MetaSAN 5 0 1 Users Guide

Users Guide
May 22, 2012
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Title: Software version: Date:
metaSAN Users Guide metaSAN 5.0 May 22, 2012
Manual Revision and Control

Revision Record
Date Description Page Version
10/15/2009 Last released version of the software - 4.0. 01/15/2010 05/17/2010 05/17/2010 05/17/2010 Added support for kernel 2.6.9-3676.floslargesmp (64-bit). Added support for FilmLightOS 2.0, kernel 2.6.1892.1.22.el5.centos.plus (64-bit). Removed support for Mac OS X Tiger/Tiger Server. Added support for 64-bit Mac OS X Snow Leopard/Snow Leopard Server. 21, 24 23, 25 23, 25 4.2 4.2.1 4.5 4.5
Revision Record
05/17/2010 05/17/2010 05/17/2010 05/17/2010 05/17/2010
New metaSANTCP ports 8500 and 8501 added on Mac OS X and Linux 22, 24, 26 4.5 platforms. New metaSAN TCP ports 8500, 8501 and 8502 added on Windows platform. 22, 24, 204 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 205 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.6 4.6 4.6
Added support for FilmLightOS 1.3.3662 kernel 2.6.9-3777.floslargesmp 23, 25 (64-bit). Added support for CentOS Linux 5. Changes in Generating Logs for Technical Support Purposes on Windows. 23, 25 184 183
06/10/2010 Setting Up the File Security Fallback Account in a Windows Domain topic added to Best Practices chapter.
06/10/2010 Setting Up the SAN Policy on Windows Vista and Above Using Diskpart 190 Utility topic added to Best Practices chapter. 06/10/2010 No Support for Mac OS X Snow Leopard's HFS+ Compression topic added to Known Issues chapter. 06/10/2010 Allowing metaSAN firewall ports for domain/public network on Windows 7 steps added to Known Issues chapter. 06/10/2010 Entering Sleep Mode While Rendering Adobe After Effects Projects topic added to Known Issues chapter. 06/16/2010 Windows Vista Data Master and Mac OS X LAN Clients topic removed from Known Issues chapter. 06/16/2010 Migrating Data from One SAN Volume to Another with QStar MultiStor 202 topic removed from Known Issues chapter. 10/15/2010 10/15/2010 10/15/2010 Added support for kernels 2.6.9-89.EL and 2.6.9-89.0.23.EL on Red Hat 22, 24 Enterprise Linux workstation 4.0. Added support for kernel 2.6.18-164.15.1.el5 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 23, 25 workstation 5.0. Maintenance operations on Mac OS X no longer require uninstalling metaSAN, but removing the volume from its SAN definition and mounting it as Private on the Metadata Master. 126 200
10/15/2010 10/15/2010
Added metaSAN Redirection Utility command for force closing all open 172 files on the Metadata Master. Added command-line interface for logging in and out metaSAN on Mac 173 OS X.
4.6 4.6 4.6
02/04/2011 Added msanutil commands for logging in and out metaSAN on Windows. 168
Revision Record
02/04/2011 Configuring metaSAN Volume Security Auto-Login Script on Mac OS X 174 topic added to Best Practices. 02/04/2011 Deleting Folders and Listing Contents on Pool Containing metaSANmanaged HFS+ Volumes added to Known Issues chapter. 200
4.6 4.6 4.6 4.6
02/09/2011 Binding the MAC Address to The NIC Used by metaSAN on Linux topic 185 added to Best Practices chapter. 02/24/2011 Added support for the following 64-bit kernels on CentOS 5: 2.6.18164.2.1.el5, 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5, 2.6.18-164.9.1.el5, 2.6.18-164.10.1.el5, 2.6.18-164.11.1.el5 05/17/2011 05/17/2011 05/17/2011 05/17/2011 05/17/2011 Added support for CentOS Linux 4.7. Added support for kernel 2.6.18-128.el5.ADSK (64-bit) on Red Hat Enterprise LinuxWorkstation 5. Setting Item Permissions (Mac OS X) topic removed from User's Guide. Using Extended Copy on SAN Volumes topic added to Best Practices chapter. 191 23, 25
23, 25 23, 25
4.6.1 4.6.1 4.6.1 4.6.1 4.6.1 4.9 4.9
Domain Users Access the SAN through the Fallback Account topic added 201 to Known Issues chapter. 21, 24
09/09/2011 Added support for Mac OS X Lion/Lion Server (64-bit).
09/28/2011 New installation prerequisite added - on Windows Vista and above the 28 LAN network must be set as Private in the Windows Network and Sharing Center. 01/12/2012 01/13/2012 New metaSAN TCP port 8380 added on Windows platform. Removed support for Mac OS X Leopard/Leopard Server. 168 171 22, 24, 204
5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
03/28/2012 Changed path to metaSAN utility. 03/28/2012 Changed path to metaSAN Redirection utility. 03/28/2012 Allowing metaSAN firewall ports for domain/public network on Windows 7 steps removed from Known Issues chapter.
04/11/2012 Deleted Contents of Pool with metaSAN Volumes Appears Twice in the 200 Trash of Mac OS X Lion topic added to Known Issues chapter. 05/22/2012 Using MacDrive on Windows SAN Members topic added to the Best Practices chapter. 191
05/22/2012 Using ProjectStore When Virtualization for Avid Is Enabled topic added 194 to Known Issues chapter. 05/22/2012 Decreased Performance When Using Antivirus on the SAN topic added 194 to known issues chapter.
Revision Record
05/22/2012 Incorrect HFS+ LAN Share Name on Windows metaLAN Client topic added to Known Issues chapter. 05/22/2012 Mirrored/Spanned NTFS Volumes Mounted Over LAN on Mac OS X and Linux topic added to Known Issues chapter.
195 195
5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0.1 5.0.1
05/22/2012 Kaspersky Antivirus Blocks Access to SAN Volumes on Mac OS X topic 197 added to Known Issues chapter. 05/22/2012 Volumes on Dynamic Disks without Drive Letter Detected as Foreign/ Offline topic added to Known Issues chapter. 05/22/2012 Added support for 32-bit Mac OS X Lion/Lion Server. 05/22/2012 Mac OS X Lion Server's Server App Does Not List metaSAN Volumes topic added to the Known Issues chapter. 200 23, 26 199
Table of Contents
Introduction to metaSAN
metaSAN Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Concepts and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SAN Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Metadata Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SAN Member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Metadata Requests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Metadata Master Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Metadata Master Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SAN to LAN Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . metaLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Public Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Foreign Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Private Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Not Available Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maintenance Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bandwidth Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . metaSAN iSCSI Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15
16 16 17 17 17 18 18 18 20 20 21 22 22 22 22 23 23 23 26
Installing and Uninstalling metaSAN

Installing metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installation Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Uninstalling metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Activating metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deactivating metaSAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
29
30 30 30 35 36 39 43
3
7
Updating metaSAN and metaLAN
55
Table of Contents
Updating Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Automatically Updating metaSAN/metaLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manually Upgrading metaSAN on Windows and Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . Upgrading metaSAN 1.x to Version 5.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Uninstalling and Deactivating metaSAN 1.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deactivating metaSAN 1.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upgrading Your Sales Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing metaSAN 5.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Activating metaSAN 5.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upgrading from Evaluation to Commercial Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
56 56 57 58 58 59 60 60 60 60
Administering metaSAN
61
Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Displaying the metaSAN Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Authorized metaSAN Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Logging on to metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Start Working in the SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Managing SAN Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Creating New SAN Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Managing SAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Managing Non-SAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Managing SAN Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Protecting SAN Definitions with a Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Exporting SAN Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Importing SAN Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Deleting SAN Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Configuring Advanced SAN Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Managing the IP Range of your SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Configuring Metadata Master Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Specifying Failover Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Controlling Bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Managing Volumes Mount Location (Windows only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 metaSAN Volume Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 metaSAN File Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Optimizing the SAN
115
116 117 118 118 119
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Choosing a Synchronization Interface Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Specifying Allocation Optimization Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enabling SAN to LAN Failover. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Video Editing Support Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Table of Contents
Enabling TDIR Support (Windows only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enabling Virtualization For Avid (Windows only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Test Volume Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Specifying Files and Folder Creation Behaviour (Mac OS X only) . . . . . . Automatically Relaunching the Finder (Mac OS X only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Default Treatment of Non-SAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Configuring Dependencies (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enabling Spotlight Indexing on SAN Volumes (Mac OS X only) . . . . . . . .
119 119 120 121 123 123 124 124 125
SAN Resources Maintenance
127
128 128 129 131 133 134 134 136 138 139 140 140 142 143 143 143 145
Volume Maintenance Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Formatting Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Checking and Repairing Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Performing Disk Defragmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Renaming Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disk Maintenance Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating New Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Repartitioning SAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upgrading Basic Disks to Dynamic (Windows only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reverting Dynamic Disks to Basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dealing with Disk Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Avoiding Disk Corruption and Using the Repair Disk Utility . . . . . . . . Avoiding Disk Corruption During Installation of metaSAN . . . . . . . . . Other Maintenance Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disconnecting Volumes/Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manual Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Testing Metadata Master Failover Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Linux Integration to the SAN
147
148 148 148 149 150
Linux Integration Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joining an Already Configured SAN Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Removing Your Computer from All SAN Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . Working with SAN Volumes and Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
metaLAN
151
metaLAN Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Table of Contents
Activating LAN Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing LAN clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adding LAN Clients to a SAN definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing metaLAN Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Specifying Data Masters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Shares for LAN Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Share Mount Location (Windows only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overriding Volume Permissions for LAN Shares (Windows Only) . .
153 155 155 159 159 160 163 166
Best Practices
169
Working with metaSAN Command Line Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Working with metaSAN Utility (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Working with the metaSAN Redirection Utility (Windows) . . . . . . . . . 173 Working with Command-line Utilities on Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Configuring metaSAN Volume Security Auto-Login Script on Mac OS X 176 SAN Volumes Best Practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Avoiding Decreased Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Writing on the Shared Storage Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Reserving Free Space on HFS+ volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Limitations for Volumes on GPT Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Calculating Folder Size (Mac OS X) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Disabling Recycle Bin on NTFS Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Using NFS on SAN Volumes from Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 Removing Drive Letters from Volumes Mounted on Windows Server 2003 179 Working with 2TB or Larger Disks on Windows XP/Server 2003 32-bit 179 Working With Dynamic Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Improving Cross-Platform Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 File Systems Behaviour and Files Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Final Cut Pro Project Names on NTFS Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Overriding ShareAccess Settings on File-Open Operations from Windows 183 Copying Small Files on HFS+ Volume from Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Setting Up the File Security Fallback Account in a Windows Domain 185 Generating Logs for Technical Support Purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Generating a Log for Technical Support Purposes (Mac OS X) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Generating Logs for Technical Support Purposes (Windows) . . . . . . 186 Generating a Log for Technical Support Purposes (Linux) . . . . . . . . 187 Network Communication Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
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Table of Contents
Using a DHCP Server in a metaSAN Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Changing the IP Addresses of All Members on the SAN . . . . . . . . . . 187 Binding the MAC Address to The NIC Used by metaSAN on Linux . 187 Uninstalling metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Network Load Balancing and Different Types of Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Assigning New Master in a Definition With None Failover Detection. . . . . 189 Managing Allocation Optimization Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Setting the MTU Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Making Avid Detect SAN Volumes on Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Managing metaSAN Settings on Windows by Administrators Only . . . . . . 190 Mounting SAN Volumes on a VMware Virtual Machine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Disabling SELinux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Entering Maintenance Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Deleting a Folder That Has Been Exported as a LAN Share. . . . . . . . . . . 192 Mac OS X LAN Clients Running metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Setting Up the SAN Policy on Windows Vista and Above Using Diskpart Utility 192 Using Extended Copy on SAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Using MacDrive on Windows SAN Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
10 Known Issues
195
General Known Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Using ProjectStore When Virtualization for Avid Is Enabled . . . . . . . 196 Decreased Performance When Using Antivirus on the SAN . . . . . . . 196 No Support for Sparse Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Deviations in the Bandwidth Quotas/Reservations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Bandwidth Control in More than One SAN Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Support for Symbolic Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Fast User Switching Not Supported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Cross-Platform Collaboration Known Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Incorrect HFS+ LAN Share Name on Windows metaLAN Client . . . 197 Mirrored/Spanned NTFS Volumes Mounted Over LAN on Mac OS X and Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 NTFS Volumes on MBR Disks with Sector Size of 2k in SAN with Mac OS X Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 HFS+ Volumes on MBR Disks and Windows Members . . . . . . . . . . 197 Accessing empty folder on HFS+ volume with Streaming Media Server 197 Mounting NTFS Striped Volumes on a metaSAN Machine running Apple Xsan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Manually Refreshing the Contents of a Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Transparent Metadata Master Failover Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Mounting Non-SAN NTFS Volumes on Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
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Table of Contents
Relaunching the Finder to Display metaSAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Adding Volumes to a Definition from Machine not Running Native Platform 198 Maintenance Mode Does Not Allow You to Manage HFS+ Volumes 199 NTFS Striped Volumes and Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Mac OS X Known Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Mac OS X Lion Servers Server App Does Not List metaSAN Volumes 199 Kaspersky Antivirus Blocks Access to SAN Volumes on Mac OS X . 199 Setting Drive Letter as Volume Mount Location for Mac OS X Computers 199 No Support for Spotlight Indexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 metaSAN Overwrites /etc/fstab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Loading Domain Users from Mac OS X Server that is Open Directory Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Non-transparent Failover between Mac OS X Metadata Masters . . . 200 Disabling Time Machine Monitoring on Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Adding Mac OS X Boot Volumes to the SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Adding Mac OS X Boot Disk(s) to the SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Importing Users When Enabling Volume Permissions with metaSAN Security Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Changing Volumes Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Archiving Files and Folders on SAN Volumes through the Finder . . . 201 Saving FCP Projects on SAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Metadata Master Failover on Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 No Support for Case Sensitive HFS+ Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 No Support for HFS+ Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Deleting Folders and Listing Contents on Pool Containing metaSAN-managed HFS+ Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Deleted Contents of Pool with metaSAN Volumes Appears Twice in the Trash of Mac OS X Lion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Windows Known Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Volumes on Dynamic Disks without Drive Letter Detected as Foreign/Offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Domain Users Access the SAN through the Fallback Account . . . . . 203 Testing Performance of Volumes on GPT Disks with Block Size 2K from 64-bit Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Mounting Volumes on Disk with Unallocated Space on Windows Server 2003 SP1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 metaSAN GUI and Windows Vista . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 No Support for Volumes on Dynamic Disks with Block Size Greater than 512 Bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Adding NTFS Volumes on GPT Disks to a Definition During metaSAN Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 NTFS Volumes on GPT Disks Created on Windows Vista . . . . . . . . 204 Adding Private NTFS Volumes to a SAN Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
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Table of Contents
Support for NTFS Volumes on GPT Disks Known Issues . . . . . . . . . 204 Assigning Persistent Drive Letters to Private Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Allowing metaSAN Firewall Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Compressing or Encrypting Folders on Public Volumes . . . . . . . . . . 206 FC To Ethernet Failover Limitations on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 No Support for Indexing Service on SAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Copying Files and Folders on Dynamic NTFS Drives from Windows Vista 206 Volumes/Shares and Mapped Network Drives with One and the Same Drive Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Label of SAN Disks Missing in Windows Explorer of Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Entering Sleep Mode While Rendering Adobe After Effects Projects 207 Linux Known Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 metaSAN Uses the First NIC It Detects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Linux Client Failing to Open File on the SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
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Table of Contents
14
Introduction to metaSAN
metaSAN Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Concepts and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1 Introduction to metaSAN
metaSAN Software
In todays digital world, the amount of storage required to support new advances is constantly growing. Storage costs are surpassing both resources and budget, adding more pressure to an evolving environment. With the introduction of new architectures, such as Network-Attached Storage and Storage Area Networks, businesses can finally obtain cheaper, more scalable alternatives for their ever-growing data requirements. Designed to leverage the benefits of the native SAN architecture, metaSAN provides tools for superior networking. With a unique approach to arbitrating data, it substantially boosts performance and reliability. metaSAN offers support for a wide and flexible range of applications, delivering high-speed file sharing that sets new standards for workgroup collaboration.
Architecture Overview
Created for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux operating systems, metaSAN works transparently to the users and applications accessing the shared storage in a homogenous or cross-platform environment. Files located on the shared storage are available for all connected SAN Members directly over the Fibre Channel. The typical metaSAN configuration consists of Members connected in a Local Area Network (LAN) and a shared storage. The SAN Members and the storage are connected via Fibre Channel and a Fibre Channel switch. The LAN connection is used for metadata exchange between the SAN Members and the machine that is assigned the role of a Metadata Master. The real data located on the shared storage is accessed directly through the Fibre Channel connection. You can assign any one of the SAN Members to manage the shared volumes. This system, the Metadata Master, supervises the volumes and protects data from corruption when the other Members access the shared storage. When a SAN Member tries to access a file located on the shared storage, the Metadata Master provides it with the necessary service data for successful completion of the operation. This data travels over the LAN. Real data, however, is transferred over the Fibre Channel, thus benefiting from the higher performance inherent in this type of media.
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Concepts and Terminology

The following concepts and terminology are used throughout this guide:
SAN Definition
In metaSAN, aside from constructing the physical backbone of the SAN, you must define your storage area network(s), by specifying which Members and shared storage volumes participate in a specific SAN. Most importantly, you must define each elements role and how they interact in the network. The basic rule for a SAN definition is that a shared storage volume can be included in only one definition at a time, while a Member can participate in an unlimited number of SAN definitions. With metaSAN, you can perform centralized and preliminary definition of your SAN by specifying the global settings of your network even before you interconnect all the workstations. On a chosen machine with metaSAN installed you can specify the Members of a SAN definition, their priority in becoming Metadata Masters (high, normal, low or none), the volumes to make up the shared storage and the access to them from any SAN Member. With the centralized management of the global settings, administrators do not have to configure each workstation after metaSAN is installed on it. You can simply add your computer to an already configured SAN definition and then start working with its volumes. metaSAN allows you to manage multiple SANs. You can also set a workstation to participate in more than one SAN, by including it in two or more SAN definitions. For details about managing SAN definitions refer to Administering metaSAN on page 61.
Metadata Master
A Metadata Master is that SAN Member that supervises a specific volume and protects its data. The Metadata Master exports, or shares, the SAN volumes to which it is assigned, allowing other SAN Members to access them. The Metadata Master processes all metadata requests from the other Members and provides the necessary information back to them so they can access the data stored on the shared volume(s) directly over the Fibre Channel. Any of the Members running Mac OS X or Windows can become a Metadata Master except the machines with Metadata Master priority set to None (see Metadata Master Priorities on page 20) and the SAN Members that are accessing the shared storage over the LAN due to SAN to LAN failover (see SAN to LAN Failover on page 20). With metaSANs Metadata Master failover mechanism, a volumes Metadata Master can change dynamically. When a failover condition is met, one of the other SAN Members takes the place of the Metadata Master and begins processing the metadata requests from the remaining Members.
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SAN Member
Each machine up on which metaSAN is activated and that participates in a SAN definition is called a SAN Member. A machine is a SAN Member even if it does not have direct access to the volumes over the Fibre Channel, but is activated as a SAN Member and sees the volumes over the LAN (see SAN to LAN Failover on page 20). This is in contrast to LAN clients. These systems see LAN shares only. In the metaSAN network, a single workstation , called Metadata Master, supervises the volume(s) of the shared storage. When the other SAN Members try to access data on the shared volumes, they send a request to a specific volumes Metadata Master. The Members send metadata requests to the Metadata Master over the Local Area Network (LAN), but access data on the shared storage directly over the Fibre Channel. Each volume can have a single Metadata Master and multiple SAN Members connected to it.
Metadata Requests
Metadata is data about data. The file size, its title, and the physical location of a file on a disk are examples of file metadata. In the metaSAN network, when a SAN Member tries to access a file on the shared storage, it sends a query, or metadata request, to the Metadata Master of a specific volume about the exact location of the file on the physical disks. The Metadata Master provides the requested metadata and the Member that requested it accesses the file. All metadata traffic - requests and replies - goes over the LAN. The real data, however, travels over the Fibre Channel benefiting from the higher performance and faster speed.
Metadata Master Failover

In the metaSAN network a single computer is Metadata Master for a specific SAN volume and serves all metadata requests coming from the other SAN Members when they try to access this volume. In case of a failover condition, metaSAN software detects this event and enters a procedure for electing a new Metadata Master in order to ensure remaining SAN Members on the network can continue accessing the SAN. After the election procedure is over, a new Metadata Master is appointed and it begins serving metadata requests coming from the Members. The process of transferring the mastership of a volume from one SAN Member to another is called Metadata Master failover.
Failover Condition
metaSAN attempts to fail over in the following cases: Scheduled shutdown of the Metadata Master computer. Failure of the Metadata Master computer (due to power failure, system crash, and so on). Failure of the FC HBA or FC cable on the Master computer (see also SAN to LAN Failover on page 20).
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The user logged to the Master computer does not have sufficient privileges and the volume cannot be mounted with Read & Write access, when volume permissions are enabled. metaSAN does not fail over due to LAN failure as there is no way to determine where the problem occurred. The problem may be with the Metadata Master, the SAN Member, or it may be due to a major problem with the entire network (for example, an Ethernet switch has failed). If the connection between computers over the LAN fails, the current Metadata Master of a specific SAN volume keeps its role ensuring that there is a single computer that can access the volume. All other SAN Members are disconnected from the volumes to prevent data corruption.
Types of Failover
In metaSAN we distinguish the following types of Metadata Master failover: standard failover transparent failover real-time failover The standard failover implemented in metaSAN is automatic and ensures high availability of your SAN. However, it is related to temporary inaccessibility to SAN volumes by Member computers during the election of a new Metadata Master. While a SAN volume is in procedure for electing a new master, applications that try to access data on this volume receive errors. Any handles open by these applications are lost and they are not redirected to the new Metadata Master when it is elected. This means that if a file is open on a SAN Member computer and a failover takes place, you need to reopen the file in order to continue working with it. metaSAN also implements an enhanced mechanism for failover that allows redirecting open handles to the new master of a volume. During the failover process requests for access to the SAN volume coming from Member computers are not rejected but just delayed till a new master is appointed. This type of failover is called transparent - new master is appointed absolutely transparently to all running applications and they can continue working with any open files after the failover takes place. This type of failover is especially useful for video rendering applications and applications that can tolerate small delays in the execution of specific operations, such as open file or close file. The Metadata Master failover is never transparent (volumes are unmounted and remounted again) on the former Metadata Master. When the failover does not cause delays in the normal functioning of the currently started applications, we call it real-time failover. Real-time failover is important for broadcast servers or applications that digitize video material for example. However, it depends not only on metaSAN but also on the way applications implement certain operations. Generally, with metaSAN you can expect real-time failover for read operations, although they are also application dependent. This means that if an application on a Member computer plays a video clip from a SAN volume, it will continue playing it during the failover and after the election of a new volume master. The real19
time failover for write operations depends on the size of the allocated buffer (see Specifying Allocation Optimization Size on page 118) and when the failover takes place. If the failover starts when a write operation is at the beginning of the allocation buffer and the new master is elected before the write operation reaches the end of the allocation buffer, the entire process will be real-time as far as the work of the writing application will not be delayed.
Failover Detection
Failover Detection refers to the time interval at which metaSAN checks for a failover condition in the SAN. If, after the specified timeout, a failover condition is still present, metaSAN elects a new Metadata Master. You can set up your SAN without Metadata Master failover, by setting None failover detection in the SAN definition. This way, SAN Members do not constantly check for the availability of the Metadata Master. When the dedicated Metadata Master is shut down, all volumes are unmounted from all Member machines until the Master is again available or another Member that can take over mastership of the volumes is restarted. For information on setting failover detection in a SAN definition, refer to Specifying Failover Detection on page 89.
Metadata Master Priorities

Metadata Master priorities represent each SAN Members ability to become Metadata Master during failover or when you interconnect all machines on your SAN for the first time. You can use the Metadata Master priorities to rank SAN Members, thereby giving precedence to some machines while restricting others from supervising SAN volumes. When the metaSAN software searches for a new Metadata Master, it rates all available SAN Members according to the following priorities - High, Normal, Low and None. If all Members have the same priority (except None), they have an equal chance of becoming Metadata Master when they are initially started (or in case of failover). By default, metaSAN sets the Metadata Master priorities of all SAN Members to Normal. If you use all four priorities, the machines that are set to High priority have the best chance of becoming Metadata Masters (this is convenient for dedicated servers). The machines with Low priority will be able to take over mastership of the SAN volumes only if metaSAN does not detect any other available machine with higher priority (High or Normal). Members whose priority is set to None are restricted from becoming Metadata Masters. For information on setting different Metadata Master priorities, refer to Configuring Metadata Master Priorities on page 86.
SAN to LAN Failover

Besides Metadata Master Failover, metaSAN implements an additional mechanism for providing SAN Members with uninterrupted access to data on the shared storage. In case there is a failure of the FC HBA or FC cable on a SAN Member, the SAN to LAN failover mechanism of metaSAN can automatically redirect
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access to files on the shared storage from the Fibre Channel to the Ethernet and thus SAN Members can continue working with the volumes although with decreased performance. For information on managing the SAN to LAN failover on a given SAN Member, refer to Enabling SAN to LAN Failover on page 118.
metaLAN
metaLAN provides access to the shared storage volumes for LAN clients - computers that are not connected to the SAN through the Fibre Channel. LAN clients can access data on the shared storage over the LAN through the machines serving as Data Masters . metaLAN cuts away breakdowns in read-write operations and connection blackouts to the shared storage for LAN clients. The mechanism is designed to automatically distribute LAN accesses among the available Data Masters, thus reducing the traffic through a specific computer and balancing the network load. Redirecting accesses from one Data Master to another in case of a failure is invisible to the end user. For more details about integrating your SAN with LAN clients, refer to metaLAN on page 151.
Data Master
Each SAN Member , which has LAN clients connected to it, plays the role of a Data Master. Data Masters respond to requests from LAN clients and provide their access to the SAN and its resources. LAN clients are distributed evenly between Data Masters, which contributes to the network load balancing. The Metadata Master of a SAN definition with enabled metaLAN always serves as a Data Master as well. A SAN Member that is activated as metaLAN Server is used specifically as a Data Master. For more details, see metaLAN Server on page 21.
LAN Client
A LAN Client is a machine that is added to a SAN definition, but does not have direct access to SAN volumes over the Fibre Channel. In contrast to SAN Members that access the shared storage volumes over the LAN due to Fibre Channel to Ethernet failover, LAN clients have access to exported shares of SAN volumes only.
LAN Share
metaLAN allows SAN resources sharing to machines that are not SAN Members. A LAN share is a SAN volume (or part of it) that is accessible to LAN clients over the Ethernet. You can share whole volumes that are included in a SAN definition with enabled metaLAN, or limit the access of LAN clients to a directory on a SAN volume. You can disallow resource sharing by removing the share.
metaLAN Server
A metaLAN Server is a Windows or a Mac OS X machine with metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI installed but activated with a metaLAN Server license. It has direct access to SAN volumes, but unlike other SAN Members
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that mount the SAN volumes for local use, the metaLAN Server workstations are used mainly as gateway servers for the LAN clients. A metaLAN Server can mount a volume for local use only when it is serving as Metadata Master to that volume. A metaLAN Server cannot participate in your SAN as a LAN client and mount LAN shares. metaLAN Servers offer you all functionality of metaSAN - they can fail over between one another and you can configure any SAN settings on them.
Public Volume
A public volume is a volume on the shared storage that is included in a SAN definition and can be mounted on all SAN Member computers in the definition. Its data is protected by metaSAN. For information on making a volume public, refer to Managing SAN Volumes on page 69.
Foreign Volume
A foreign volume is a public volume, but your computer is not included in the SAN definition, in which this volume participates. A foreign volume remains inaccessible until your computer is added to its SAN definition.
Private Volume
A private volume is a volume for which metaSAN provides no data protection. Instead, the operating system mounts and manages this volume. Such a volume is accessed from the computer as if metaSAN was not installed. In heterogeneous environment, a computer can mount volumes as Private only if they are formatted with the file system that is native to the machine. Set a volume to private mode when you do not want to share its data with other SAN Members. For information on managing volumes outside a SAN definition, refer to Managing Non-SAN Volumes on page 73.
Not Available Volume

