This discussion is locked
dbarter

Q: Creating New Xsan

I'm a newbie to the world of Xsan and wondered if you guys can help me out.

 

I want to create a SAN for 5 Macs, 2 Windows 7 PCs and 1 Linux system and wondered what I need to get this to work. The Mac side of the equation seems relatively straight forward, but I'm confussed about the Windows and Linux clients. Can I just purchase StorNext client software for these clients or do I have to use a StorNext Meta Controller?

 

Thanks

Dave

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jul 31, 2013 12:28 PM

Close

Q: Creating New Xsan

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by sgrappone,

    sgrappone sgrappone Jul 31, 2013 12:43 PM in response to dbarter
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 31, 2013 12:43 PM in response to dbarter

    Hi Dave,

     

    This is a pretty normal question as its a bit odd. If you have purchased the StorNext FX Licenses for your non-mac machines then you need to fill out a form on the quantum website (http://www.quantum.com/serviceandsupport/license/stornext/index.aspx) this will generate you a license.dat file that you will need to put in /Library/Preferences/Xsan/

     

    Make sure the license.dat file is on both MDC's

    Then restart your volumes. You can fail from the primary MDC to the secondary MDC then back to primary.

    now if you are in /Library/Preferences/Xsan/ and you do a "ls- la" in terminal you will see a file called .auth_secret

    copy the .auth_secret file to "Windows C:\ProgramFIles\Stornext\config" on Linux "/usr/cvfs/config"

     

    then you should be able to mount the volumes.

     

    If you need further help feel free to reach out at me sgrappone@belltechlogix.com

  • by Christopher Murphy,

    Christopher Murphy Christopher Murphy Aug 10, 2013 5:51 PM in response to dbarter
    Level 3 (555 points)
    Aug 10, 2013 5:51 PM in response to dbarter

    Only if you already have all of the required hardware for all computers does it make sense to implement Xsan. I'd even say you should have all of the recommended hardware also. Xsan requires a dedicated metadata server, fibre channel drops and switch for all computers, and Apple recommends a 2nd MDC server, and a private ethernet drop for all computers to talk to the MDCs.

     

    Chances are you don't need a SAN but you haven't stated what the storage is going to be used for.