Xserve RAID and windows

How do I configure a Windows PC to access Xserve RAID drives?

Kind of a vague question...
Are you trying to attach the Windows PC directly to the XServe RAID?
Or is the XServe RAID attached to a Mac and you're trying to access the data over a network?
In the first case you should just need a fiber channel card in the Windows PC and run a fiber channel cable from the PC to the RAID - depending on how the RAID is configured, it should just appear.
In the second case you need to share the XServe RAID volumes via SMB. The specifics of how to do this vary based on which version of Mac OS X Server you're running.

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Xserve Raid and Windows Machines

Hi All,
I need some help, first and foremost I am not familiar with Xserve Raid units. We have one in a remote office that is connected to all our macs via Fiber. I need to connect a windows box with a fiber card to this SAN also to backup the SAN. How do I go about mounting the volume within windows and what software do I need to connect?
Thanks,
Greg

Are the computers using the RAID as directly attached storage or are they using XSAN (or another product) to access the storage as a SAN?
If they are using XSAN then I'm afraid you're out of luck as we there is no Windows client for XSAN. If they are using a different SAN product then perhaps you'll have more luck with finding a windows client.
HTH,
=Tod

XServe Raid and QLogic Switch

First off, I have no idea what any of this stuff does.
Okay, now that that's out of the way...
I have an XServe Raid divided into 4 partitions. Three computers connect to it via a QLogic San Switch 5200. Computer1 sees two partitions. Computer2 sees one partition and computer3 sees one partition.
Computer1 still sees both of it's partitions but Computers 2 & 3 cannot see their partitions.
Now, I think the problem is with the switch. The XServe seems to be fine from everything I can tell.
I've tried troubleshooting the switch but can't even connect to it. All of this to just let you guys know what's going on.
At this point I just want to get my video files off of the XServe partitions that can't be seen so... my question is this:
If I remove the switch from the equation and just plug the XServe directly into the back of my G5 will all four partitions show up so I can get this data off?
I just don't know enough about these things to know what would happen if I did that and want to make sure that nothing strange will happen!
Any advice you guys can give would be SO much appreciated.
Kip

Camelot,
This post totally helped me fix the problem. I had no idea what LUN masking was and when I saw that section in the RAID admin I didn't click it because not knowing what it was I didn't want to accidentally mess anything up. So yeah, I plugged the raid straight into the computer using the copper fibre channel cables and only saw two of the 4 partitions or I guess "slices." So, that made me think that your idea of the LUN masking option was probably right!
I went to that area and yes, it was all set up with various ports seeing certain slices etc. I was able to go around to the two new computers and find their World Wide Port Names and assign those to specific slices. I'm so happy and I've learned all kinds of new stuff!
Something I do think is odd...
We replaced two computers that were connected to the XServe Raid and just took the fibre cable from the old and plugged it into the new. This of course is where the problem came in because the cards in the new computers have different WWPNs than the old. The funny thing is, it worked for a while. The drives showed up on the new computers... until we took a power hit and the XServe powered off and then came back up. So, it's like it doesn't look at the port name while it's on.. just when it first turns on. So it didn't seem to notice that the port names had changed until then.
Seems kinda odd to me but.. hey, it all seems to work!
So yeah, thank you so much. I've learned a lot here!
Kip Gordon
Memphis, TN

XServe RAID in Windows environment

First of all, I am not a Mac person so please bear with me.
I recently inherited a XServe RAID, a fiber channel card with two fiber channel cables and NO Mac computer. So everything I have is Windows based. I have a Dell Poweredge 2850 with Windows 2003 Server and Dell Windows XP workstations. Installed the fiber channel card on the server. I connected the ethernet of the XServe RAID on a netgear switch and connected the fiber channel straight to the fiber channel in the server. The server is connected on the same Netgear switch via ethernet. I was able to connect to the XServe RAID thru the fiber channels and ethernet connections.
Utilizing the Raid Admin 1.5, I was able to set the network settings. Assigned the IP 192.168.2.155, 192.168.2.154, subnet 255.255.255.0 and named it Xserve1. No router or DNS were entered. With the servers Disk Management, I NTFS formatted 2.7TB on each array and assigned M and N drive letters. I then created folders and files on each array to see if they will take and it did.
Now I'd like to share the Xserve RAID on the Windows network via ethernet only. Is that possible? I didn't want to use the Xserve RAID as a server share but as an independent machine instead. If so, how can I do it? Thanks...
Bernard

Hello, ulonggapo, and welcome to the Apple boards,
Data is actually only accessible from the RAID over fibre channel and the ethernet exists only for RAID administration and control. To share the space on the RAID over ethernet you would need to connect it via fibre to a computer that would then reshare the storage to clients.
The RAID is platform neutral and certainly can be used by Windows for data but only over fibre channel. If you're interested in pursuing it you should look at http://alienraid.org/ as a starting place for more non-Apple RAID information.
HTH,
=Tod

Clarification on how to use Xserve Raid and Fibre Channel without xsan.

