Appendix B. Case study: IBM Global Storage Architecture 321
Since that time, GPFS has been ported to Linux on IBM Eserver xSeries®, but
current plans involve it also remaining in use on AIX 5L and the pSeries platform
in GSA File. Experience has shown that the NFS server on AIX 5L is more robust
than the NFS server on Linux.
IBM was searching for opportunities to deploy Linux infrastructure at the time the
GSA File project began, and it was felt the directory service in GSA File would be
a perfect fit. Each GSA File cell starts with three Linux directory servers, one
submaster and two replicas.
Storage
The use of a shared device file system such as GPFS led to Fibre
Channel-attached storage. But at the same time, this was not a typical SAN ...