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

    Enabling Spotlight For Network Volumes

    Spotlight doesn’t automatically index network volumes. To configure spotlight to index network volumes, use the mdutil command followed by an arbitrary path, with the -i option and then the on parameter. For example, for a volume called Galvatron, you would enable indexing using the following command: mdutil /Volumes/Galvatron -i on To monitor the status of the indexing process: mdutil /Volumes/Galvatron -s If this happens to cause any problems, use the off parameter instead, along with the same command to disable indexing of that volume. mdutil /Volumes/Galvatron -i off You can send the mdutil commands through Apple Remote Desktop. For example, I’ve needed to toggle indexing on and then off, for…

  • Mac OS X Server,  Xsan

    Rorke Aurora Galaxy and Xsan

    With Apple bundling Xsan into Lion and opening up more storage options than before, it seems like time to start exploring alternatives to Promise Vtrak’s for Xsan storage. ActiveStorage makes a very nice RAID chassis and should be shipping metadata controller appliances soon. I’ve discussed both here before and they make for very nice kit. But in order to have an ‘ecosystem’ you really need a little biodiversity. And the Xsan environment needs to become more of an ecosystem and less of a vendor lock-in situation. So another option that I’d like to discuss is the Rork Aurora Galaxy. These little firecrackers have a lot of potential upside: 4 8Gbps…

  • Windows Server,  Xsan

    Installing Windows Clients for Xsan & StorNext

    There are a lot of environments that attach Windows client computers to an Xsan or StorNext filesystem. In the past I’ve looked at using different versions of StorNext to communicate with Xsan, but in this article we’re actually going to take a look at Quantum’s StorNext FX2 client software. Before getting started, you’ll want to have the StorNext media, have the serial number added to the metadata controllers, have the HBA (fibre channel card) installed, have the fibre patched into the HBA, have the IP addresses for the metadata controllers documented and have a copy of the .auth_secret file obtainable from the metadata controllers once they’ve been properly licensed. To…

  • Xsan

    The Qlogic Command Line

    For many environments, a Qlogic switch can be as simple as plugging it into the wall to get working. The web interface is a great tool and appropriate for many a configuration, but the interactive shell environment on the switches gives a few more options. Let’s first get logged into the switch. The switch will have an IP address, so telnet into that address (I’ll use the my IP rather than the default IP of 10.0.0.1 that the switches ship with): telnet 192.168.210.87 Once you provide a password you’ll be placed into an Interactive Command Line Interface SHell environment, which Qlogic calls CLISH. Establishing connection…   Please wait. ***************************************************** *…

  • Xsan

    Removing A LUN Label in Xsan

    In Xsan Admin you can easily label LUNs that are available on your Fibre Channel fabric. Using the cvlabel command, you can also easily label a LUN that isn’t on a Fibre Channel fabric. Labeling a LUN writes data to the LUN, thus allowing Xsan to somewhat mark its territory (insert vivid imagery of an Xsan shaped like a dog taking a whiz on a poor thumb drive). If you then look at that LUN from a Mac OS X system without Xsan installed, the computer will have greyed out options in Disk Utility and will not be able to treat the LUN as a “disk.” You also can’t use…

  • Mac OS X,  Mac Security,  Unix

    Managing SyncPlans from the PresSTORE CLI

    PresSTORE has a Synchronize module, that can be used to copy data from one location to another. This is done by the use of synchronization plans, or sync plans for short. Each plan is given a name and has a number of attributes associated with it, such as whether it is enabled or disabled. PresSTORE has a command line interface called nsdchat that is available at /usr/local/asw. To run it in interactive mode you can run the following command: /usr/local/asw/nsdchat From here, you can use the SyncPlan command to interface with the plans that you have created. To see a list of plans you will use the SyncPlan command from…