XSan 1.4.2 released

[mimsey]

Please post experiences (when applicable)... if you dare.

thanks
aj

[matx]

[JonThompson]

Come on people, _you_ are my test SAN.

[MattG]

We've already deployed and are pleased with the results. Folder/file disappearing on Intel clients seems to be resolved.

Under the hood, however, there is _much_ that is changed.

Go look for the acfs folder within /System/Library/StartupItems

Not there.

In order to preserve compatibility with future versions of Xsan and also provide clean code for Leopard, Xsan is now launched by the launch daemon with its own launchctl preference (com.apple.xsan.plist), located in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons

What gets launched is a new binary, xsand, which then looks to the config files and goes about launching fsmpm and fsm (if the machine is a controller), and does automounts, if need be.

xsand has a whole new way of logging processes, and for the most part, is more verbose and more understandable.

Because there is so much that is new, its really important that folks read that last bullet that aaron posted to the news item:

To prevent an inconsistent volume state, you should unmount, stop, and run the cvfsck command on each Xsan volume after the MDCs have been updated with Xsan 1.4.2 Update.

We need a clean cvfsck before we proceed.

Happy updating!

[keithkoby]

you must be on 10.4.10 as well I assume. I don't think the upgrade is available until after the 10.4.10 update.

Matt - were you comfortable running 10.4.10 with 1.4.1 before the 1.4.2 upgrade?

[matx]

Xsan 1.4.2 update allows for 10.5 (Leopard) clients.... but I will infer from the usual precaution to have your controller run similar or newer OS versions, that a 10.4.10 controller should not be hosting 10.5 (Leopard) clients, right? You'd need a 10.5 (Leopard) controller, strictly speaking...

[mimsey]

Thanks for the info, I'll probably wait for a 10.5 MDC before making the leap to 1.4.2, everything is working so nicely right now. I'm still rocking a PPC X-Serve as my MDC, any thoughts on Apples future support for Leopard server on PPC? Since most of my clients are now Intels it seems odd to run a PPC server, but I know it should work "in theory."

[dan-o-matic]

[bresina]

Does anyone happen to know if the Xsan 1.4.2 will finally support connections from Stornext 3.x clients, or are we still stuck having to try connecting with Stornext 2.8 clients?

[goedtv]

I am thrilled to hear only positives so far about 1.4.2 Sounds like most of the problems I have here are fixed in 1.4.2 I am curious to see if anything changes in the topic after Leopard arrives tomorrow. Is anyone attempting to upgrade their entire XSan installation to Leopard right away or is everyone (like me) holding back until any kinks are worked out of Leopard.

My personal copy of leopard arrives in the mail tomorrow but I will still be at an apple store tomorrow to get a free t-shirt. Yes, I am that kind of nerd.

[mikeo]

Anyone know if 1.4.2 fixes the issues with Intel computers writing out Shake QT's to Xsan. We have an issue where the QT will successfully write out the file only when the file has an even number of characters in the file path. Odd number of characters results in a 4kb file. Thanks.

[JonThompson]

So, I finally bit the bullet. The SAN is running as well as it did before, although it did not fix an issue that I've had with Mpeg4 videos wrapped in avi, served over afp. I guess users will have to keep copying them locally.

[JonThompson]

The fun bit about this is that Leopard Client fixed my AVI problem.

[romannumeral5]

We are having failover from one MDC to another after the 1.4.2 upgrade. We are on 10.4.2.

Has anyone else seen this and have a fix?

Thanks

[romannumeral5]