5.3 Configuring an Existing Database Server

You can configure Filr to use an existing MySQL or Microsoft SQL database server. In an enterprise deployment, using your existing corporate database server is recommended over using the MySQL appliance.

You configure Filr to leverage your existing database server when running the Filr configuration wizard for the first time, as described in Section 5.5, Configuring a Large Deployment for the First Time. During this time (the initial Filr configuration), the Filr configuration wizard creates and configures the Filr database on the existing server.

IMPORTANT:Do not create the Filr database on your existing server before running the Filr configuration wizard. Instead, allow the Filr configuration wizard to create the Filr database to ensure that the database is properly configured for Filr.

During the Filr configuration, you need the following information for accessing your database server:

  • The host name or IP address of the database

  • The user name and password of the account you use to administer the MySQL or Microsoft SQL database

If you are leveraging an existing Microsoft SQL database server, you need the following additional information:

  • Access to a user account configured with SQL Server Authentication and with sufficient rights to manage the Filr database. This user must have the necessary rights to administer the database. (You might need to create a new user to administer the Filr database.)

The following sections describe tasks that need to be performed on the existing database before you configure Filr to use the database:

5.3.1 Configuring an Existing MySQL Database Server

When configuring Filr to use an existing MySQL database server rather than the database appliance, Filr supports MySQL 5.0.96 and later.

Configuring the Existing MySQL Database Server

IMPORTANT:Do not create the Filr database on your existing server before running the Filr configuration wizard. Instead, allow the Filr configuration wizard to create the Filr database to ensure that the database is properly configured for Filr.

If you want to use an existing MySQL database server as the Filr database, you must make some changes on the database server to configure it to work with Filr.

  1. Make the following changes to the /etc/my.cnf file on the MySQL server:

    [client] 
default-character-set = utf8

    [mysqld]
character-set-server = utf8
max_connections = 900
transaction-isolation = READ-COMMITTED
expire_logs_days = 7

    The expire_logs_days setting is optional, but is recommended. It is used to clean up mysql-bin-* files. If these files are not cleaned up on a regular basis, they can begin to consume a significant amount of disk space in the vastorage directory.

  2. Uncomment the InnoDB tables section.

  3. Increase the buffer pool size to approximately 60 percent of the amount of RAM that has been allocated to the dedicated MySQL server.

    For example, a dedicated MySQL server with 4 GB of RAM should have a buffer pool size of 2560 MB, as follows:

    innodb_buffer_pool_size = 2560M

  4. Identify a user account with sufficient rights to manage the Filr database.

  5. Continue with Configuring Ganglia to Monitor the Existing MySQL Database.

Configuring Ganglia to Monitor the Existing MySQL Database

If you want to use Ganglia to monitor the existing MySQL database, you need to change the database name on the Filr appliance that Ganglia is configured to monitor to match the name of your MySQL database:

  1. Edit the following file:

    /opt/novell/ganglia/monitor/lib64/ganglia/python_modules/mysql.py

  2. Modify the value of the following parameter (filr) to match the name of your MySQL database:

    param dbname {
       value = "filr"
              }

  3. Save and close the file.

  4. Restart the Ganglia service by using the following command:

    rcnovell-gmond restart

    rcnovell-gmetad restart

  5. Continue with Section 5.4.1, Downloading the Filr Appliance and Configuring the Virtual Environment.

5.3.2 Configuring an Existing Microsoft SQL Database Server

IMPORTANT:Do not create the Filr database on your existing Microsoft SQL server (by using Microsoft Management Studio) before running the Filr configuration wizard. Instead, allow the Filr configuration wizard to create the Filr database to ensure that the database is properly configured for Filr.

For information regarding which versions of the Microsoft SQL database Filr supports, see Section 1.2.1, Filr Server Requirements.

To configure an existing Microsoft SQL database server to be used with your Filr system:

  1. Enable remote access to the Microsoft SQL database server.

  2. Open port 1433 on the Windows firewall where the database server is running.

  3. Identify a user account configured with SQL Server Authentication and that this user has sufficient rights to manage the Filr database.

    Filr supports only SQL Server Authentication. Filr does not support Windows Authentication or Windows Domain User Authentication to Microsoft SQL.

  4. Continue with Section 5.4.1, Downloading the Filr Appliance and Configuring the Virtual Environment.