XSAN 3 on Mountain Lion not authenticating clients...

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XSAN 3 on Mountain Lion not authenticating clients...

In my IT test lab I have a MacMini running ML Server set up as the MDC to a FC SAN ... the MDC sees the SAN volumes just fine ... have turned off all network connectoins apart from the private subnet LAN for the SAN ... have rebooted the machines, the Gig switch, the FC switch etc.

I then attempt to join a ML Mac Tower client to the SAN ... it sees the FC fabric and LUNS just fine ... can ping both machines just fine ... go to add the Tower client in XSAN Manager in ML Server MDC ... it sees the correct IP address of the Client ... enter correct Admin User Name and password and press Authenticate .... chug, chug chug for two minutes ... then get the error message "Unreachable or offline" ... when clearly the Client is in neither of those states!

Have done a clean install of ML on the Server and the Client ... have deleted UUID and XSAN prefs in Library/Preferences/XSAN .. have deleted any XSAN Certificates in KeyChain Manager ... have patted my head and rubbed my belly at the same time and crossed my fingers... all to no avail :-(

What simple dumb thing am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

Frustrated of Hollywood

Neil

Posted on Aug 25, 2012 9:48 AM

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Answer 1

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Blaidd Drwg

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129 points

Aug 25, 2012 10:03 AM in response to Neil Smith5

On the tower, is xsanmgrd's launchd job loaded? Is xsanmgrd running when you try to add it?

Is there any packet loss between tower and MDC on either public or metadata interface?

If you run "sudo cvlabel -c" on the tower, does it hang or return all the results very slowly?

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Answer 2

Neil Smith5 Author

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Aug 25, 2012 10:16 AM in response to Blaidd Drwg

NO not running ... xsanmgrd's launchd job loaded? Is xsanmgrd running when you try to add it?

NONE ... is there any packet loss between tower and MDC on either public or metadata interface?

NO - very quick response ... is there any packet loss between tower and MDC on either public or metadata interface?

How do I intitiate xsanmgrd? ... thought the process started automatically when you enabled Xsan Client in System Prefs.

Neil

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Answer 3

Aug 25, 2012 10:28 AM in response to Neil Smith5

The xsanmgrd launchd job should load when you enable Xsan in System Preferences. Try disabling Xsan then enabling it again.

The xsanmgrd process may not be running until you actually try connecting. On the tower, go to https://127.0.0.1:312 and see if you get a web page. If xsanmgrd starts, you will probably just see "Not Found", which is okay. If you don't get a web page at all, check the log for errors related to xsanmgrd.

I wonder if it's not starting because you deleted the certificate in Keychain Access or deleted some file in /Library/Preferences/Xsan--or that directory.

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Answer 4

Neil Smith5 Author

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Aug 25, 2012 10:35 AM in response to Blaidd Drwg

Thanks for the suggestion, Blaid ... I'm beginning to suspect that I may have deleted one pref too many ... am going to do a clean install of ML OSX and start from scratch again ... will update in a hour or two.

The weird thing is that I had the Tower Client up and running as an XSAN client just fine a few days ago ... then I rconfigured something on the MacMini MDC and then tried to re-authenticate the Tower Cleint and that's when I got the "Unreachable or offline" error message and then started deleting KeyChain stuff and prefs ... so I know that the network and hardware layer is functioning OK ... it's just the authenticatioin process that is busted.

Neil

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Answer 5

Neil Smith5 Author

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Aug 25, 2012 4:00 PM in response to Neil Smith5

Quick update three hours later:

1) reinstalled ML on the Tower ... saw the MDC fine.

2) MDC autthenticated Tower Client fine

3) Tower Client couldn't mount the San Volume ... remembered that I had made one of the Thunderbolt Pegasus RAIDS on the MacMini one of the LUNS in the Volume ... works just fine with the MDC ... destroyed the Volume ... made the Volume again only using FC LUNS.

4) rebooted Tower client ... Authorized first time ... mounted FC only volume just fine.

5) then added my Retina Display MBP to the fabric ...it saw the LUNS OK ... MDC authorised it OK ... FC Volume mounted straight away.

6) on MDC now get an error message for the RetDisp MBP saying "incorrect search policy' for the laptop .. but I can write and read OK from the SAN vol ... any ideas?

Getting closer ... am now able to shared data between the PCI Mac world and the Thunderbotl Mac world ... will bring a Windows machine into the fabric tomrrow to see if that can connect OK with ML MDC.

Neil

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Answer 6

Aug 26, 2012 6:00 AM in response to Neil Smith5

Since you have resolved your original issue, it would help if you created a new thread for any new problems you encounter.

For #6, this should help:

"Incorrect search policy": http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3888

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Answer 7

Neil Smith5 Author

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Aug 26, 2012 6:58 AM in response to Blaidd Drwg

Thanks for the link Blaidd ... and good point about starting another thread for the 'search policy' issues ... have just done that.

MDC client authorisation issue is now resolved and closed ... lesson learned - be careful what you delete!

Neil

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Answer 8

Neil Smith5 Author

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Aug 26, 2012 8:30 AM in response to Neil Smith5

What I should add of course is that as well as NOT deleting things you shouldn't delete (duh) ... the way to solve the problem is to use the OSX RESTORE feature in Mountain Lion (Command R as you reboot) and then re-install OSX and then you should have your correct default Sys Prefs and KeyChain certificates that then allow for the correct 'Authentication' of ML clients.

Hope this makes sense.

Neil

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