The following will tell you whether Xsan has been installed on a client system. Here we’re checking if the file exists using the [] for a file (I always quote paths that aren’t variables when doing this type of thing) and and then echoing a response that it does. [ -f "/Library/Preferences/Xsan/uuid" ] && echo "Xsan is installed" If the file exists, we could also perform some other tasks or use an else and make changes, like copying an authorization and fsnameservers file into the directory when installing StorNext clients on OS X. The way I would likely do this, if I were saying if the uuid file doesn’t exist,…
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Migrate Metadata From Xsan to StorNext
I’ve written about moving Metadata LUNs from one LUN to another with Xsan in the past, available at https://krypted.com//unix/replacing-xsan-metadata-luns. There, we were using sndiskmove, which works when moving Metadata LUNs from Xsan to Quantum appliances as well (e.g. a 440 or 662). However, the drives that Quantum provides in these appliances are much smaller (and much faster) than those in a traditional Xsan environment. Therefore, the sndiskmove approach would fail as you’re moving from a larger to a smaller LUN. Because the amount of space that you’re using on a Metadata LUN, you should be able to gracefully move metadata to a much smaller LUN. To do so, Quantum provides…
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Xsan Command Line Options In Mavericks Server
Before I get started, I just want to point out that the old commands all still work. There are some newer things, but nothing earth shattering. Let’s start out with what’s actually available in the Server Admin CLI: serveradmin. The serveradmin command, followed by settings, followed by san shows a few pieces of information: bash-3.2# serveradmin settings san san:computers = _empty_array san:primaryController = "95C99FB1-80F2-5016-B9C3-BE3916E6E5DC" san:ownerEmail = "krypted@me.com" san:sanName = "krypted" san:desiredSearchPolicy:_array_index:0 = "" san:serialNumbers = _empty_array san:dsType = 0 san:ownerName = "Charles Edge" san:managePrivateNetwork = yes san:metadataNetwork = "10.0.0.0/24" san:numberOfFibreChannelPorts = 2 san:role = "CONTROLLER" Here, we see the metadata network, the GUID of the primary (active) MDC, the name…
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Configure Xsan in Mavericks Server
The first thing you should do when installing Xsan in any OS, much less Mavericks, is make sure your hostnames are awesome. Forward, reverse, views if you use them, etc. You have to have a dedicated metadata Ethernet network, so you should have a zone entry for both your primary and metadata network interfaces. You should also have fibre channel and storage configured and ready to use. Given that a lot of storage arrays take a long time to configure these days, I like to actually start that and then do my server setups while my LUNs/arrays are baking. Setting Up Xsan Once you have DNS entries, storage and fibre…
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Xsan Guide
I’ve published a guide to managing Xsan at https://krypted.com//guides/xsan. This guide is a collection of older articles and a couple that I haven’t yet published (for obvious reasons). I hope you find it helpful, once complete (it’s almost there, just waiting for a little while).
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Using the xsanadmin Command
There are some commands where you just have to wonder why. Sure, I see what this command does, but why bother? Well, I’m not going to say that xsanadmin is one of those commands, but I’m not going to say that it isn’t. At first glance, you might think that the list, stop, start and other verbs look promising. Like maybe you can actually administer a volume from a much simpler to use command line interface. However, if you want a quick and dirty of what xsanadmin does, look no further than just running the command without any verbs or operators: xsanadmin The result is help information from the serveradmin…
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Xsan
Setting up Xsan is easier than ever, in OS X Mavericks. This guide takes you through many of the basic tasks of Xsan management, including the initial setup as well as long term management. Planning and Preparing for Xsan Preparing for Xsan What is MultiSAN? Use Rorke Storage With Xsan Promise RAID Command Line Arguments Using the Qlogic Command Line Configure DNS for Xsan (this is Mountain Lion but basically the same in Mavericks) Install Xsan Install OS X Mavericks Server Install Xsan on OS X Mavericks Server Create a Volume Adding Client Computers Choose Block Sizes Manage Xsan Changing Metadata Network Interfaces Xsan: Stripe Group Down Errors Using cvadmin…
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Enable and Disable the Xsan Debug Log
You can gather information manually about an Xsan volume using the cvgather command. This occurs per filesystem. For example, to run on a volume named krypted, use the following command: cvgather -f krypted -o /temp/krypted.debug You can also enable the debug log to get much more detailed information about each transaction to/from the volume and metadata controllers. To enable the debug log, use the cvdb command. The -g option will show the state of the debugger. The -e option will enable debugging and -d disables. So, to see the status of the debugger: cvdb -g To enable debugging: cvdb -e To disable debugging: cvdb -d To drop files into syslog:…
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New Things To Come In Xsan 3.0 & Beyond!
It seems like about once a year I have to see threads like the recent one on the Xsan Mailing List from Apple (yes, that one hasn’t been deprecated juuuust yet). This type of thread is really just FUD. People say “Xsan is going away” or “Apple doesn’t care about us” or something like that. But, in order to be compatible with some of the later versions of StorNext, Xsan is in the process of an underlying update that most likely haven’t noticed. The first thing is that all of the binaries of gone back into /System/Library/Filesystems, now located in /System/Library/Filesystems/acfs.fs/Contents/bin (or if not, symlinked). The second is that we have…
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Changing Metadata Networks From The Command Line In Xsan
Awhile back Apple published an article on switching the network interface used in Xsan for Metadata networks. The article provides the following steps: Use Xsan Admin to stop the volumes (see below). In Xsan Admin select Overview. In the lower right corner, click the gear icon and choose “Edit SAN properties”. Select the Metadata Network that you want to use. Click Save. Restart the volumes. Note: If all controllers and clients are not on the same subnet on each network, the Save button will be dimmed. Adjust the clients and controllers so they are on the same subnets. This typically works great; except the fact that the article has been…