A volume in Not Available mode is not mounted by the system. However, its data is protected by metaSAN, ensuring that users cannot change it. When you set a SAN volume to Private mode on one of the SAN Members , you should set it to Not Available mode on all other SAN Members. For information on managing volumes outside a SAN definition, refer to Managing Non-SAN Volumes on page 73.
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System Requirements
Maintenance Mode
Some disk maintenance operations on Windows computers require you to remove metaSANs protection over the disks in order the operations to complete successfully. To achieve this on a Windows machine , enter Maintenance mode, which temporarily removes all metaSAN protection over the disks of all volumes connected to your machine. After restarting your computer, you exit Maintenance mode and all modified volumes on the disks are again protected by metaSAN. To avoid disk corruption, you should shut down all other workstations accessing the disks prior to entering Maintenance mode.
Bandwidth Management
Bandwidth is usually described as an amount of data that can be transmitted in a fixed amount of time. metaSAN allows you to control bandwidth in a SAN definition by setting bandwidth reservations and/or quotas of the definitions Members. A machines reservation defines how much of the total bandwidth is always available to the computer, and the quota - the maximum allowed bandwidth for the machine. By setting bandwidth reservations you can give priority to machines, on which mission-critical applications run, while still providing the necessary bandwidth to the remaining computers on the network. In order to ensure that no single user obstructs use of the network by consuming enormous network bandwidth, you should also set up bandwidth quotas. A SAN Member is automatically elected as bandwidth master and takes care that all definitions Members adhere to the bandwidth reservations and quotas that are set. For information on enabling bandwidth management and setting bandwidth quotas and reservations, refer to Controlling Bandwidth on page 90.
System Requirements
Each system on your SAN must meet the following minimum system requirements:
Mac OS X machines:
Intel-based Mac with 1.33GHz CPU Mac OS X Snow Leopard/Snow Leopard Server (32-bit and 64-bit), Mac OS X Lion/Lion Server (32-bit and 64-bit).
Note: No support for Mac OS X versions below 10.6.
1GB of physical RAM recommended 25MB of available hard-disk space for installation Network LAN connection (1Gb recommended) CD-ROM drive (if installation is done from a CDROM)
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The following TCP ports - 8100, 8300, 8399, 8500, 8501- should not be blocked by a firewall if any.
Windows machines:
PC with 800-megahertz (MHz) 32-bit (x86) processor or 800-MHz 64-bit (x64) processor 32-bit or 64-bit Microsoft Windows XP/Server 2003/Vista/Server 2008, Server 2008 R2/ Windows 7
Note: No support for Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Millennium Edition or Windows 2000.
1GB of physical RAM recommended 25MB of available hard-disk space for installation Network LAN connection (1Gb recommended) CD-ROM drive (if installation is done from a CDROM) The following TCP ports - 7000, 8100, 8101, 8200, 8300, 8380, 8399, 8500, 8501, 8502- should not be blocked by a firewall if any.
Note: Some components may require additional system resources not outlined above.
Linux machines:
PC with an Intel processor Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4.0: 2.6.9-11.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-22.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL.ADSKsmp (64-bit) 2.6.9-34.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-34.0.1.EL.ADSKsmp (64-bit) 2.6.9-34.0.1.EL.ADSK.1smp (64-bit) 2.6.9-42.EL (32-bit only) 2.6.9-55.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-67.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-67.0.4.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-89.EL (32-bit and 64-bit)
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System Requirements
2.6.9-89.0.23.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5.0: 2.6.18-128.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-128.el5.ADSK (64-bit) 2.6.18-128.1.16.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.15.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Note: Both uni and multiprocessor versions of the kernels are supported.
FilmLightOS 1.3.3662: kernel 2.6.9-3662.floslargesmp (64-bit) kernel 2.6.9-3676.floslargesmp (64-bit) kernel 2.6.9-3777.floslargesmp (64-bit) FilmLightOS 2.0: kernel 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5.centos.plus (64-bit) SuSe Linux 9.3 ( i586 ): kernel 2.6.11.4-21.17-smp kernel 2.6.11.4-21.17-default CentOS Linux 4.7: kernel 2.6.9-78.EL (64-bit) kernel largesmp-2.6.9-78.EL (64-bit) CentOS Linux 5: 2.6.18-164.2.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.9.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.10.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.11.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Important: Changing any of the default kernel setting may prevent metaSAN from operating properly.
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Tip: To check the exact version of the kernel used by your system, in command-line execute the following:
uname -a SELinux should be disabled prior to installing the metaSAN 1 GB of physical RAM recommended 25 MB of available hard-disk space for installation Network LAN connection (1Gb recommended) CD-ROM drive (if installation is done from a CDROM) The following TCP ports - 8100, 8300, 8399, 8500, 8501- should not be blocked by a firewall if any.
metaSAN iSCSI Requirements

32-bit or 64-bit Microsoft Windows XP/Server 2003/Vista/Server 2008, Server 2008 R2/Windows 7.
Important: The following TCP ports - 7000, 8100, 8101, 8200, 8300, 8380 8399, 8500, 8501, 8502 should not be blocked by a firewall if any.
Intel-based Mac OS X Snow Leopard/Snow Leopard Server (32-bit and 64-bit), Mac OS X Lion/Lion Server (32-bit and 64-bit).
Important: The following TCP ports - 8100, 8300, 8399, 8500, 8501 - should not be blocked by a firewall if any.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4.0: 2.6.9-11.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-22.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL.ADSKsmp (64-bit) 2.6.9-34.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-34.0.1.EL.ADSKsmp (64-bit) 2.6.9-34.0.1.EL.ADSK.1smp (64-bit) 2.6.9-42.EL (32-bit only) 2.6.9-55.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-67.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-67.0.4.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.9-89.EL (32-bit and 64-bit)
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System Requirements
2.6.9-89.0.23.EL (32-bit and 64-bit) Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5.0: 2.6.18-128.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-128.el5.ADSK (64-bit) 2.6.18-128.1.16.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.15.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Note: Both uni and multiprocessor versions of the kernels are supported.
FilmLightOS 1.3.3662: kernel 2.6.9-3662.floslargesmp (64-bit) kernel 2.6.9-3676.floslargesmp (64-bit) kernel 2.6.9-3777.floslargesmp (64-bit) FilmLightOS 2.0: kernel 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5.centos.plus (64-bit) SuSe Linux 9.3 ( i586 ): kernel 2.6.11.4-21.17-smp kernel 2.6.11.4-21.17-default CentOS Linux 4.7: kernel 2.6.9-78.EL (64-bit) kernel largesmp-2.6.9-78.EL (64-bit) CentOS Linux 5: 2.6.18-164.2.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.9.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.10.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit) 2.6.18-164.11.1.el5 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Important: Changing any of the default kernel setting may prevent metaSAN iSCSI from operating properly.
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Tip: To check the exact version of the kernel used by your system, in command-line execute the following:
uname -a SELinux should be disabled prior to installing metaSAN iSCSI

Important: The following TCP ports - 8100, 8300, 8399, 8500, 8501 - should not be blocked by a firewall if any.
iSCSI Initiator (see below, for a list of certified initiators). Although metaSAN iSCSI is designed to work with any iSCSI initiator, it is currently certified to work with: Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator 1.06 and 2.0 UNH iSCSI Initiator Studio Network Solutions' globalSAN iSCSI initiator for OS X 3.0 ATTO Xtend SAN iSCSI initiator 1.0 ArdisTech's ISCSI initiator driver for Mac OS X
Note: If you have other iSCSI initiator, contact Tiger Technology support team for updated list of certified iSCSI initiators.
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Installing metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Uninstalling metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Activating metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Deactivating metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Installing metaSAN
Before installing metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI, you should:
1. Make sure your systems meet the minimum system requirements (see System Requirements on
page 23).
2. Prepare your SAN for metaSAN installation (see Prerequisites on page 30) if necessary. 3. Uninstall any other SAN management software. Warning: Make sure you install the same version of metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on all computers connected to the SAN. metaSAN may become unstable if different versions of metaSAN are accessing the same SAN. metaSAN will not function properly and fatal errors may occur on the shared storage disks if there is a network machine that sees the shared storage volumes, but does not have metaSAN installed.
Prerequisites
Before installing metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI make sure that: Each system sees the volumes that you want to add to the SAN. The Fibre Channel switches and all drives are set up.
Note: On Linux machines, disk(s) must be available in /dev. Administrators should make sure that no SAN volume is automatically mounted on a Linux computer, i.e. they should not be mentioned in the /etc/fstab for instance. Otherwise file system corruption is possible.
Shared storage volumes are formatted using the file system of the machine that will supervise them. You should format volumes to HFS+ Journaled (Mac OS Extended Journaled) when the Metadata Master runs Mac OS X and to NTFS when the Metadata Master runs Windows.
Important: NTFS volumes on GPT disks must be created on a machine running Windows XP (64-bit) or higher.
Each computer has a unique IP address and is able to ping the other computers in the LAN segment.
Important: On all computers running Windows Vista and above, the LAN network must be set as Private in the Windows Network and Sharing Center. For more details, refer to your Windows documentation.
Any SAN management software is removed from your system.
Installing metaSAN
The procedure for installing metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI is the same for each workstation you want to connect to the shared storage as a SAN Member, LAN client or metaLAN Server.
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Installing metaSAN
To install metaSAN on Mac OS X:
1. Browse for and double-click the metaSAN installation file.
The installation begins.
2. Click Next. 3. Click Authorize and authenticate yourself in the Authenticate dialog.
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4. Before continuing, you must accept the terms of the Software license agreement.
The metaSAN Configuration Wizard appears.

5. (optional) Run the metaSAN Configuration wizard. This will guide you through the process of
setting up a primary SAN definition. If you do not run the Configuration Wizard, metaSAN creates a default empty SAN definition that contains your machine only. You can modify this empty SAN definition later on. For more information, refer to Managing SAN Definitions on page 64.
6. When prompted, restart your computer and proceed with the installation on another computer. See
also Avoiding Disk Corruption During Installation of metaSAN on page 142.
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Installing metaSAN
To install metaSAN on Windows:
1. On the selected computer, log on using an account with administrative privileges. 2. Browse for and double-click the metaSAN installation file.
The installation begins.
3. Click Next. 4. If the Prerequisites Wizard offers you to install additional components, click Next and follow the
instructions to install them.
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5. Before continuing, you must accept the terms of the Software license agreement.
6. Select Entire feature will be unavailable in a components check-box if you do not want to install
that component and then click Next.
34
Installing metaSAN
7. Click Install.
(optional) If there are dynamic disks accessible from your computer, metaSAN offers you to backup their configuration. It is strongly recommended to accept and save the LDM Backup file to the desired location. The metaSAN Configuration Wizard appears.
8. (optional) Run the metaSAN Configuration wizard. This will guide you through the process of
setting up a primary SAN definition. If you do not run the Configuration Wizard, metaSAN creates a default empty SAN definition that contains your machine only. You can modify this empty SAN definition later on. For more information, refer to Managing SAN Definitions on page 64.
9. When prompted, restart your computer and proceed with the installation on another computer. See
also Avoiding Disk Corruption During Installation of metaSAN on page 142.

To install metaSAN on a Linux system:
1. Log on to the Linux system as root. 2. In command-line, type:
rpm -i <path to the metaSAN-4-x.i386.rpm>

3. Press Enter. 4. Restart your computer.
Linux computers can participate in your SAN as SAN or LAN clients only, which means that shared storage volumes are not accessible until a suitable machine (Mac OS X or Windows) is appointed Metadata Master. For information on integrating Linux into your SAN, refer to Linux Integration to the SAN on page 147.
Installation Scenarios
Scenario 1: Using the Configuration Wizard
1. Make sure the other machines that see the volumes are shut down. 2. Install metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on the first computer. 3. Using the Configuration Wizard configure a primary SAN definition. 4. Restart the computer. 5. Turn on the next computer, and install metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on it. 6. Using the Configuration Wizard search for and join the primary SAN definition created on the first
computer.
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7. One by one, install metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on all workstations, and using the Join existing SAN
definition(s) option in the Configuration Wizard add them to the primary SAN definition.
Scenario 2: Using the metaSAN window

1. Make sure all machines that see the volumes are shut down. 2. Install metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on the first computer and skip the Configuration Wizard. 3. Restart the computer. 4. Using the metaSAN window, define a valid SAN definition that contains volumes and machines to
access them.
5. On the next computer, install metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI and restart the computer without running
the Configuration Wizard. As long as the first computer is online, the SAN definition is replicated on the next computer and it can start working with the volumes in it.
6. One by one install metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on each computer included in the SAN definition and
restart each machine, without running the Configuration Wizard.
Uninstalling metaSAN
You can uninstall metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI without deactivating it on your machine. This way, after installing it again, you will be able to use the same activation key. When you need to return your metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN Server activation key for replacement, for example, you need to uninstall and deactivate metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI. After deactivating metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on your computer, you will not be able to activate it again with the same key and benefit from the SAN performance. Even if you reinstall metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI, you still would need to obtain a new activation key.
Important: You should deactivate metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on a Linux computer prior to uninstalling it.
For information on uninstalling and deactivating metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI, refer to Deactivating metaSAN on page 43. When uninstalling metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI from a given workstation, the machine is automatically removed from all SAN definitions in which it participates. If you must keep systems connected to the SAN without metaSAN protection, you should uninstall metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI from all systems and obtain data protection from another application. For best practices, see Uninstalling metaSAN on page 188.
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To uninstall metaSAN from Windows:
1. Display the Control Panel. 2. Do the following:
(Windows XP/Server 2003) Double-click Add or Remove Programs. (Windows Vista/7/Server 2008/2008 R2) Double-click Programs and Features.
3. Do the following:
(Windows XP/Server 2003) Select metaSAN and click Remove. (Windows Vista/7/Server 2008/2008 R2) Right-click metaSAN and select Uninstall. You are prompted to confirm that you want to remove metaSAN.
4. Click Yes, to confirm.
metaSAN warns you that SAN volumes will become inaccessible to machines without metaSAN until they are removed from their SAN definition on the last machine on which you uninstall metaSAN. For more information, see Uninstalling metaSAN on page 188.
5. Click Yes to continue with the uninstallation.
The deactivation wizard starts.

6. Select No, leave the license on this computer, and click Next. Note: For information on deactivating metaSAN, refer to Deactivating metaSAN on page 43. 7. When prompted, restart the computer.
To uninstall metaSAN from Mac OS X:
1. In the Finder, browse for and double-click the metaSAN installation file.
The metaSAN setup wizard appears.
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2. Click Next. 3. Select Remove current installation, and click Next.
4. Click Authorize and authenticate yourself, then click Next. 5. Make sure Return this license is not selected, and click Next.
Note: For information on deactivating metaSAN, refer to Deactivating metaSAN on page 43. 6. When prompted, restart the computer.
To uninstall metaSAN from a Linux system:
rpm -e metaSAN
3. Press Enter.
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Activating metaSAN
Activating metaSAN
After installing metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on your computer you need to activate the product in order to achieve the full performance your SAN offers. Until your copy of metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI is activated, you will not be able to mount any SAN volume on your computer. If you install an evaluation copy of metaSAN, its license expires 45 days after activation. After the evaluation license expires, you will not be able to mount any SAN volume. The activation procedure consists of two parts - obtaining an activation key on the licensing server and activating the product on the machine. To facilitate this process, metaSAN offers two methods for activation - automatic and manual. Automatic activation connects you to the licensing server, generates an activation key for your copy of metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI, and activates it on the computer. In case the machine on which you want to activate metaSAN is not connected to the Internet, or you want to obtain all activation keys on one machine and then distribute them among the workstations on your SAN, you should use the manual activation method.
Tip: On Mac OS X and Windows, the About tab displays the type of license you have activated. To view the license type on Linux, use the following commands:
metasan linfo.
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To activate metaSAN manually on a Mac OS X and Windows system:
1. In the About tab of metaSAN window, click Activate metaSAN.
The Activation Method dialog appears.
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Activating metaSAN
2. Select Manual activation, and click OK.
The Manual Activation dialog appears.
3. Copy the serial number and in a web browser go to
https://license.tiger-technology.com
Tip: You can click the address of the licensing server in the Manual Activation dialog to enter the licensing site.
The metaSAN licensing server home page opens in your web browser.
4. Enter your sales order and password in the corresponding fields, and click Log in. Note: If you enter the metaSAN licensing site for the first time, you should fill the registration form to continue.
You have successfully entered the metaSAN licensing server. The server displays information about your account.
5. In the Licensing Server menu, click Activate SAN License.
The Activate SAN License page appears.

6. Paste the serial number for your copy of metaSAN and click Generate.
metaSAN licensing server generates an activation key.

7. Copy the Activation key. 8. In the Manual Activation dialog, paste the Activation key generated for your copy of metaSAN, and
click Activate.
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To activate metaSAN manually on a Linux system:
1. To get the serial number of metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on your computer, in command-line, type:
metasan serial
2. Press Enter.
metaSAN displays the serial number of your copy of metaSAN.

3. Copy the serial number and in a web browser go to
https://license.tiger-technology.com The metaSAN licensing server home page opens in the web browser.
5. In the Licensing Server menu, click Activate SAN License.
The Activate SAN License page appears.

6. Paste the serial number for your copy of metaSAN and click Generate.
metaSAN licensing server generates an activation key.

7. Copy the Activation key. 8. To activate metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on your computer, in command-line, type:
metasan activate <activation key>

9. Press Enter.
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Deactivating metaSAN
To activate metaSAN automatically on a Mac OS X and Windows system:
1. In the About tab of metaSAN window, click Activate metaSAN.
2. Select Automatic activation, and click OK.
The Automatic Activation dialog appears.
3. Enter your sales order number and password, and click Activate.
To activate metaSAN automatically on a Linux system:
1. In command-line, type:
metasan autoactivate <username> where <username> is your sales order number.

2. Press Enter. 3. Type your password, and press Enter.
In certain cases you need to uninstall and deactivate metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI. When you want to transfer your license to another machine, you have to obtain a new activation key (as the activation key is granted per machine) and return the old one by deactivating your license for this computer. After
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deactivating metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on your computer, you will not be able to activate it again and benefit from the SAN performance with the same key even if you reinstall metaSAN. The deactivation procedure of metaSAN consists of two parts - obtaining a deactivation key and deactivating metaSAN on the licensing server in order to obtain new activation key. You can choose between two methods for deactivating metaSAN - automatic and manual. The automatic method automatically deactivates metaSAN on your computer and on the licensing server. In case your computer is not connected to the Internet, you can also use the manual deactivation and deactivate metaSAN on the licensing server later or from another machine.
To obtain deactivation key (deactivate metaSAN manually) on a Mac OS X system:

2. Click Next. 3. Select Remove current installation, and click Next.
4. Click Authorize and authenticate yourself, then click Next.
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5. Select Return this license and click Next.
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6. In the Setup dialog, select Manual Deactivation, and click Next.
metaSAN Setup lists the serial number and activation key of your metaSAN copy and generates a deactivation key.
7. Click Next.
A text file (metaSAN_Keys.txt) containing the serial number, activation and deactivation keys, is saved on the Desktop of the currently logged user.
8. When prompted, restart the computer.
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To obtain deactivation key (deactivate metaSAN manually) on a Windows system:
(Windows XP/Server 2003) Select metaSAN iSCSI and click Remove. (Windows Vista/7/Server 2008/2008 R2) Right-click metaSAN iSCSI and select Uninstall. You are prompted to confirm that you want to remove metaSAN iSCSI.
metaSAN warns you that SAN volumes will become inaccessible to machines without metaSAN until they are removed from their SAN definition on the last machine on which you uninstall metaSAN iSCSI. For more information, see Uninstalling metaSAN on page 188.

6. Select Yes, return license to server, and click Next.
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7. Select Manual Deactivation, and click Next.
The deactivation wizard lists the serial number and activation key of your metaSAN copy and generates a deactivation key.
8. Click Next.
A text file (metaSAN_Keys.txt) containing the serial number, activation and deactivation keys, is automatically saved on the Desktop of the currently logged user.
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To obtain deactivation key (deactivate metaSAN manually) on a Linux system:
metasan deactivate
2. Press Enter.
metaSAN displays the serial number, activation and deactivation keys of your copy of metaSAN/ metaSAN iSCSI.
3. Copy the serial number, activation and deactivation keys.
To deactivate metaSAN on the licensing server:
1. In a web browser, go to
https://license.tiger-technology.com The metaSAN licensing server home page opens in the web browser.
3. In the licensing server Menu, click Order Information.
metaSAN licensing server lists all activated metaSAN and metaLAN licenses with their serial numbers and activation keys.
4. Find the metaSAN license you want to deactivate. Tip: You can use the Find command to search for serial number or activation key. 5. Beside the metaSAN license, click the Deactivate icon.
The Deactivate metaSAN page appears.

6. Paste the deactivation key in the corresponding field, and click Deactivate. Tip: On Mac OS X and Windows systems, the deactivation key is saved in a text file (metaSAN_Keys.txt).
The Order Info pane for your account is updated with one free metaSAN license.
To deactivate metaSAN automatically on a Mac OS X system:

2. Click Next.
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3. Select Remove current installation, and click Next.
4. Click Authorize and authenticate yourself, then click Next. 5. Select Return this license and click Next.
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6. Select Automatic Deactivation, and enter your sales order number and password, then click Next.
Note: If you are not connected to the Internet or the licensing site is currently unavailable, you should deactivate metaSAN manually, using the metaSAN_Keys.txt file.
The deactivation wizard automatically generates a deactivation key and deactivates your copy of metaSAN on the licensing server.
To deactivate metaSAN automatically on a Windows system:
(Windows XP/Server 2003) Select metaSAN iSCSI and click Remove. (Windows Vista/7/Server 2008/2008 R2) Right-click metaSAN iSCSI and select uninstall. You are prompted to confirm that you want to remove metaSAN iSCSI.
metaSAN warns you that SAN volumes will become inaccessible to machines without metaSAN until they are removed from their SAN definition on the last machine on which you uninstall metaSAN iSCSI. For more information, see Uninstalling metaSAN on page 188.
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6. Select Yes, return license to server, and click Next.
7. Select Automatic Deactivation, and enter your sales order number and password, then click Next.
Note: If you are not connected to the Internet or the licensing site is currently unavailable, the Setup will transfer you to manual deactivation.
The deactivation wizard automatically generates a deactivation key and deactivates your copy of metaSAN on the licensing server.
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To deactivate metaSAN automatically on a Linux system:
metasan autodeactivate <username> where <username> is your sales order number.

2. Press Enter.
metaSAN deactivates the product on your computer, lists the serial number, activation and deactivation keys for your copy and prompts you to provide a password in order to free the license on the licensing site.
3. Type the password for your sales order and press Enter. Note: If you do not provide a valid password or you are not connected to the Internet, metaSAN automatically transfers you to manual deactivation. Copy the deactivation key and free your license on the licensing server at https://license.tiger-technology.com, following the on-screen instructions.
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54
Updating Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Automatically Updating metaSAN/metaLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Manually Upgrading metaSAN on Windows and Mac OS X . . . 57 Upgrading metaSAN 1.x to Version 5.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Upgrading from Evaluation to Commercial Version . . . . . . . . . 60
Updating Overview
You can update to most new versions of metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN without having to uninstall the previous version from your computer. The setup program preserves all global metaSAN settings - SAN definitions, definitions settings, settings for non-SAN volumes, etc. except the settings you specify for your machine in the Settings tab page.
Important: Version 5.x supports automatic update (without uninstallation) from version 2.2.5, but you should export the SAN definitions created with metaSAN 2.x, delete them and after the upgrade import them again.
On both Windows and Mac OS, there are new versions of the product that cannot be automatically updated to and you will have to manually upgrade the product to the newer version. For detailed steps on upgrading metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN, see Manually Upgrading metaSAN on Windows and Mac OS X on page 57.
Note: For information about update compatibility between different versions, check the respective version release notes.
Due to the incompatibility between metaSAN 1.x and version 5.x, you will not be able to automatically update metaSAN 1.x with this newer version. For detailed steps about transition from version 1.x to version 4.x, refer to Upgrading metaSAN 1.x to Version 5.x on page 58. It is highly recommended to update metaSAN on all machines, as compatibility between different versions is not guaranteed.
Automatically Updating metaSAN/metaLAN

To automatically update metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN Server/metaLAN on Windows:
Simply run the installation of the new metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN Server/metaLAN version, following the steps described in Installing metaSAN on page 30.
To automatically update metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN Server/metaLAN on Mac OS X:
1. Browse for and double-click the metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN installation file.
The metaSAN Setup dialog appears.
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Manually Upgrading metaSAN on Windows and Mac OS X
2. Select Update current installation, and click Next.
3. Press Authorize to authorize setup with administrative privileges.
The Authenticate dialog appears.

4. Enter the user name and password, and click OK. 5. Before continuing, you must accept the terms of the Software license agreement. 6. When prompted, restart the computer.
To automatically update metaSAN/metaLAN on a Linux system:
rpm -U <path to the new metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN rpm file>

3. Press Enter.
Manually Upgrading metaSAN on Windows and Mac OS X

To manually upgrade metaSAN on Windows and Mac OS X:
1. Export all SAN definitions you want to preserve. For more information, see Exporting SAN
Definitions on page 83.

2. Uninstall the earlier version of metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN from all systems, choosing to
reboot each machine later and shutting it down.
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3. On the last machine from which you uninstall metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI, choose to reboot the
computer immediately after uninstallation.

4. After rebooting the last computer, install the new metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI version. For more
details, see Installing metaSAN on page 30.

5. Activate metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI on this machine. For detailed steps, refer to Activating
metaSAN on page 39.

