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DStovall80922
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Q: How can I destroy all and start over?

Our XSAN died, we tried all of the repair commands. I can't connect to the SAN, cant't connect to the servers via XSAN Admin, can't destroy the SAN. How can I just delete everything and start over? I can't make any headway with anything.

Posted on Apr 12, 2011 11:42 AM

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DStovall80922

Q: How can I destroy all and start over?

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  • by Strontium90,

    Strontium90 Strontium90 Apr 12, 2011 4:25 PM in response to DStovall80922
    Level 5 (4,087 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Apr 12, 2011 4:25 PM in response to DStovall80922
    I am guessing you have a backup of your data. If that is the case, you can uninstall the Xsan software, perform reformats of your storage (as this will destroy the LUN labels and, assuming you are using good storage, rescan for bad blocks or find bad drives), reinstall Xsan, and then build from scratch. This is really, really aggressive, but it will get you back to square one.

    Before you nuke and pave, can you see all of your LUNs right now? What about the error messages, if any that you are receiving? Is your metadata network running?

    Hope this helps

  • by DStovall80922,

    DStovall80922 DStovall80922 Apr 12, 2011 4:57 PM in response to Strontium90
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 12, 2011 4:57 PM in response to Strontium90
    Thanks for the response. I've messed with it so much trying to fix it that we can't see anything via XSAN Admin - no metadata at all, yet it won't let me install new either. I can't uninstall XSAN because it says I don't have anything installed, yet I can install because it says a leter version is already installed. I really don't want to rebuilt the server.

    Can I surgically remove the pieces of XSAN so I can atleast install over the wreckage?

    How's best to reformat the storage? I have Xserve RAIDS. Through the RAID Admin software? Which command should I choose?

    Sorry, I'm lost with this system.

  • by Strontium90,

    Strontium90 Strontium90 Apr 13, 2011 9:46 AM in response to DStovall80922
    Level 5 (4,087 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Apr 13, 2011 9:46 AM in response to DStovall80922
    Ouch. This sounds like a rough one. So you have two tasks. The first is to purge the unit of the Xsan software.

    1: Look in /Library/FileSystems - Is there an Xsan folder. If so, throw it out.
    2: Now determine what your packages are installed as (I assume you are on Snow Leopard): User this command in Terminal:

    pkgutil --packages

    That will list all of the installed package receipts. You are looking for:

    com.apple.pkg.XsanAdminAppSnowLeo
    com.apple.pkg.XsanFilesystemSnowLeo

    Then you should be able to remove these using

    pkgutil --forget com.apple.pkg.XsanAdminAppSnowLeo
    pkgutil --forget com.apple.pkg.XsanFilesystemSnowLeo

    A reboot of the server is probably in order and then try reinstalling the Xsan software again.

    Ok, now it is time to nuke and pave the Xserve RAIDs. Yes, you will use Xserve RAID Admin and you should follow the process of deleting the existing arrays and then recreating new ones. I will WARN THAT THIS WILL DESTROY ALL DATA. You seem to feel as though there is nothing there, so you should be fine. Also, depending on the size of the drives in the Xserve RAID, the recreation of the volumes could take as long as 48 hours. So don't expect to do this today (yes, you can do a RAID now and allow the volume to present itself, but you will have really degraded performance.

    If you are not on Snow Leopard, then the removal of the receipts may be a bit different. Look in /Library/Receipts for the cookie files from the install. You are most likely being prompted during the reinstall because you have upgraded Xsan but you are trying to install from original media which is an older version.

    Hope this helps