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Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server

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Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Olivier Jean on Jul 27, 2011 at 5:14:33 pm

Hi Bernard

I' m setting up metaSAN-4.6.1.30-snow_leopard on a Mac Pro Running OSX server 10.6.8.
I Have a couple of Of metaLan client running as well. My storage devices is devided into 2 partitions
I'd like to setup some Share point Folders through OSX Server that non Metalan users will be able to access through AFP.
Should i install and Setup metaSan FIRST then set up my Share Point Folders through OS Server afterwards
Or Should I Setup My Share Folders FIRST then Setup Metasan?

Or does it not make any Difference

regards

Olivier Jean

PS: Bernard the MetaSan Mug didn't make a safe trip from NAB i'm afraid....

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Brandon Kraemer on Jul 27, 2011 at 5:49:18 pm

I'm not Bernard... but I am pretty sure you will want SAN definitions applied to your volumes and therefore metaSAN installed before you make share points of volumes that will ultimately be using metaSAN. Non SAN volumes could have share points assigned prior to installing metaSAN on the master.

bk

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Olivier Jean on Jul 27, 2011 at 10:47:43 pm

HI Brandon,

Thanks for your input, that's what i did, it would make sense this way.

I just got mixed recommendations in regards to creating share points.
Seems like Tiger recommends creating Shares through the finder As Get info/and tick Share
as opposed to create an AFP share through the server...

They didn't tell the reasons behind it.

Regards

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Brandon Kraemer on Jul 27, 2011 at 11:27:38 pm

We were directed to use the server preferences application vs. the server admin application to make the shares. That seemed to work better for some reason, and the shares still show up in server admin under volumes/share points. Running Snow Leopard server.

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Olivier Jean on Jul 28, 2011 at 3:33:18 am

Same here,

I thought it was a little odd, but if you're been using it
without any issue i'd be more than happy to do just that.

Going through the finder to set up the Share point, do you have the same permission settings once you create a new folder or file within
that Share Folder?

If i may i'd like to ask how many users you have connected at any one time.
The reason i went for Mac OSx server as opposed to regular OS Xwas to make sure we could have more that 10 users accessing these share points. (not all of them playing video of course).

Regards

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Brandon Kraemer on Jul 28, 2011 at 12:32:45 pm

I'm not sure I can speak to going through the Finder, as we use the Server Preferences application to set our shares, but yes, we find that we get pretty reliable permissions controls in all sub-directories using this method. Originally we had a lot of issues with some folders being shared and others with no access via AFP and the difference to us seemed to be in how the shares were created. Originally we were using Server Admin. At one point this was explained to us by our reseller as a 'known bug' and we were using a script to reset permissions to 777 every 10 minutes, glad those days are over.

Our SAN my have as many as 7-14 users attached via AFP at any one time, it's how we share the SAN contents with the motion graphics department and 1 editor (ProRes speeds only). The rest of our workgroup is on Fibre and works 90% of the time Uncompressed 10-bit. We have 6 fibre nodes including the master.

I think running Snow Leopard Server is a good call for the master vs. standard OSX.

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Brandon Kraemer on Jul 28, 2011 at 12:36:00 pm

One exception worth mentioning: deleting files. We have found that on our fibre nodes we often can not delete files unless the SAN network has recently restarted. Within a day or two of a system wide reboot we start to lose the ability to delete files. Our workaround is to create a directory cache for deleting files (we call it "x.delete") and park files there. Then weekly we log into the master and flush this directory out. We have a dedicated master which is not affected by this bug, just the client nodes.

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Olivier Jean on Jul 28, 2011 at 6:45:39 pm

Hi Brandon,

Great info,

we'll use Server preference's file sharing option to create the Share point.

In regards to permission control, i guess you can still use ( Hopefully )
the server admin software Share Points/List, then setup your permission there
through ACL ( as either Users or Groups ).

Once that's done,
i guess any one with the right permissions will be able to add files or folder within
the shares folder from within their computer like you would do from a normal file sharing server.

We will be migrating data as well from our soon to be end of life servers.
I guess we could transfer the old folders to the relevant shares then use propagate permissions
to the share if inconsistencies with permissions occur after the transfer....

Thanks again for sharing these vital pieces of information....

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Bernard Lamborelle on Jul 28, 2011 at 12:33:17 pm

Hi Olivier,

There are no risks of corruption when creating AFP shares, so you can be reassured.

It is however not recommended to create AFP shares from Server Admin, especially on metaSAN Master machines. I believe this is because the server can expose the volume as a .volume name, so when it mounts on the client, it shows as a hidden volume.

This is why we recommend creating the share from Get Info (check Shared folder) or Server Preferences (on Mac OS X Server machines). It is also important to create the share AFTER the volume was handed over to metaSAN. If you create the share before, there is another weird bug in Mac OS and you will see the icon showing twice...

BTW As far as I know, you shouldn't need Mac OS X Server to let more than 10x users accessing the share. This is strictly a Windows limitation...

Hope this helps. Sorry to hear about the mug...

Bernard Lamborelle
bernard at tiger-technology dot com
http://www.tiger-technology.com
514-667-2015

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Brandon Kraemer on Jul 28, 2011 at 12:37:54 pm

[Bernard Lamborelle] "BTW As far as I know, you shouldn't need Mac OS X Server to let more than 10x users accessing the share. This is strictly a Windows limitation..."

From our experience that is not correct. OS X has a 10 user limit to AFP shares, where as Server OS X is unlimited. SMB can be used as a workaround, but then you have other limitations.

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Bernard Lamborelle on Jul 28, 2011 at 1:06:11 pm

Hi Brandon,

Good to know this 10x user limitation only applies to AFP shares...

Regarding the -1407 error, I know you can also "Disconnect" then "Connect" your workstation (SAN Management/Volumes...) from the SAN. This only takes a few seconds. After reconnecting, you should be able to delete without problem from the client.

This -1407 error is a generic Mac OS X error that appears even on external drives (USB, FireWire, SAN, etc.). The question is wether metaSAN is augmenting the frequency of this error or not. So far, we haven't been able to find any evidence for this. If anyone finds any pattern for reproduction, we'd love to investigate further.

We believe Mac OS will generate error 1407 on Delete when the OS is looking for a folder but instead finds a file with the same name or if a certain file is still kept open by an application. If anyone has more info, thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Bernard Lamborelle
bernard at tiger-technology dot com
http://www.tiger-technology.com
514-667-2015

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Re: Running MetaSan on OSX Server 10.6.8 - Setting up Share points through OSX Server
by Olivier Jean on Jul 28, 2011 at 6:58:26 pm

Hi Bernard,

Thanks for your information on this... i have seen those creeping up from time to time...
I think the re launch finder might have solved it at the time or was it the old restart function ;-).

Good to know the connect and disconnect function will solve the problem ( not ideal though ).
Would you suggest accessing the disconnect function on the Metadata controller itself? (in this case the fileserver).
I'd would not think you would recommend accessing that command from the client...

regards

Olivier

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