+1: you almost certainly have SELinux enabled. The formatting of the file system will fail with this error when SELinux is configured. For example, on a test system I have set up a quick experiment to replicate your problem by setting SELinux to "enforcing": [root@m64-1 ~]# cat /etc/selinux/config # This file controls the state of SELinux on the system. # SELINUX= can take one of these three values: # enforcing - SELinux security policy is enforced. # permissive - SELinux prints warnings instead of enforcing. # disabled - No SELinux policy is loaded. SELINUX=enforcing # SELINUXTYPE= can take one of these two values: # targeted - Targeted processes are protected, # mls - Multi Level Security protection. SELINUXTYPE=targeted [root@m64-1 ~]# mkfs.lustre --reformat --mgs /dev/sdb Permanent disk data: Target: MGS Index: unassigned Lustre FS: Mount type: ldiskfs Flags: 0x64 (MGS first_time update ) Persistent mount opts: user_xattr,errors=remount-ro Parameters: device size = 1024MB formatting backing filesystem ldiskfs on /dev/sdb target name MGS 4k blocks 262144 options -q -O uninit_bg,dir_nlink,quota,huge_file,flex_bg -E lazy_journal_init -F mkfs_cmd = mke2fs -j -b 4096 -L MGS -q -O uninit_bg,dir_nlink,quota,huge_file,flex_bg -E lazy_journal_init -F /dev/sdb 262144 mkfs.lustre: Can't make configs dir /tmp/mntRmd6cD/CONFIGS (Permission denied) mkfs.lustre FATAL: failed to write local files mkfs.lustre: exiting with -1 (Unknown error 18446744073709551615) When SELinux is disabled, the file system will format without issue. You will have to edit the appropriate configuration (on RHEL/CentOS: /etc/selinux/config) and reboot the system in order for the change to take effect. Regards, Malcolm. From: hpdd-discuss-bounces(a)lists.01.org [mailto:hpdd-discuss-bounces@lists.01.org] On Behalf Of Patrick Farrell Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 11:56 PM To: hpdd-discuss(a)lists.01.org Subject: Re: [HPDD-discuss] Issue installing Lustre 1.87 Upanshu, The error message you're getting is what's expected if you still have SELinux enabled on that system. I don't think you need to worry about lctl or the LNET settings right now - The mkfs.lustre is failing because it can't make the temporary directory. I'd make sure selinux is set to disabled in /etc/selinux/config. The line which starts 'selinux=' should read 'disabled'. You can check whether or not that setting has taken effect with: getenforce I'd suggest making sure of that config file change and restarting the system, then try your format command again. - Patrick Farrell