• Xsan

    SMB, Extended Attributes & Xsan

    Xsan 2.2 is having a bit of a problem with serving up files with Extended Attributes over SMB volumes that are stored on an Xsan according to a recent knowledge base article. The fix (other than not using files with Extended Attributes on Xsan volumes that are shared up over SMB is to enable stream support in the /etc/smb.conf file. To do so, open /etc/smb.conf and then change the stream support = yes setting to stream support = no. This isn’t to say that all of your problems will magically vanish, but it should help to provide some relief until the next update.

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment,  Xsan

    Programatic Screen Sharing

    You can remotely start ARD with kickstart, which I have previously covered at length. But Screen Sharing is a bit of a different little beast. To start up Screen Sharing, you can just use the following command: echo -n enabled > /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ScreenSharing.launchd I still prefer kickstart, but this method functions when you need something quick and easy. To then disable Screen Sharing, you can just toss the launchd item: rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.ScreenSharing.launchd Once you have Screen Sharing started, you can then open the Screen Sharing application from a client by using the open command, followed by the protocol, which would be vnc and then the IP address. As with FTP you…

  • Xsan

    Xsan Log Generator

    XsanDebugged is a small, quick little tool that copies the Xsan logs to the desktop of the user running it. It’s designed so that an Xsan administrator can leave it in the Dock of a computer and then tell an editor or someone onsite to click on it and not have to step anyone through typing commands to copy logs, compress them and then email them. Another tool that is fairly quick and easy from the command line, but meant to save a bunch of time on the phone when troubleshooting issues remotely. Click here to Download XsanDebugged XsanDebugged can be found on the Apps page of this site.

  • Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Xsan

    Xsan + serialnumberd Troubleshooting

    With Mac OS X 10.5.8 and 10.6.x, Mac OS X Server, Xsan, Final Cut Server and a number of other serialized products were switched to a whole new solution for managing serial numbers: a newly redone serialnumberd. If you run otool against serialnumberd in 10.5.7 and below you’ll notice no dependencies; it stood alone so to speak. If you run otool against the latest and greatest then you’ll notice that it has a number of dependencies that run the gambit of otherwise unthinkable services. This caused minor growing pains during the summer with multihomed network connections, maximum number of clients and other aspects of servers with certain solutions, but that…

  • Xsan

    Xsan: Ghost SymLink Killah

    An Xsan issue that had disappeared for awhile but that I’ve seen a few times recently. Symptom is that you have one client that won’t mount your Xsan volume. Other clients can mount but not that one. In the logs you see errors similar to the following: (Error) Store: {channel:0x202b18fa0 localPath:’/Volumes/36Chambers’} bring up failed — will retry If all of these things are true then you likely, even without having the volume mounted will have a file in the /Volumes/ folder with the name of the SAN. If that’s the case then you have a pretty quick and easy resolution. Rename the file and see if fsm mounts the volume.…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment,  Xsan

    Deploy Final Cut Pro Fast

    One of the challenges that we face when building a large Xsan for video environments where we also need to deploy Final Cut is to install Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Studio on all the clients. It can mean a lot of switching out of optical media and kill productivity if you aren’t careful. This is why we started looking to the Xsan to provide some of the speed to the installation process that it will later provide to the clients. First off, extract the installers or create an image of the disk(s). If you extract the disk then you will need to mount it and then start the…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment,  Unix,  Windows Server,  Windows XP,  Xsan

    Lots of new stuff: Command Line Wiki Integration

    The Mac Commands page and the PowerShell Commands page are both now wikis and users with accounts on this site can edit them. Additionally I added a number of new pages worth of commands, FTP Commands, Windows Commands, Final Cut Server Commands, Amazon S3 Commands, Podcast Producer Commands and Xsan Commands; both of which are wikis as well.

  • Final Cut Server,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security,  Mass Deployment,  Xsan

    Mac OS X Server Groups on LinkedIn

    In case you haven’t seen them there are a number of groups for Mac OS X Systems Administrators on LinkedIn: Mac OS X Server: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?&gid=138085 Final Cut Server: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=138082 Xsan: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=138084 MacEnterprise: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1774398