First let me apologize for not responding earlier to your response, I tend to get busy and then forget to check back here.
Tod, the answer to your question is No, only one computer is accessing the xserve raid files at any one time and that is via Fibre Channel. However I do have the xserve raids set up as share points via ethernet.
Maybe I should turn that off and only access the files with the one computer that can connect via fibre channel.
I never thought of that. I will try that while I await for your answer, thanks again.
Todd Buhmiller
I have the following setup:
Xserve: 2x2Ghz Dual Core Intel Xeon, 5Gb of Ram, Running 10.5.8 Leopard Server
Xserve Raid with firmware version 1.5.1/1.51c on both controllers, and
Qlogic Sanbox 5600
Apple Fibre Channel Cards in Xserve, and Mac Pro Tower; Apple 2 Port 4Gbs Fibre Channel Card
Mac Pro Tower-Quad Core Intel Xeon 2.8Ghz, 16Gb of Ram, Running Snow Leopard 10.6.4
Here is the problem.
The directory for the xserve raids keep getting corrup, and I use disc warrior to rebuild them. Is there a way to keep the directories from getting corrupt? I am a few pieces of equipment before I can build an Xsan as that is the ultimate goal, but until then, I just need to be able to have the raids funciton as storage without having to rebuild the directories all of the time.
Anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks
Todd Buhmiller
Widescreen Media
Calgary, Alberta Canada
Tod Kuykendall
Posts: 1,237
From: San Diego
Registered: Oct 11, 2000
Re: Xserve Raid Mounts, Corrupt Directory tired of rebuilding directory
Posted: Jun 27, 2010 1:25 PM in response to: Todd Buhmiller
Are multiple computers accessing the same data on the RAID at the same time?
If so then NO. This is the source of your data corruption and I'm surprised if you were able to get all your data back every time if this is how you've been running your system. Each fibre channel assumes it has full and sole control of every volume it has mounted, no data arbitration is practiced and data corruption will occur if this assumption is wrong.
The only way this set-up will work is to use partitions or LUN masks so the volumes are accessed by one computer at any time. As long as one computer relinquishes control before another mounts it you will dodge arbitration issues but this is a dangerous game. If you screw up and mount an already mounted volume - and there is no easy way to tell if a volume is mounted - corruption will then occur. Sharing data simultaneous at fibre speeds is what XSAN does and to do this you need it.
HTH,
=Tod
Intel Xserve, G5 XServes, XRAID, Promise

+The xserve raids will mount automatically to any computer that I connect the qlogic fc switch to+
This is source of the corruption to your data. Any computer that attaches to a drive/partition via fibre channel assumes that it alone is in control of the drive and data corruption is inevitable.
+Is that the issue, should I disconnect the xserve from the fc switch and leave it connected via ethernet?+
Short answer: YES. The ethernet connections are fine because the server is controlling the file arbitration through the sharing protocol. Fibre channel connections assumes complete control over the partition and no arbitration of the file access is performed. It's like two people independently driving trying to drive the same car to different locations.
Depending on your set-up it is possible for the two machines to see and use different parts of the Xserve RAID storage but they cannot access the same areas without SAN doing the arbitration.
Hope that's clear,
=Tod

What is the max distance recommended between xServe RAID and the host?

I'm looking to relocate my rack to quieter spot, but I would like to keep my xServe RAID in the rack. How far away can I keep my xServe RAID from it's host system? I have it hooked up to my MacPro right now.
Thanks

Hi
I would say about as far as the FC Cables and your budget will go. According to Apple's Tech Brief on the subject that will be around 500 metres provided you use the relevant transceivers:
http://images.apple.com/xserve/pdf/L322097A_FibrChnl_TB.pdf
Page 4.
HTH?
Tony

Xserve, G5, Xserve RAID and fibre channel question

hi guys,
I have a Xserve conneted to Xserve RAID right now. Is it possible connect G5 to Xserve RAID thru fibre channel ? thanks

