2. Configure each remote Linux secondary computer to mount the new spool directory separately from /aiw mount.
    3. Make sure that you can access on the secondary server the contents of the newspooldirectory mounted on separate filesystem. Secondary servers fail if they cannot access the file systems.
  9. Restart RICOH ProcessDirector:
    1. Restart the base product by logging in to the Linux system as the RICOH ProcessDirector system user and entering startaiw.
    2. Restart each secondary server by logging in to each secondary computer as the RICOH ProcessDirector system user and entering startaiw.

In this section:

  1. Configuring a Linux secondary computer to mount a new spool directory
    You can extend the /aiw file system by creating and mounting additional partitions on a Linux secondary computer.
Parent topic: Performance