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AI for OpenStack Difficulty: Intermediate ClaudeChatGPT

Manila Shared Filesystem Troubleshooting Prompt

Diagnose Manila share issues — share stuck creating, access rules not applying, mount fails, backend (CephFS / NFS / GlusterFS) errors.

Target user
OpenStack engineers running Manila for shared filesystems
Difficulty
Intermediate
Tools
Claude, ChatGPT

The prompt

You are a senior OpenStack engineer who has run Manila with multiple backends — CephFS, generic (LVM-NFS), NetApp. You know that "mount fails" is usually access rules or network path, not the backend.

I will provide:
- The symptom (share stuck creating, mount fails, access rule rejected, share inconsistent across clients)
- `openstack share show <id>` and `openstack share access list`
- Backend type
- Manila logs
- Client-side mount attempt output

Your job:

1. **Verify backend**:
   - `openstack share service list` — services up
   - Manila API + Manila Share + Manila Scheduler
   - Each backend uses a driver (cephfs, generic, etc.)
2. **For share stuck CREATING**:
   - Scheduler couldn't pick a backend
   - Driver failed during create — check `manila-share` log
   - Quota issues
3. **For access rules**:
   - **`ip`** rule: client IP / CIDR allowed
   - **`user`** rule: e.g., Kerberos principal
   - **`cert`** rule: TLS cert CN
   - Rule must match what the client presents
   - Adding a rule takes time (async); check rule's `state: active`
4. **For mount failures**:
   - Network reach from client to share's export location
   - Manila returns export location like `IP:/path` (NFS) or specific URL (CephFS)
   - Verify with `mount -t nfs ...` manually
   - For CephFS: use `mount.ceph` or kernel client
5. **For CephFS backend**:
   - Auth: `share_metadata "ceph": {"user_id": "manila", ...}`
   - Caps on the cephx user
   - MDS active
   - For native CephFS: kernel client OR ceph-fuse
6. **For NFS (generic backend)**:
   - Manila spawns a service VM with NFS server
   - Service VM accessible from client (via service network)
   - NFS export visible
7. **For sec types**:
   - `manila share-type-list`
   - Type metadata controls driver behavior
   - `dhss=true` means driver handles share servers (multi-tenant networks)
8. **For share replicas**:
   - Replication across sites
   - Promote replica to active

Mark DESTRUCTIVE: deleting share with data, removing all access rules (clients can't mount), force-deleting failed share (orphans backend resources).

---

Symptom: [DESCRIBE]
Backend: [cephfs / generic-LVM-NFS / NetApp / etc.]
`openstack share show <id>`:
```
[PASTE]
```
Access rules:
```
[PASTE `openstack share access list <id>`]
```
Manila logs:
```
[PASTE]
```
Client mount output:
```
[PASTE]
```

Why this prompt works

Manila debugging splits between API/scheduler issues, backend issues, and client mount issues. This prompt walks them.

How to use it

  1. Always include the backend type — drivers debug differently.
  2. Check access rules statecreating rules don’t enforce yet.
  3. Test mount manually outside Manila to isolate.
  4. For CephFS, check cephx user.

Useful commands

# Shares
openstack share list
openstack share show <id>
openstack share access list <id>

# Create
openstack share create --name myshare nfs 10 --share-network <net-id>

# Access rules
openstack share access create <share-id> ip 10.0.0.0/24
openstack share access delete <share-id> <rule-id>

# Share types
openstack share type list

# Services
openstack share service list

# Manila logs
sudo journalctl -u manila-api -n 100 --no-pager
sudo journalctl -u manila-share -n 100 --no-pager
sudo journalctl -u manila-scheduler -n 100 --no-pager

# Test mount (NFS)
sudo mount -t nfs -o nfsvers=4.1 <export-ip>:/path /mnt/test

# Test CephFS mount
sudo mount -t ceph <mon-ip>:6789:/<path> /mnt/test \
    -o name=manila,secret=<key>

# CephFS — check from Ceph side
sudo ceph fs status
sudo ceph auth get client.manila
sudo ceph mds stat

Common findings this catches

  • Share creating > 10 min → driver error; check manila-share log.
  • Access rule state: error → rule conflicts or backend rejection.
  • Mount succeeds for some clients, not others → access rule by IP/CIDR doesn’t cover all.
  • CephFS mount fails “permission denied” → cephx user caps don’t match share’s path.
  • NFS mount succeeds but I/O slow → MTU, network path, NFS version mismatch.
  • Service VM for generic backend stuck → Nova/Neutron issue.
  • Quota errors → manila share quota maxed; expand or release.

When to escalate

  • Ceph cluster issues — engage storage team.
  • Cross-backend migration at scale — staged plan.
  • Vendor backend (NetApp, etc.) bugs — vendor support.

Related prompts

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