Peer Global File Service - Environmental Requirements

Last Updated	17 March 2025

Multi-Protocol Support

PeerGFS v6.2 introduces multi-protocol support, which is having NFS and SMB clients simultaneously accessing the same data on the same storage device. Multi-protocol support is limited to File Replication and File Synchronization job types only and these NAS platforms:

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP 9.11+
Dell PowerScale 9.5+ (syslog only)
NetApp ONTAP 9+ and Cloud Volumes ONTAP
Nutanix Files v4.2.1+

Linux File Servers and Dell Unity are not currently supported with multi-protocol. Additionally, File Collaboration, DFS-N Management, and Cloud Backup and Replication jobs are not currently supported with multi-protocol. Edge Caching is also not currently supported with multi-protocol.

Multi-protocol requires the use of the Peer Agent installed on a Linux operating system.

NFS Support

NFS support is limited to File Replication and File Synchronization job types only and these NAS platforms:

Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP 9.11+
Dell PowerScale 9.5+ (syslog only)
Linux File Servers running Linux Kernel 5.9 and above (Ubuntu 22.04 and above, RHEL/Rocky Linux v9.0 and above).
NetApp ONTAP 9+ and Cloud Volumes ONTAP
Nutanix Files v4.2.1+

Dell Unity is not currently supported with NFS. Additionally, File Collaboration, DFS-N Management, and Cloud Backup and Replication jobs are not currently supported with NFS. Edge Caching is also not currently supported with NFS.

Protocol support is based on the operating system where the Peer Agent is installed. Both NFS and multi-protocol require the use of the Peer Agent installed on a Linux operating system while SMB requires the use of the Peer Agent installed on a Windows operating system.

Server Requirements

Important

The required and recommended CPU, memory, and disk space specifications will vary depending on the size and scope of the environment. The following numbers are to be used as a starting point.

Minimum Peer Management Center Server Configuration

For Windows-based PMC deployments: Windows Server 2016 operating system or later.
For Linux-based PMC deployments: Ubuntu Server 22.04 operating system or later; Red Hat Enterprise Linux v9.x or later; Rocky Linux v9.x or later.
A dedicated server is required. Physical servers are preferred and may be necessary in some cases, but high performance VMs running on enterprise-class hypervisors can usually suffice.
For customers with Peer Global File Service Small Business, Basic, or Standard licenses:
- At least 4 processor cores.
- At least 8 GB of system RAM with 4 GB dedicated to the main Peer Management Center service and 2 GB dedicated to the Broker service.
For customers with Peer Global File Service Enterprise licenses:
- At least 6 processor cores.
- At least 16 GB of system RAM with 8 GB dedicated to the main Peer Management Center service and 4 GB dedicated to the Broker service.
For customers with Peer Global File Service Data Center licenses:
- At least 8 processor cores.
- At least 32 GB of system RAM with 16 GB dedicated to the main Peer Management Center service and 8 GB dedicated to the Broker service.
At least 100 GB of free disk space on a reliable, fast hard drive to accommodate installation and log files. Fast SSD storage is highly recommended to improve performance.
For Windows-based PMC deployments with more than 10 million files, a drive dedicated to the PMC is highly recommended to improve performance and minimize internal database fragmentation.

Minimum Peer Agent Server Configuration

For Windows-based Agent deployments: Windows Server 2016 operating system or later.
For Linux-based Agent deployments:
- For Linux File Servers: Linux Kernel v5.9 and above - Ubuntu Server 22.04 operating system or later; Red Hat Enterprise Linux v9.x or later; Rocky Linux v9.x or later.
- For Agents working with NAS devices: Ubuntu Server 22.04 operating system or later; Red Hat Enterprise Linux v9.x or later; Rocky Linux v9.x or later.
For enterprise NAS environments, this must be a dedicated server without any other CEE, File Activity Monitoring, FPolicy, VSCAN, or similar application running on it. Physical servers are recommended but not required.
For customers with Peer Global File Service Small Business, Basic, or Standard licenses:
- At least 4 processor cores.
- At least 8 GB of system RAM with at least 4 GB dedicated to the Agent service.
For customers with Peer Global File Service Enterprise licenses:
- At least 6 processor cores.
- At least 16 GB of system RAM with at least 8 GB dedicated to the Agent service.
For customers with Peer Global File Service Data Center licenses:
- At least 8 processor cores.
- At least 32 GB of system RAM with at least 16 GB dedicated to the Agent service.
At least 50 GB of free disk space on a reliable, fast hard drive or RAID array of hard drives to accommodate installation and log files. Fast SSD storage is highly recommended to improve performance.

