Linux DNS Servers & Isilon's "Smart Connect" Feature

By Matthew Dublin

The BioTeam has a highly-technical but useful post describing the integration of Linux Dnsmasq DNS Server with Isilon Smart Connect, a nifty feature that allows users to connect all 8 10Gigabit Ethernet interfaces on an Isilon Network Attached Storage (NAS) array.

On "vanilla" NFS shared filesystems in demanding high-performance computing environments, network links often become the throughput bottleneck with usually only painful workarounds. But Isilion's Smart Connect lets you basically automate NFS failover and multi-Network Interface Controller (NIC)/multi-node NFS load balancing without the need to install additional software on each node.

The magic behind Smart Connect is that each Isilon NIC gains multiple IP addresses as the IP address pool spreads across all NICs enabling each NFS client machines to do an NFS mount to a unique IP address.

BioTeam was motivated to post the tutorial, which includes a few command line and utility screen shots, because Isilon's administration guide only explains how to establish DNS zone delegation on a Windows system — not much help for those in academia, a substantial percentage of their customers.

Head on over to their post for a step-by-step instruction on the Linux configuration of Smart Connect, and be sure to thank them for saving you from the ugliness of trying to figure this out on your own.