>is it possible to do ?
Not in the way you describe, no.
The XServe RAID's 14 drives are connected to two separate controllers. Drives 1-7 are connected to the upper controller. Drives 8-14 are connected to the lower one.
If your XServe is currently connected to the upper controller it's talking to drives 1-7.
If you connect the G5 to the lower controller it will be talking to drives 8-14.
Therefore you cannot use this setup to backup the data via the G5.
At the very, very least you need a fiber channel switch so that both the XServe and the G5 can connect to the same controller. However, as Tod has already mentioned, it is tricky to get multiple machines talking to the same RAID drives while avoiding corruption (there's no concept of arbitration, or ways of preventing one machine from editing a file that's in use by the other machine).
You have two basic options - one is to implement XSAN, which will handle the arbitration issue, the other is to configure the G5 to mount the RAID read-only. This should prevent the G5 from modifying a file while it's in use by the XServe (which may be sufficient for backup purposes), but you may still run into issues when the G5 tries to backup a file that's actively in use by the XServe.
In all honesty, a better solution would either to get a SCSI card that works with the XServe and do it all there, or use file sharing between the XServe and the G5 and backup over the network - it'll be slower, but a lot more reliable.

Expanding a XServe RAID and Striping

Greetings!
I have an XServe RAID with four 250 GB ADMs inside the 1-4 slots of the Upper or left controller. This one array totals 701.27 GB at RAID 5 showing up on my Desktop as one RAID.
I recently acquired two ADMs, a 750 GB and 500 GB, and I'd like to install them in my vacant second controller on the right, slots 8-9. I'm pretty sure I can create another array with these two drives setting them at RAID 5. Then what I'd like to do is stripe the two arrays, using Disk Utility, and create a software RAID that will show up on my desktop as one RAID. (I currently use this RAID as my Final Cut Pro media drive.)
My questions are: Am I on the right path?
If I stripe them together, I will lose my data on my existing array, correct? (I have the data backed up on another external drive so when I'm done I can copy it back)
I feel is best to have one RAID rather than several. Or should I consider having two RAIDs but being cognizant that I will have to stay on top of of my Final Cut Capture Scratch media folders as I edit? (ie, Two RAIDS = two separate Capture Scratch folders. So I'd have to choose what Final Cut media will be on what RAID, etc. rather than one folder where all the media can go)
My goal down the road is to completely populate the left/top controller with 250 GB ADMs. If I do, I would assume I can expand the side with the 250's by merely using the Expansion function? Would this "upset" the prospect of having a single RAID of two striped arrays?
Thanks in advance!
System: PowerMac G5 (June 2004), Mac OS 10.4.11
Xserve: Upper Controller, 4 ADMs, 250 each, 1 Array, 1 Slice, RAID 5, 701.27 GB Total

William Lloyd wrote:
This doesn't sound like a good idea. You're mixing stuff in a variety of configurations that don't match, and if you want to stripe the two sides, they should match for optimal performance.
As in: they should all be 250 GB ADMs, right?
With the 750 GB and 500 GB drives, your options are RAID 0 (with NO protection) giving ~ 1 TB of storage, or RAID 1 (mirror) giving ~450 GB of storage. The latter is probably preferable.
So I could install them into the right side controller and make an array of the two using RAID 1 (mirror) and end up with 450 GB of storage. I'll get the protection but losing the extra storage because it would defer to the smaller size 500 GB ADM. And I can't add them to the other side where the 250 GB ADMs are because you're not supposed to mix different size ADMs on the same controller. (This is the stuff that is not in Apple's fine print when they sell it to you. You find it out either through Discussion threads or Technical Articles.)
If you were to attempt to stripe this with the other side, you'd have either 1.4 TB or 900 GB of storage, respectively. In the former case, if one of the drives on the right side failed, you would lose 100% of your data on the entire volume.
My option(s) would be: install the two non-compatible sized drives into the right side controller, combine them as a RAID 1 array and then have two separate RAIDs on my desktop, with the second RAID being physically larger than the other but actually smaller because of the incompatible 750 and 500 GB sizes. Then, when editing with Final Cut, I'd have to choose which RAID that I wanted to store my media on.
So if I were you, I'd give up trying to make it look like one volume.
Agreed. But are there any other options I can explore? I purchased the 750 and 500 GB drives naively thinking I could expand the storage of my Xserve RAID by buying larger drives. Now I'm finding out I should have purchased only 250 GB ADMs-- but they weren't available from Apple when I was able to purchase additional drives and no one told me otherwise. Until now.
Thanks for your learned reply. I guess I should have consulted with you/Xserve RAID Discussions before buying anything.