Minimum Standalone Peer Management Broker Server Configuration

For Windows-based Broker deployments: Windows Server 2016 operating system or later.
For Linux-based Broker deployments: Ubuntu Server 22.04 operating system or later; Red Hat Enterprise Linux v9.x or later; Rocky Linux v9.x or later.
Must be a dedicated server. Physical servers are preferred and may be necessary in some cases, but high performance VMs running on enterprise-class hypervisors can usually suffice.
For customers with Peer Global File Service Enterprise licenses:
- At least 6 processor cores.
- At least 8 GB of system RAM with 4 GB dedicated to the Broker service.
For customers with Peer Global File Service Data Center licenses:
- At least 8 processor cores.
- At least 16 GB of system RAM with 8 GB dedicated to the Broker service.
At least 50 GB of free disk space on a reliable, fast hard drive to accommodate installation and log files.

Storage Platform Prerequisites

For enterprise NAS platforms, additional prerequisites that need to be met. Please review the specific prerequisites outlined for your chosen platform(s) to ensure compatibility and optimal performance:

Windows Operating System Requirements

When installed on Windows servers, the Peer Agent service (as well as the Peer Master Data Service and Peer Edge Service) must be installed under a domain account with "Log on as a service" rights and with FULL ACCESS to the folders it will be monitoring. To simplify setup, we highly recommend adding this domain account to the local administrators group.
Windows Failover Cluster environments are supported for running both the Peer Management Center as well as the Peer Agent attached to a clustered file server role. Windows Failover Clustering is not currently supported for use with enterprise NAS platforms or with Edge Caching. For more details, contact your sales representative.
Deduplication technology on Microsoft Windows 2016 and above is supported.
For DFS Namespace Management within the Peer Management Center, only domain-based namespaces are supported. Stand-alone namespaces are not supported.

Linux Operating System Requirements

When installing the Peer Management Center on an Ubuntu-based server, the following packages need to be installed:
CODE
```
sudo apt install hardinfo sysstat lshw libcanberra-gtk-module libfontconfig1 libxml2-utils netcat-openbsd
```
When installing the Peer Management Center on a Red Hat or Rocky Linux-based server, the following packages need to be installed:
CODE
```
sudo yum install sysstat fontconfig netcat
```
When installing the Peer Agent on an Ubuntu-based server, the following packages need to be installed:
CODE
```
sudo apt install hardinfo sysstat nfs-common nfs4-acl-tools smbclient cifs-utils 
```
When installing the Peer Agent on a Red Hat or Rocky Linux-based server, the following packages need to be installed:
CODE
```
sudo yum install sysstat libnsl nfs-utils nfs4-acl-tools samba-client cifs-utils
```
When installing the Peer Management Broker on an Ubuntu-based server, the following packages need to be installed:
CODE
```
sudo apt install netcat-openbsd
```
When installing the Peer Management Broker on a Red Hat or Rocky Linux-based server, the following packages need to be installed:
CODE
```
sudo yum install netcat
```