6. Import all SAN definitions you have exported. For detailed steps, refer to Importing SAN
Definitions on page 83.

Tip: You can delete all default SAN definitions created on this computer. 7. One by one, install the new metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN version on each other computer,
using the Connect To option in the Setup Wizard to connect to the imported SAN definitions.
8. Activate metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN on each machine.
Upgrading metaSAN 1.x to Version 5.x

Due to the incompatibility between metaSAN 1.x and version 5.x, you will not be able to automatically update metaSAN 1.x with a 5.x version. To perform the transition, you should: uninstall and deactivate metaSAN 1.x. upgrade your sales order with licenses for version 5.x. install metaSAN 5.x. activate metaSAN 5.x.
Uninstalling and Deactivating metaSAN 1.x

To uninstall and deactivate metaSAN OSX 1.x:
1. In the Finder, browse for and double-click:
MetaSAN OSX file (to uninstall metaSAN OSX from Mac OS X workstation) MetaSAN OSX Server file (to uninstall metaSAN OSX from Mac OS X Server). The metaSAN Setup dialog appears.
2. In the metaSAN Setup dialog select Remove current installation, and click Next. 3. Press Authorize to authorize setup with administrative privileges.
The Authenticate dialog appears.
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Upgrading metaSAN 1.x to Version 5.x
4. Enter the user name and password or phrase, click OK. 5. In the metaSAN Setup dialog click Next. 6. Select the Permanently Deactivate metaSAN check box and click Next.
metaSAN Setup lists the serial number and activation key of your metaSAN OSX copy and generates a deactivation key.
7. Write down the deactivation key carefully and click Next.
In order to allow you to deactivate your copy of metaSAN OSX whenever you want and to prevent loss of keys in case you are not currently connected to the Internet, metaSAN OSX Setup automatically generates a file (metaSAN _Keys.txt) in your home directory.
Note: As metaSAN OSX versions earlier than 1.2 do not generate a text file with the deactivation info, users may take a screenshot of the Setup dialog, using the Grab utility. 8. Choose to restart the computer when prompted and click Finish.
To uninstall and deactivate metaSAN PC 1.x:
1. Display the Control Panel. 2. Double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon. 3. In the Add/Remove Programs window, select metaSAN and click the Change/Remove.
The Setup wizard starts.

4. Choose Yes, to uninstall metaSAN 1.x. 5. Select the Permanently deactivate metaSAN option and click Next.
During the deactivation process the Setup wizard generates deactivation information which is required on the licensing server.
6. Write down this information.Make sure to write down correctly the serial number, activation and
deactivation keys. Note that all this data is case-sensitive.

Note: In order to allow you to deactivate your copy of metaSAN on the licensing server whenever you want and also to prevent loss of the keys or incorrect typing of all deactivation info, when uninstalling metaSAN a text file (metaSAN_keys.txt), containing the serial number, activation and deactivation keys, is automatically saved on the desktop of the currently logged user. 7. Click Next and choose to restart the computer when prompted.
Deactivating metaSAN 1.x

After having uninstalled metaSAN 1.x from the Mac OS X or Windows computer, you should deactivate it on the licensing server. You can find detailed steps about deactivating metaSAN on page 43.
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Upgrading Your Sales Order

To upgrade the sales order with licenses for metaSAN 5.x:
Contact your metaSAN reseller for details about upgrading metaSAN 1.x licenses to licenses for version 4.x, as well as for obtaining additional licenses if needed.
Installing metaSAN 5.x

After having upgraded your sales order with licenses for version 5.x, you can install metaSAN 5.x, following the steps described on page 30.
Activating metaSAN 5.x

The last step for upgrading metaSAN 1.x to version 5.x is to activate your metaSAN licenses, following the steps described on page 39.
Upgrading from Evaluation to Commercial Version

You can upgrade evaluation version of metaSAN with a commercial one simply by activating metaSAN with a commercial activation key. For detailed steps about manual and automatic activation on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms, refer to Activating metaSAN on page 39.
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Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Managing SAN Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Configuring Advanced SAN Settings . . . . . . 84
Getting Started
The following chapter provides information on setting up and configuring SAN definitions.
Displaying the metaSAN Window

On Mac OS X and Windows machines, you can use the metaSAN window to manage SAN definitions and configure different metaSAN settings. On Linux workstations, you can use the command-line interface. For information on integrating Linux computers into your SAN, refer to Linux Integration to the SAN on page 147.
To display the metaSAN window:
(Mac OS X) Open the Mac OS X System Preferences and click the metaSAN icon. (Windows) Open the Control Panel, and double-click the metaSAN icon. The metaSAN window appears.
Authorized metaSAN Session

On Mac OS X, to administer metaSAN and change any of its settings, you must start an authorized session. To do so, you need to use an account set up with administrative privileges for your computer. On Mac OS X systems, you begin an authorized session, using the Authenticate dialog in the metaSAN window.
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Getting Started
Note: On Windows, by default, each user can administer metaSAN and change any of its settings. To allow only users with administrative privileges to be able to change any of the metaSAN settings, follow the steps described in Managing metaSAN Settings on Windows by Administrators Only on page 190.
To begin an authorized session on Mac OS X:
1. In the metaSAN window, click the lock at the lower left side. 2. In the Authenticate dialog, enter the user name and password for an account with administrative
privileges on your computer, and click OK. The authorized session begins.
To exit an authorized session on Mac OS X:
Click the unlocked icon at the lower left side of the metaSAN window.
Logging on to metaSAN
Public volumes, which are protected by volume permissions with metaSAN security authority, are not mounted on the workstation until you log on with a valid user name and password in the SAN Login dialog. For information on volume permissions, refer to metaSAN Volume Permissions on page 100.
To log on to metaSAN:
1. Do one of the following:
In the Volumes tab of the metaSAN window, click Login. In the menu bar of Mac OS X, click Login. In the task bar of Windows, click Login. The SAN Login dialog appears.
2. Type the metaSAN user name and password, and click OK.
metaSAN displays a Login Confirmation message that provides information about the permissions for volumes/shares granted to your account.
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To mount volumes from another SAN definition, for which you have different account, you should click Logout (in the Volumes tab, in the menu bar of Mac OS X, or in Windows task bar) and unmount the currently mounted volumes, click Login again and provide user name and password for the volumes in the other definition.
Start Working in the SAN

In order for a machine with metaSAN installed to start working on the shared storage volumes as a SAN Member, it must be included in a valid SAN definition. For details about working in the SAN from a LAN client, refer to metaLAN on page 151. A valid SAN definition can be described as a definition in which there are shared storage volumes and machines that have access to these volumes over the Fibre Channel. The machines communicate with one another over the LAN. Users can start working in a valid SAN definition even if they do not modify any of the definitions settings (such as Metadata Master priorities, Failover Detection, Bandwidth reservations and quotas, etc.), as metaSAN sets defaults that can be applied to all workstations and volumes in each SAN definition. If, during metaSAN installation on a given machine, you define a preliminary SAN definition (i.e. set the volumes to constitute the shared storage and the failover type), by adding each next computer on which you install metaSAN to this definition, then the SAN definition will become a valid one. If, on the first computer you install metaSAN on, you add to the definition other machines using the metaSAN window, when each of these machines is started, it will detect this definition and users can start working with the defined volumes. If during metaSAN installation you skip the Configuration Wizard, metaSAN automatically creates an empty SAN definition that contains your machine only. This empty definition is not a valid SAN definition as it does not include any volumes or other machines. To start working in the SAN, you must either join an existing SAN definition or modify the empty SAN definition by adding volumes and machines that can access them. For information on setting up a valid SAN definition, refer to Creating New SAN Definition on page 65, Managing SAN Members on page 76 and Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. You can also use the metaSAN Configuration Wizard to guide you in the process of creating a new SAN definition or to join an already configured definition. To start the Configuration Wizard, click the Configuration Wizard button in the Utilities tab page of the metaSAN window.
Managing SAN Definitions

metaSAN allows you to create, delete, export and import SAN definitions, which gives you more flexibility in managing your shared storage. In addition, you can protect a definition with a password to
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make sure unauthorized users cannot change any of its settings. The SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window is the place to manage SAN definitions.
Creating New SAN Definition

You should create a new SAN definition when you have skipped the Configuration Wizard during metaSAN installation or when you decide to divide the shared storage volumes in different SAN definitions. If a new SAN definition is created on the first workstation on which you have installed metaSAN , all other machines on which you install metaSAN can participate in this SAN. If the machines are already added as SAN Members, users can start working with the volumes provided that the Metadata Master is online. If the machine on which you install metaSAN is not yet added to the SAN definition, you can include it in the definition, following the steps described in Joining a Foreign Volumes SAN Definition on page 78.
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To create a new SAN definition:
1. In the SAN Management tab page of the metaSAN window, click New.
A dialog allowing you to enter a name for the new SAN definition appears.
2. Enter a name for the definition and click OK. 3. In the SAN Management tab, click Volumes.
The Volumes Management dialog appears.
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4. Click Add Volume.
The Add Volume to SAN dialog appears. It displays all volumes to which your computer is connected (including the local ones).
5. Select a volume, and click OK to add it to the SAN definition. Warning: Make sure you do not include any of your local disks in the SAN definition. Important: metaSAN warns you if, as a result of the operation, there are volume(s) on dynamic disks in the SAN definition and outside it. For more details, see Working With Dynamic Disks on page 179. 6. Repeat the above two steps for each new volume you want to add to the definition.
The Volumes Management dialog lists all volumes that are included in the SAN definition and displays their details.
7. In the Volumes Management dialog, click Apply.
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8. In the SAN Management tab, click Members.
The Members Management dialog appears.
9. Click Add Member.
The Add Machine to SAN dialog appears.
10.Do one of the following:

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(Windows) Click the Browse button to browse for and select the machine you want to add to the definition. (Mac OS X) Select a machine from the list of machines metaSAN has detected. (Windows) In the Address field type the IP address or name of the machine you want to add, and click Resolve. (Mac OS X) In the Address field type the IP address or name of the machine you want to add, and click Add to add it to the list of machines.
11.Select the Add as LAN Client check box, if you are adding a LAN client machine to the definition.
If you add a LAN machine to the definition, but do not select Add as LAN Client, this machine will see neither the SAN volumes, nor the shares created in the definition. If you select the check box, when adding a SAN Member, it will mount LAN shares only, although it has direct access to SAN volumes through the Fibre Channel.
12.In the Add Machine To SAN dialog, click OK to add the selected machine to the SAN definition. 13.Repeat steps 9 - 12 for each new computer you want to add to the SAN definition.
The Members Management dialog lists all computers that are added to the SAN definition and displays their details.
14.In the Members Management dialog, click Apply.
The SAN definition you have created is a valid SAN definition and all machines included in it will be able to access all volumes that make up its shared storage. When creating new SAN definition, metaSAN automatically assigns it the IP range of the machine from which it is created. In case the computer from which you are creating the SAN definition uses an IP address that is not in the same IP range as the machines you have added as SAN Members or LAN clients, these machines may not be able to communicate with one another. For information on changing the IP range of a SAN definition, refer to Managing the IP Range of your SAN on page 85. For information on managing the settings of the newly created SAN definition, refer to Configuring Advanced SAN Settings on page 84.
Managing SAN Volumes

SAN volumes are a basic and indispensable part of a SAN definition as without volumes no Member will be able to access and share data on the SAN. metaSAN allows you to manage all volumes to which your computer is connected. By adding a volume to a SAN definition, you make it Public for all SAN Members in the definition. When you add a volume to a SAN definition with already configured general volume settings, these settings will be automatically applied to the newly added volume too. On the other hand, by removing a volume from a SAN definition you prevent sharing of data on this volume by SAN Members. When a volume is removed from a SAN definition it becomes Not Available
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or Private to the workstations that see it, depending on the setting for non-SAN volumes specified on each computer. For more details, refer to Default Treatment of Non-SAN Volumes on page 124. You can remove a volume from a SAN definition for two reasons: to add it to another definition and make it accessible to other SAN Members, or to make it Private for one workstation only and Not Available for all other SAN Members. For details about managing volumes outside a SAN definition, refer to Managing Non-SAN Volumes on page 73.
Managing SAN Volumes Limitations

It is advisable to add volumes to a SAN definition only from machines that use the same file system as the respective volume i.e. add HFS+ volumes from Mac OS computers only and NTFS volumes from Windows computers only. NTFS volumes on GPT disks must be added to a SAN definition only from machine running Windows XP (64-bit) or higher. For best practices about volumes on GPT disks, see Limitations for Volumes on GPT Disks on page 177. You can add a Private NTFS volume to a SAN definition either from the machine that has mounted it as Private, or from another computer, but if the machine that has mounted it as Private also participates in the same SAN definition. For more information, see Adding Private NTFS Volumes to a SAN Definition on page 204.
To add volumes to a SAN definition:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, select a SAN definition from the drop-down
box. The tab page lists all Members, volumes and LAN shares already added to the definition.
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2. Click Volumes.
3. Click Add Volume.
A dialog appears displaying all volumes (including the local ones) to which your computer is connected.
4. Select a volume and click OK to add it to the current SAN definition. Warning: Make sure you do not include any of your local disks in the SAN definition.
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Important: metaSAN warns you if, as a result of the operation, there are volume(s) on dynamic disks in the SAN definition and outside it. For more details, see Working With Dynamic Disks on page 179. Note: If you select a volume that already participates in another SAN definition, you have to confirm that you want to remove it from its definition. 5. Repeat the above step for each volume you want to add to the current definition.
The Volumes Management dialog lists all volumes that are added to the selected SAN definition.
6. In the Volumes Management dialog, click Apply.
To remove a volume from a SAN definition:
box. The tab page lists all Members, volumes and LAN shares already added to the definition.
2. Click Volumes.
3. Select a volume from the list, and click Remove Volume.
You are prompted to confirm that you want to remove the selected volume from the SAN definition.
4. Click Yes to confirm. Important: metaSAN warns you if, as a result of the operation, there are volume(s) on dynamic disks in the SAN definition and outside it. For more details, see Working With Dynamic Disks on page 179.
The volume is removed from the current definition.
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5. Repeat the above steps for each volume you want to remove from a selected SAN definition. 6. In the Volumes Management dialog, click Apply.
Managing Non-SAN Volumes

Volumes that are not included in a SAN definition are treated by metaSAN as non-SAN volumes. To protect such volumes from data corruption, you should either avoid allowing more than one workstation to mount them as Private, or include them in a SAN definition. For information on adding volumes to SAN definitions, refer to Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. Depending on the selection you have made in the Settings tab page of the metaSAN window, all nonSAN volumes are treated as either Not Available, or Private. For more information, see Default Treatment of Non-SAN Volumes on page 124. You can change the status of a non-SAN volume on your computer, using the Non-SAN Volumes Settings dialog. If you decide not to share data on non-SAN volumes between Members, you can make them Private for your workstation and Not Available to all other machines that have access to them.
Important: An NTFS volume on GPT disks can be set to Private only on a machine running Windows XP (64-bit) or higher. Warning: Before setting a volume to Private mode, make sure that it has not been mounted as Private by any other SAN workstation. If another workstation is using the volume, do not, under any circumstances, set the volume to Private mode because this can lead to data corruption.
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To set a volume to Not Available:
1. Open the Settings tab of the metaSAN window.
2. In the Treatment of non-SAN Volumes section, click Advanced.
The Non-SAN Volumes Settings dialog appears. It lists all non-SAN volumes to which your computer is connected.
3. Clear the check box of each volume with Mounted status that you want to unmount from your
workstation (i.e. make Not Available).
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4. Click OK.
To set a volume to Private:
1. Open the Settings tab of the metaSAN window.
2. In the Treatment of non-SAN Volumes section, click Advanced.
The Non-SAN Volumes Settings dialog appears. It lists all non-SAN volumes to which your computer is connected.
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3. Select the check box of each volume with Offline status that you want to set to Private on your
workstation.
4. Click OK.
Managing SAN Members

By adding and removing machines from a SAN definition, you specify the Members that have access to volumes in the same definition. You can add any machine to a SAN definition using the Add Machine to SAN dialog or add just your computer without managing the definitions settings. For more details, see Joining a Foreign Volumes SAN Definition on page 78. The machine from which you create a SAN definition is automatically added to that definition.
To add a machine to a SAN definition:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, click Members.
The Members Management dialog appears.
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(Windows) Click the Browse button to browse for and select the machine you want to add to the definition. (Mac OS X) Select a machine from the list of machines metaSAN has detected. (Windows) In the Address field type the IP address or name of the machine you want to add, and click Resolve. (Mac OS X) In the Address field type the IP address or name of the machine you want to add, and click Add to add it to the list of machines.
4. Select the Add as LAN Client check box, if you are adding a LAN client machine to the definition.
If you add a LAN machine to the definition, but do not select Add as LAN Client, this machine will see neither the SAN volumes, nor the shares created in the definition. If you select the check box, when adding a SAN Member, it will mount LAN shares only, although it has direct access to SAN volumes over the Fibre Channel.
5. In the Add Machine to SAN dialog, click OK to add the selected machine to the SAN definition. 6. Repeat the above steps for each new computer you want to add.
The Members field lists all computers that are added to the SAN definition and displays their details.
7. In the Members Management dialog click Apply.
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To remove a machine from the SAN definition:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, click Members.
The Members Management dialog for the selected SAN definition appears.
2. Select a machine, and click Remove Member.
You are prompted to confirm that you want to remove the selected computer from the SAN definition.
Note: You cannot remove the computer from which you modify the definitions settings. 3. Click Yes to confirm.
The machine is removed from the current SAN definition.

4. Repeat the above steps for each machine you want to remove from a selected SAN definition. 5. In the Members Management dialog, click Apply.
Joining a Foreign Volumes SAN Definition

If your computer has not been included in a SAN definition, you can use the Join SAN dialog to join the definition(s) on another Member or the definition that contains a volume that is Foreign for your workstation. To join a SAN definition through another computer, this computer must be switched on. To join a Foreign volumes definition, its Metadata Master must be online. The Join SAN command analyses the topology of the SAN definition(s) you are adding your computer to. This way, if there is at least one computer in the definition with Normal Metadata Master priority, it
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assumes that the topology is with a floating master, and adds your computer with Normal priority too. If in the definition there is not any machine with Normal Metadata Master priority, then the definition uses a dedicated master topology (the dedicated and backup servers use correspondingly High and Low priorities, and all other machines have None priority), and your machine will be added with None Metadata Master priority. If you want, you can change the priority of your machine after you add it to the SAN definition.
To join a Foreign volumes definition:
1. In the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window, click Join SAN.
The Join SAN dialog appears.
select Machine, and type the name or IP address of the target workstation. This will add your computer to the SAN definition(s) in which the target computer is included.
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select Volume, and from the drop-down box, select a Foreign volume that is already included in a SAN definition. This will add your computer to the definition in which the selected volume is included.
3. Select the Join as LAN Client check box, if you are adding your machine as a LAN client. 4. (optional, if the definition is password-protected) Enter the password for the definition you want to
add your computer to.

5. Click Join to add your computer to the SAN definition(s) through the selected machine or volume.
Protecting SAN Definitions with a Password

metaSAN allows you to protect a SAN definition with a password in order to ensure that no unauthorized user changes any of its settings. After you protect a SAN definition with a password, each time a user tries to change any of its settings, by clicking Advanced, Members, Volumes, LAN Shares, and etc. buttons, the user will be prompted to supply the password for this definition. You can set a password for a SAN definition when you create it or you can set it later. You can also change the password for a SAN definition at any time following the same steps.
To protect a SAN definition with a password:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, select a SAN definition and click Advanced.
The Advanced SAN Settings dialog for the selected SAN definition appears.
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2. Click Password.
An empty Set SAN Password dialog appears.
3. Enter the password in the corresponding fields of the dialog, and click OK. 4. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
To change the password of a SAN definition:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, select the SAN definition whose password
you want to change from the drop-down box, and click Advanced. The SAN password dialog appears.
2. Enter the old password for the SAN definition, and click OK.
The Advanced SAN Settings dialog appears.
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3. Click Password.
The Set SAN Password dialog for the SAN definition appears.
4. Change the password in the corresponding fields and click OK. 5. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
To remove the password of a SAN definition:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, select the SAN definition whose password
you want to remove from the drop-down box, and click Advanced. The SAN password dialog appears.
2. Enter the password for the SAN definition, and click OK.
The Advanced SAN Settings dialog appears.
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3. Click Password.
The Set SAN Password dialog for the SAN definition appears.
4. Remove the password from the corresponding fields, and click OK. 5. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
Exporting SAN Definitions

When you export a SAN definition, you are saving its configuration file for future use. Exporting a SAN definition may be very useful when you need to reinstall all machines that participate in it, but want to preserve all settings of the definition.
Important: You should export SAN definitions only from SAN Member machines.
To export a SAN definition:
box and click Export.

2. Browse for the location, where you want to save the SAN definition, and click Save.
The SAN definition is saved in the desired location.
Importing SAN Definitions

metaSAN allows you to import an already exported SAN definition. This saves you time by avoiding the need of configuring all its settings again. When you import a SAN definition that contains volumes, which already participate in other SAN definitions, these volumes are removed from the other definitions and the imported definition becomes the valid one.
Important: You should import SAN definitions only from SAN Member machines.
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To import a SAN definition:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, click Import. 2. Browse for an already exported SAN definition and click Open.
The imported SAN definition is listed in the SAN drop-down box of the SAN Management tab page and its configuration (Members, volumes, LAN shares and settings) is active.
Deleting SAN Definitions

You can delete a SAN definition at any time in order to include its volumes and Members in other SAN definitions. After you delete a SAN definition you will not be able to restore any of its settings unless you have previously exported the definition. The volumes of the deleted SAN definition become Not Available or Private to all workstations that see them, depending on the setting for non-SAN volumes specified on each computer. For more details, refer to Default Treatment of Non-SAN Volumes on page 124.
Warning: Make sure that the definitions volumes cannot be mounted as Private by more than one workstation, because this can lead to data corruption.
To delete a SAN definition:
box, and click Delete. You are prompted to confirm the deletion of the selected SAN definition.
Note: You cannot delete a SAN definition, if it is the only one on your computer. 2. Click Yes to confirm.
The selected SAN definition is removed from the SAN Management tab. Its volumes become nonSAN volumes for all computers that have access to them.
Configuring Advanced SAN Settings

Users can start working in valid SAN definitions even if they do not modify any of the definitions advanced settings (such as Metadata Master priorities, Failover Detection, Bandwidth control, and so on), as metaSAN sets defaults that can be applied to all workstations and all volumes in each SAN definition. Thus, all machines and users can access all SAN volumes in the definition without any restrictions, each machine can become Metadata Master in case of a failover condition, the SAN will use Normal failover detection (30 seconds), and so on. You can change any of the SAN definitions settings in order to allow for an enhanced workflow in your storage area network. You can manage all of the definitions settings in the Advanced SAN Settings dialog of the selected SAN definition.
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To display the Advanced SAN Settings dialog:
In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, select a SAN definition from the drop-down list and click Advanced. The Advanced SAN Settings dialog for the selected definition appears.
Managing the IP Range of your SAN

The identification of each machine through an IP address is indispensable in metaSAN. It allows each Member to reach the Metadata Master over the LAN in order to exchange metadata with it. Thus, each Member of a SAN definition should be in the same network segment as other hosts in the SAN definition or should be able to communicate through other computer with machines on this network segment. All computers whose IP address does not match the IP range of the SAN definition may not be able to communicate with the other Members of the SAN (may not have access the SAN volumes in this SAN definition). By default, metaSAN sets the IP range to the range for the machine on which the SAN definition is created. If the machine from which you are creating the SAN definition has more than one network adapter, metaSAN uses the one you have selected in the Settings tab page of the metaSAN window. For more details, refer to Choosing a Synchronization Interface Card on page 117.
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To specify the IP range of your SAN:
1. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Change next to the IP Range field.
The SAN IP Range dialog for the selected definition appears.
2. In the Interface drop-down box of the dialog, do one of the following:
Choose a network adapter from the list of all NICs your machine uses. This changes the IP range based on the IP address of the adapter you have selected. The Local host field below displays the chosen IP address and the SAN IP Mask field shows the mask of the IP range. Choose Custom and manually enter the IP address (in the Local host field) and SAN IP Mask that define the desired IP range.
3. In the SAN IP Range dialog, click OK.
The IP Range you selected is displayed in the IP Range field of the Advanced SAN Settings dialog.
4. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
Configuring Metadata Master Priorities

The Metadata Master priorities represent the ability of each SAN Member in a SAN definition to become Metadata Master in case of a failover condition or when you start all machines at the same time. You can use the Metadata Master priority to rank the order in which SAN Members become Metadata Masters. When searching for a new Metadata Master, metaSAN rates all available SAN Members according to the following priorities - High, Normal, Low and None. If all SAN Members have the same priority (except None), they have equal chance of becoming Metadata Masters in case of a failover condition. SAN Members whose priority is set to None are restricted from becoming Metadata Masters. By default, metaSAN sets the Metadata Master priority of all SAN Members to Normal. metaSAN allows you to manually transfer mastership of a volume from one computer to another. For more details, refer to Manual Failover on page 143.
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You can set the Metadata Master priorities for all volumes in a given SAN definition if you open the Metadata Master Priorities dialog from the Advanced SAN Settings dialog. If you want to specify different Metadata Master priorities for a specific volume only, these priorities will override the general priorities for this volume and in case of a failover condition the Member with higher priority will become Metadata Master of the volume.
To configure Metadata Master priorities for all volumes:
1. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Master Priorities.
The Metadata Master Priorities dialog for all volumes in the definition appears.
2. In the Members list of the dialog, set the desired priorities for each Member, using the drop-down
box next to each machine.

