Xsan can be used as the back end storage to provide front end network file share services for a Mac OS X environment. This isn’t to say that it will work like a charm without some fine tuning though. One of the most important tools you have in performance tuning any Xsan volume is the block size. As I’ve mentioned in the past, the stripe breadth multiplied by the block size should total out to about 1MB total. The stripe breadth on the storage pools is therefore going to need to be customized any time you change the block sizes for the volume.
If you are using Xsan as a repository for data to be shared over clustered file storage then it is important to maintain a small block size. How small? That answer depends on your data. If it’s large files, then you may be able to stick with the default settings for clustered file storage in the volume setup wizard. However, if it’s small files then consider going even lower.
