Lesson9.Using the Command Line

Lesson 9. Using the Command Line

Although you are perfectly able to configure and set up your SAN without entering the Terminal application, there are times when it will prove invaluable to have a little command-line knowledge under your belt.

Most of the files you will be examining are located in the Xsan folder (/Library/Filesystems/Xsan).

Almost all of the files that you will encounter in the subfolders in the Xsan directory are small XML text files. After you install Xsan Admin, you will notice that the config folder is empty. The config files get pushed to all clients as soon as the metadata controller is set up. Some of the files that are propagated tell the Xsan client which IP address is used to reach the metadata controller and other controllers. There are also config files that tell the host computer which type of node it is, metadata controller or client. Most of these small config files get updated if the admin changes certain properties in the SAN. Since these are only config files, the Xsan Admin application can easily copy these files to all controllers and clients when necessary.

Metadata controllers also have a number of items in their Xsan directory that are absent on client nodes.

• /Library/Filesystems/Xsan/data

• /Library/Filesystems/Xsan/config/<volumename>.cfg

• /Library/Filesystems/Xsan/config/cvlabels

• /Library/Filesystems/Xsan/config/fsmlist