Tip: Click Reset Priorities to reset the priorities of all machines to their default (Normal). 3. In the Metadata Master Priorities dialog, click OK. 4. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
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To configure Metadata Master priorities for a specific volume:
1. In the SAN Management tab, select a SAN definition from the drop-down box, and then click
Volumes. The Volumes Management dialog appears.
2. In the Volumes Management dialog, select a volume from the list and click Advanced.
The Volume Settings dialog appears.
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3. Open the Master Priorities tab and in the Members list of the dialog, set the desired priorities for
each SAN Member, using the drop-down box next to each machine.
Tip: Click Reset Priorities to reset the priorities of all machines to their default (Normal). 4. Click OK. 5. In the Volumes Management dialog, click Apply.
Specifying Failover Detection

Specifying Failover Detection means setting the time interval at which metaSAN checks for a failover condition in a given SAN definition. If after the specified timeout a failover condition is present, metaSAN enters a procedure for electing new Metadata Master. By default, metaSAN sets Normal failover detection (30 seconds) for each SAN definition it manages. You can change the type of failover detection depending on the needs of your network environment and business-critical applications. You can even disallow failover in a given SAN definition, by setting None failover detection. This way, when the Metadata Master is shut down, all volumes are unmounted from all SAN Members until the Master is again available or another machine that can play the role of a Metadata Master is restarted. For steps on assigning a new Metadata Master when the previous one has suffered a power failure, refer to Assigning New Master in a Definition With None Failover Detection on page 189. For information on testing the Metadata Master failover mechanism in a SAN definition, refer to Testing Metadata Master Failover Mechanism on page 145.
To specify the failover detection:
1. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Change next to the Failover Detection field.
The Failover Settings dialog appears.
Select the type of failover detection (None, Slow, Normal or Fast), and click OK.
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Select Custom, and enter a duration between 1 and 180 seconds in the Detection Timeout field, and then click OK. The selected failover detection appears in the Advanced SAN Settings dialog.
Controlling Bandwidth
The bandwidth management feature of metaSAN allows you to control the bandwidth usage per SAN definition by setting bandwidth reservations and/or quotas for SAN Members or LAN clients of the SAN definition. With reservations you can guarantee that the necessary bandwidth is always at disposal of the machines on which mission-critical applications run. On the other hand, quotas ensure that no single user obstructs others' use of the network by consuming enormous network bandwidth. A machine that is automatically assigned for Bandwidth Master takes care that all Members adhere to the reservations and quotas. Controlling bandwidth usage in a metaSAN network requires considerable planning. You should begin with setting the total bandwidth in MB/s for the SAN definition. Total bandwidth is in fact the maximum achievable bandwidth in the definition. As bandwidth varies on each machine and depends on the devices it uses, the number of machines accessing a volume at the same time and the applications they use, defining the total bandwidth can never be a precise operation. Additionally, you should keep in mind that a machine can participate in more than one SAN definition, and the bandwidth it uses depends on the number of definitions in which it actively participates. A good way to define the total bandwidth in a given SAN definition is to measure throughput on each Member while performing typical read/write operations at the same time with other Members. The sum of the average bandwidth on each machine is probably the closest to the total bandwidth of the definition. You can use the read/ write tests metaSAN offers to determine the average bandwidth for each machine. For more details about running read/write tests, refer to Test Volume Performance on page 121.
Important: Keep in mind that setting a value for the total bandwidth above the real achievable throughput may hamper the way metaSANs bandwidth control operates. That is why it is advisable to set a value that is just below your best expected performance. This will guarantee reasonable SAN performance, and yet ensure that bandwidth reservations are effective even if the storage is full or fragmented.
Once you set the total bandwidth, no machine will be able to read or write to the volumes in the definition using more bandwidth than the total.
Planning Bandwidth Reservations

After setting the total bandwidth of the SAN definition, you are ready to set the bandwidth reservations of the machines on which mission-critical applications run. When specifying bandwidth reservations, you should keep in mind that:
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The sum of all reservations cannot exceed the total bandwidth for the SAN definition. If by adding new reservation, you will exceed the total bandwidth, you should first remove a reservation. When a machine with a reservation is offline, its reservation is released for use by machines without reservations until that machine goes online again. Still, metaSAN takes care to keep its reservation and makes sure the sum of all reservations is within the limit of the total bandwidth of the SAN. The bandwidth that remains after you deduct the sum of all reservations from the total SAN bandwidth is distributed proportionally among all Members (with or without reservations) depending on their requests for bandwidth. Should the sum of all reservations equals the total bandwidth of the SAN definition, the machines without reservations will not be able to read or write to the SAN volumes.
Planning Bandwidth Quotas

To make sure no single user obstructs others' use of the network by consuming enormous network bandwidth, beside specifying bandwidth reservations you should also set bandwidth quotas. By setting bandwidth quota to a machine with reservation, you can specify the machines allowed bandwidth range. When specifying bandwidth quotas, you should keep in mind that: When you limit the bandwidth quota of a SAN Member that serves as a Data Master , you automatically limit the bandwidth of LAN clients accessing the shared storage through this machine . Even if these LAN clients have greater bandwidth reservations, they will not be able to achieve these levels if the limitation of the Data Master does not allow such bandwidth. The bandwidth quota for a Data Master can also affect the way the network load balancing of metaLAN works. As the network load-balancing engine takes care of redirecting network traffic over the LAN through machines that at a given moment process the least traffic, setting a small quota for a Data Master will redirect all accesses from LAN clients to that machine and will burden it, while other Data Masters with higher bandwidth quotas will try to equalize bandwidth usage with this machine. When adding a new machine to a SAN definition whose Members have set bandwidth quotas, you should set bandwidth quota to the newly added computer too. Otherwise this machine will be able to consume the whole bandwidth left to machines without reservations and obstruct their workflow.
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To specify bandwidth reservations and quotas:
1. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Bandwidth Control.
The Bandwidth Management dialog for the selected definition appears.
2. Select Enable Bandwidth Control. 3. In the Total SAN Bandwidth, set the total bandwidth in MB/s. 4. Select a machine in the Members list.
In the Statistics field, you can view bandwidth usage details.

5. Select Quota and in the box beside it enter the quota in MB/s for the selected machine. 6. Select Reservation and in the box beside it enter the reservation in MB/s for the selected machine. Note: If with the new reservation the sum of all already set reservations exceeds the total bandwidth of the SAN, metaSAN will notify you that you cannot set such reservation. If there is an offline machine with reservation, metaSAN will prompt you to revoke its reservation to be able to set the new one. 7. Repeat the above steps for each machine in the definition, and click OK. 8. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
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To remove a bandwidth reservation/quota:
2. Make sure Enable Bandwidth Control check box is selected. 3. Select a machine in the Members list. 4. Clear the Quota check box, to remove the bandwidth quota of the machine or clear the
Reservation check box to remove the machines reservation.

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To disable bandwidth management:
2. Clear the Enable Bandwidth Control check-box and click OK. 3. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
Managing Volumes Mount Location (Windows only)

metaSAN automatically chooses where to mount all SAN volumes it manages. On Windows, a volume is mounted in the location specified in Disk Management or, if nothing is specified, using the first available drive letter. On Mac OS X, a volume is mounted in /Volumes. On Linux, a volume is mounted in the /mnt directory. In the Mount Locations tab of the Volume Settings dialog you can specify default mount location setting for a particular volume on all Windows machines, as well as override the default volume mount location for a given Windows machine. This way, you can make a volume to be mounted in one and the same location on all machines that see it - for example, using one and the same drive letter.
Note: On Mac OS X and Linux, metaSAN always mounts the volumes in the default locations for the respective platform.
The options from which you can choose include: Automatic - the location specified in Disk Management or, if nothing is specified, the first available drive letter.
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Dont Mount - the volume is not mounted on the machine. Drive Letter - the volume is mounted as a drive letter that you specify.
Important: If the specified drive letter is already taken, Automatic is used as volume mount location.
Mount Point - the volume is mounted in a folder specified by you.

To set default volume mount location:
1. In the SAN Management tab, select a SAN definition in the drop-down box, and then click Volumes.
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2. In the Volumes Management dialog, select a volume and click Advanced.
The Volume Settings dialog for the selected volume appears.
3. Open the Mount Locations tab of the dialog.
All SAN Members in the definition are listed in the tab page with their mount locations for the volume.
Note: If you open the dialog for the first time, the default mount location for the volume is Automatic. 4. Next to the Default field, click Change.
The Default Mount Location dialog appears.
5. In the dialog, do one of the following:
Select Automatic, to use the Disk Management setting or, if nothing is specified, the first available drive letter. Select Dont Mount, to disallow the mounting of the volume. Select Drive Letter and in the drop-down box, choose the desired drive letter.
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Important: If the specified drive letter is already taken, Automatic is used as volume mount location. Important: Entering Maintenance mode removes the drive letters of NTFS volumes. For workflow about keeping persistent drive letters, refer to Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume on page 178.
Select Mount Point and in the field below it write down the path to the folder where you want the volume to be mounted.
Note: You can use slashes and backslashes in the path description. For example, both /folder and \folder will be recognized as valid paths. A path without drive letter is interpreted by Windows as derived from the system drive. Important: If the folder you set as mount location does not exist on a given computer, this machine will use Automatic as mount location for the volume. Warning: It is highly advisable not to set a SAN volume (especially volumes set to Private mode) as mount point for other SAN volumes as this may lead to unpredictable results. 6. In the dialog, click OK.

7. Click OK.

8. Click Apply to apply the changes. Important: Clicking Apply unmounts the volume from all machines, and then remounts it again in the specified mount location.
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To set volume mount location for a specific machine:
1. In the SAN Management tab, select a SAN definition in the drop-down box, and then click Volumes.
2. In the Volumes Management dialog, select a volume and click Advanced.
The Volume Settings dialog for the selected volume appears.
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All SAN Members in the definition are listed in the tab page with their mount locations for the volume.
Note: If you open the dialog for the first time, the default mount location for the volume is Automatic. 4. Select a Windows Member in the list.
The name and IP address of the machine are displayed below the list.
5. In the Mount drop-down box, do one of the following:
Select Default, to use the default volume mount location setting for all machines. Select Automatic, to use the location specified in Disk Management or, if nothing is specified, the first available drive letter. Select Dont Mount, to disallow the mounting of the volume on the machine. Select Drive Letter and in the drop-down box beside it, choose the desired drive letter.
Important: If the specified drive letter is already taken, Automatic is used as volume mount location. Important: Entering Maintenance mode removes the drive letters of NTFS volumes. For workflow about keeping persistent drive letters, refer to Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume on page 178.
Select Mount Point and in the box beside it write down the path to the folder where you want the volume to be mounted.
Note: You can use slashes and backslashes in the path description. For example, both /folder and \folder are recognized as valid paths. A path without drive letter is interpreted by Windows as derived from the system drive. Important: If the folder you set as mount location does not exist on the computer, it will use Automatic as mount location for the volume. Warning: It is highly advisable not to set a SAN volume (especially volumes set to Private mode) as mount point for other SAN volumes as this may lead to unpredictable results. 6. In the Volume Settings dialog, click OK.

7. Click Apply to apply the changes. Important: Clicking Apply unmounts the volume from the machine, and then remount it again in the specified mount location.
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metaSAN Volume Permissions

By default, metaSAN operates with disabled security and all SAN volumes/LAN shares are mounted on all machines (SAN Members or LAN clients) included in the same SAN definition, regardless of the user that is currently logged on to them. metaSAN allows you to set different volume permissions (Read & Write, Read Only, Not Available) for the users. In case there is a domain controller on your network, you can use it as a Security authority that authenticates users whose volume permissions you set. Thus, you can complement the native security model of your network without imposing additional requirements to the users. When a user logs on to the system, the current Metadata Master is able to authenticate through the domain controller the volume permissions for that user. If there is no domain controller responsible for network authentication, you can take advantage of metaSAN as security authority. In contrast to the native security model, metaSAN works independently of the operating system and manages internal user accounts, which are stored in a database common for all volumes in the SAN definition. Thus, when enabling volume permissions with metaSAN security authority, you should associate a database containing metaSAN user accounts to the definition. Only users that log on with a valid metaSAN account for a volume/share with enabled volume permissions managed by metaSAN security authority can mount it on the workstation. Users that do not have a valid user account for a certain volume/share will not be able to access it, although they will see it in the Volumes tab with Login status. For more details about the Login procedure, refer to Logging on to metaSAN on page 63. You can override the permissions of domain or metaSAN user for all volumes/shares, by specifying different permissions for a single volume/share. Although you can work with a volume/share protected by volume permissions only after you log on to the workstation or to metaSAN with an eligible account, until you log on to the system all volumes are mounted. This way metaSAN ensures there is at least one workstation that can supervise them. When a user with Not Available permissions logs on to a Windows Metadata Master and with other than Read & Write permissions to a Mac OS X Metadata Master, the volumes are unmounted and another suitable machine takes over mastership over them if there is any. That is why, to avoid the risk of leaving volumes without a master, you should make sure that there is at least one online computer to which no user is logged on, or there is at least one computer to which a user with Read Only or Read & Write rights (on Windows) or Read & Write rights (on Mac OS X) is logged on to the system (Native security authority) or to metaSAN (metaSAN security authority).
Note: On Mac OS X, you can configure a script with metaSAN tool commands, that is automatically run by the metaSAN daemon and that logs you on to metaSAN even before you are logged on to the system. For more details, see Configuring metaSAN Volume Security Auto-Login Script on Mac OS X on page 176.
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All changes to the volume permissions in a SAN definition are detected and valid on each Windows machine only after volumes are remounted on it - that is after reboot, logout procedure, etc. This way, users workflow is not disturbed and if you have mounted a SAN volume while volume permissions are being set for it, you can keep working with the volume until you unmount it. On Mac OS X and Linux workstations, any changes to the volume permissions are applied immediately and may result in forced logout of a logged metaSAN user, unmounting of volumes/shares, etc.
To enable volume permissions in a SAN definition:
1. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Volume Permissions.
The Volume Permissions dialog appears.
2. Select the Enable Volume Permissions check-box, and click OK.
If you do not configure volume permissions at this point, metaSAN sets Native security authority with Not Available permissions for all users. For details about configuring the volume permissions, refer to page 105.
Managing metaSAN User Accounts

metaSAN implements an enhanced environment for managing metaSAN user accounts. In the Users Management dialog you can import local users from your workstation or metaSAN user accounts from another definitions database, create, delete and modify user accounts in the current definitions database.
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To display the Users Management dialog:
1. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Volume Permissions. 2. (Windows only) If the Enter Network Password dialog appears, click Cancel.
The Volume Permissions dialog for all volumes in the definition appears.
3. Select the Enable Volume Permissions check-box.
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4. In the Security Authority drop-down box, select metaSAN and click Manage Users.
The Users Management dialog appears.
To create a new metaSAN user:
1. In the Users Management dialog, click New User. 2. In the User Settings field, enter a user name, password, and specify the volume permissions for the
new user.
3. Click Create User to save the changes.
The new user account appears in the Users Management dialog.

4. Repeat the above steps for each new metaSAN user you want to create. 5. In the Users Management dialog, click Close. 6. In the Volume Permissions dialog, click OK. 7. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
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To import users to the definitions database:
1. In the Users Management dialog, click Import Users.
The Import Users dialog appears.
Select Import local users to import the accounts of local users on your workstation to the definitions database.
Note: On Windows, local users are imported with their passwords. On Mac OSX, local users are imported without passwords.
Select Import metaSAN users to import accounts of metaSAN users from another SAN definitions database, and choose a definition from which to import the accounts in the Source Definition drop-down box.
Note: This option is not active if there is no other definition accessible on your workstation from which to import metaSAN users. 3. Select a user from the Users column and click Add to add the user to the list of accounts to be
imported.
Tip: Use the Add All button to add all users listed in the Users column, and Remove and Remove All buttons to remove users from the list of accounts to be imported. 4. (optional) In the Permissions for imported users, select the volume permissions. Note: metaSAN users are imported with the permissions, specified in the source definitions database.
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5. Click Import.
All selected users are imported to the definitions database.

6. In the Users Management dialog, click Close. 7. In the Volume Permissions dialog, click OK. 8. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
To modify a metaSAN user:
1. In the Users Management dialog, select a user from the list. 2. In the User Settings field, change the desired information (name, password and permissions), and
click Modify User.

To delete metaSAN user:
1. In the Users Management dialog, select a user, and click Delete User. Tip: Click Delete All to delete all users from the definitions database.
You are prompted to confirm that you want to delete the selected user.
2. Click Yes to confirm.
The selected user account is removed from the definition's database.

To configure volume permissions for all volumes:
1. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Volume Permissions. 2. (optional, Windows only) If you want to configure volume permissions with Native security
authority, enter a user name and password if the Enter Network Password appears. The account must have rights to list all user accounts in the domain for the machine from which you configure the volume permissions.
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Tip: If you want to configure volume permissions with metaSAN as security authority on a Windows computer, you can click Cancel in this dialog.
The Volume Permissions dialog for all volumes appears.
3. Make sure the Enable Volume Permissions check box is selected. 4. In the Security Authority field, do one of the following:
Select Native, to use a domain controller on the network as security authority authenticating users, and then, on Mac OS X computers, in the Domain field, enter the name or IP address of the domain controller that controls the domain in which is the machine from which you configure volume permissions, and click Load Users.
Important: In a cross-platform environment, the domain controller should use the same OS as the machines that can be Metadata Masters.
Select metaSAN, to configure volume permissions for metaSAN users, managed by metaSAN security authority. metaSAN lists metaSAN or domain users.
5. In the Default Permissions drop-down box select the permissions that should serve as default for all
listed users, and click OK.

Note: The default permissions option also serves for authentication of users not listed in the dialog, when Native security authority is selected. metaSAN automatically sets the default permissions to Not Available.
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6. Change the volume permissions for each user listed in the dialog, using the drop-down boxes in the
Permissions column.
7. In the Volume Permissions dialog, click OK. 8. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
To disable volume permissions:
1. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Volume Permissions.
The Volume Permissions dialog appears.
2. Clear the Enable Volume Permissions check-box, and click OK. 3. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
All specified volume permissions for users in the selected SAN definition are disabled and all users can access the volumes/shares with Read & Write access privileges. When you enable volume permissions again, the last used security configuration is used, but each user in it accesses the volumes with the default permissions.
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To override volume permissions for a volume:
2. Select a volume from the list and click Advanced.
3. Open the Permissions tab.

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4. Change the volume permissions for each user listed in the dialog, using the drop-down boxes in the
Permissions column.
5. Click OK. 6. In the Volumes Management dialog, click Apply.
metaSAN File Security

By default, metaSAN operates with disabled security and all users have unlimited access to all resources on the shared storage volumes regardless of the file and folder permissions. When you enable file security in a selected SAN definition, you choose to use the user access rights, which are native to the domain of the Metadata Master of this definition. metaSAN allows you to specify a fallback account to be used for authentication of all users that cannot authenticate themselves before the domain controller. Thus, each user not recognized as a domain user (all local users, as well as users on other platforms) will be able to access the SAN volumes or LAN shares with the access rights of this fallback account. You can specify a fallback account, which is valid for all non-domain users on all machines in the SAN definition, if you open the File Security dialog from the Advanced SAN Settings dialog. You can override the fallback account for all machines, if you open the File Security dialog from the Members Management dialog. Thus, the fallback account you specify will be valid only for the unauthenticated users that log on to this machine and they will be able to access shared storage volumes with different access rights. On a Windows Metadata Master machine, users access the resources on the volumes supervised by the machine with the access rights of the account supplied when logging on to the system. Even if the user does not log on to the system with an account that can be authenticated by the domain controller, this user will not use the fallback credentials.
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To enable file security in a SAN definition:
1. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click File Security.
The File Security dialog appears.
2. Select the Enable File Security check-box, and click OK. 3. In the Advanced SAN settings dialog, click Apply to apply then changes.
If you do not specify a fallback account at this point, on Mac OS X, metaSAN automatically uses Unknown as a fallback account. On Windows, metaSAN does not use any account and all unauthorized users will not have any access rights to the resources on the SAN volumes/LAN shares.
To specify a fallback account for all machines:
The File Security dialog for all machines appears.
2. Make sure the Enable File Security check-box is selected. 3. Enter the user name and password of a domain account that will serve as fallback account for all non-
domain users on all machines.
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Important: If authentication is done by a Windows domain controller, the fallback account should have the "Perform volume maintenance tasks" privilege and if the domain controller is Windows Vista or above, the account should not be in the Administrators group. For more details, see Setting Up the File Security Fallback Account in a Windows Domain on page 185. 4. Click Verify.
metaSAN verifies that the specified account exists. If it cannot verify the account you have specified, a warning message is displayed. You can specify another account or leave this one, but no unauthenticated user will be able to access the SAN volumes with it.
Note: On Mac OS X, if you leave as fallback an account that could not be verified, metaSAN automatically changes it to Unknown. 5. In the File Security dialog, click OK. 6. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
To specify a fallback account for a single workstation:
Members. The Members Management dialog appears.
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2. In the Members Management dialog, select a machine from the list, and click Security.
The File Security dialog for the selected machine appears.
3. Enter the user name and password of a domain account that will serve as fallback account for all non-
domain users on the selected machine.

Important: If authentication is done by a Windows domain controller, the fallback account should have the "Perform volume maintenance tasks" privilege and if the domain controller is Windows Vista or above, the account should not be in the Administrators group. For more details, see Setting Up the File Security Fallback Account in a Windows Domain on page 185. 4. Click Verify.
metaSAN verifies that the specified account exists. If it cannot verify the account you have specified, a warning message is displayed. You can specify another account or leave this one, but no unauthenticated user will be able to access the SAN volumes with it.
Note: On Mac OS X if you leave as fallback an account that could not be verified, metaSAN automatically changes it to Unknown. 5. In the File Security dialog, click OK. 6. In the Members Management dialog, click Apply.
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To disable file security in a SAN definition:
The File Security dialog appears.
2. Clear the Enable File Security check-box, and click OK. 3. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
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Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Choosing a Synchronization Interface Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Enabling SAN to LAN Failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Video Editing Support Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Managing Boot Sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Test Volume Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Specifying Files and Folder Creation Behaviour (Mac OS X only) . . 123 Automatically Relaunching the Finder (Mac OS X only) . . . . . . . . . . 123 Default Treatment of Non-SAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Configuring Dependencies (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Enabling Spotlight Indexing on SAN Volumes (Mac OS X only) . . . . 125
Optimizing the SAN
Overview
Use the Settings tab of the metaSAN window to specify options for your machine that will optimize the interaction between your computer, the shared storage and the other computers on the SAN.
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Choosing a Synchronization Interface Card
Choosing a Synchronization Interface Card

metaSAN workstations use a synchronization interface to determine which systems are part of the SAN and which systems act as Metadata Masters and Members. Also, the synchronization interface is used for exchanging metadata between the Master and Member workstations. The synchronization interface card is a device that connects your computer to the Local Area Network (LAN). As a synchronization interface, metaSAN uses an Ethernet adapter. This synchronization interface device should meet the following requirements: its Media Access Control (MAC) address should not be equal to zero, indicating that the device is enabled and functioning properly. a valid IP address is assigned to this device. metaSAN uses this IP address to identify the computer to the other metaSAN workstations. When metaSAN is installed, it automatically detects the first suitable network interface card (NIC), which it then uses as a synchronization interface with the other computers on the metaSAN network. Most of the time, the solution works. However, in more complicated scenarios, the automatic selection of a synchronization interface may cause metaSAN to function incorrectly, resulting in unavailable SAN volumes. For example, if there are two or more NICs in the computer from which you are creating a new SAN definition and they connect your system to different sub-nets, metaSAN automatically selects the first suitable NIC to determine the IP range of the newly created definition. However, metaSAN may choose a NIC that is not connected to the same sub-net as the other Members of the definition. When this happens, the workstations may not be able to communicate with the other Members in the definition and the resources located on the shared storage are inaccessible. To solve the problem, you need to choose the correct NIC manually prior to creating new SAN definition. Alternatively, you can manually change the IP range of the definition, following the steps described in Managing the IP Range of your SAN on page 85. On Linux, if there are two or more NICs in the computer, you can bind the MAC address to the network interface card metaSAN uses, following the steps described in Binding the MAC Address to The NIC Used by metaSAN on Linux on page 187.
To choose a preferred synchronization interface:
1. In Settings tab, select the preferred IP address in the Default Synchronization Interface drop-down
box and click Apply.

Tip: You can distinguish the preferred NIC by its IP address. Make sure each workstation on the SAN can successfully ping the selected IP address. 2. Restart the computer in order the changes to take effect.
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Specifying Allocation Optimization Size

metaSAN sets a default allocation optimization size for all write operations on the storage, which can later be changed locally on each workstation. The allocation optimization size is the fixed size of the disk space in Megabytes appointed to store data changes resulting from all write operations. For each write operation performed, the information to be saved is allocated in an exact optimization size, even if a much smaller optimization size would be sufficient. If more space is needed for certain operations, metaSAN allocates another set of optimization sizes. If after the completion of a write operation, a part of the allocated block is left unused, it is then released. You can change the default allocation optimization size on each Member. This means that when initiating a write operation from a particular workstation, the data will be saved in a block size on the shared storage. The value for allocation optimization size should be between 0 and 500 MB. The default value is set to 100 MB.
To specify the Allocation Optimization Size:
In Settings tab, specify a value between 0 and 500 MB in the Allocation Optimization Size field, and click Apply.
Enabling SAN to LAN Failover

Besides Metadata Master Failover, metaSAN provides an additional mechanism for providing SAN Members with uninterrupted access to data on the shared storage. In case there is a failure of the FC HBA or FC cable on a SAN Member, the SAN to LAN failover mechanism of metaSAN can automatically redirect access to the shared storage from the Fibre Channel to the LAN and thus SAN Members can continue working on the volumes although with decreased performance. By default, the SAN to LAN failover is enabled on each SAN Member.
To enable/disable the SAN to LAN failover on your machine:
1. In the Settings tab of the metaSAN window, do one of the following:
Select the Enable SAN to LAN Failover check-box, to enable it on your machine. Clear the Enable SAN to LAN Failover check-box, to disable it on your machine.
2. Click Apply.
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Video Editing Support Options
Video Editing Support Options

Use the following options to configure video editing support.
Enabling TDIR Support (Windows only)

metaSANs TDIR (Time Delay Instant Replay) Support allows Windows users to begin viewing media files while they are still being written as long as the application used supports this feature. When a SAN workstation is capturing video material on a SAN volume, all other workstations with access to the volume can instantly open and view the media file as long as metaSANs TDIR Support is enabled on both the capturing workstation and the other computers. By default, metaSANs TDIR Support is enabled on each SAN Member.
To enable/disable TDIR Support:
Select the Enable TDIR Support check box, to enable it on your machine. Clear the Enable TDIR Support check box, to disable it on your machine.
2. Click Apply.
Enabling Virtualization For Avid (Windows only)

Important: When Virtualization for Avid is enabled in a SAN definition, you will not be able to benefit from ProjectStore's functionality, which allows you to collaborate on Avid projects from both Windows and Mac OS X computers. That is why Virtualization for Avid must be disabled, when you intend to use ProjectStore for Avid collaboration.
metaSANs virtualization for Avid is implemented to solve problems related to the way Avid organizes media. Whenever you create media in Avid, (through digitizing, importing, creating titles, rendering, etc.) Avid creates it in a dedicated folder on your video drive: OMFI MediaFiles folder (when your project uses OMF audio and/or video file formats). Avid MediaFiles folder (when your project uses MXF audio and video file formats). Problems arise when multiple Avid workstations work on one and the same volume, as they try to use one and the same OMFI MediaFiles folder or Avid MediaFiles folder. This leads to conflicts and eventually corruption of the media database (the *.pmr and *.mdb files). The goal of metaSAN's virtualization for Avid is to create a separate OMFI MediaFiles/Avid MediaFiles folder for each Avid workstation working on the same SAN volume. After enabling virtualization for Avid, for each Avid machine is created a private folder: SANDS_AVID_MachineName_OMFI MEDIAFILES folder (for OMF projects)
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SANDS_AVID_MachineName_AVID MEDIAFILES folder (for MXF projects) This private folder is used to store the media database of each Avid computer, although all media used by each workstation is stored in the original OMFI MediaFiles/Avid MediaFiles folder. metaSAN takes care to redirect all requests for the media database coming from a certain computer to its "private" folder, but make Avid application accept it as the original media database file. All instances of Avid behave as if they are actually working with the original folder instead of the private folder. Thus, two or more Avid workstations can create media files at the same time on one and the same SAN volume. This type of virtualization is implemented without affecting Avid's or any other application functionality. Beside enabling virtualization for Avid, you must also configure your SAN for work with Avid. For a detailed workflow scenario, refer to Configuring metaSAN for Avid document available at https://license.tiger-technology.com.
Important: If you need to enable virtualization for Avid, it is highly advisable to enable it on each Avid workstation prior to start working with Avid on the SAN.
Virtualization for Avid is disabled in the following cases: metaSAN virtualization for Avid is disabled. A workstation is running in Maintenance mode. metaSAN is uninstalled. metaSAN is not licensed.
To enable/disable Avid Virtualization Support:
Select the Enable Virtualization for AVID check box, to enable it on your machine. Clear the Enable Virtualization for AVID check box, to disable it on your machine.
2. Click Apply. 3. Restart the computer in order the changes to take effect.
Managing Boot Sequence

On Mac OS X machines, metaSAN allows you to synchronize when the operating system starts with the mounting of the shared storage volumes on your computer. For example, you can choose synchronous boot sequence if some of your applications will not work if there are no volumes mounted. Thus, the operating system will not start until the time during which your workstation attempts to mount the volumes expires.
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Test Volume Performance
You can also choose asynchronous boot sequence, which allows your workstation to try to mount the shared storage volumes after starting the operating system. In this, you can select unlimited duration as boot sequence or specify timeout in seconds. On Windows machines, metaSAN allows you to synchronize when the metaSAN service starts with the mounting of the SAN volumes on your computer. With synchronous sequence, metaSAN service will not start until the volumes are mounted or the timeout for mounting them expires. With asynchronous sequence, metaSAN service is started regardless of the volumes that are mounted. In this, the timeout for attempting to mount the volumes on the machine is automatically set to zero (0) i.e. Forever.
To specify synchronous boot sequence:
1. In the Boot Sequence field of the Settings tab, select Synchronous. 2. In the Timeout field, enter the desired duration between 1 and 3600 seconds for the synchronous boot
sequence.
3. Click Apply.
To specify asynchronous boot sequence:
1. In the Boot Sequence field of the Settings tab, select Asynchronous. 2. (Mac OS X only) In the Timeout field, enter the desired duration between 0 and 3600 seconds for the
asynchronous boot sequence.

