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Chris Slagel
Level 1 (10 points)

Q: xSan data without the xSan...?

So you have a raid array setup with your xSan. If you removed the Metadata controller server from the equation and just had your array, would you still be able to access the data? And could you access it from any machine? Or do you HAVE to have an xSan client to see it.

Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Oct 8, 2010 3:50 PM

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Chris Slagel

Q: xSan data without the xSan...?

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  • by MrHoffman,

    MrHoffman MrHoffman Oct 8, 2010 4:04 PM in response to Chris Slagel
    Level 6 (15,637 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 8, 2010 4:04 PM in response to Chris Slagel
    From [What is Xsan?|http://www.apple.com/xsan/whatisxsan.html] ...


    Xsan metadata controller
    Xsan includes software called the “metadata controller,” which acts as the traffic cop for the SAN. 
    When an Xsan client attempts to read or write to a file, it gets permission from the metadata
    controller, then accesses the data directly on the SAN over high-speed Fibre Channel. Any Xserve
    or Mac Pro running Mac OS X Server can be an Xsan metadata controller.


    Any clustering scheme (distributed shared write) requires distributed coordination, or Bad Things Happen.

  • by Chris Slagel,

    Chris Slagel Chris Slagel Oct 8, 2010 4:33 PM in response to MrHoffman
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 8, 2010 4:33 PM in response to MrHoffman
    Haha fair enough. Thanks.

    Side question, could I use a Mac Mini Server as a xSan metadata BACKUP controller
    ? (The main would be an xServe) Or does it have to be an xServe or Mac Pro?

  • by MrHoffman,

    MrHoffman MrHoffman Oct 8, 2010 5:36 PM in response to Chris Slagel
    Level 6 (15,637 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 8, 2010 5:36 PM in response to Chris Slagel
    If your question is whether the text from Apple that was cited earlier incorrect or incomplete, then I'd tend to doubt it.

    Particularly given the Mac Mini Server lacks a Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA).

    Two boxes do have expansion slots (PCI-X or PCIe) capable of that: Xserve and Mac Pro.

    If you want shared storage and don't want a Storage Area Network (SAN) configuration (your goal here is not clear to me), then you're largely limited to Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) or (for a system with a PCIe and a slot for it) 10 GbE, and Network Attached Storage (NAS), using SMB or AFP over IP, or via iSCSI or maybe AoE or such.

  • by Chris Slagel,

    Chris Slagel Chris Slagel Oct 8, 2010 5:43 PM in response to MrHoffman
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 8, 2010 5:43 PM in response to MrHoffman
    Didn't think of the lack of Fibre Channel. That makes sense. Oh well. Thanks buddy!