Accessing an NFS Server from Windows HPC compute nodes

Steve Roach — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 20:55:00 GMT

Because most HPC environments already have enterprise data stored on an NFS server, we often get asked how to enable the Windows HPC compute nodes to access the NFS server. In Windows Server 2008, the NFS Client is included as part of the Services for Network File System (NFS), which is a Role Service under the File Server role. There is a complete step-by-step guide available at this link:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753302.aspx

Included on that page is a description of how to install Services for NFS using the Server Manager GUI. But in an HPC cluster, it is not practical to log in to each compute node and run through those steps. Fortunately, there is a command line method for performing the same function. To install the Services for NFS, the following command should be run from the command line:

servermanagercmd.exe -install FS-NFS-Services

Once the Services for NFS have been installed, use the mount command to map the NFS fileshare to a logical drive letter. Be aware that there is no automount option for the mount command, so to make this connection survive a reboot, you must execute this command first:

net use /persistent:yes

Then, you can execute the mount command using this syntax:

mount -u:<UserName> -p:<Password> <ComputerName>:/<ShareName> <Drive Letter>

The complete description of all of the options for the mount command is available at this link:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc733084.aspx

All of these commands may be run from the headnode using the clusrun command. Or, to have everything set up automatically as part of the provisioning process for new compute nodes, these commands may be added to the Node Template. To do this, open the Node Template in the Editor, select Add Task, then Maintenance, then Post Install Command. Then add the servermanagercmd command above to the row at the bottom of the properties section. Repeat these steps to add the other two commands to the Node Template.

The Windows HPC Team Blog : NFS mount automount

Accessing an NFS Server from Windows HPC compute nodes