Tip: Type zero (0) to set unlimited duration of the asynchronous boot sequence. 3. Click Apply.
Test Volume Performance

metaSAN allows you to perform read/write tests on a selected volume, in order to check data transfer performance through the SAN. You can also use these tests to verify that you have successfully activated your copy of metaSAN and that data is not redirected across the Local Area Network (LAN).
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To perform read or write test on a selected volume:
1. In the Utilities tab, select a volume from the list, and click Test Performance.
The Test Performance dialog appears.
2. Select Read or Write from the Test Mode drop-down box. 3. Move the File Size slider to define the size of the test file. Tip: To define more specific file size, in the box next to the slider specify the unit of measure, using the arrows, and type in the file size value. 4. Move the Buffer Size slider to define the size of the buffer to be allocated on the disk. Tip: To define more specific buffer size, in the box next to the slider specify the unit of measure, using the arrows, and type in the buffer size value. 5. Clear the Turn off file system cache check box, if you want to turn on the file system cache during
the test.
6. Click Start Test to start the test. 7. Click Stop Test to stop the test. Tip: You can keep a close watch on the test duration in the Duration field below.
The graph displays the transfer rate in MB/s. You can also view more detailed information (current, average, minimum and maximum rate) in the Performance field.
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Specifying Files and Folder Creation Behaviour (Mac OS X only)
Specifying Files and Folder Creation Behaviour (Mac OS X only)

By default, metaSAN uses the native Unix file systems creation behaviour on HFS+ volumes, in which each file and folder is created with the default creation mask for the user. The creator has Read & Write permissions and everybody else has Read Only permissions. Thus, even if you change the permissions of a specific folder, all its new sub folders will have Read & Write access for the creator, while all other users get Read Only access. You can choose to use the Windows file systems creation behaviour, in which each file and folder inherits the permissions of its parent folder. This way, when you change the permissions of a specific folder, all new sub folders have the same permissions. You avoid changing permissions on a per-folder basis.
To specify files and folder creation behaviour on HFS+ volumes:
1. Open the Settings tab of the metaSAN window. 2. In the Creation Behaviour field, select one of the following:
Native - each new file and folder on the volume is created with the default Unix file system creation mask for the user. Inherited - each new file and folder on the volume is created with the same permissions as its parent folder.
3. Click Apply.
Automatically Relaunching the Finder (Mac OS X only)

All changes in a SAN definition regarding mounted volumes/shares (such as newly added or removed volumes, volumes mounted after logging on to metaSAN, etc.) may not be immediately detected by the Finder. You can click the Refresh Finder button in the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window in order to update the information in the Finder. Besides, metaSAN allows you to enable automatic Finder relaunching, which refreshes the Finder info each time there are some changes regarding mounted volumes/shares. By default, this option is disabled and you should enable it with care, as relaunching the Finder too often may lead to freeze and you will have to restart the computer. Besides, all file operations in the Finder (copying files, for example) are cancelled when the Finder is relaunched.
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To enable automatic Finder relaunch:
In the Settings tab of the metaSAN window, select the Automatic relaunch of Finder check box, and click Apply.
Tip: To disable automatic relaunch of the Finder, simply clear the Automatic relaunch of Finder check box.
Default Treatment of Non-SAN Volumes

All volumes that are not included in a SAN definition are treated by metaSAN as non-SAN volumes. Data on these volumes is not protected by the software. To provide metaSAN protection for such volumes, you must either restrict access to them so that only one workstation can mount them as Private at a time, or you must include them in a SAN definition (make them Public). You can specify how to treat all non-SAN volumes to which your computer is connected in the Settings tab. By default, this option is set to Mount as Private on each workstation. The option you select will be valid only for newly added volumes or volumes that are removed from a SAN definition. For all non-SAN volumes seen by your computer by this time is valid the default metaSAN setting (Private) or the setting you selected in the Non-SAN Volumes Settings dialog.
To specify default treatment of non-SAN volumes:
Select Mount as Private to mount all new non-SAN volumes on your computer as Private.
Warning: Make sure that this option is not applied on other Mac OS X computers, as metaSAN cannot prevent multiple Mac OS X machines from mounting a volume as Private (which will lead to data corruption). Note: On Windows computers you can set multiple volumes to Private as default mode. However, only the machine that sees the non-SAN volumes first will mount them as Private. For all other machines these volumes will be Not Available.
Select Do Not Mount to prevent non-SAN volumes from mounting on your computer.
2. In the Settings tab, click Apply.
Configuring Dependencies (Windows Only)

On Windows, metaSAN allows you to control the services that require a SAN volume/LAN share to be mounted before they can start up.
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Enabling Spotlight Indexing on SAN Volumes (Mac OS X only)
You should configure dependencies with care as they may slow down the boot time of your computer. Besides, you should take care not to make dependent on metaSAN a service/startup item on which metaSAN is directly or indirectly dependent as this may lead to system deadlock.
To configure service dependencies:
1. In the Settings tab of the metaSAN window, click Adjust Dependencies.
The Dependencies dialog appears. It lists all services for the computer.
Select the check box of each service to make it dependent on the mounting of the volumes/shares on your computer. Clear the check box of each service that you want to be started regardless of the volumes/shares mounted on your machine.
3. Click OK. 4. In the Settings tab, click Apply to apply the changes.
Enabling Spotlight Indexing on SAN Volumes (Mac OS X only)

On Mac OS X, you can enable/disable indexing of SAN volumes (both NTFS and HFS+) using Spotlight, the built-in Mac OS X search engine. You should keep in mind that enabling indexing on a SAN volume will decrease performance on it.
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Optimizing the SAN
To enable/disable Spotlight indexing on a SAN volume:
1. On Mac OS X, open the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window and select a volume from the list.
Select the Spotlight Indexing check box, to enable indexing on the volume. Clear the Spotlight Indexing check box, to disable indexing on the volume.
3. Restart the computer.
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Volume Maintenance Operations . . . . . . . . 128 Disk Maintenance Operations . . . . . . . . . . 134 Dealing with Disk Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Other Maintenance Operations . . . . . . . . . 143
This chapter gives you detailed information about performing maintenance operations of your SAN resources.
Volume Maintenance Operations

Volume maintenance operations such as disk defragmentation, check disk, formatting and renaming SAN volumes require higher protection. You must initiate volume maintenance operations using an account with administrators privileges. On Mac OS X, you may have to remove the volume you want to maintain and mount it as Private on the machine that is its Metadata Master, while all other machines that see it are shut down. On Windows computers you must do the following: On a SAN Member that sees the volume, log on using account with administrative privileges. In the Volumes Management dialog, disconnect all other SAN Members from the volume.
Warning: In the Volumes Management dialog, volumes are disconnected from the computer(s) only temporarily. For this reason, while performing volume maintenance operations, you should make sure that no disconnected SAN Member is restarted, because it will take over mastership of the volume that is Private for your computer. This can lead to data corruption.
Set the volume to Private mode on your computer. Perform the desired maintenance. Disconnect the volume from the computer and connect all other SAN Members to the volume again.
Important: You can perform maintenance operations on NTFS volumes on GPT disks only from a machine running Windows XP (64-bit) or higher.
Formatting Volumes
To format a SAN volume from Mac OS X:
1. Shut down all computers on the network, except the Metadata Master of the volume. 2. On the Metadata master, remove the volume from the SAN definition. See Managing SAN
Volumes on page 69.

3. Restart the computer. 4. Make the volume Private for your workstation (if needed). See Managing Non-SAN Volumes on
page 73.
5. Format the volume, following the steps described in the documentation of your operating system. Important: Make sure each partition is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
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6. Add the volume to the SAN definition. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. 7. Start all other machines.
When you want to format SAN volumes previously supervised by a Windows workstation to HFS+, it is advisable to keep to the following workflow:
1. In Terminal run the following command:
sudo dd if=/dev/zero count=10 of=/dev/disk identifier

Tip: You can get the disk identifier from Disk Utility. 2. In Disk Utility, select the disk that you want to re-format (not the NTFS volume). 3. Follow the steps of your Mac OS X documentation for formatting disks.
To format a SAN volume from Windows:
1. Shut down all computers on the network, except the one on which you will format the volume . 2. On the computer that sees the volume you want to format, log on with an account that has
administrative privileges.
3. Remove the volume from the SAN definition. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. 4. In the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window, click Maintenance mode.
metaSAN switches to Maintenance Mode.

Important: If the volume you are formatting uses a persistent drive letter, to keep its drive letter follow the steps described in Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume on page 178. 5. Format the volume, following the steps described in the documentation of your operating system. 6. Restart your computer to exit Maintenance mode. 7. Add the volume to the SAN definition. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. 8. Start all other machines.
Checking and Repairing Volumes

To check and repair an HFS+ SAN volume (Mac OS X):
Volumes on page 69.

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4. Make the volume Private for your workstation (if needed). See Managing Non-SAN Volumes on
page 73.
5. Run Apples Disk Utility on the volume. Note: If Disk Utility cannot fix the problem, contact Tiger Technology support. 6. Add the volume to the SAN definition. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. 7. Start all other machines.
To check and repair an NTFS SAN volume (Windows):
1. On a selected SAN Member , log on with an account that has administrative privileges. 2. In the SAN Management tab, select the SAN definition containing the volume, and then click
3. Select the volume and click Disconnect All.
All Members are disconnected from the volume.

4. Click Rescan to make sure the operation is successful and there is no machine connected to the
volume.
5. In the Members list of the dialog, select your computer and click Private.
The volume temporarily becomes private for your workstation.

6. Check and repair the volume.
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7. When finished, in the Volumes Management dialog, select your machine and click Disconnect.
Your computer is disconnected from the volume.

Click Connect All to connect all Members to the volume and let the first SAN Member that is allowed to become Metadata Master supervise the volume. Select the SAN Member to appoint as volume Metadata Master, and click Connect. Then click Connect All to connect the remaining machines to the volume.
9. In the Volumes Management dialog, click Close.
Performing Disk Defragmentation

To perform disk defragmentation on a SAN volume (Mac OS X):
Volumes on page 69.

page 73.
5. Defragment the necessary disks of the volume, following the steps described in the documentation
of your defragmentation software.

6. Add the volume to the SAN definition. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. 7. Start all other machines.
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To perform disk defragmentation on a SAN volume (Windows):
1. On a selected SAN Member , log on with an account that has administrative privileges. 2. In the SAN Management tab, select the SAN definition containing the volume, and then click
3. Select the volume and click Disconnect All.
All other Members are disconnected from the volume.

4. Click Rescan to make sure the operation is successful and there is no machine connected to the
volume.
The volume temporarily becomes private for your workstation.

6. Defragment the necessary disks of the volume, following the steps described in the documentation
of your defragmentation software.

7. When defragmenting has finished, select your computer in the Volumes Management dialog, and
click Disconnect. Your computer is disconnected from the volume.

Click Connect All to connect all Members to the volume and let the first SAN Member that is allowed to become Metadata Master supervise the volume.
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Select the SAN Member to appoint as volume Metadata Master, and click Connect. Then click Connect All to connect the remaining machines to the volume.
Renaming Volumes
To rename a SAN volume from Windows:
1. Shut down all computers on the network, except the one on which you will rename the volume . 2. On the computer that sees the volume you want to rename, log on with an account that has
administrative privileges.
3. In the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window, click Maintenance mode.

Important: If the volume you are renaming uses a persistent drive letter, to keep its drive letter follow the steps described in Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume on page 178. 4. Rename the volume. 5. Restart the computer to exit Maintenance mode. 6. Start all other computers.
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To rename a SAN volume from Mac OS X:
1. Shut down all computers on the network, except the one on which you will rename the volume. 2. Remove the volume from the SAN definition. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. 3. Restart the computer. 4. Make the volume Private for your workstation (if needed). See Managing Non-SAN Volumes on
page 73.
5. Rename the volume. 6. Add the renamed volume to the SAN definition. 7. Start all other machines.
Disk Maintenance Operations

Operations such as creating or deleting volumes require even higher protection than volume maintenance operations, because these operations are related to re-configuring the shared storage. This is why you should perform such operations only after all other computers are shut down. In addition, on Windows computers, prior to performing disk maintenance operations, you must enter Maintenance mode.
Important: Entering Maintenance mode removes the drive letter of NTFS volumes. For workflow on keeping persistent drive letters of volumes, see Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume on page 178.
The protection required for disk maintenance operations is achieved by limiting the number of users who can modify volume parameters, to the standalone workstation only. You can perform the following disk maintenance operations: Create new volumes. Delete existing volumes. Repartition volumes. Change the layout of existing volumes.
Important: You can perform maintenance operations on Windows GPT disks only from a machine running Windows XP (64-bit) or higher.
Creating New Volumes

You can create new volumes on newly added disks on the shared storage after installing metaSAN.
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To create a new volume on Mac OS X:
1. Shut down all computers on the network, except the one from which you will create the new volume. 2. Create the new volume, following the steps described in your OS documentation.
The new volume appears as Private or Not Available, depending on the parameter defined in the Settings tab.
Add the new volume to a SAN definition, and start all other machines. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. Set the volume to Not Available mode on your computer (if needed), and one by one start all other computers, making sure you set the new volume to Not Available on all of them, except on the machine for which you want the volume to be Private. See Managing Non-SAN Volumes on page 73.
To create a new volume on Windows:
1. Make sure all other workstations are shut down except the machine from which you will perform the
disk maintenance operations.

2. In the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window, click Maintenance mode.

Important: To assign persistent drive letter of the newly created volume, see Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume on page 178.
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3. Create the new volume, following the steps described in your OS documentation. Note: If you have created new volume on dynamic disks, it is recommended to backup the dynamic disk configuration. For more information, refer to Managing Dynamic Disks Configuration on page 181. 4. Restart the computer.
Add the new volume to a SAN definition, and start all other machines. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. Set the volume to Not Available mode on your computer (if needed), and one by one start all other computers, making sure you set the new volume to Not Available on all of them, except on the machine for which you want the volume to be Private. See Managing Non-SAN Volumes on page 73.
Repartitioning SAN Volumes

You can create a new volume on disks that already participate in the shared storage or to repartition a Public volume.
To repartition a SAN volume on a Mac OS X system:
Volumes on page 69.

page 73.
5. Repartition the volume, following the steps described in your OS documentation. Important: Make sure each partition is Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Add the new volume to a SAN definition, and start all other machines. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69.
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Set the volume to Not Available mode on your computer (if needed), and one by one start all other computers, making sure you set the new volume to Not Available on all of them, except on the machine for which you want the volume to be Private. See Managing Non-SAN Volumes on page 73.
To repartition a SAN volume on a Windows system:
1. Make sure all other workstations are shut down. 2. Remove the volume from its SAN definition. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. 3. In the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window, click Maintenance mode.

Important: To assign persistent drive letter of the repartitioned volume, see Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume on page 178. 4. Repartition the volume, following the steps described in your OS documentation. 5. Restart the computer to exit Maintenance mode.
The new volume appears as Private or Not Available, depending on the parameter you defined in the Settings tab.
Add the new volume to a SAN definition, and start all other machines. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69.
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Set the volume to Not Available mode on your computer (if needed), and start all other computers, making sure you set the new volume to Not Available on all of them, except on the machine for which you want the volume to be Private. See Managing Non-SAN Volumes on page 73.
Upgrading Basic Disks to Dynamic (Windows only)

Upgrading basic disks to dynamic involves changing the information in the LDM database stored on all dynamic disks on the shared storage. metaSAN provides a level of protection for changing the information in the LDM database to avoid the need to reactivate dynamic disks each time you restart your machine. This enables constant availability of SAN dynamic disks. Adding a new disk to the LDM database while metaSAN is installed overrides the LDM protection and exposes your data to risk. To avoid this, you should remove metaSAN protection for the LDM database by uninstalling metaSAN from the machine upon which you will perform the disk upgrade.
To upgrade basic disks to dynamic:
1. If possible, back up data stored on SAN basic disks. 2. On each SAN-connected computers start the Windows registry editor and delete the LDM registry
key from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SANDS\Parameters

3. Shut down all SAN-connected computers except the one from which you will upgrade the disks. 4. On the remaining computer, uninstall metaSAN from the computer, following the steps described in
Uninstalling metaSAN on page 36.

5. Start the Disk Management snap-in and perform the upgrade.
For information about upgrading basic disks to dynamic, refer to your Windows documentation.
6. Make sure all SAN volumes are accessible and that no data is lost after the conversion operation. 7. Install metaSAN on your computer, following the steps described in Installing metaSAN on page
30.
Important: It is advisable during installation of metaSAN on the computer to backup the dynamic disk configuration when prompted. 8. Add the volume on the dynamic disks to a SAN definition using the Configuration Wizard. 9. After rebooting the machine, activate metaSAN on it, following the steps described in Activating
metaSAN on page 39.

10.Add all machines you want to access the converted volumes to the SAN definition of the volume. 11.Start all other computers and import the newly converted dynamic disks (if necessary).
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Reverting Dynamic Disks to Basic

When you need to revert dynamic disks to basic, use the following procedures.
Warning: Reverting a dynamic disk on which a volume is created will lead to loss of all data stored on it.
To revert a dynamic disk to basic:
1. If possible, back up your data stored on SAN dynamic disks. 2. Shut down all SAN-connected computers but one. 3. On the remaining computer, remove Remove the volume on the dynamic disks from its SAN
definition. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69.

4. In the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window, click Maintenance Mode.

Important: To assign persistent drive letter of the volume on the basic disk(s), see Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume on page 178. 5. Start the Disk Management snap-in and perform the desired conversion.
For information about reverting dynamic disks to basic, refer to your Windows documentation.
6. (optional) Create a volume on the newly converted disk(s) and add it to a SAN definition. See
Managing SAN Volumes on page 69.

7. Start the other SAN computers and check if all SAN volumes are accessible.
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Dealing with Disk Corruption

Avoiding Disk Corruption and Using the Repair Disk Utility
When disk corruption occurs in metaSAN environment, it is usually due to one of the following reasons: Power or hardware failure. There is a workstation on your SAN that does not have metaSAN installed, but sees a shared storage volume that is not added in a SAN definition. The used space on a HFS+ volume has exceeded 85%. See Reserving Free Space on HFS+ volumes on page 177. An HFS+ volume that is not included in a SAN definition is mounted as Private on more than one workstation. If, after disk corruption, the file system is not severely damaged, the operating system allows metaSAN to mount the volume after rebooting. Everything will appear to be normal. However, there is the possibility that the file system may be badly damaged. In this case, you will have to run check disk or repair disk.
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Dealing with Disk Corruption
Using repair disk utility on Windows:
1. On a computer that sees the corrupted volume with the disks that require repair , log on with an
account that has administrative privileges.

2. In the SAN Management tab, select the SAN definition containing the volume you want to repair,
and then click Volumes. The Volumes Management dialog appears.
3. Select the volume you want to repair, and click Disconnect All.
All Members are disconnected from the volume.

4. Click Rescan to make sure the operation is successful and that there is no machine connected to the
volume.
The volume becomes Private for your computer.

6. Repair the volume. For steps about repairing disks, check the documentation of your Repair Disk
utility.
7. When you have finished repairing the volume, select your computer in the list, and click Disconnect.
Your computer is disconnected from the volume.

Click Connect All to connect all Members to the volume and let the first SAN Member that is allowed to become Metadata Master supervise the volume.
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Select the SAN Member to appoint as volume Metadata Master, and click Connect. Then click Connect All to connect the remaining machines to the volume.
Using repair disk utility on Mac OS X:
Volumes on page 69.

page 73.
5. Repair the volume. For steps about repairing disks, check the documentation of your Repair Disk
utility.
6. Add the volume to the SAN definition. See Managing SAN Volumes on page 69. 7. Start all other SAN Members.
Avoiding Disk Corruption During Installation of metaSAN

Without the protection offered by metaSAN, SAN volumes get corrupted when more than one workstation mounts them. For this reason, prior to installing metaSAN on each machine on your network, you should make sure not to allow more than one workstation to see the shared storage volumes at a time. When installing metaSAN for the first time, the risk of data corruption is high, as many workstations can claim that the volumes are Private. To avoid this problem, on the first computer upon which you install metaSAN, you should include all SAN volumes to a SAN definition, using the Configuration Wizard or metaSAN window. This sets all volumes to Public for the machines in the definition, and to Not Available for the machines outside the definition.
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Other Maintenance Operations

Disconnecting Volumes/Shares
To disconnect volumes/shares from a computer:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, select a SAN definition that contains the
computer from which you want to disconnect volumes/shares, and click Members. The Members Management dialog appears.
2. In the Members list, select the computer. 3. Select the volume/share and click Disconnect. 4. Repeat the above step for each volume/share you want to temporarily disconnect from the computer. 5. In the Members Management dialog, click Close.
Manual Failover
If you have setup your SAN with a dedicated server and it suffers a failure, another Member will be able to take over mastership of the volumes as long as there is at least one machine in the SAN definition with a Metadata Master priority different from None. For more details, see Metadata Master Priorities on page 20. Still, when the dedicated server returns to the SAN definition, it will participate as a Member only (as the volumes have a new Metadata Master). To reassign the dedicated server as Metadata Master, use the mechanism for manually transferring mastership of a volume from one computer to another.
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To manually transfer mastership of a volume from one computer to another:
1. On a computer that sees the volume whose master you want to transfer, open the metaSAN window. 2. In the SAN Management tab, select the SAN definition containing the volume, and click Volumes.
3. Select the volume.
The Members list displays all machines in the volumes definition.

4. Select the new volume Metadata Master, and then click Promote.
The computer becomes Metadata Master of the selected volume and the previous master is automatically demoted.
5. Repeat the above steps for each volume whose Metadata Master you want to change. 6. In the Volumes Management dialog, click Close.
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Testing Metadata Master Failover Mechanism

To test the Metadata Master failover mechanism:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, select a SAN definition in the drop-down box,
and click Volumes. The Volumes Management dialog appears.
2. Select a volume from the list.
The Members pane displays all machines that have access to the volume.
3. Select the current Metadata Master and click Disconnect.
The first SAN Member that is allowed to play the role of Metadata Master will take over mastership of the volume and all other Members will reconnect to it.
4. Select the previous Metadata Master in the list and click Connect.
The computer is reconnected to the volume.

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To disconnect LAN clients from a share:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, select the SAN definition that contains the
share you want to disconnect, and click LAN Shares. The LAN Shares Management dialog appears.
2. Select the LAN share.
The Members pane displays all LAN clients accessing the share.
Select a LAN client that you want to disconnect from the share and click Disconnect. Click Disconnect All to disconnect all LAN clients from the share.
4. In the LAN Shares Management dialog, click Close.
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Linux Integration Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Working with SAN Volumes and Shares . . 149 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Linux Integration Overview

Linux computers can participate in your SAN as either SAN Members or LAN clients. As Linux systems cannot play the role of a Metadata Master, for them to start using the shared storage volumes, these systems should be included in a SAN definition in which there is a suitable Metadata Master (running Mac OS X or Windows) supervising the volumes. As you cannot manage SAN definitions from a Linux computer, to include a Linux machine in a SAN definition, you should either perform the operation from a Mac OS X or a Windows computer, or add the Linux computer to an already configured SAN definition, using the Join SAN command. For more information, refer to Joining an Already Configured SAN Definition on page 148. In fact, all Linux machine settings, such as bandwidth reservations and quotas, and failover detection, must be managed from either a Mac OS X or Windows computer.
Joining an Already Configured SAN Definition

The Join SAN command allows you to add your Linux computer as a SAN Member to the SAN definition(s) on another machine. For information on joining a SAN definition as a LAN client, refer to Joining a SAN Definition through Another Machine on page 158. To join a SAN definition through another computer, this computer must be switched on.
To join a SAN definition as a SAN Member:
metasan asan <machine> where <machine> is the IP address or DNS name of the machine through which you want to join the SAN definition(s).
2. Press Enter. 3. Type the password for the definition you want to join, and press Enter. Tip: If the definition is not password-protected, simply press Enter.
Removing Your Computer from All SAN Definitions

You can remove your Linux from all SAN definitions in which it participates
To remove your computer from all SAN definitions:
In command-line, type: metasan rsans Your computer is removed from all SAN definitions in which it participates.
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Working with SAN Volumes and Shares
Working with SAN Volumes and Shares

Once a Linux computer is included in a SAN definition as a SAN Member or LAN client, you can begin working with the volumes or shares in the definition (provided that metaSAN is installed and activated on the Linux machine). If you have not specified different mount location for a volume, each volume/share is mounted in: /mnt/<volume_name> This directory is used as mount point even if it already exists. If the path does not exist, a new directory will be created. If the path exists, but it is not a directory, it will not be used and the volume(s) will not be mounted. The mount directory will be removed (as long as it is empty) each time the volume is unmounted and re-created when mounting the volumes/shares.
To check what volumes/shares are mounted:
mount
2. Press Enter.
metaSAN returns a line for each SAN volume/LAN share mounted on the computer. SAN volumes and LAN shares protected by volume permissions with metaSAN security authority are not mounted on the computer if no user has logged on to metaSAN (when performing the mount command these volumes/shares do not appear).
To log on to metaSAN:
metasan login <username>

2. Press Enter. 3. Type the password for your metaSAN account, and press Enter.
All volumes/shares, for which your account has Read & Write or Read Only permissions are mounted on the computer.
To log out metaSAN:
metasan logout
2. Press Enter.
All volumes/shares, which you have mounted after logging on to metaSAN are unmounted from your computer.
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Troubleshooting
Sometimes metaSAN failures are caused by interaction with other applications and the operating system in general.
To check for errors:
Check the log file (/var/log/metasan.errlog) for obvious error messages.
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metaLAN
metaLAN Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Activating LAN Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Managing LAN clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Managing metaLAN Settings . . . . . . . . . . . 159
metaLAN
metaLAN Overview
metaLAN enables transparent, persistent, and easy-to-use access from LAN clients - computers that are not directly attached to the SAN. It offers fault-resistant performance when accessing the shared storage volumes from machines that are not connected to the SAN through the Fibre Channel. metaLAN provides an enhanced mechanism for communication between SAN-connected machines and machines that do not have direct access to the shared storage volumes, cutting away breakdowns in readwrite operations and connection blackouts to the shared storage.
Architecture Overview
metaLAN works transparently to users and applications accessing the shared storage from LAN client computers. Shared files are available through the Ethernet for all LAN connected workstations that are added to a SAN definition as LAN clients. LAN clients mount shared SAN volumes as local drives. To access the share, LAN clients communicate with the Metadata Master supervising the volume as all SAN Members do, although this communication is absolutely transparent to the end-user. To avoid bottlenecks at the Metadata Master's side, all accesses to the share are performed through SAN Members or metaLAN Servers that are set up as Data Masters. To ensure persistent and reliable connection, a minimum of two SAN Members/metaLAN Servers must serve as Data Masters. metaLAN balances the network load by automatically redirecting all requests by LAN clients between the available Data Masters. In case one Data Master breaks down, accesses are automatically and transparently redirected through an alternative Data Master, thus allowing LAN clients to reconnect to the shared storage volumes in run-time.
How Does It Work

Consider the following sample scenario - a SAN definition with three computers added as LAN clients and two SAN Member machines or metaLAN Servers serving as Data Masters - Data Master 1 and Data Master 2. The three LAN clients have access to one of the volumes in the SAN definition, which is exported as a share. Data Master 1 and Data Master 2 serve as gateways to the shared volume.
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Activating LAN Clients
To avoid excessive burden on any given Data Master, the network load balancing engine ensures that all requests coming from LAN clients are fairly distributed among the available Data Masters. Thus, Data Master 1 provides access to the volume for LAN client 1, while Data Master 2 provides access for LAN client 2 and LAN client 3. Should Data Master 1 disconnect or fail, LAN client 1 is automatically redirected to the other available Data Master, in this case Data Master 2. While Data Master 1 is disconnected and LAN client 1 uses the same Data Master as LAN client 2 and LAN client 3 the network traffic is slightly increased. When Data Master 1 is again available metaLAN takes care to distribute the network load.
Activating LAN Clients

All LAN client machines added to the definition will be able to access exported shares as long as their number does not exceed the number of activated licenses.
Tip: To see how many activated metaLAN licenses you have, open the Activate metaLAN dialog from the About tab, and select the SAN definition from which you export LAN shares. Note: The definition in which you activate LAN client licenses should be created on a SAN Member or a metaLAN Server computer.
For more information about managing LAN client licenses, refer to metaSAN licensing server at: https://license.tiger-technology.com
To activate metaLAN licenses automatically:
1. In the About tab of the metaSAN window, click Activate metaLAN.
The Activation Mode dialog appears.
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metaLAN
2. In the drop-down box, select the SAN definition in which you want to activate the licenses. 3. Choose Automatic Activation and click OK.
The Automatic Activation dialog appears.
4. Enter your sales order number and password, and click Activate.
The metaLAN licenses are activated for this SAN definition.

