It’s handy to have credentials for each Samba server so you don’t have public passwords in /etc/fstab for the Samba file systems you want to mount on boot. Here’s how I do it:

1. Create a directory /etc/samba/credentials
2. Create a file /etc/samba/credentials/myserver
3. In the myserver file, put the credentials for that server:

   username=myusername
   password=mypassword
   

   Note: spaces are important here – don’t use “ = ”, use “=”.

4. chown -R root.root /etc/samba/credentials
5. chmod 700 /etc/samba/credentials
6. chmod 600 /etc/samba/credentials/myserver

Once this is done, you can add lines for each mount of that server to your /etc/fstab:

//myserver/music        /music  smbfs   credentials=/etc/samba/credentials/myserver 0 0
//myserver/shared       /shared smbfs   credentials=/etc/samba/credentials/myserver 0 0

Note that the file in /etc/samba/credentials doesn’t have to be named the same thing as the server name – it just makes it easier.

This also survives the Ubuntu upgrade process, so you just have to update /etc/fstab if you upgrade to a new release, and can keep the same credentials files.

I don’t know how many of you out there have been using VDR to backup your VMware estate. VDR is a good option for a quick deduplicated backup solution – albeit there have been a few issues. Initially Xtravirt used VDR to backup our production infrastructure as well as development and test virtual machines. However, occasionally we were recieving the well documented 3902 error which would stop the backup jobs from running. A sample of this error is below.

11/23/2009 5:33:11 AM: Normal backup using Xtravirt Daily backup

11/23/2009 5:33:48 AM: Failed to create snapshot for XenCenterServer, error -3902 ( file access error)

11/23/2009 5:33:57 AM: Task incomplete

The issue seemed to be resolved by rebooting the VDR virtual appliance, although this brought with it, its own problems (not counting the annoyance of rebooting it every other day). Well, thank goodness VMware have got their finger out and released an updated version that resolves (to be seen and tested) the issue.

VMware VDR

The upgrade path is documented here. Basically, uninstall your existing VDR plugin from your machine, import the new OVF appliance and connect it to the backup destination (existing VMDK\CIFS share\RDM).  If you are using VDR or are looking at testing it, ensure you use the updated version. Make sure you review the release notes before getting your hands dirty. Although it does not mention the ‘fix’ that is mentioned on the forums here, other information worthy of note included:

Enhancements

The enhancements have been made for this release of Data Recovery.

• File Level Restore Functionality is Officially SupportedFile Level Restore (FLR) provides a way to access individual files within restore points for Windows virtual machines. In previous versions of Data Recovery, FLR was provided as an experimental feature. File Level Restore feature is now officially supported.

• Integrity Check Stability and Performance ImprovedThe integrity check process is faster and more stable. Note that integrity checks are computationally intensive processes and can take significant periods of time. The exact amount of time integrity checks take varies based on of the size of the deduplication store. Even with these enhancements, integrity checks that take several hours are not unexpected.

• Integrity Checks Provides Improved Progress InformationWhen an integrity check is running, a progress indicator is displayed. This progress indicator has been improved, although it does not provide the optimal level of detail.

Enhanced CIFS Shares Support

Perhaps ‘Enhanced CIFS Shares Support’ is code for ‘now works.’

Here I will explain how to add entries to /etc/fstab for various filesystem.

Mounting the fat partition in linux

To mount the FAT partation in linux enter the following entry in /etc/fstab file

/dev/<node>      <path>     vfat    relatime,rw,exec,nodev,user,auto,uid=<username>,gid=<groupname>  0  2

example

/dev/sda6       /media/DATA     vfat    relatime,rw,exec,nodev,user,auto,uid=thalib,gid=thalib  0  2

Mounting the samba/cifs partition in linux

//<ipadres>/<share name>     /path/to/mount    cifs username=<username>,password=<password> ,rw,_netdev,uid=<userid>,gid=<groupid>      0 2

example

//172.29.38.6/thalib     /mnt/samba    cifs username=thalib,password=thalib,rw,_netdev,uid=thalib,gid=thalib      0 2

From the above :

uid and gid are the users and groups to which we want to give acces to the mounted partition.

rw = read and write permisson

auto = when you do mount -a or on the boot the parations will be mounted

An alternative to mapping a directery on a Linux Server to a Windows PC / Server is mounting a cifs share.

