318 Implementing NFSv4 in the Enterprise: Planning and Migration Strategies
GPFS is a shared device file system in that every node in a GPFS cluster has full
read/write access to the disks in a file system. GPFS coordinates this access
using a distributed locking mechanism in order to maintain consistency on disk.
The GPFS locking mechanism relies on having a quorum of servers available.
The full GSA File cell uses a minimum of three servers in the GPFS cluster, so
quorum is maintained if one server fails.
This shared device design allows the file system to grow very large, and a large
number of nodes can participate in a GPFS cluster with very large aggregate
disk bandwidth. The shared device aspect of GPFS also entails unique security
concerns. ...