To activate metaLAN licenses manually:
1. In the About tab of the metaSAN window, click Activate metaLAN.
2. In the drop-down box, select the SAN definition in which you want to activate the licenses.
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Managing LAN clients
3. In the Activation Method dialog, choose Manual Activation, and click OK.
The Manual Activation dialog appears. It displays the serial number of the selected SAN definition.
4. Copy the serial and in a web browser go to https://license.tiger-technology.com Tip: Click Visit metaSAN Licensing Site in the Manual Activation dialog to enter the licensing site.
The metaSAN licensing server home page opens in your web browser.
6. In the Licensing Server menu, click Activate LAN Licenses.
The Activate LAN Licenses page appears.

7. Select SAN Definition Serial Number, paste the serial number of the SAN definition and click
Generate. metaSAN licensing server generates an activation key.

8. Copy the Activation key. 9. In the Manual Activation dialog, paste the Activation key generated for your metaLAN licenses, and
click Activate. The metaLAN licenses are activated for this SAN definition.

Adding LAN Clients to a SAN definition
metaSAN allows you to add workstations that are not connected to the volumes over the Fibre Channel to a SAN definition, providing these workstations with access to the shared storage over the LAN.
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metaLAN
All machines that are added to a SAN definition as LAN clients can access exported shares of SAN volumes over the LAN, but do not have direct access to SAN volumes over the Fibre Channel. In contrast to SAN Members that access the shared storage volumes over the LAN due to FC to Ethernet failover, LAN clients have access to exported shares of SAN volumes only.
To add a LAN client to a SAN definition:
1. In the SAN Management tab of the metaSAN window, select a SAN definition from the drop down
box and click Members. The Members Management dialog for the selected SAN definition appears.
(Windows) Click Browse and browse for and select the machine you want to add to the definition. (Mac OS X) Select a machine from the list of machines metaSAN has detected. (Windows) In the Address field type the IP address or name of the machine you want to add, and click Resolve.
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(Mac OS X) In the Address field type the IP address or name of the machine you want to add, and click Add to add it to the list of machines.
4. Select the Add as LAN Client check box, and click OK. 5. Repeat the above steps for each new computer you want to add as a LAN client.
The Members Management dialog lists all computers that are added to the SAN definition and shows you their details.
6. In the Members Management dialog, click Apply.
To remove a LAN client from a SAN definition:
box, and click Members. The Members Management dialog for the selected SAN definition appears.
2. In the Members list, select a LAN client machine from the list, and click Remove.
You are prompted to confirm the removal of the selected computer from the SAN definition.
3. Click Yes to confirm. 4. Repeat the above steps for each machine you want to remove from the selected SAN definition. 5. In the Members Management dialog, click Apply.
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metaLAN
Joining a SAN Definition through Another Machine

In case your LAN computer has not been included in a SAN definition, you can use the Join SAN dialog to join the definition(s) on another machine.
To join a definition through another machine (Mac OS and Windows):
1. In the Utilities tab of the metaLAN window, click Join SAN.
The Join SAN dialog appears.
2. Select Machine, and type the name or IP address of the computer, to join the SAN definition(s) in
which it is included.
Note: To join a SAN definition through another computer, this computer should be switched on. 3. Select the Join as LAN Client check box. 4. If the definition is password-protected, enter the password. 5. Click Join to join the SAN definition(s) through the selected machine.
To join a definition through another machine (Linux):
metasan alan <machine> where <machine> is the IP address or DNS name of the machine through which you want to join the SAN definition(s).
2. Press Enter. 3. (optional, if the definition is password-protected) Type the password for the definition you want to
join, and press Enter.
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Managing metaLAN Settings

Aside from specifying the machines, which will access the shared storage as LAN clients, managing metaLAN settings means to set the SAN Members or metaLAN Servers that will serve as Data Masters, to specify and manage the LAN shares to be exported to LAN clients.
Specifying Data Masters

Any SAN Member or metaLAN Server in a SAN definition can be a Data Master. Data Masters provide LAN clients with access to shared SAN volumes and take care of selecting alternative share paths. Data Masters distribute LAN clients evenly among themselves, and thus reduce the network traffic over the Ethernet. By default, metaSAN automatically selects all SAN Members in a SAN definition to be Data Masters. Even if you disable all Data Masters in a SAN definition, the Metadata Master will proceed processing requests from LAN clients i.e. will serve as Data Master.
To specify Data Masters:
and click Advanced The Advanced SAN Settings dialog appears.
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2. Click Data Masters.
The Data Masters dialog appears.
3. In the dialog, select the check box of each SAN Member/metaLAN Server that you want to serve as
Data Master.
Tip: Clear the check box of each SAN Member that you do not want to serve as Data Master. 4. Click OK. 5. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click OK.
Creating Shares for LAN Clients

A LAN share is an entire SAN volume or only part of it that is made accessible to LAN clients over the Ethernet. You can either share whole volumes that are included in a SAN definition, or limit the access of LAN clients to a directory on a SAN volume. You can also disallow sharing of any resources by deleting the share. The name of the share is used as an label of the drive that is mounted on LAN client machines. You can edit a LAN share (change the path to the share and its name) at any time.
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To create shares for LAN clients:
and click LAN Shares. The LAN Shares Management dialog appears.
2. Click Add LAN Share.
Empty Edit LAN Share dialog appears.
3. Enter a name for the LAN share in the Name box. 4. Select a volume from the Volume drop-down box. 5. To specify a single directory, do one of the following:
In the Path box, enter the relative path from the root of the selected volume to the directory you want to share. Click Browse, select a directory and click Open.
Note: If you do not specify a single directory, the whole volume you have selected will be shared. Important: When sharing a directory on a volume, you should make sure that nobody deletes this directory, as this will lead to unpredictable results on LAN client computers. 6. Click OK.
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7. To create more shares, repeat the steps above. 8. In the LAN Shares Management dialog, click Apply.
To edit a LAN share:
2. Select a LAN share from the list, and click Edit LAN Share.
The Edit LAN Share dialog appears.
3. In the Name box, enter a new name for the selected LAN share. Note: The new name of the share is visible immediately on LAN client machines after refreshing the metaSAN window. 4. To change the specified path, do one of the following:
In the Path box, enter the relative path from the root of the selected volume to the directory you want to share. Click Browse, select a directory and click Open.
Note: If you do not specify a single directory, the whole volume will be shared.
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5. Click OK.
The LAN Shares Management dialog appears.

6. Click Apply.
To remove a LAN share:
2. Select a LAN Share from the list and click Remove LAN Share.
You are prompted to confirm the removal.

3. Click Yes to confirm.
The LAN share is deleted and access to it is denied to all LAN clients in the definition.
4. In the LAN Shares Management dialog, click Apply.
Managing Share Mount Location (Windows only)

metaSAN automatically chooses where to mount all LAN shares it manages. On Windows, a share is mounted as a drive letter specified by Disk Administrator or using the first available drive letter. On Mac OS X, a share is mounted in /Volumes. On Linux, a share is mounted in the /mnt directory. In the Mount Locations tab of the Volume Settings dialog for a share you can specify default mount location setting for a particular share on all machines, as well as override the default share mount location for a given machine.
Note: On Mac OS X and Linux, LAN shares are always mounted in the default locations for the respective platform.
The options from which you can choose include:
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Automatic - metaSAN automatically chooses where to mount the share. Dont Mount - the share is not mounted on the machine. Drive Letter - the share is mounted as a drive letter that you specify.
To set default share mount location:
1. On a SAN Member machine, open the LAN Shares Management dialog. 2. Select a share and click Advanced.
The Volume Settings dialog for the selected share appears.
All LAN clients in the definition are listed in the tab page with their mount locations for the share.
Note: If you open the dialog for the first time, the default mount location for the share is Automatic. 4. Next to the Default field, click Change.
The Default Mount Location dialog appears.
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Select Automatic, to allow metaSAN to automatically choose the share mount location on each operating system. Select Dont Mount, to disallow the mounting of the share on each machine. Select Drive Letter and in the drop-down box beside it, choose the desired drive letter with which the share to be mounted on each machine.
Important: If the drive letter is already taken, Automatic is used as volume mount location. 6. In the dialog, click OK.

7. Click OK.

8. Click Apply. Important: Clicking Apply in the LAN Shares Management dialog will unmount the share from all machines, and then will mount it again in the specified mount location.
To set share mount location for a specific machine:
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All machines seeing the share are listed in the tab page with their mount locations for the share.
4. Select a machine in the list.
The name and IP address of the machine are displayed below the list.
5. In the Mount drop-down box, do one of the following:
Select Default, to use the default share mount location for all machines. Select Automatic, to allow metaSAN to automatically choose the share mount location on the machine according to its operating system. Select Dont Mount, to disallow the mounting of the share on the machine. Select Drive Letter and in the drop-down box beside it, choose the desired drive letter with which the share to be mounted on the machine.
Important: If the drive letter is already taken, Automatic will be used instead. 6. In the Volume Settings dialog, click OK.

7. Click Apply. Important: Clicking Apply will unmount the volume from the machine, and then will mount it again in the specified mount location.
Overriding Volume Permissions for LAN Shares (Windows Only)

When volume permissions are enabled in a SAN definition from which LAN shares are exported, these shares automatically inherit the permissions specified for all volumes. This way, if volume permissions with metaSAN security authority are enabled in the SAN definition, users on LAN client machines should log on to metaSAN in order to mount the shares for which they have rights. For more information, refer to metaSAN Volume Permissions on page 100. You can override these permissions of native or metaSAN users for a specific share.
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To override permissions for a LAN share:
3. In the Permissions tab, change the permissions for each user listed in the pane, using the drop-down
boxes in the Permissions column.

4. Click OK.

5. Click Apply.
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Working with metaSAN Command Line Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 SAN Volumes Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Improving Cross-Platform Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Generating Logs for Technical Support Purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Uninstalling metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Network Communication Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Network Load Balancing and Different Types of Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Assigning New Master in a Definition With None Failover Detection . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Managing Allocation Optimization Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Setting the MTU Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Making Avid Detect SAN Volumes on Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Managing metaSAN Settings on Windows by Administrators Only . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Mounting SAN Volumes on a VMware Virtual Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Disabling SELinux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Entering Maintenance Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Deleting a Folder That Has Been Exported as a LAN Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Mac OS X LAN Clients Running metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Setting Up the SAN Policy on Windows Vista and Above Using Diskpart Utility . . 192 Using Extended Copy on SAN Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Best Practices
Working with metaSAN Command Line Utilities

Working with metaSAN Utility (Windows)
metaSAN utility (MSANUtil) is a command line utility for performing maintenance and diagnostics of metaSAN. It is installed automatically during the metaSAN installation on Windows systems. Use MSANUtil to check the status of your SAN volumes, to log in and out when metaSAN volume security is enabled or to unmark volumes if, during the uninstallation of metaSAN, the unmark operation failed and thus allow the operating system to mount the SAN volumes. The utility is stored in C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 (on metaSAN 3.x and 4.x) and in C:\Program Files\Tiger Technology\metaSAN (on metaSAN 5.x).
To start metaSAN Utility:
Start a Command Prompt and type msanutil The list of available parameters for MSANUtil appears.
Note: In version 5.0 and above, to start the utility after metaSAN has been uninstalled, you must type the full path to it.
Activating metaSAN Licenses

After installing metaSAN on your computer, you can activate the product by typing the Activation key.
To activate a metaSAN license:
In command prompt, type msanutil /la [activation key]
Logging In and Out metaSAN

To log In to metaSAN:
In command prompt, type msanutil /volsec_login <username> <password>

To log out metaSAN:
In command prompt, type msanutil /volsec_logout
Getting metaSAN Registry Parameters

Using metaSAN utility you can get all metaSAN registry parameters.
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To get metaSAN registry parameters:
In command prompt, type msanutil /rp
Checking the Volume Table

You can list all the SAN volumes your workstation sees and view whether your system is a master or member for each individual volume as well as details about each volume (like volume GUID, volume signature, etc.).
To check the Volume Table:
In command prompt, type msanutil /t
Checking Disk Tables

List the SAN tables to view details of all SAN drives (like disk signature, etc.) and check what workstation is master and/or member to which volume(s).
To list Disk tables:
In command prompt, type msanutil /dt

To check a Disk table for a specific volume:
In command prompt, type msanutil /dt H where H is the drive letter of the selected volume.
Checking SAN Volumes Status

Using metaSAN utility, you can check whether a volume is marked by metaSAN. metaSAN marked volumes cannot be managed by the operating system if metaSAN is not installed.
To check a volumes status:
In command prompt, type msanutil /v H where H is the drive letter of the selected volume.
Unmarking NTFS Volumes

You can unmark a volume if, for any reason, a volume has remained marked after metaSAN has been uninstalled from all SAN connected workstations . By unmarking a volume, you make it available again.
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Note: Unmark a volume only if you are sure that metaSAN is uninstalled from all SAN-connected machines.
To unmark a Volume:
In command prompt, type: (metaSAN 3.x/4.x) msanutil /u H (metaSAN 5.x) C:\Program Files\Tiger Technology\metaSAN\msanutil /u H where H is the drive letter of the volume.
Managing Avid Index File

Using metaSAN utility you can back up the .pmr file from your virtual OMFI MediaFiles folder, overwrite it with the .pmr file from another machines virtual OMFI MediaFiles folder and later restore the backed up .pmr file.
To back up the original .pmr file:
In command prompt, type msanutil /vdb_copy where: <drive letter> is the drive letter of the volume on which you have your virtual OMFI MediaFiles folders (and respectively the .pmr file). <source ip> is the IP address of your machine. <backup path> is the full path to the directory where you want to store your original .pmr file.
To overwrite the original .pmr file:
<drive letter> <source ip> <backup path>
In command prompt, type msanutil /vdb_copy <drive letter> <source machine ip> <destination machine ip> where: <drive letter> is the drive letter of the volume on which both your machine and the machine whose .pmr file you want to use have their virtual OMFI MediaFiles folders. <source machine ip> is the IP address of the machine whose project you want to use <destination machine ip> is the IP address of your machine.
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To restore the original .pmr file:
In command prompt, type msanutil /vdb_copy <drive letter> <backup path> <destination machine ip> where: <drive letter> is the drive letter of the volume on which you have your virtual OMFI MediaFiles folders. <backup path> is the full path to the directory where you have stored your original .pmr file <destination machine ip> is the IP address of your machine.
Working with the metaSAN Redirection Utility (Windows)

metaSAN Redirection utility (RdrUtil) is a command line utility that is installed with metaSAN. It allows you to obtain information about shared resources, sessions, and open files on the Metadata Master computer. In some cases it may not be possible to delete files immediately because some application or process keeps these files open. If you delete them, they are actually marked for deletion and they will be removed from the file system after closing this application or dismounting the volume on the machine, which keeps these files open. Using RdrUtil, you can list all open files on SAN disks, close the desired files and thus allow the system to delete files. The utility is stored in C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 (on metaSAN 3.x and 4.x) and in C:\Program Files\Tiger Technology\metaSAN (on metaSAN 5.x).
To start metaSAN Redirection Utility:
Start a Command Prompt, and type rdrutil The list of available parameters for RdrUtil appears.
Note: In version 5.0 and above, to start the utility after metaSAN has been uninstalled, you must type the full path to it.
Listing the Shared Table

Use the Shared Tables to view all SAN shared volumes and LAN shares, and check share name and local path name.
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To list the Shared Table:
In command prompt, type rdrutil /sht
Adding and Deleting Shares

You can add a new share to, or delete a share from, the Shared table.
To add a share to the Shared Table:
In command prompt, type rdrutil /sha [ShareName LocalPathName]

To delete a share from the Shared Table:
In command prompt, type rdrutil /shd [ShareName]
Listing the Open Files Table

To list the Open Files Table:
In command prompt, type rdrutil /ft
Closing Files from the Files Table

To close a file from the Files Table:
In command prompt of the metadata master, type rdrutil /fc [file id]
Tip: You can get the file id, using the List Open Files Table command.
To close multiple files:
Warning: The command below force closes all open files, regardless if they are in use by any machine or application.
In command prompt of the Metadata Master, type rdrutil /fca [volume GUID]
Note: When the command is executed with the [Volume GUID] specifier, all open files on the specified volume are force closed. When the command is executed without the [Volume GUID] specifier, all open files on all volumes supervised by your machine are force closed. Tip: You can get the volume GUID, using the msanutil /t command.
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Listing the Session Table

To list the Session Table:
In command prompt, type rdrutil /st
Closing a Session from the Session Table

To close a session from the Session Table:
In command prompt, type rdrutil /sc
Working with Command-line Utilities on Mac OS X

On Mac OS X, metaSAN offers you two command-line utilities for unmarking HFS+ volumes that have been left marked after uninstalling metaSAN from the computer - SNFS Disk Tool (snfsDisk tool) for versions 2.x, and metaSAN Tool (metasan tool) for versions 3.x and above. After unmarking the HFS+ volumes with the respective tool, the operating system is able to mount them. You can also use metaSAN Tool to log on/out to metaSAN when volume permissions with metaSAN security authority is used.
To unmark HFS+ volumes:
1. In Terminal type this followed by Return:
sudo snfsDiskTool -f -u <path> (for version 2.x) sudo metasan -f -u <path> (for version 3.x and above) Where <path> is the path to the device you want to unmark
2. Provide the necessary password.
The volume is unmarked.

To log in to metaSAN:
In Terminal, type this followed by Return: sudo metasan -L <username> <password>

To log out metaSAN:
In Terminal, type this followed by Return: sudo metasan -L
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Configuring metaSAN Volume Security Auto-Login Script on Mac OS X

On Mac OS X, you can create a script with metaSAN tool commands which allows the metaSAN daemon to log you on to metaSAN even before you have logged on to the system.
Note: To be able to run the auto login script a folder named scripts should exist in /Library/Application Support/sands/.
To configure the auto-login script:
1. In Terminal, navigate to /Library/Application Support/sands/scripts. 2. In the scripts folder, create a new file login.sh:
sudo touch -f login.sh

3. Open the file:
sudo nano login.sh

4. Write the following text in the file:
# /bin/sh sleep <time in seconds> metasan -L <username> <password> where: <time in seconds> defines how long the metaSAN daemon should attempt to mount the volumes before executing the script; <username> is the user name of the metaSANuser; <password> is the password of the metaSAN user; For example, if you want to execute the auto-login script 5 seconds after the metaSAN daemon is started and log on as TestUser with password Test1234, write the following in the login.sh file: # /bin/sh sleep 5 metasan -L TestUser Test1234
5. Save the changes, by pressing Ctrl + O, and then exit Terminal. Note: To log out metaSAN, click Logout in the Volumes tab of the metaSAN window, or use the respective metaSAN tool command.
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SAN Volumes Best Practices

Avoiding Decreased Performance
When a SAN disk is nearly full, performance becomes visibly decreased. This is not directly related to metaSAN as the same problem can be noticed even if metaSAN does not manage the shared storage disks. To avoid the problem, make sure there is always free space on your SAN disks.
Writing on the Shared Storage Volumes

metaSAN is optimized for streaming operations, such as consecutive writing of large blocks of data (common when digitizing video material, for example). In comparison, the performance is relatively poor when writing small data amounts on SAN disks. As such, you may expect degraded performance when initiating write operations for a large number of small files on the shared storage disks (for example, copying the user folder to the SAN disks) due to an increase in network traffic.
Reserving Free Space on HFS+ volumes

To prevent corruption of your HFS+ volumes you should make sure that used space on them does not exceed 85% i.e. 15% should always remain free. This issue is not related to metaSAN but is a limitation imposed by the file system.
Limitations for Volumes on GPT Disks

The support for volumes on disks with GUID Partition Table (GPT) layout is provided with the following limitations: NTFS volumes on GPT disks can be created and managed only from a machine running Windows XP (64-bit) or higher. The Metadata Master of a SAN definition containing NTFS volumes on GPT disks should be a machine running Windows XP (64-bit) or higher. NTFS volumes on GPT disks can participate only in a SAN definition created by a SAN Member running Windows XP (64-bit) or higher and can be added to the definition only from such a SAN Member.
Calculating Folder Size (Mac OS X)

Use the Calculate Sizes option, available in List view of the Finder, to calculate sizes per folder and per window. Activate this option only for folders on your local disks. Do not enable it for folders on the shared storage volumes, as this will temporarily slow down performance. If you enable this option on a shared volume, network workstations that see the volume will be unable to work on it. For details about managing the Calculate Sizes option, refer to your Mac OS X documentation.
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Best Practices
Disabling Recycle Bin on NTFS Volumes

You should disable the Recycle Bin on all Public NTFS volumes, as otherwise you may encounter inconsistent behaviour when deleting files from such volumes. For details steps about disabling the Recycle Bin on specific volumes, refer to your operating system documentation.
Using NFS on SAN Volumes from Linux

On Linux platform, NFS requires the underlying file system to be mounted on a device because it uses this device to identify it. As volumes/shares managed by metaSAN are not mounted on a device, NFS expects to find in its configuration file a 'fsid' entry (unique identification for the underlying file system) for each SAN volume export. To prevent errors when using NFS on SAN volumes/LAN shares you should manually add 'fsid' entry with a unique number in the NFS configuration file for each SAN volume you export, following the workaround described below.
To set fsid for a SAN volume:
1. On the NFS master go to /etc/exports
The configuration file contains all NFS exports.

2. Edit the lines for metaSAN managed volumes/shares to contain a unique fsid as shown in the
example below: /mnt/RusiXFS monster(rw,fsid=1) /mnt/RusiWin monster(rw,fsid=2)

3. Restart NFS daemon using the following command
sudo service nfs restart
Persistent Drive Letter When Performing Maintenance Operations on NTFS Volume

Entering Maintenance mode when performing maintenance operations on an NTFS volume with persistent drive letter, removes the volumes drive letter. To keep the volumes drive letter you have set in the Mount Location tab of the Volume Settings dialog, follow the steps below:
1. Enter Maintenance mode on the Windows computer. 2. In Disk Management, assign drive letter to the NTFS volume. 3. Perform the desired maintenance operation. 4. In Disk Management, remove the drive letter of the volume.
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5. Restart the computer to exit Maintenance mode.
After rebooting the machine, the volume will be mounted with the drive letter you have specified in the Mount Location tab of the Volume Settings dialog.
Removing Drive Letters from Volumes Mounted on Windows Server 2003

If you want to remove or change the drive letter of a volume mounted as Public on a Windows Server 2003 machine, you should first gain write access to it in one of the following ways: Mount the volume as Private. Enter Maintenance Mode on your computer. If you do not mount the volume with write access, an error message will appear and you will not be able to remove or change its drive letter.
Working with 2TB or Larger Disks on Windows XP/ Server 2003 32-bit
By default, systems running 32-bit Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 (without service pack) are limited to recognizing disks (LUNs) with size up to 2TB. As this is not a metaSAN limitation, if you intend to use such disks as part of your shared storage, you should not expect to mount them over the Fibre Channel on the above mentioned platforms. With the help of metaSAN such systems can mount volumes on disks with size of 2TB or larger (i.e. volumes on GPT disks), but only over the Ethernet (as LAN shares) as long as the Fibre Channel to Ethernet Failover is enabled on the Member machines.
Working With Dynamic Disks

This section provides information about using dynamic disks on a SAN and the problems that may arise due to the Logical Disk Manager (LDM) when multiple computers access the same dynamic disks. It also describes how metaSAN 2.x and later avoids these problems and protects dynamic disks from data corruption.
Overview
The introduction of dynamic disks in Windows 2000 provided features not available with basic disks. For example, you can increase the volume size by extending it on the same physical disk using the unallocated space that is not contiguous, or extend the volume on another dynamic disk. Also, dynamic disks offer greater flexibility for volume management. Technically speaking, the main differences between dynamic and basic disks are: Dynamic disks support multi-partition volumes.
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Windows stores the dynamic partition information on the physical disks (the basic disks partition information is stored in the registry). The Logical Disk Manager (LDM), which is a subsystem of Windows, controls the dynamic disks. It stores and manages the partition information in the LDM database, which requires exactly 1 MB of free disk space on each dynamic disk. This database remains hidden to the user. The purpose of the LDM database is to track information about all volumes on a dynamic disk and about other dynamic disks in the computer. Each dynamic disk contains a replica of the LDM database. Thus each dynamic disk stores partition information about all other dynamic disks in your computer. This should allow the Logical Disk Manager to repair a corrupted database on one dynamic disk using the database replica on another dynamic disk. For more information about dynamic disks, please visit the following links: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/TechNet/prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/ prkb_cnc_whjq.asp http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/ldm/overview/index.html
Dynamic Disks and the SAN

While the usage of dynamic disks on a standalone workstation tends to be problem-free, the usage of dynamic disks in SAN environment raises some issues such as unavailability of the dynamic disks when their Logical Disk Manager (LDM) database is accessed by multiple workstations. If a SAN-connected workstation updates the LDM database with changes, all dynamic disks appear as offline to the other network computers because the information in their memory for these disks differs from the information on the disks themselves. Furthermore, the reactivation of offline dynamic disks on one computer makes them appear offline on all the others. To deal with these problems and to ensure constant availability of dynamic SAN disks metaSAN protects the LDM database by creating a local copy to be used by the Logical Disk Manager and preventing access to the real LDM database on the physical drives. You can create and delete volumes, import foreign disks, and so on, only after metaSAN is uninstalled from your computer and the other workstations are shut down because only then the LDM database is unprotected and these changes will reflect in it on the dynamic disks. However, using dynamic disks may lead to anomalies when using a local dynamic disk together with dynamic disks on the shared storage. As configuration data for the local dynamic disk gets stored on the SAN, this disk appears on other workstations as missing. Since Windows XP/Server 2003 supports only one disk group, each workstation saves its own disk group on the SAN causing other workstations to put the SAN disks in offline or foreign status. To avoid the above mentioned problems, it is advisable not to use local dynamic disks with SAN dynamic disks. This is why, when you add or remove a volume from a SAN definition, metaSAN warns you if there are volume(s) on dynamic disks in the SAN definition and outside it. The best way to move
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volume on dynamic disks between SAN definitions is to add it straight to the new definition without removing it from the old one.
To manage SAN or local dynamic disks:
1. Back up the LDM configuration of the dynamic disks (see Managing Dynamic Disks
Configuration on page 181).