XServe RAID and Virtual Machines

We are a software developer doing most of our work with MS technologies. We are considering using an Xserve RAID in our Windows environment to store Virtual Machines. Does anybody out there fit our profile? We'd love to hear your experiences.

Are the computers using the RAID as directly attached storage or are they using XSAN (or another product) to access the storage as a SAN?
If they are using XSAN then I'm afraid you're out of luck as we there is no Windows client for XSAN. If they are using a different SAN product then perhaps you'll have more luck with finding a windows client.
HTH,
=Tod

Xserve RAID not viewable by Windows

Hi smart ppl,
I have given a new task to fix the Xserve RAID wtith 7 drives with 500 GB disk space. It is hooking up to the Fibre Channel cable to the server. We use QLogic SANsurfer HBA manager to manage the port. The port status is good according to the software. However, windows 2003 are not able to see the disks. It used to be working fine and now it stops working. And the light on each drive are appeared solid orange. I could not install the RAID Admin Tools since it is windows based OS. Our warrenty is of course expired long time ago. Please help me to resolve this as I have no idea how to troubleshoot that. Thanks in advance!!!
FV.

The easiest way to connect to it is to put whatever machine you're using to contact the RAID in the same IP range as the Xserve RAID and choose "Add System". If there is an Xserve RAID on the system in same subnet it will pop-up in the window and you can choose "Add". It will scan automatically for all addressable boxes on the network and offer them to add. This is definitely the easiest and gets around having to know the exact IP address.
If the machine you're using to connect to the RAID is not the same IP range you can still add it directly by IP address IF the address is routable. Certain whole blocks of address like 10.0.0, 192.168.., and 169.254.. are not reachable from outside those address space, period. If the RAID has one of these addresses (it will self assign in the 169.254.. if not told otherwise) your connecting machine needs to also be in one of these IP ranges.
I have all my non-routed machines in the rack plugged into a local hub and I attach a laptop and let it go to 169.254.. to connect to my little racked LAN.
HTH,
=Tod

Can I move Array from one Xserve RAID to another and keep the data

I'd like to move a set of disk with an existing Array from one Xserve RAID to another. Can I simply shutdown both Xserve RAIDs and move the disk over, assuming I put the disk back in the same order?

Yes, you should be able to do this.
BE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP FIRST.

Raid- Understanding "Hot Spare" and Windows reinstall - Final Steps

Hello all,
If you follow couple of my other recent threads here you will see I have a warning of a failing drive in my 4 tb raid (4 x 1TB raid set.)
Also for an unrelated reason I am also needing to reinstall Windows 7. (and of course my Adobe Master collection CS5)
I ordered a 5th drive to serve as "Hot Spare" and it will be arriving sometime today from Amazon.
I want to make sure I do the above "final steps" properly, in the correct order.
I am basing my "final steps" based on Harm's advice on another thread:
>>>
You can never be too safe with data, but if you follow the hot-spare, extend raid set and rebuild sequence, it is not necessary. Your data will be reconsructed automatically. That is the reason you use a raid3/5.
Your log file is a definite show of a serious disk problem. Replace it, create a hot-spare, extend your raid set and rebuild (it should be done automatically) and you are ready to roll
>>>>
(As a precaution I have done a backup of my raid, to an external drive)
So once my new hard drive arrives today from Amazon, I will, in the following order:
1) Replace failing hard drive. (Do I need to power down the computer to remove the failing hard drive and replace it with the hot spare? Or can I leave the computer powered on so that the raid software can continue its CONSISTANCY CHECK while II do all of the steps to rebuild the raid --- see note at bottom of this post...)
2) Create hot-spare
3) Use the Raid controller software (Areca) to EXTEND HOT SPARE
4) Rebuild raid (it should be done automatically)
THEN, after I confirm that the raid is working okay, I will
5) Reinstall Windows 7.
THe below step is what I am not entirely clear on:
6) I assume since the raid has already been rebuilt {before I did the windows 7 reinstall) I can do a very straightforward "reconnect" to the already working raid. In other words, I would reinstall the Areca raid software (using the Areca cd) and identify the raid and windows 7 will recognize the 4 tb raid as my raid drive.
I am tracking the delivery of my new hard drive and it is at least 5 or 6 hours away from arriving from Amazon.
**** CONSISTANCY NOTE: I the meantime I am having the Areca web based controller software do a CONSISTANCY check of the raid.
It is half way through the check and has found 144 errors so far. The consistancy check is rather vague about what it is doing. But can I assume that it is finding the errors and will automatically fix them.
Or do I have to do something to fix the errors once the consistancy check is finished (This is one reason why I would like to avoid powering down during the rebuilding of the raid.) Or will creating the hot spare, etc interrupt the consistancy check, meaning I must finish the consistancy check completley before rebuilding the raid.
Or should I abort the consistancy check and do that after I reinstall windows. (If possible I would like to do that so I can get on with the editing of my current project!!)
WHEW!
Rowby
Message was edited by: rowby

