A Fileset Database machine stores the Fileset Location Database. Optimally, you should configure three or a larger, odd number of Fileset Database machines sufficient to support the File Server machines in the cell.
Each Fileset Database machine runs the following processes:
· A Fileset Location Server (flserver process).
· Two upclient processes: one to retrieve configuration files from the System Control machine, and one to retrieve binary files from the Binary Distribution machine of the proper CPU/OS type.
· A BOS Server (bosserver process). (See Choosing DFS Machine Roles for more information about the BOS Server.)
The Fileset Location Server (FL Server), or flserver process, is used to track the locations of all filesets in a cell, making file access transparent. It tracks the locations of filesets and records changes to them in the FLDB. There is one master copy of the FLDB per cell.
The first time it needs to retrieve a requested file, the Cache Manager contacts the FL Server to learn which File Server machine houses the fileset containing the file. Because of this dependency, the Cache Manager cannot retrieve a requested file if the information in the FLDB is inaccessible, even if the File Exporter on the machine that houses the fileset containing the file is working properly.
The admin.fl list is used to designate administrative users who can issue commands that affect the flserver process (operations that affect the FLDB) on a Fileset Database machine. The same admin.fl list should be used for all FL Servers in a cell.
A user can issue commands that affect FLDB entries for filesets on a server machine without being listed in the admin.fl list, provided the user owns the machine's server entry in the FLDB. A user gains ownership of a server entry in the FLDB by being included in the group specified as the owner of that machine's entry with the fts crserverentry command. (See Making Filesets and Aggregates Available for more information about creating server entries in the FLDB.)