2. If possible, back up data stored on the dynamic disks. 3. Shut down all SAN-connected computers except for the one from which you will upgrade the disks. 4. On the remaining computer, uninstall metaSAN from the computer, following the steps described in
Uninstalling metaSAN on page 36.

5. Start the Windows Disk Management console and make the changes to SAN dynamic disks. 6. Make sure all SAN volumes are accessible and that no data is lost. 7. Install metaSAN on your computer, following the steps described in Installing metaSAN on page
30.
Important: It is advisable during installation of metaSAN on the computer to backup the dynamic disk configuration when prompted. 8. Add the volume on the dynamic disks to a SAN definition using the Configuration Wizard. 9. After rebooting the machine, activate metaSAN on it, following the steps described in Activating
metaSAN on page 39.

10.Add all machines you want to access the converted volumes to the SAN definition of the volume. 11.Start all other computers and import the newly converted dynamic disks (if necessary).
Managing Dynamic Disks Configuration

metaSAN allows you to backup the configuration on your dynamic disks and later restore it in case you are not able to reactivate or import them. During installation of metaSAN you are automatically prompted to back up your dynamic disks configuration. It is advisable to back up your dynamic disks each time you change their configuration. Additionally, metaSAN is set up to automatically backup the LDM database of the dynamic disks connected to your computer each morning at 3 am. metaSAN backs up the LDM configuration only if it is healthy. The backed up LDM can be used as a safety net in case of problems with the dynamic disks connected to your computer. The backed up LDM is stored in: (metaSAN 3.x/4.x)c:\WINDOWS\system32 folder, where C: is the system drive of your computer.
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(metaSAN 5.x on Windows XP) \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Tiger Technology\sands\ldm_backup (metaSAN 5.x on Windows Vista and higher) \ProgramData\Tiger Technology\sands\ldm_backup (metaSAN 5.x) C:\ProgramData\Tiger Technology\sands\ldm_backup When restoring dynamic disks configurations, metaSAN compares the state described in the backed up configuration file and the current state of the dynamic disks. If the two configurations do not match, metaSAN may not be able to restore the configuration.
To back up the dynamic disks configuration:
1. Shut down all computers seeing the volumes on the dynamic disks, but one . 2. In the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window, click Maintenance mode.

3. In the Utilities tab, click the Backup LDM button.
A standard dialog opens that allows you to browse for a location where to save the LDM Backup file.
4. Browse to the location where you want to save the backup file. 5. Enter a name for the LDM Backup file and click Save. 6. Restart the computer to exit Maintenance mode and start all other machines.
To restore dynamic disks configuration:
1. Shut down all computers seeing the volumes on the dynamic disks, but one . 2. In the Utilities tab of the metaSAN window, click Maintenance mode.

3. In the Utilities tab, click Restore LDM.
A standard dialog opens that allows you to browse for a location where the LDM Backup file is saved.
4. Select the backup file and click Open.
metaSAN compares the backed up dynamic disk configuration with the current configuration on your machine, and if they match, allows you to restore the configuration.
5. Click OK to restore the dynamic disks configuration. 6. Restart the computer to exit Maintenance mode and start all other machines.
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Improving Cross-Platform Collaboration
Improving Cross-Platform Collaboration

File Systems Behaviour and Files Compatibility
The three supported by metaSAN operating systems (Windows, Mac OS and Linux) differ in the way they manage files. On Windows files can have many streams, in contrast to Mac OS (only 2 streams data fork and resource fork), and Linux (only data stream). In addition, files created by Mac OS also have extended attributes (such as the Finder Info, for example) that are not available on the other two platforms. These peculiarities of the file systems lead to partial loss of information when transferring a file created on one platform through a machine running on another platform. For instance, when on Mac OS system you copy a file with 50 streams created by Windows, all file streams' information is lost, except the information of the data stream. The result will be the same when a Linux computer copies a 50-stream Windows file. A Mac OS file copied by Linux will also lose its resource fork's info. Streams' information is not lost when copying Mac OS or Linux files by a Windows computer, but in this case a Mac OS file will lose the extended attributes information. There is another problem with files sharing common file format. For example, a movie file created with Final Cut Pro on Mac OS X is playable by QuickTime. If a Windows workstation copies this file, it will not recognize it as QuickTime-playable until adding the *.mov extension to it. See also Final Cut Pro Project Names on NTFS Volumes on page 183.
Final Cut Pro Project Names on NTFS Volumes

In cross-platform environment of Mac OS X and Windows workstations it is advisable that the Final Cut Pro projects you create on NTFS volumes (volumes supervised by Windows) have names that do not exceed 31 symbols.
Overriding ShareAccess Settings on File-Open Operations from Windows

On Windows, some applications (like Media Player, for example) can open files with exclusive access. This may prevent a Mac OS X Member accessing the same directory to list its content, because the system stops up to the file that is open with exclusive rights, being unable to get its metadata. As a result Windows and Mac OS machines can show different contents of the same folder. A workaround for this problem is to allow UNIX-like file open behavior on the Windows machines, by creating a new registry key in the metaSANs registry. This way a file may be opened by one user, while still allowing another user to open and modify it, and even delete it.
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Best Practices
On Windows Member machines, you can set one of the following values for file-open behaviour registry key: 0 (zero) - default value, inherent Windows ShareAccess settings are respected, except when exclusive ShareAccess rights are set - in this case, all users can open and modify the file, but cannot delete it. 1 - the inherent Windows ShareAccess settings are neglected and all users can open, modify and even delete the file. 2 (available only in metaSAN 3.0 and later) - the inherent Windows ShareAccess settings are respected. As the Metadata Master of a volume accesses it as a local drive, the value of this registry key doesnt affect its file-open behaviour. Still, you need to create the key and specify its value in order to indicate the Metadata Master how to treat metadata requests, coming from Windows machines. This way, if the registry key value on the Metadata Master is 1 - regardless of the key value on the Member machine, the inherent Windows ShareAccess settings are neglected and all users can open, modify and delete the file. If on the Metadata Master the registry key value differs from 1 (i.e. is zero or 2), the file-open request is performed with the ShareAccess settings specified on the Member machines.
To override ShareAccess settings for file-open operations from Windows:
1. On the Windows machine, click Start and choose Run. 2. In the dialog, type regedit to start the Windows Registry editor. 3. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SANDS\Parameters registry key and select it.

4. Right-click in the right pane and select New. 5. Select DWORD Value from the context menu. 6. Type "FreeShareAccess" as value name. 7. Right-click "FreeShareAccess" and select Modify. 8. Change the value to 0 (zero), 1 or 2, and click OK. 9. Restart the computer.
Copying Small Files on HFS+ Volume from Linux

Due to Mac OSs kernel protection from Syn floods, when a Linux Member copies many small files to an HFS+ volume most of the time this leads to transfer stall. A workaround to cope with this is to disable the kernels protection on the Mac OS Metadata Master, supervising the volume to which you write.
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Generating Logs for Technical Support Purposes
To disable protection against Syn floods on Mac OS:
1. On the Mac OS Metadata Master, in Terminal execute the following:
sudo sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.minmss=0

2. Type the password for the sudo account and press Enter. Important: In case of a failover, you should disable protection against Syn flood on the new Metadata Master as well.
Setting Up the File Security Fallback Account in a Windows Domain

When metaSAN file security is enabled in a SAN definition and user authentication is done by a Windows domain controller, you should specify a fallback account which is used for authentication of all users that cannot authenticate themselves before the domain controller. To make sure all local users and users on other platforms can normally access the shared storage resources, this account should meet the following requirements: It must have the "Perform volume maintenance tasks" privilege. For details about setting the account used as fallback with "Perform volume maintenance tasks" privileges, see below. If the domain controller is Windows Vista or later, the fallback account should NOT be in the Administrators group.
Setting up an account to perform volume maintenance tasks:
1. In Control panel, double-click Administrative tools. 2. Double-click Local Security Policy. 3. In the left pane tree, browse to Local Policies | User Rights Assignment. 4. Double-click "Perform volume maintenance tasks". 5. Click Add User or Group and add the account that will be used as fallback, then click OK. 6. In the Pefrom Volume Maintenance Tasks Properties, click OK.
Generating Logs for Technical Support Purposes

Generating a Log for Technical Support Purposes (Mac OS X)
Sometimes metaSAN failures occur that are caused by reasons not directly related to metaSAN, but rather due to interaction with other applications or the operating system in general. On Mac OS X,
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Best Practices
should you have a problem that requires assistance from the technical support team, you can help streamline the process by sending in a log of the whole system including the system log, metaSAN log, etc. The support team can refer to this log to determine the cause of the failure.
To generate a Log for the technical support team (Mac OS X):
1. In the About tab of the metaSAN window on Mac OS X, click Support Log.
The Support Log dialog appears.

2. (optional) Enter a comment for the problem you are experiencing. 3. Click Create.
metaSAN generates the support logs in a GZIP file on the desktop of the currently logged user.
4. Click OK.
Generating Logs for Technical Support Purposes (Windows)

By default, metaSAN logs different events in the Application Event Log of your computer. These events include starting and stopping the metaSAN service, displaying the IP address metaSAN uses to communicate with the other SAN connected computers, and problems it encounters when trying to mount volumes or get file clusters. The purpose of Event logs is to inform you about problems without providing detailed information that can help the support team solve the problem. Should you contact the metaSAN support team about a problem that requires more detailed information, you will be instructed how to generate and provide detailed logs.
To prepare an Event Log to send to the support team:
1. When the metaSAN problem is reproduced, start Event Viewer. 2. Expand the Event Viewer item and select the Application item. 3. On the Action menu, choose Save Log File As and specify the name and location of the event log file. 4. After the file is saved, send it to the support team.
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Network Communication Best Practices
Generating a Log for Technical Support Purposes (Linux)

To generate a Log for the technical support team (Linux):
1. In command prompt, type:
bugreport.sh
2. Press Enter.
An archive file (with *.tar.gz extension) is created in the current directory in which all pertinent information is collected.
Network Communication Best Practices

Using a DHCP Server in a metaSAN Network
A Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server automatically assigns and leases IP addresses to computers as they are added to a network. Constant IP addresses of SAN-connected machines are indispensable for proper cross-network communication between them and for metaSAN to work. As a result, you should not allow run-time configuring of IP addresses, supported by some DHCP servers, on workstations connected to the shared storage and running metaSAN. This may prevent metaSAN from working properly.
Changing the IP Addresses of All Members on the SAN

The IP address of your machine serves to identify it in a SAN definition. If you need to change the IP address of your machine, you should follow strict workflow to ensure that the SAN definition is still valid and your machine is still part of the same SAN after the change. For each machine of which you need to change the IP address, follow these steps:
1. While the other machines on the SAN are online, change the IP address of your computer.
For details, refer to your OS documentation.

2. Restart the computer. 3. Repeat the above steps for each machine you need to change the IP address.
Binding the MAC Address to The NIC Used by metaSAN on Linux

If your Linux computer has more than one Network Interface Card (NIC), theres a chance on each reboot the NICs to be randomly assigned as eth0, eth1, etc. As metaSAN uses the first detected interface (eth0), this can lead to the following problems:
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Best Practices
if the first detected NICs MAC address is different from the one for which your serial number and activation key are generated, metaSAN may claim that your computer is not activated; - if the first detected NIC uses a different IP address than the one your computer uses for communication with other machines on the SAN, you may fail to work with the SAN volumes; A workaround to this problem is to assign persistent identification (by MAC) of the NIC used by metaSAN, following the steps below.
To bind the MAC address to the NIC used by metaSAN:
1. In command-line, open for editing the configuration file of the first NIC. Note: On Red Hat Linux, this file is usually located in the following path
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
2. In the configuration file, add the following line:
HWADDR=<MAC address of the network interface> For example, to assign MAC address 00:19:B1:2A:BA:B8 add the following: HWADDR=00:19:B1:2A:BA:B8
3. Save and close the file. 4. Restart the computer. 5. Following the above steps, update the configuration files of the other NICs on your computer with
the correct MAC addresses.
When uninstalling metaSAN from all workstations on your SAN, you should take care to uninstall it from the computers that cannot supervise the volumes first (from machines added as LAN clients or SAN Members with None Metadata Master priority). Otherwise, if you uninstall metaSAN from the workstations that can play the role of a Metadata Master, the volumes will appear on the remaining machines as included in a SAN definition. On the last machine from which you uninstall metaSAN, you should remove all volumes from their SAN definition(s). This last machine should be able to play the role of a Metadata Master and must see the volumes over the Fibre Channel, in order to be able to unmark these volumes. Otherwise, volumes may remain metaSAN marked, and you should unmark them manually. For details, about manually unmarking volumes, refer to Unmarking NTFS Volumes on page 171 and Working with Commandline Utilities on Mac OS X on page 175.
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Network Load Balancing and Different Types of Devices
Network Load Balancing and Different Types of Devices

The proper functionality of the network load balancing provided by metaSAN can be affected if you use different types of devices (Ethernet adapter or FC adapter, for example) on the different machines on your SAN. If on a given SAN Member there's an adapter that provides less bandwidth than the ones on the other machines, the network load balancing engine will decide that this machine is less burdened by LAN clients and will redirect accesses to it although it may have reached the limit of the device.
Assigning New Master in a Definition With None Failover Detection

When your SAN operates with None failover detection, you refuse to use the Metadata Master failover and SAN Members do not constantly ping each other to check if there's a failover condition in the network. In case of a scheduled shutdown of the Metadata Master, all SAN volumes in the definition are automatically unmounted from all SAN Members. The volumes are mounted again when the master computer is again available or another SAN Member that can supervise them is rebooted. If the Metadata Master suffers a power failure, for instance, it is not able to release the volumes so that another Member can take over mastership over them after restart. This way, no other machine is able to supervise the volumes and they remain inaccessible for all machines in the definition. To mount the volumes again as Public, you should assign a new Metadata Master.
To assign a new Metadata Master in a SAN definition with None failover detection:
1. On a given computer, open the metaSAN window. 2. In the SAN Management tab page, select a definition from the drop-down box, and click Advanced.
The Advanced SAN Settings dialog for the selected definition appears.
3. Click Change, next to the Failover detection field.
The Failover Settings dialog appears.

4. Select Normal, and click OK. 5. In the Advanced SAN Settings dialog, click Apply to apply the changes.
The first workstation that is able to supervise the volumes in the definition becomes Metadata Master.
6. Using the Volumes Management dialog, promote a desired workstation to Metadata Master for a
selected volume.
7. Repeat the above step for each volume in the definition.
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Best Practices
8. Change the Failover detection for the SAN definition back to None if you want.
Managing Allocation Optimization Size

It is advisable to change the allocation optimization size of a Member machine only when no write operation is initiated from it. Otherwise, changing it may lead to unpredictable results, such as file corruption, interruption of the write operation, etc.
Setting the MTU Size

It is advisable to set one and the same size of the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) of each machines network adapter. If a LAN client machines NIC is set up with different MTU size than the other computers on the network, it may not be able to mount LAN shares.
Making Avid Detect SAN Volumes on Mac OS X

By default, metaSAN presents the SAN volumes as network drives to Mac OS X systems and Avid Xpress DV may fail to detect them although they are mounted on the machine and available to other applications. To cope with this problem you should enable the Avid access to all network drives, using the following Avid console command: alldrives 1
Managing metaSAN Settings on Windows by Administrators Only

On Windows, by default each user can administer metaSAN and change any of its settings. If you want to prevent users from modifying any metaSAN settings, you can configure the metaSAN registry to allow only users that have logged on to the machine with an administrative account to open the metaSAN window and be able to change its settings.
To allow only administrators to manage metaSAN settings:
1. Click Start, choose Run. 2. In the dialog, type regedit to start the Windows Registry editor. 3. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SANDS\Parameters
registry key and select it.
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Mounting SAN Volumes on a VMware Virtual Machine
4. Right-click in the right pane and select New. 5. Select DWORD Value from the context menu. 6. Type "AdminUsersOnly" as value name. 7. Right-click "AdminUsersOnly" and select Modify.
The default value of the key is 0 (zero), which means that any user logged on to the workstation can change any of the metaSAN settings.
8. Change the value to 1, and click OK. 9. Restart the computer.
Repeat the same steps on each Windows machine on which you want only administrators to be able to modify metaSAN settings.
Mounting SAN Volumes on a VMware Virtual Machine

If you use metaSAN on a VMware Windows virtual guest machine, you should make sure not to install the Shared Folders option of the VMware Tools package. Otherwise, if the guest machine is client to the SAN volumes, it is not be able to access the file system on them, although metaSAN claims that they are mounted. If the virtual VMware machines plays the role of a Metadata Master, there will be no problem. If you have already installed Shared Folders on a virtual machine running metaSAN, you should remove this feature from the VMware Tools package, following these steps:
1. Open Control Panel and double-click Add or Remove Programs. 2. Select VMware Tools and click Change. 3. Select to Modify the installation, and then click Next. 4. Click Shared Folders, select This feature will not be installed, and click Next. 5. Select Modify, then Finish. 6. When prompted restart the computer.
Disabling SELinux
To be able to work with metaSAN/metaSAN iSCSI/metaLAN on Linux machines, you should disable SELinux on them prior to installing the product. For detailed steps about disabling SELinux on your workstation, refer to the documentation of your operating system.
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Best Practices
Entering Maintenance Mode

It is highly advisable to enter maintenance mode only after the metaSAN service is already started. Attempting to enter maintenance mode immediately after starting the computer (i.e. when the metaSAN service is still in 'starting' state) can lead to crash of the metaSAN service.
Deleting a Folder That Has Been Exported as a LAN Share

metaSAN can neither prevent nor warn you that the directory you are deleting is exported to metaLAN clients. That is why, when exporting a directory on a SAN volume as a LAN share, you should make sure that nobody deletes this directory, as this will lead to unpredictable results on LAN client computers. Additionally, on Mac OS X, if you accidentally delete a folder that has been exported as a LAN share to metaLAN clients from an HFS+ volume, trying to empty the Trash of your computer may not work - the deleted folder (although empty) may remain there. A workaround to this problem is to drag the folder from the Trash to some other location and then delete it from there.
Mac OS X LAN Clients Running metaSAN

It is advisable to install metaLAN on all Mac OS X machines that you intend to add as LAN clients to a SAN definition. Some anomalies can be observed on Mac OS systems running metaSAN but added as LAN clients to a SAN definition.
Setting Up the SAN Policy on Windows Vista and Above Using Diskpart Utility
By default, on computers running Windows Vista and above all shared disks visible to the computer are delivered as offline and read-only. You can bring these disks to online mode in Disk Management, still, there's a possibility on the next boot of the system the disks to be offline again. To change this behaviour, you should make sure that the SAN policy of the operating system is set to "Online All". Too view and set the SAN policy of your computer you can use diskpart.exe command-line utility that is stored in the system drive of your computer.
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Using Extended Copy on SAN Volumes
To view the current SAN policy of your computer:
1. In command-line, start diskpart utility. 2. Execute the following:
DISKPART> SAN The utility displays one of the following: Offline Shared - all newly discovered disks that do not reside on a shared bus are brought online and made read-write. Offline - all newly discovered disks remain offline and read-only. Online - all newly discovered disks are brought online and made read-write. If the SAN policy of your computer is not Online, you should change it, following these steps:
1. In command-line, start diskpart utility. 2. Execute the following:
DISKPART> san policy=OnlineAll
Using Extended Copy on SAN Volumes

To perform extended copy operation (xcopy) with /O (file ownership and ACL information) and /X (file ownership, ACL information, and file audit settings) parameters from a local volume to an NTFS SAN volume, you must enable File Security and set a valid fallback account. Note that you can perform extended copy only on NTFS volumes and only when your SAN operates in a Windows domain.
Using MacDrive on Windows SAN Members

Mediafour MacDrive software allows Windows machines to have read/write access to HFS+ volumes. With the help of metaSAN/metaLAN each Windows computer that is in the same SAN definition with HFS+ SAN volumes can access them and write to them as if they are local drives (as long as the security permissions allow that). That is why it is advisable to uninstall MacDrive software from all Windows computers with metaSAN/metaLAN, as the software may hamper their connectivity to the SAN.
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Best Practices
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Known Issues
General Known Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 Cross-Platform Collaboration Known Issues 197 Mac OS X Known Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Windows Known Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Linux Known Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Known Issues
General Known Issues

Using ProjectStore When Virtualization for Avid Is Enabled
When Virtualization for Avid is enabled in a SAN definition, you will not be able to benefit from ProjectStore's features. As you can achieve similar workflow for Avid using ProjectStore, it is advisable to disable Virtualization for Avid.
Decreased Performance When Using Antivirus on the SAN

Using an antivirus software (like ESET NOD32, for example) from any of the SAN-connected machines can visibly slow down the performance on create file and save file operations.
No Support for Sparse Files

metaSAN does not provide support for sparse files on SAN volumes.
Deviations in the Bandwidth Quotas/Reservations

You may notice certain deviation of the actual bandwidth usage of a machine from the quota/reservation it has. In fact, this deviation is just a bit over or below the value of the quota/reservation and does not indicate that bandwidth quotas/reservations are not adhered to.
Bandwidth Control in More than One SAN Definition

If you have more than one SAN definition, the bandwidth control of metaSAN may not work correctly and may lead to unpredictable results.
Support for Symbolic Links

Up to version 3.2, symbolic links cannot be properly processed in a metaSAN network, that is why you are advised not to use them on SAN volumes (respectively LAN shares). Version 3.2 adds support for symbolic links on HFS+ volumes. That is why it is advisable to use them just in homogeneous SAN of Mac OS X computers only.
Fast User Switching Not Supported

The Fast User Switching option allows switching between users on a single machine without quitting applications and logging out. It lets users leave their applications running and their documents open when another user needs to log in.
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Cross-Platform Collaboration Known Issues
Although the operating system ensures that all data and applications remain secure when this option is enabled, metaSAN security settings may not work properly if the two or more concurrently logged users have different access rights.
Cross-Platform Collaboration Known Issues

Incorrect HFS+ LAN Share Name on Windows metaLAN Client
LAN shares of HFS+ SAN volumes are displayed in the GUI of Windows metaLAN clients with the name of the volume, from which they are exported, instead of the LAN share name. The correct share name is displayed in the Dashboard and Windows Explorer of the Windows metaLAN client.
Mirrored/Spanned NTFS Volumes Mounted Over LAN on Mac OS X and Linux

Currently mirrored/spanned NTFS SAN volumes can be mounted on Mac OS X/Linux SAN Members only over the LAN. Such volumes are mounted normally on Windows SAN Members, that's why it is advisable to use such volumes as part of your SAN only in homogeneous Windows setup.
NTFS Volumes on MBR Disks with Sector Size of 2k in SAN with Mac OS X Machines
An NTFS volume on MBR disks with sector size of 2k may be automatically removed from its SAN definition if the same definition contains Mac OS X machines. You can use such volumes in homogenous Windows SAN without problems.
HFS+ Volumes on MBR Disks and Windows Members

Windows SAN Members can mount Public HFS+ volumes on MBR disks only over the Ethernet. All other types of HFS+ volumes can be normally mounted over the Fibre Channel.
Accessing empty folder on HFS+ volume with Streaming Media Server

If a Windows 2003 Server set up to work as Streaming Media Server tries to use as a Publishing Point an empty folder on an HFS+ volume, trying to open that folder will result in error. Until the problem is resolved a workaround for it would be to simply create a file (of any type) in the folder. This way no errors will happen.
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Known Issues
Mounting NTFS Striped Volumes on a metaSAN Machine running Apple Xsan

Mac OS X machines with metaSAN and Apple Xsan installed will not be able to mount NTFS striped volumes over the Fibre Channel but only over the Ethernet. This problem cannot be observed with basic NTFS volumes.
Manually Refreshing the Contents of a Directory

In cross-platform SAN, on SAN Member or LAN client computers the contents of a directory may not be automatically refreshed and some file operations may fail. For instance if a Linux LAN client tries to copy a directory that is deleted by a Windows machine, the Linux computer may not be notified about this, and the copy operation will result in error. To overcome such problems you may have to manually refresh the contents of the disks/directories you are working with.
Transparent Metadata Master Failover Limitations

The Metadata Master failover may not be transparent in some cases. For instance, in heterogeneous environment when Windows machines supervise the volumes, in case of a failover on all Members running other than Windows platform, the failover will not be transparent.
Mounting Non-SAN NTFS Volumes on Mac OS X

Sometimes, it is possible for a Mac OS X system to mount a non-SAN NTFS volume (a volume that is not included in any SAN definition). This can happen even if the default treatment of non-SAN volumes is set to Do not mount. Still, there is no risk of data corruption, as the volumes are mounted on the Mac OS X computer as Read Only.
Relaunching the Finder to Display metaSAN Volumes

Sometimes you may have to relaunch the Finder in order to display the LAN shares and NTFS SAN volumes that are mounted on your computer.
Adding Volumes to a Definition from Machine not Running Native Platform

If you add a volume to a SAN definition from a machine that doesnt run on a native platform, it is sometimes possible that this volume disappears from the definition. That is why, in heterogeneous environment, it is advisable to add volumes to a SAN definition, only from a computer that can supervise them i.e. running the same platform .
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Mac OS X Known Issues
Maintenance Mode Does Not Allow You to Manage HFS+ Volumes

Entering Maintenance Mode on a Windows machine (by clicking Maintenance Mode in the Utilities tab, or using MSANUtil) does not remove metaSAN protection over HFS + volumes seen by the computer and you cannot manage them in the Disk Management snap-in. If you want to format a HFS+ volume to NTFS or otherwise manage it from a Windows computer, you should uninstall metaSAN from the Windows system, manage the HFS+ volume and reinstall metaSAN again.
NTFS Striped Volumes and Mac OS X

Mac OS X Members cannot mount NTFS striped volumes that do not start from the beginning of the disk.

