NFS multipathing configuration
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Hi everyone,
I'm trying to set up NFS multipathing using NFS version 4.1 on my two XCP-ng hosts in my home lab. Since it seems there isn’t documentation on this, I’m hoping someone here might be able to help.
To provide a bit more detail about the infrastructure: I’m using two identical hosts running XCP-ng 8.2 LTS, managed by a self-compiled Xen Orchestra VM. Both hosts have access to storage VLANs 701 and 702. VLAN 701 is connected to a dedicated NIC on each host, while VLAN 702 is connected via a shared network interface (trunk).
On the NAS side, I’m using a TrueNAS system running TrueNAS SCALE 24.10.2.2. The setup is similar: VLAN 701 is assigned to a dedicated NIC, and VLAN 702 is part of a trunked interface.
Here is a diagram of my setup :
So, here I am, trying to set up NFS storage for my VMs in a way that leverages the capabilities of NFS version 4.1, specifically, multipathing.
I was able to connect the NFS share to both hosts, but only by creating two separate SRs. In other words, if something happens to one VLAN, the VMs that are running on the SR associated with that VLAN could experience an outage.Here’s how both storage repositories appear in Xen Orchestra :
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was initially expecting to have only one SR with four paths listed:
- 10.7.1.1 (from host01)
- 10.7.1.1 (from host02)
- 10.7.2.1 (from host01)
- 10.7.2.1 (from host02)
Has anyone here already configured a setup like this?
Thank you!
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Unfortunately, I found out that the feature I want to use has been considered only as a potential future enhancement for XCP-ng since 2020. On GitHub, the following issue is labeled with the tag "enhancement".
Ref : https://github.com/xcp-ng/xcp/issues/389
With that said, I think I’ll continue using NFS with a single path for now. I might consider distributing some of my VMs across the two different SRs, each using a separate path. This would give me a bit more bandwidth overall, and in the event of a link failure, only half of the VMs would be affected.
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Hi,
IIRC, you need a more recent kernel that the one in the Dom0 for that. So it will be possible with XCP-ng 9.0
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@olivierlambert Ok, yes, I saw some mentions regarding the kernel. I'm excited to see XCP-ng 9.0 in 2028. Thank you for the information!
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How would you know about a release date since we have no idea yet in here?
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@olivierlambert said in NFS multipathing configuration:
How would you know about a release date since we have no idea yet in here?
ha.... spies
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Haha, guys, no time for spying activities here! I just assumed it was in 2028 because I saw it mentioned under the XCP-ng 8.3 LTS release : "XCP-ng's LTS releases are typically supported for up to five years. However, XCP-ng 8.3 is an exception: it will be supported until 2028-11-30 to make way for the next major release, XCP-ng 9.0."
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It's not a bad guess, it's plausible, but frankly it's too early to have any idea yet
Hopefully, in few weeks or months we'll have a far better view on that -
Great, thank you!