General Requirements and Notes

All folders to be replicated must either be hosted on a supported enterprise NAS platform or be on the local Windows server (NTFS or ReFS only) where the Agent is installed. See the Storage Platform Prerequisites section above for the list of supported platforms.
All Peer Management Center and Peer Agent servers must synchronize their system clocks with the same private or public Network Time Protocol (NTP) service. If you are using virtual machines, ensure that time synchronization between the VM and the hypervisor host is disabled to ensure that the VMs rely solely on NTP for timekeeping.
The following services must be excluded from all anti-malware applications:
- The Peer Management Center Service (PL-Hub-Service.exe / PL-Hub-Service) must be excluded from all anti-malware applications when the PMC is installed on a Windows server.
- The Peer Management Broker Service (PL-Broker.exe / PL-Broker) must be excluded from all anti-malware applications on each server where the PMC or standalone Peer Management Broker is installed.
- The Peer Agent Service (PL-Agent.exe / PL-Agent) must be excluded from all anti-malware applications on each server where the Agent is installed.
- SMB Only: If Edge Caching is being used, the Peer Master Data Service (PeerMasterDataService.exe) and the Peer Edge Service (PeerEdgeService.exe) must also be excluded from all anti-malware applications on each server where the Agent is installed.
- SMB Only: If Dell EMC storage devices are being used with the Common Event Enabler, RabbitMQ (erlsrv.exe and epmd.exe), Erlang (erl.exe), Dell EMC Checker Server (CAVA.exe), and Dell EMC CEE Monitor (CEEMtrSvc.exe) must also be excluded from all anti-malware applications.
File-level encryption technologies are NOT currently supported. If file server encryption is required, a volume-level encryption tool that operates transparently (such as Microsoft BitLocker) is recommended.
No other replication technologies (such as Microsoft DFS-R, RoboCopy, or rsync) should be touching the data that is managed by the Peer Agent.
All Peer Agent servers must have some form of network access to the server where the Peer Management Center or Peer Management Broker is installed. The Agents must be configured with the host name or IP address of the Peer Management Center or Peer Management Broker server. No firewalls can block traffic on the configured port (which is 61617 by default when using SSL, or 61616 by default when not using SSL). For additional firewall details, see Firewall Requirements.
When performing maintenance and upgrades on NAS devices, jobs in PeerGFS should be turned off ahead of the maintenance window. Once the maintenance is complete, jobs can be turned back on again. This is particularly important for NFS-based workloads as mounts on Linux-based Peer Agents can become stuck if replication is attempted while NAS devices are offline.
SMB Only: For customers leveraging Edge Caching, an edge participant must be a Windows file server, and we strongly recommend always including two master participants in every Edge Caching-based job. We support Windows Failover Cluster file server roles as edge participants but only if we are monitoring a single file server role within a cluster.
SMB Only: Short filename support using the 8.3 naming convention must be disabled on the storage devices managed by the Peer Agent.
SMB Only: File Collaboration jobs propagate locks only when a file is opened with a read-write lock (for example, when using MS Word or MS Excel). If a file is opened in read-only mode without an exclusive write lock, or if the application closes all handles to the file (for example, Notepad, WordPad), the lock will not be detected and acted upon.
SMB Only: File Collaboration jobs require that all end-user file access and modifications are done through a network share or mapped drive. Any activity on a participating file server that is generated from the file server itself will not be detected and acted upon.
If Hyper-V's Dynamic Memory feature is enabled on any VMs hosting the Peer Management Center, Peer Agent, or Peer Management Broker, the Minimum RAM value must be set to at least the minimums defined above.
Peer Management Center, Peer Management Broker, and Peer Agent are intended to be installed and maintained by a qualified System Administrator and not a typical end-user.
NFS and Multi-Protocol Only: Symbolic links are not currently supported.
NFS and Multi-Protocol Only: Root squash is not currently supported.
NFS and Multi-Protocol with NFSv4 Only:
1. We strongly recommend adding your Linux systems, including the Peer Agent servers, and your storage devices to an LDAP environment to ensure that user and group IDs (UIDs/GIDs) translate properly across systems.
2. If you are unable to use an LDAP environment, local users on all of your clients must be mapped properly across all of your storage devices. All Peer Agent servers must have local UID definitions for all users across your environment.
3. Your clients, storage devices, and Peer Agent servers must all be in the same search domain.
NFS and Multi-Protocol Only: The following are not currently supported with Agents installed directly on Linux file servers:
1. Monitoring client activity from the Samba service.
2. Replicating NFSv4 as well as POSIX ACLs (We are installed on the file server directly, and NFSv4 and POSIX ACLs are only accessible to NFS clients).
Multi-Protocol Only: Certain characters supported via NFS are unsupported when using SMB. As such characters, like backslashes ('\'), colons (':'), asterisks ('*'), question marks ('?'), quotations ('"'), less than and greater than symbols ('<>'), vertical lines ('|'), and plus-minus signs ('±') should be avoided in multi-protocol environments. Case-sensitive file and folder names should also be avoided to prevent issues.
Multi-Protocol Only: When replicating from PowerScale to FSxN or NetApp, NFSv4 ACLs may not replicate properly if they contain Windows domain information. ONTAP cannot resolve Windows domain information in NFSv4 ACLs.