Mac OS X Lion Servers Server App Does Not List metaSAN Volumes
The Server app available in Mac OS X Lion Server currently does not detect metaSAN-managed volumes. This may prevent you from configuring ACL permissions for files and folders on a SAN volume, when File Security is enabled in the SAN definition. You can still configure ACL permissions using the command-line interface and files and folders permissions through the Get Info dialog.
Kaspersky Antivirus Blocks Access to SAN Volumes on Mac OS X

Kaspersky antivirus software can block the access to all SAN volumes accessible to Mac OS X computers in the SAN definition.
Setting Drive Letter as Volume Mount Location for Mac OS X Computers

When applying volumes mount location in a cross-platform SAN with Mac OS X machines, you should make sure not to set the default mount location for all machines to be drive letter as this can prevent Mac OS X computers from mounting the volumes. If you want SAN volumes to be mounted as drive letter on Windows machines, set this option per each Windows computer.
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Known Issues
No Support for Spotlight Indexing

Currently, Spotlight Indexing is not supported on SAN members running Mac OS X. To index and search through Public volumes from machines running Mac OS X, use Spotlight alternatives. For more information, refer to http://wiki.tiger-technology.com.
metaSAN Overwrites /etc/fstab

metaSAN overwrites entries you introduce in /etc/fstab.
Loading Domain Users from Mac OS X Server that is Open Directory Master
If your SAN operates with volume permissions with native security authority, you won't be able to load the domain users in the Volume Permissions dialog from a Mac OS X Server machine that is Open Directory master or replica. Still, you can load the users and configure their access rights to the SAN volumes from any other Mac OS X machine - regardless if it is a SAN Member or a Metadata Master.
Non-transparent Failover between Mac OS X Metadata Masters

The Metadata Master failover between Mac OS X computers may not be transparent. Any file operation going on at the moment of the failover may result in error.
Disabling Time Machine Monitoring on Mac OS X

It is highly advisable to disable Time Machine monitoring of SAN volumes seen by your Mac OS X machine, as keeping this feature turned on may hamper performance.
Adding Mac OS X Boot Volumes to the SAN

Although metaSAN 3.0 introduces improved detection of additional boot disks on Mac OS X, for it to work your license should be activated. This means that until you activate the product on your computer, metaSAN lists all boot volumes (except the volume from which you have booted your computer) and allows you to add them to a SAN definition. If accidentally you add a boot volume to a SAN definition i.e. make it Public, to make it again a boot volume you should follow these steps:
1. Remove the volume from the SAN definition. 2. Make sure the volume is mounted as Private on your computer. 3. In the Terminal execute the following: bless --folder <path to the mount point of the boot volume> --setBoot
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After restarting the computer the volume should not be listed in the metaSAN UI and you can use it again as a boot volume.
Adding Mac OS X Boot Disk(s) to the SAN

It is possible the boot disk(s) of a Mac OS X computer to be listed as available for adding to a SAN definition in the Add Volumes dialog until the first reboot of the machine after activating installing metaSAN on that computer. That is why you should either make sure not to add them to a SAN definition or restart the machine immediately after activating metaSAN on it.
Importing Users When Enabling Volume Permissions with metaSAN Security Authority
To be able to import user names to the database with user accounts when volume permissions with metaSAN security authority are enabled, you may have to re-open the Import Users dialog to be able to display the list with local or metaSAN users.
Changing Volumes Icon

You can change the appearance of a SAN volumes icon on your workstation, but if the volume is Public, its original metaSAN icon will be restored immediately after restarting the master of the volume and your personal icon will be deleted.
Archiving Files and Folders on SAN Volumes through the Finder

It is not advisable to archive files and folders on HFS+ SAN volumes, using the built-in archive utility in the Finder, as after unzipping them their resource fork will be lost. You can archive files and folders on the SAN volumes without loosing their resource fork with the following utilities: gzip tar Stuffit Expander (with its own stuffit format or GZip format chosen as archive method)
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Known Issues
Saving FCP Projects on SAN Volumes

Sometimes Mac OS X Members may receive errors when trying to save projects on HFS+ or NTFSvolumes directly through Final Cut Pro. A workaround for this problem is to save the project on a local disk and then copy it to the SAN volume.
Metadata Master Failover on Mac OS X

On Mac OS X machines, the Metadata Master failover may not always be transparent. It is possible that after a failover takes place, some applications using the volumes may not detect that they are supervised by a new Metadata Master. A workaround for this problem is to relaunch the application after disconnecting and then reconnecting your computer to the volumes in the Volumes Management dialog.
No Support for Case Sensitive HFS+ Volumes

Currently, metaSAN does not support case sensitive HFS+ volumes.
No Support for HFS+ Compression

Currently metaSAN does not provide support for the HFS+ compression available in Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Mac OS X Lion.
Deleting Folders and Listing Contents on Pool Containing metaSAN-managed HFS+ Volumes
Windows machines accessing a pool comprised of metaSAN-managed HFS+ volumes may fail to delete a folder and list its contents in Windows Explorer. A workaround to these problems is to perform the operations in Pool Explorer.
Deleted Contents of Pool with metaSAN Volumes Appears Twice in the Trash of Mac OS X Lion
On Mac OS X Lion, if you soft-delete a file/folder from a pool that contains metaSAN-managed volumes (NTFS or HFS+) to which the computer is client, the file object appears twice in the Trash of your computer.
Windows Known Issues

Volumes on Dynamic Disks without Drive Letter Detected as Foreign/Offline
When you install metaSAN, it detects all volumes to which your computer is connected and, if there are volumes on dynamic disks, offers you to back up their LDM configuration. If some of the volumes on
202
dynamic disks are not mounted as a drive letter on your computer, metaSAN will report them as Offline or Foreign. If you are sure that these are only volumes mounted in a mount-point folder and not really volumes on foreign or offline dynamic disks, you can ignore the metaSAN warning and proceed with the LDM configuration backup. If you are not sure whether there are indeed foreign/offline dynamic disks, you can simply assign drive letters to these volumes and then again proceed with metaSAN installation (and LDM configuration backup). Once metaSAN is installed on the computer, assign a mount point folder path to these volumes and free their drive letters.
Domain Users Access the SAN through the Fallback Account

By default, when File Security is enabled in the SAN definition, users access the shared storage with the permissions of their domain account, or if the account used is not recognized by the domain controller (local account or account on a different platform), using the fallback account. Windows Vista/Server 2008 users always access the SAN with the permissions of the fallback account, and if no fallback account is specified - have no access to files and folders on the shared storage. Note that version 4.6.1 solves this problem on Windows XP/Server 2003/Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 and domain users access the SAN with their domain account permissions.
Testing Performance of Volumes on GPT Disks with Block Size 2K from 64-bit Windows
When testing the performance of an NTFS volume on GPT disks with block size 2K from a Windows 64-bit, the Test Performance dialog may show incorrect values.
Mounting Volumes on Disk with Unallocated Space on Windows Server 2003 SP1
Machines running Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 cannot mount as SAN Member or Metadata Master a volume on disk that contains unallocated space after the volume partition. These machines can mount such volumes as Private. A workaround to this problem is to upgrade to Service Pack 2.
metaSAN GUI and Windows Vista

On Windows Vista, to be able to fully benefit from the metaSAN graphic user interface (for example, to be able to list all services on your machine in order to configure dependencies) you should run the Control Panel as an administrator. This should be done even if you have logged on to the computer as an administrator.
203
Known Issues
No Support for Volumes on Dynamic Disks with Block Size Greater than 512 Bytes
Currently, metaSAN doesnt provide support for NTFS volumes on dynamic disks with block size greater than 512 bytes. Although you can create such volumes on Windows Vista/Server 2008, adding them to a SAN definition may cause the following: The volumes to be reported as unknown; Problems when backing up and restoring the LDM configuration of these volumes. Poor interoperability with Mac OS X Members.
Adding NTFS Volumes on GPT Disks to a Definition During metaSAN Installation

If you perform a clean installation of metaSAN 3.1 or later you will not be able to add NTFS volumes on GPT disks to a SAN definition, using the Configuration Wizard. However, after installing metaSAN on the computer and rebooting it you can add such volumes normally - either through the Add Volume to SAN dialog or using the Configuration Wizard from the Utilities tab.
NTFS Volumes on GPT Disks Created on Windows Vista

With version 3.1 and later, to add to a SAN definition a new NTFS volume on GPT disk that is created on Windows Vista besides rebooting the computer after creating the volume, you should perform an additional restart of the machine to allow metaSAN to detect it.
Adding Private NTFS Volumes to a SAN Definition

There are some limitations to adding a Private NTFS volume to a SAN definition. You can make such a volume Public either from the machine that has mounted it as Private, or from another computer, but if the machine that has mounted it as Private also participates in the SAN definition.
Support for NTFS Volumes on GPT Disks Known Issues

GPT Disks on Windows XP 32-bit
On machines running Windows XP 32-bit, although Windows GPT disks are mounted on the machine and Windows Explorer displays their labels and drive letters, in the Disk Management GPT disks are displayed as basic disks (even if they are dynamic striped or simple) and they are without label and drive letter.
Unmarking NTFS Volumes on GPT Disks

If you have to unmark NTFS volumes on GPT disks using msanutil (after uninstall of metaSAN, for example), you should reboot your machine in order to access the volumes and work with them normally.
204
Removing metaSANs Partition from GPT Disks

After uninstall of metaSAN, even though you may have unmarked NTFS volumes on GPT disks (see Unmarking NTFS Volumes on GPT Disks on page 204), metaSAN's partition remains on the disks. This will in no case affect the disks. You can remove the partition, by deleting the 1MB metaSAN partition.
Assigning Persistent Drive Letters to Private Volumes

When a Public SAN volume with drive letter assigned in the metaSAN window is removed from a SAN definition, its drive letter on the machine that mounts it as Private may not be the same. If you want to assign a persistent drive letter to a Private volume that has previously been mounted as Public, you should assign the drive letter in the Disk Management snap-in.
Allowing metaSAN Firewall Ports

By default, the firewall ports used by metaSAN are automatically enabled in the Firewall database of your computer during metaSAN installation. However, there are cases when you have to manually enable these ports: on Windows XP, when Service Pack 2 is installed after metaSAN on the machine; on Windows XP without service pack; when by some reason the ports have been disabled;
To manually allow the metaSAN ports in the Firewall database:
1. In the Control Panel of Windows, click Windows Firewall.
Windows Firewall dialog appears.

2. In the Exceptions tab, click Add Port.
The Add a Port dialog appears.

3. In the Name field, type 7000 (metaSAN). 4. In the Port Number field, type 7000. 5. Make sure TCP is selected, and click OK. 6. Following the same steps, one by one add the following ports:
8100 8101(6666 for versions earlier than 2.0.3) 8200 8300
205
Known Issues
8380 8399 (8400 for versions earlier than 2.1.2) 8500 8501 8502
7. In the Windows Firewall dialog, click OK.
Compressing or Encrypting Folders on Public Volumes

You will not be able to compress or encrypt any folder on a SAN volume that is Public for your computer. If you try to complete any of these operations, the system displays an error message. If the volume is set to Private mode for your computer, you will be able to compress and encrypt folders on it.
FC To Ethernet Failover Limitations on Windows

On Windows SAN Members the FC to Ethernet failover may not be transparent in some cases. If the FC adapter drivers your machine uses do not support dynamic plugging and unplugging, the system and metaSAN may not be able to detect that disks are unmounted and remounted again. This is why, you should rescan the disks in the Disk Management snap-in of your machine. The other case when the FC to Ethernet failover may not be transparent is when dynamic disks are disconnected from your workstation. After FC failure the system and metaSAN may detect them as Offline or Foreign. You should reactivate/import them in the Disk Management snap-in.
No Support for Indexing Service on SAN Volumes

Currently, metaSAN does not support the Windows indexing service on SAN volumes mounted on Member machines.
Copying Files and Folders on Dynamic NTFS Drives from Windows Vista
Windows Vista Members may fail to copy files and folders which at some point have been stored on an HFS+ volume. This problem can only be observed when trying to perform the copy operation to a dynamic NTFS drive over the Fibre Channel. The copy operation goes well on HFS+ volumes and when a Windows Vista Metadata Master performs it regardless of the target volume.
206
Linux Known Issues
Volumes/Shares and Mapped Network Drives with One and the Same Drive Letter
A SAN volume/LAN share can be dismounted from a Member machine, if it is assigned the same drive letter as a mapped network drive. The problem can be observed when the user logs on to the computer locally. In this situation metaSAN is unable to verify whether volumes/shares drive letters are already taken. A workaround to this problem is to manually change the drive letter of either the mapped network drives or the volumes/shares.
Label of SAN Disks Missing in Windows Explorer of Windows 7/Server 2008 R2

The label of SAN volumes mounted over the Fibre Channel on a Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 machine may be missing in Windows Explorer. The label is visible through command prompt and when the volume is mounted over the Ethernet. A workaround to this problem would be to get the correct label of the SAN volume through command prompt and manually rename the volume in Windows Explorer (using Rename command from the volume's context menu).
To get the volume label in command prompt:
1. On Start menu, click Run and in the dialog type cmd. 2. The Command Prompt starts. 3. Type this, followed by Return:
dir <drive letter:> For example, to get the label of volume N:, type dir N: Command prompt displays the label of the drive.
Entering Sleep Mode While Rendering Adobe After Effects Projects

Rendering Adobe After Effects projects on the SAN may fail if the machine on which you render goes into sleep mode.
Linux Known Issues

metaSAN Uses the First NIC It Detects
If your Linux computer has more than one Network Interface Card (NIC), metaSAN uses the first one (usually eth0) it detects. This may lead to two problems:
207
Known Issues
if the first detected NIC is assigned a different MAC address (not the one for which your serial number and activation key are generated), metaSAN may claim that your computer is not activated; if the first detected NIC uses a different IP address than the one your computer uses for communication with other machines on the SAN, you may fail to communicate with other computers on the SAN and access the SAN volumes; A workaround to this problem is to bind the MAC address to the NIC used by metaSAN. For detailed steps, see Binding the MAC Address to The NIC Used by metaSAN on Linux on page 187.
Linux Client Failing to Open File on the SAN

If a Linux client fails to open a file on the SAN this can be because of inconsistency between the directory cache of the computer and the actual state of the file system. Such rare inconsistency can occur if another client creates a file that has the same name and is stored in the same location as a file that the current Linux member has already deleted. A workaround to this problem is to disable the directory cache on the Linux Member, following the steps below. Once the problem is resolved you can again enable the cache.
To disable the directory cache on a Linux client:
1. In a text editor open the following script as root (su or sudo):
/etc/init.d/metaSAN or /etc/init.d/metaLAN
2. In the script, find the following line:
insmod sandsfs.o
3. Modify it to the following:
insmod sandsfs.o disable_dcache=1

4. Save the script. 5. Do one of the following:
in Terminal, execute the following command as root: /etc/init.d/metaSAN restart or /etc/init.d/metaLAN restart restart the computer.
208
index
Index
Symbols
.pmr file backing up with metaSAN utility 172 overwriting with metaSAN utility 172 restoring with metaSAN utility 173
A
activating metaSAN 39 automatically (Linux) 43 automatically (Windows and Mac OS X) 43 manually (Linux) 42 manually (Windows and Mac OS X) 40 with metaSAN utility 170 adding 92 bandwidth quota 92 LAN machine to a foreign definition 158 Linux to a foreign definition 148 machines to SAN definition 76 volumes to SAN definition 70 allocation optimization size best practices 190 specifying 118 authorized session beginning on Mac OS X 63 exiting on Mac OS X 63 auto-login script configuring on Mac OS X 176 Avid virtualization enabling 119
dynamic disks 182 bandwidth management 23 disabling 94 bandwidth quota adding 92 removing 93 bandwidth reservation 92 adding 92 removing 93 basic disks reverting from dynamic 139 upgrading to dynamic 138 boot sequence specifying 120
C
calculating folders size 177 check and repair HFS+ volumes 129 NTFS volumes 130 checking disk tables with metaSAN utility 171 volume table with metaSAN utility 171 volumes status with metaSAN utility 171 choosing synchronization interface card 117 closing files from files table 174 multiple files with RdrUtil 174 configuring auto-login script on Mac OS X 176 Metadata Master priorities 87 permissions for all volumes 105
B
backing up .pmr file with metaSAN utility 172
209
Index
SAN definitions settings 84 creating LAN share 161 metaSAN users 103 SAN definition 65 volumes 134 creation behaviour specifying for files and folders 123
D
Data Master 21 specifying 159 deactivating metaSAN 43 automatically (Linux) 53 automatically (Mac OS X) 49 automatically (Windows) 51 manually (Linux) 49 manually (Mac OS X) 44 manually (Windows) 47 on the licensing server 49 default treatment of non-SAN volumes specifying 124 definition joining through machine or volume 78 defragmenting volumes 131 deleting metaSAN users 105 SAN definition 84 DHCP Server using 187 disabling bandwidth management 94 file security 113 volume permissions 107 disconnecting LAN client from a share 146 LAN share from computer 143 volumes from computer 143 disk corruption avoiding during installation of metaSAN 142 preventing on HFS+ volumes 177 using repair disk utility 140 disk maintenance prerequisites 134 disk tables checking with metaSAN utility 171
listing with metaSAN utility 171 displaying metaSAN window 62 dynamic disks backing up 182 interaction with the SAN 180 management 181 managing configuration 181 overview 179 restoring configuration 182 reverting to basic 139 upgrading from basic 138
E
editing LAN share 162 enabling automatic Finder relaunch 123 file security 110 SAN to LAN failover 118 Spotlight indexing 126 TDIR support on Windows 119 virtualization for Avid on Windows 119 volume permissions 101 exporting SAN definition 83
F
failover Metadata Master failover 18 SAN to LAN failover 20 failover condition 18 failover detection 20 specifying 89 fallback account specifying for all machines 110 specifying for one machine 111 FCP project names 183 file security 109 disabling 113 enabling 110 Finder enabling automatic relaunch 123 folder size calculating 177 foreign volume 22 formatting
210
Index
volumes 128
G
generating Support Log 185
H
HFS+ volume checking and repairing 129
I
importing metaSAN users to a definitions database 104 SAN definition 84 installing metaSAN avoiding disk corruption 142 on Linux 35 on Mac OS X 31 on Windows 33 prerequisites 30 scenarios 35 system requirements 23 installing metaSAN iSCSI system requirements 26 integrating Linux 148 IP range specifying 86
editing 162 overriding mount location 165 removing 163 setting default mount location 164 Linux adding to a foreign definition 148 checking mounted volumes/LAN shares 149 errors check 150 integration overview 148 logging on to metaSAN 149 logging out metaSAN 149 removing from all SAN definitions 148 working with volumes/shares 149 listing disk tables 171 disk tables with metaSAN utility 171 logging on to metaSAN 63 Linux 149 Mac OS X and Windows 63 logging out metaSAN Linux 149
M
MAC address binding to NIC on Linux 187 machines adding to SAN definition 76 removing from SAN definition 78 Maintenance Mode 23 manage dynamic disks 181 dynamic disks configuration 181 Member 18 Metadata Master 17 Metadata Master failover 18 failover condition 18 failover detection 20 manually transferring mastership 143 testing 145 types 19 Metadata Master priorities 20 configuring 87 overriding for one volume 88 metadata requests 18 metaLAN 21 architecture overview 152 data master 21
J
joining foreign definition 78
L
LAN client 21 activating licenses automatically 153 activating licenses manually 154 adding to a foreign definition 158 adding to SAN definition 156 disconnecting from a share 146 removing from SAN definition 157 LAN share 21 adding with metaSAN Redirection utility 174 creating 161 deleting with metaSAN Redirection utility 174 disconnecting from computers 143
211
Index
how it works 152 LAN client 21 LAN share 21 metaSAN activating 39 architecture overview 16 automatically update on Linux 57 automatically update on Mac OS X 56 automatically update on Windows 56 deactivating 43 installing 30 installing on Linux 35 installing on Mac OS X 31 installing on Windows 33 manually upgrading 57 uninstalling 36 uninstalling from Linux 38 updating 56 upgrading from version 1.x 58 metaSAN iSCSI system requirements 26 metaSAN Redirection utility 173 adding shares 174 closing files from files table 174 closing session from session table 175 deleting shares 174 force closing multiple files 174 listing open files table 174 listing session table 175 listing share table 174 starting 173 metaSAN tool 175 metaSAN users creating 103 deleting 105 importing 104 modifying 105 metaSAN utility 170 activating licenses 170 backing up .pmr file 172 checking disk tables 171 checking the volume table 171 checking volumes status 171 getting registry parameters 171 list disk tables 171 overwriting .pmr file 172 restoring .pmr file 173
starting 170 unmarking volumes 172 metaSAN window displaying 62 modifying metaSAN users 105 mount location overriding for a machine 98, 165 setting default 95, 164 MTU size best practices 190
N
network load balancing best practices 189 NIC binding MAC address to on Linux 187 None failover detection assigning new master 189 non-SAN volumes managing 73 setting to Not Available 74 settings to Private 75 specifying default treatment 124 not available volume 22 NTFS volume checking and repairing 130
O
open files table listing 174 overriding Metadata Master priorities for one volume 88 share mount location 165 volume mount location 98 volume permissions for a LAN share 167 volume permissions for a volume 108 overwriting .pmr file with metaSAN utility 172 ShareAccess settings 183
P
prerequisites 30 private volume 22 public volume 22
212
Index
R
registry parameters getting with metaSAN utility 171 removing bandwidth quota 93 bandwidth reservation 93 LAN share 163 Linux from all SAN definitions 148 machines from SAN definition 78 volumes from SAN definition 72 renaming volumes 133 repair disk utility using 140 repartitioning volumes on Mac OS X 136 volumes on Windows 137 restoring .pmr file with metaSAN utility 173 dynamic disks configuration 182 reverting dynamic disks to basic 139
S
SAN definition 17 adding LAN clients 156 adding machines 76 adding volumes 70 changing the password 81 configuring Metadata Master priorities 87 configuring settings 84 creating 65 deleting 84 exporting 83 importing 84 protecting with password 80 removing LAN clients 157 removing machines 78 removing the password 82 removing volumes 72 specifying failover detection 89 specifying the IP range 86 SAN Member 18 SAN to LAN failover 20 enabling 118 service dependencies specifying 124
session closing from session table 175 session table listing 175 share table listing with metaSAN Redirection utility 174 ShareAccess settings overwriting on Windows 183 specifying allocation optimization size 118 boot sequence 120 Data Master 159 failover detection 89 fallback account for all machines 110 fallback account for one machine 111 files and folders creation behaviour on Mac OS X 123 IP Range of a definition 86 service dependencies 124 Spotlight indexing enabling on SAN volumes 126 starting metaSAN Redirection utility 173 metaSAN utility 170 Support Log generating 185 synchronization interface card choosing 117 System requirements Mac OS 23 system requirements 23 Linux 24 Mac OS X 23 metaSAN iSCSI 26 Windows 24
T
TDIR support enabling 119 testing Metadata Master failover 145 volume performance 121
U
uninstalling metaSAN 36 from Linux 38 from Mac OS X 37
213
Index
from Windows 37 unmarking HFS+ volumes 175 volumes with metaSAN utility 172 updating metaSAN 56 automatically on Linux 57 automatically on Mac OS X 56 automatically on Windows 56 upgrading basic disks to dynamic 138 upgrading metaSAN from version 1.x 58 upgrading metaSAN manually 57 using DHCP Server 187 repair disk utility 140
renaming 133 repartitioning (Mac OS X) 136 repartitioning (Windows) 137 testing performance 121 unmarking HFS+ volumes 175 unmarking with metaSAN utility 172 writing on the SAN volumes 177 volumes status checking with metaSAN utility 171
W
writing on the SAN volumes 177
V
volume checking disk tables with metaSAN utility 171 enabling Spotlight indexing 126 foreign 22 not available 22 overriding mount location 98 private 22 public 22 setting default mount location 95, 164 volume maintenance prerequisites 128 volume permissions 100 configuring for all volumes 105 creating metaSAN users 103 deleting metaSAN users 105 disabling 107 enabling 101 importing metaSAN users 104 modifying metaSAN users 105 overriding for a LAN share 167 overriding for a volume 108 volume table checking with metaSAN utility 171 volumes adding to SAN definition 70 creating 134 disconnecting from computers 143 disk defragmentation 131 formatting 128 removing from SAN definition 72
214

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Users Guide

May 22, 2012

Copyright 2005 Tiger Technology. All rights reserved.

Title: Software version: Date:

metaSAN Users Guide metaSAN 5.0 May 22, 2012

Manual Revision and Control

05/17/2010 05/17/2010 05/17/2010 05/17/2010 05/17/2010

4.6 4.6 4.6

4.6 4.6 4.6 4.6

4.6.1 4.6.1 4.6.1 4.6.1 4.6.1 4.9 4.9

09/09/2011 Added support for Mac OS X Lion/Lion Server (64-bit).

5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0

5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0.1 5.0.1

Installing and Uninstalling metaSAN

Updating metaSAN and metaLAN

Optimizing the SAN

119 119 120 121 123 123 124 124 125

SAN Resources Maintenance

Linux Integration to the SAN

metaLAN Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

153 155 155 159 159 160 163 166

metaSAN Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Concepts and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Concepts and Terminology

Concepts and Terminology

Metadata Master Failover

Concepts and Terminology

Metadata Master Priorities

SAN to LAN Failover

Concepts and Terminology

Not Available Volume

metaSAN iSCSI Requirements

uname -a SELinux should be disabled prior to installing metaSAN iSCSI

Installing and Uninstalling metaSAN

Installing metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Uninstalling metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Activating metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Deactivating metaSAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Installing and Uninstalling metaSAN

Any SAN management software is removed from your system.

To install metaSAN on Mac OS X:

1. Browse for and double-click the metaSAN installation file.

The installation begins.

Installing and Uninstalling metaSAN

The metaSAN Configuration Wizard appears.

also Avoiding Disk Corruption During Installation of metaSAN on page 142.

To install metaSAN on Windows:

The installation begins.

instructions to install them.

Installing and Uninstalling metaSAN

that component and then click Next.

also Avoiding Disk Corruption During Installation of metaSAN on page 142.

1. Log on to the Linux system as root. 2. In command-line, type:

rpm -i <path to the metaSAN-4-x.i386.rpm>

Installing and Uninstalling metaSAN

Scenario 2: Using the metaSAN window

restart each machine, without running the Configuration Wizard.

To uninstall metaSAN from Windows:

1. Display the Control Panel. 2. Do the following:

The deactivation wizard starts.

The metaSAN setup wizard appears.

Installing and Uninstalling metaSAN

2. Click Next. 3. Select Remove current installation, and click Next.

1. Log on to the Linux system as root. 2. In command-line, type:

Installing and Uninstalling metaSAN

To activate metaSAN manually on a Mac OS X and Windows system:

1. In the About tab of metaSAN window, click Activate metaSAN.