Stage 1: Preparing to Create the First MDS Server

To prepare for making the first MDS server, do the following:

1. Choose a name for the cluster that will uniquely identify it among other clusters in your network.

   A name may contain the characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, dash (-), and underscore (_). The examples used throughout this guide assume that the cluster name is pcs1 .

   Note: When choosing a name for the cluster, make sure it is unique on your network. Also, do not use names that were once assigned to other clusters in your network, even if these clusters do not exist any more. This will help you avoid possible problems with services from previous cluster setups that might still be running and trying to operate on the new cluster. Though such operations will not succeed, they can make your work as a cluster administrator more difficult.

2. Log in to the computer you want to configure as a metadata server as root or as a user with root privileges.
3. Download and install the following RPM packages on the computer: pstorage-ctl , pstorage-libs-shared , and pstorage-metadata-server .

   The packages are available in the Parallels Cloud Server remote repository (this repository is automatically configured for your system when you install Parallels Cloud Server) and can be installed with this command:

   # yum install pstorage-metadata-server

4. Make sure that cluster discovery is configured in your network. For details, see Configuring Cluster Discovery .

After you complete the steps above, you are ready to create the MDS server.