LFC YAIM Install

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The simplest method of installing a local LFC is to use the YAIM scripts. Currently this will setup the LCG File Catalog with MySQL running on the same host.

Even if you want to setup MySQL on a different host, this method is the best way to start.

This HOWTO, which is current for the LCG 2.7.0 release, will walk through the necessary steps.

Hardware Requirements

The LFC Admin Guide recommends installing the LFC on a box with

  • 2GHz processor with 1GB RAM
  • Dual power supply
  • Mirrored system disk

However, it seems to me that these are hardware requirements appropriate for a central catalog. For a Tier 2s' local catalog I would recommend at least:

  • P4 Processor or AMD Athlon or better.
  • 512MB RAM

Remember that for VOs like ATLAS if your local catalog goes down your site will probably be quite useless for analysis as no local SURLs will be able to be resolved, so reliable hardware is recommended. (As are regular MySQL Backups.)


Getting Started

See the YAIM install manual for details, but basically the start from the following:

  1. Base install of Scientific Linux
  2. Install java and ntp.
  3. Unpack your Grid Certificate into /etc/grid-security
  4. Download and install the latest YAIM version.

LFC Variables in site-info.def

The variables in site-info.def which need to be set for an LFC install are:

 LFC_HOST=my-lfc.$MY_DOMAIN
 
 LFC_DB_PASSWORD="hjauYAGSH26AG44aaGG"
 # All catalogues are local unless you add a VO to
 # LFC_CENTRAL, in which case that will be central
 LFC_CENTRAL=""
 # If you want to limit the VOs your LFC serves, add the locals here
 LFC_LOCAL=""
  • For most sites the variables LFC_CENTRAL and LFC_LOCAL are kept empty - this will install an Local LFC catalog for all the VOs you support.
  • Setting LFC_CENTRAL="VO1 VO2" will setup a central catalog for these VOs. You can do this for local VOs based at your site, e.g., UKI-ScotGrid-Glasgow-Students VO. Note that there can only be one central catalog on each grid for each VO. Under no circumstances should you attempt to setup a central catalog for one of the LHC VOs. Your site will be cast out into the wilderness and the mighty hand of the UKI ROC will come down and smite you.
  • If your site wishes to advertise a local catalog for only a subset of supported VOs then set these VO names in LFC_LOCAL. Otherwise all supported VOs will have access to your site local catalog.
  • You also need to set whatever the usual suspects are for your site (CE, contact details, supported VOs) as well as the MYSQL_PASSWORD (which will be the database password for "root").

Information Publishing

To ensure that your site publishes information about its LFC make sure you add an entry for the LFC to the site-info.def on the CE:

 BDII_REGIONS="CE SE LFC"
 BDII_LFC_URL="ldap://$LFC_HOST:2135/mds-vo-name=local,o=grid"

See LFC Information Publishing.

Running YAIM

A Minor Gotcha

The only instance seen where YAIM will fail to run successfully is if the SL base install failed to put the FQDN of the machine in /etc/hosts.

Install Node

Run the YAIM install_node script:

 /opt/lcg/yaim/scripts/install_node /etc/lcg/site-info.def lcg-LFC_mysql

Configure Node

Run the YAIM configure_node script:

 /opt/lcg/yaim/scripts/configure_node /etc/lcg/site-info.def LFC_mysql

Post Install

After that install has been done you might like to look at:

Before you publish the catalog for use by VOs it's essential to ensure that MySQL Backups of the database are done.