WEB BROWSER-BASED CONFIGURATION
132
6.6.5 Check Volume Set
To check a volume set from a RAID set:
(1). Click on the “Check Volume Set” link.
(2). Click on the volume set from the list that you wish to check.
Tick on “Confirm The Operation” and click on the “Submit” button.
Use this option to verify the correctness of the redundant data in
a volume set. For example, in a system with dedicated parity, volume
set check means computing the parity of the data disk drives
and comparing the results to the contents of the dedicated parity
disk drive. The checking percentage can also be viewed by clicking
on “RAID Set Hierarchy” in the main menu.
Directly from the Areca 1600 series Manual. I would let that finish.
Eric
ADK

We have 2 Mac Pros and 4 Xserve Raids-

I have 2 Mac Pros and 4 Xserve Raids and want to do a quick fix. I want to hook them all to gather so we can share assets for Final Cut Pro. We have a Fiber Switch and tons of cable. I know that I can’t work on the same project file as the other machine. but can we use the same assets? And will the drives just mount to both of our machines if I just connect them all to the Fiber Switch?
We are planning on an Xsan later this year just not any time to do it.
Oh and a little off subject but can an Xserve Raid mount through the Gigabit connection? I want to connect a couple of laptops to edit some XDCAM video at 35Mbs a sec. Or will I have to wait till we put the Xsan in? Or do all the machines hooked though the Xsan have to be Fiber Channel?
thanx for any help,
Dan.

+I have 2 Mac Pros and 4 Xserve Raids and want to do a quick fix. I want to hook them all to gather so we can share assets for Final Cut Pro.+
You can do this but you're begging for trouble. Really. It could be possible to mount shares as read-only on one machine and writable on the other and at least make resources available but if you really want to do this then a SAN is what you want/need. If you're in too much of a rush to implement a proper SAN system you're also in too much of a rush to reproduce a project file or replace a source file that has been corrupted and lost because someone clicked on the wrong thing. Think about it.
+Oh and a little off subject but can an Xserve Raid mount through the Gigabit connection?+
If you're running server you can share out over ether as remote mount via afp or smb but I don't think this is what you're asking. Fibre is the only way to directly mount a drive directly to the desktop and edit video from it if that's what you mean.
+Or do all the machines hooked though the Xsan have to be Fiber Channel?+
XSAN is also *fibre only*. Ether is packeted and out of order and has latency and a bunch of other problems as a streamed data delivery system. You need fibre.
HTH,
=Tod

URGENT: XSERVE RAID, FCP 5.04, and IT KEEPS FREEZING

Let me lay it out:
I have Xserve Raid and I am attempting to work with Final Cut Pro 5.04, whenever I run the programs w/o the XSR on it runs smoothly, but as soon as the XSR is turned on, I run into a slew of issues I can't figure out how to resolve. First, when it is just on, and I try to get into the Raid via the Finder, it usually freezes. Second, if I run FCP it will eventually freeze when I want to do anything. Third, if I don't really do anything but run programs with the XSR on it will give me the SPinning Wheel of Death, WHat am I to do???? PLEASE HELP, I have a big project coming up next week.
Thanks

See my reply in the fcp forum.

Simple question about one RAID and 2 XServes

Hey Guys,
I have an old G5 XServe controlling an XServe RAID and want to add another XServe for Final Cut Server.
Is it possible to run one fiber line to one server and the other to the other server?
I'd like a straight shot to the RAID for maximized bandwidth, but maybe it doesn't work that way or wouldn't matter.
Thanks for your expertise.

Is it possible to run one fiber line to one server and the other to the other server?
Yes, this is possible. Each xserve will have access to each half off the xraid. Each xserve can not access the other half! This is due to the design of xraids. Actually the xraids are two sets. Each set has a controller and 7 disks. These two sets are placed in one physical box. There is no data path between the two sets.
If you want to access the same data from 2 machines, this will not work. If you want to have each machine it's own data, you will be comfortable.
Regards
Donald

Xserve RAID and windows

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