Access and security

Groups that use the iiStore cluster for file services need to be aware of the customization options and configuration of their storage.

Filesystems

The number of filesystems and their size depends on the amount and type of data:

• The maximum supported size of a file system is about 1TB. If there is more data it needs to be distributed in a meaningful fashion over several filesystems. Larger filesystems are technically possible but are difficult to handle for backup and recovery operations (e.g. fsck).
• Groups that have project directories and want to control data usage using disk quota are advised to put home directories and project data on separate filesystems.

Service Host Name

The data of a particular group is accessed using a dedicated IP with one or more host names. The default is fs.{ou}.inf.ethz.ch where {ou} is replaced by the LDAP OU of the group, e.g. fs.isg.inf.ethz.ch.

A unique IP with one or more host names is also used to access the snapshots. In this case the default is restore.{ou}.inf.ethz.ch.

NFS

By default all home directories are exported individually using a unique netgroup that can be customized by the user or by IT Coordinators. Export of other data is managed by isginf.

Security

For groups that do not use NFS, e.g. groups that exclusively use Windows, we recommend to disable NFS. Individual users can also empty their personal netgroup to prevent access via NFS to their home directories.

SMB/CIFS

All data is by default also shared with SMB/CIFS. The share names for data other than user data can be defined by the group.