Apple Servers

Once again, Apple engineers take a complex task and let you manage it with simplicity. Xsan Admin offers you all the tools you need to set up, manage and monitor your storage area network.

Storage Configuration

Similar to other Apple server tools, you can manage your SAN file system securely from anywhere on the network. You'll use RAID Admin to create RAID sets (or LUNs) from the individual models in an Xserve RAID. Then, Xsan Admin lets you work with your network storage via a similarly easy to use graphical interface. These tools identify block storage devices (LUNs) available on the SAN and guide you through constructing storage pools and volumes. You can quickly and easily set up complex environments with multiple volumes, multiple storage pools and data placement affinities that direct data to particular storage pools depending on the need for performance, availability or data protection.

Access Control

Volume mapping and masking let you control which computers access various volumes. For finer grained control, you can use Xsan on Mac OS X in conjunction with an LDAP directory to manage application, user and group access to specific folders and files in shared volumes. So you can control access to SAN storage in the exact same way, from the same centralized directory you use to control access to network attached storage. Xsan lets you manage storage consumption by setting quotas for users and groups. For greater control over storage performance, Xsan allows you to reserve bandwidth for an individual Xsan system, ideal for the capture or ingest station in a video workflow.

Admin Notification

Real-time monitoring lets you keep tabs on your SAN file system performance and throughput. Should it fall below a specified level, you can set the program to send you a notification via email or pager. Xsan logs metadata controller activity and client access for each volume, and you can review these logs from any Mac OS X system on your network.

Xsan Components

To add a machine, or node, to your SAN, simply install Xsan software on it. Xsan software includes two components: the metadata controller and the file system client.

During setup, you designate one computer as the metadata controller for the SAN. This system manages SAN file system functions such as file locking, space allocation and data access authorization. To maximize SAN availability, additional systems can act as failover metadata controllers, which take over in the event that a hardware or software failure incapacitates the primary controller.

All other systems participate in the SAN as file system clients, running Xsan side by side with other native file systems used by the operating system (such as HFS+ or UFS). Clients connect to the metadata controller securely over Ethernet to obtain the info needed to directly access SAN data over Fibre Channel.