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

    Use A Serial Interface with Promise Arrays

    Many of us use a Keyspan Serial adapter to manage devices with serial ports on them. Those who find you need to console into devices but hate the fact that you have to either use Zterm (which is no longer maintained) or boot a Windows Virtual Machine will find an application called goSerial pretty handy. GoSerial makes a Keyspan serial to usb adaptor, connected with a null modem cable, useful. You will be in CLI heaven in moments. goSerial can be downloaded here. You can also use the screen command. The screen command will open a virtual terminal and provide the functionality of an old DEC VT100 terminal. Screen is…

  • Mac OS X Server,  Xsan

    Keyspan Serial Adapter

    When you’re doing Xsan deployments you often run into situations where a serial adapter comes in handy.  It might be the serial port on an Xserve, a Promise Vtrak, an Xserve RAID, a managed switch, a Fibre Channel switch or a UPS but it seems like it’s just a super useful little thing to have.  Now, since the MacBook and MacBook pro do not have serial ports that leaves you hanging a little.  So, this little guy comes in pretty handy: http://www.keyspan.com/products/usa19hs/

  • Xsan

    Xsan: Promise RAID Command Line Arguments

    about        View utility information. array       View or edit array information.  Create, edit or delete a new or existing array.  Create, edit or delete logical drives in an existing array.  To physically locate an array in an enclosure.  Accept an incomplete array condition. battery     View battery information or to recondition a battery. bga         View status of all current background activities.  Enable or disable relevant background activities.  Modify the background task rate for each of the background tasks. buzz        View buzzer status, enable/disable and turn on/off buzzer. chap        View, create, edit or delete a CHAP…

  • Xsan

    LUNscaping

    In Xsan you need to plan your LUNs carefully.  I’ve decided to call this process LUNscaping.  Join me with this and feel free to take credit for the term…  😉

  • Xsan

    The Anatomy of a RAID

    Originally posted at http://www.318.com/TechJournal The acronym for RAID can often be misleading as it has had multiple meanings over the years. RAID originally stood for a redundant array of inexpensive disks. The acronym RAID is now also known as a redundant array of independent disks as not all RAID disks are inexpensive. RAID refers to a hard drive storage mechanism using multiple hard drives to share or replicate data among the drives. In some cases this can mean having data that is written to a single logical drive stored on multiple drives so there is redundancy of the data or RAID can be used to maximize throughput to drives by…