VFS_GLUSTERFS(8)

🦋 vfs_glusterfs — a manual page, but make it fashion 💅

okay so bestie, before we even get into it: this page lives in vfs_glusterfs(8), which is a System Administration tools kind of situation. yes, it's a whole manual section. we love that for us.

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✨ NAME ✨

vfs_glusterfs — utilize features provided by GlusterFS 🌸

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

vfs objects = glusterfs

that's it. that's the whole vibe. one line and you're in. 🫶

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so first things first: this VFS module is part of the samba(8) suite. yes, the samba suite. we're all one big happy family here. 💖

GlusterFS (http://www.gluster.org) is an Open Source clustered file system that's capable of scaling to several peta-bytes. peta. bytes. she's huge, she contains multitudes, she simply does not stop growing. 🌈 With its FUSE based native client, GlusterFS is available as a POSIX compliant file system, which means Samba can just share it with no additional steps. no extra chores. no side quests. iconic behavior honestly.

so what does the vfs_glusterfs VFS module actually give you? it provides an alternative, and honestly superior, way to access a Gluster filesystem from Samba for sharing. and here's the gag: it does not require a Gluster FUSE mount. instead it directly accesses the GlusterFS daemon through its library libgfapi, which means it skips the expensive kernel-userspace context switches entirely and gets to flex some of the more advanced features of GlusterFS. not me being efficient AND talented. 😭

you can combine this module with other modules, but — listen up, this is important — it should be the last module in the vfs objects list. modules you add to this list to the right of the glusterfs entry may not have any effect at all. like, zero. nothing. ghosted. 💀

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✨ CONFIGURATION ✨

a basic configuration looks like this, bestie:

[share]
vfs objects = glusterfs
path = /relative/base/path
glusterfs:volume = gv0
kernel share modes = no

now, note that since vfs_glusterfs does not require a Gluster mount, the share path is treated differently than it is for other shares: it's interpreted as the base path of the share relative to the gluster volume used. 🎀 And because this is usually not at the same time a system path, in a ctdb cluster setup where ctdb manages Samba, you need to set CTDB_SAMBA_SKIP_SHARE_CHECK=yes in ctdb's configuration file. otherwise ctdb will not get healthy. and an unhealthy ctdb is not the main character we want. 🙈

also note that currently kernel share modes have to be disabled in a share running with the glusterfs vfs module for file serving to work properly. so like, kernel share modes = no. don't forget. fr fr. ✨

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

four options, all of them little divas, each with their own job:

• glusterfs:logfile = path — defines whether and where to store a vfs_glusterfs specific logfile. client variable substitution is supported (i.e. %M, %m, %I), hence a per client log file can be specified. 🍓 Example: glusterfs:logfile = /var/log/samba/glusterfs-vol2.%M.log
• glusterfs:loglevel = 0-9 — defines the level of logging, with higher numbers corresponding to more verbosity. so like: 0 - no logs; 9 - trace log level; and 7 being the info log level is preferred. 👑 If this option is not defined with an explicit loglevel, the glusterfs default is used (currently loglevel 7).
• glusterfs:volfile_server = servername — defines which volfile server to use, defaults to localhost. it could be a list of white space separated elements where each element could be:
  1. unix+/path/to/socket/file
  2. [tcp+]IP|hostname|\[IPv6\][:port]

note the restriction on naming a IPv6 host — it follows the same restriction that is based on IPv6 naming in URL as per RFC 2732. rules are rules, babe. 💜

• glusterfs:volume = volumename — defines the glusterfs volumename to use for this share. that's it, that's the whole thing. ✨

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✨ CAVEATS ✨

okay bestie, gather round, this part is the serious part. no jokes, just facts. 🫶

the GlusterFS write-behind performance translator, when used with Samba, could be a source of data corruption. here's why: the translator, while processing a write call, immediately returns success but continues writing the data to the server in the background. that means data corruption can happen when two clients relying on Samba to provide data consistency are operating on the same file. 😭

the write-behind translator is enabled by default on GlusterFS. the vfs_glusterfs plugin will check for the presence of the translator and refuse to connect if detected. so please disable the write-behind translator for the GlusterFS volume to allow the plugin to connect to the volume. you can easily disable it like this:

gluster volume set <volumename> performance.write-behind off

on the commandline. 💅

and one little piece of good news: with GlusterFS versions >= 9, we silently bypass the write-behind translator during initial connect and failure is avoided. she evolved. 🌸

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✨ VERSION ✨

this man page is part of version 4.24.7-Ubuntu-4.24.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1 of the Samba suite. periodt. 💖

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✨ AUTHOR ✨

the original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed. legends only. 👑

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 written up for Samba 4.24.7-Ubuntu-4.24.7+dfsg-1ubuntu1, dated 09/13/2026, filed under VFS_GLUSTERFS(8) — go forth and share your gluster volumes, and remember to turn off write-behind. mwah. 💋✨🦋