The following list describes the technical changes and enhancements
made to SAN File System for version 2.1.0.
- New Web address for the user interface — The Web address that is
used to access the SAN File System console has changed to:
https://IP_address:7979/sfs
- Software-only solution — SAN File System is now a software-only
solution that leverages the strengths of the standard SuSE Linux Enterprise
Server platform.
- Heterogeneous SAN environment — SAN File System now supports a
wide variety of SAN configurations, which eases scaling to large numbers of
storage devices and clients
- Storage pool access — The metadata servers require
access to the metadata storage (system storage pool). They should not have
access to the user data storage (user storage pools). Conversely, the clients
require access to the user storage pool. They should not have access to the
system storage pools.
- Non-ASCII Unicode characters — SAN File System supports both uppercase
and lowercase non-ASCII Unicode characters in file names. SAN File System
policies also support non-ASCII Unicode characters.
- Additional client platforms — SAN File System supports these additional
client platforms:
- AIX® 5.2
(32-bit and 64-bit)
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0 Advanced Server
- Sun Solaris 9 (64-bit)
SAN File System also supports AIX and Solaris clients running in a clustered
environment.
- FIFO file-system objects — SAN File System supports FIFO file-system
objects in the global namespace for UNIX-based clients.
- Opportunistic locks (oplocks) — Windows-based clients can create
and use opportunistic locks (oplocks). SAN File System supports level 1, 2,
batch, and filter locks.
- Application binary support — Application binaries for UNIX-based
clients use the POSIX definition of three sets of three file modes bits: one
set of reach user, group, and other.
- Additional storage subsystem — SAN File System supports heterogeneous,
simultaneously connected storage subsystems on clients with HBA sharing (subject
to limitations of the client platform, drivers, and storage vendors). SAN
File System conforms to FCP standards and is designed
to work with any FCP-compliant storage subsystems for user data storage, including:
- EMC Symmetrix
- Hitachi 9900 Series and 9900V Series
- IBM® FAStT 600T, 700, and 900 running firmware version 8.4
and software version 8.41
Note: Only IBM storage subsystem are supported for the
system storage pool.
SAN File System supports an unlimited
number of LUNs for user data storage. However, the amount of user data storage
that you can have in your environment is determined by the amount of storage
that is supported by the storage subsystems and the client operating systems.
- High availability, non-disruptive maintenance, and serviceability —
SAN File System has been improved to provide greater availability of the cluster.
- Automatic workload failover (filesets and master role) — SAN File
System supports the non-disruptive, automatic failover of the workload. SAN
File System automatically redistributes the filesets of a failed or manually
stopped metadata server and, if necessary, reassigns the master role to another
metadata server in the cluster. SAN File System uses automatic workload failover
to provide non-disruptive maintenance for the metadata servers
- Automated failback of workload — If you statically assigned any
filesets to a specific metadata server, SAN File System will automatically
assign those filesets back to their statically assigned metadata server after
the engine hosting the failed metadata server comes back online.
- Non-disruptive LUN additions — SAN File System supports adding
new LUNs to an existing system without restarting the system.
- Non-disruptive fileset movement — You can manually reassign a fileset
to another metadata server without disrupting service to the clients.
- Master console improvements — In addition to updated software levels,
the master console allows you to configure Windows® and IBM Director and to modify the machine name
of the storage engines.
- Serviceability improvements — Improvements have been made to various
serviceability components, including:
- Metadata checker support of a lost-and-found directory for unreferenced
objects.
- One button data collection utility that has a consistent interface across
all platforms.
- Performance improvements that reduce the impact of logging and tracing.
- LUN and volume reporting to allow for easy comparison between the SAN
configurations of each client.
- Target Machine Validation Tool (TMVT) hardware and software verification
tool. The TMVT runs before the SAN File System setup script and provides a
report of installed levels of hardware and software, as well as the required
levels of hardware and software.
- IBM is
providing you an optional script to customize your SuSE Linux Enterprise operating
system. This script enables you to remove unnecessary packages from your system
and to keep on your system only those packages required to run SAN File System.
The script, named ktl.sh, can be found on the top level directory of the SAN
File System Software CD.
- Usability improvements — SAN File System has many usability improvements,
including:
- A Refresh button is on many SAN File System console panels to enable you
to update the panel with latest information.
- The dashboard has been simplified to provide you with a quick summary
of the entire system.
- The message IDs in the SAN File System console logs are linked to the
Information Center to help you quickly resolve problems.
- The helps for messages have been improved.
- You can filter the SAN File System console logs by message date and severity.
- You can display statistics for fileset transactions, policy sets, and
file metadata.
- You can add and remove individual privileged clients from the administrative
command-line interface and SAN File System console.
- SAN File System supports additional configuration options for the metadata
servers and cluster.
- You can start the cluster and metadata servers in the offline
state.
- Terminology changes — There are two major terminology changes in
SAN File System:
- The term container has been change to the more intuitive term, fileset.
- The administrative command-line interface tool changed from tanktool to sfscli.
- – The string tank in most references has been replaced with sfs or sanfs.