First you need to request that your share be cifs vs. nfs

Here is an example of the syntax:

Add to /etc/fstab:

//sharehost/share$ /path/to/mount/directory cifs username=svc_username,password=somepassword

Note the svc account needs to be Linux / AD

Then run

mount /path/to/mount/directory

I’ve been tasked recently on a project to increase availability of applications through the use of multiple/disparate storage systems.  This environment has heavily invested in EMC Clariion and Celerra storage systems over the past few years and needed a non-EMC platform from which to build the second half of a redundant storage environment.  For various reasons I won’t go into here, we chose IBM nSeries as that second platform. (Since the IBM system is rebranded NetApp FAS, I will refer to this as a NetApp filer.)  I’ve been working on implementing the new equipment as well as integrating it into the Business Continuity strategy.

The overall strategy is to continue to use the EMC Clariion/Celerra systems for production and disaster recovery replication and split applications between and across the two storage platforms for local redundancy.  The NetApp will also perform disaster recovery replication for some of the applications.  Here’s a really simple diagram that might help if the description is confusing:

EMC and NetApp Redundancy

Now this may sound easy, but it is, in fact, NOT straightforward.  This strategy requires close coordination with application owners and careful planning.  As we move forward on this project, I’ll talk about various idiosyncrasies, caveats, and problems we’ve faced, how we got around them, and I’ll also talk a lot about the differences between the Clariion/Celerra and NetApp platforms’ features and functionality, application support, and manageability.  These comparisons will include using both systems with FiberChannel connections as well as CIFS/NFS NAS, all in conjunction with DR replication and failover.

To start off, I figure we should compare some of the terminology between EMC and NetApp systems.  Some terms don’t directly translate, but I matched them up as close as I could and noted where there is no equivalent.   Below are two tables: one for Block Storage, and the other for NAS Storage.  Click on them to see full size versions.

EMC-NetApp Block Storage Terminology

EMC-NetApp NAS Storage Terminology

In the next update, I’ll start talking about the deployment itself.  The point of these articles is to discuss the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of each platform so that you can understand how each one might work in your environment.  I do not intend to disparage either platform or vendor.  I will try to be vendor agnostic as much as possible, and I do feel like I have a somewhat unique position of comparing new and recent hardware and firmware from both vendors, in the same production capacities, simultaneously, in the same environment.  I am NOT comparing old ONTap code to new FLARE/DART code or vise-versa, nor am I comparing old Clariion CX hardware to new NetApp/IBM hardware, etc.

Stay tuned!

Common Internet File System (CIFS) is a proposed standard protocol that lets programs make requests for files and services on remote computers on the Internet. CIFS uses the client/server programming model. A client program makes a request of a server program (usually in another computer) for access to a file or to pass a message to a program that runs in the server computer. The server takes the requested action and returns a response. CIFS is a public or open variation of the Server Message Block Protocol developed and used by Microsoft. The SMB Protocol is widely used in today’s local area networks for server file access and printing. Like the SMB protocol, CIFS runs at a higher level than and uses the Internet’s TCP/IP protocol. CIFS is viewed as a complement to the existing Internet application protocols such as the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

CIFS lets you:

• Get access to files that are local to the server and read and write to them
• Share files with other clients using special locks
• Restore connections automatically in case of network failure
• Use Unicode file names

Mount Windows File System on Linux

# mount -t cifs //192.168.0.x/projects -o username=uname,password=pwd /mnt/public

JCIFS is an Open Source client library that implements the CIFS/SMB networking protocol in 100% Java. CIFS is the standard file sharing protocol on the Microsoft Windows platform (e.g. Map Network Drive …). This client is used extensively in production on large Intranets.

Source :
http://jcifs.samba.org/

package ftpjcifs;

import java.util.LinkedList;
import jcifs.UniAddress;
import jcifs.smb.*;

/**
 *
 * @author Reza
 */
public class SmbFunction
{
    private UniAddress domain;
    private NtlmPasswordAuthentication authentication;

    public SmbFunction()
    {

    }

    /**
     *
     * @param address
     * @param username
     * @param password
     * @throws java.lang.Exception
     */
    public void login(String address, String username, String password) throws Exception
    {

        setDomain(UniAddress.getByName(address));
        setAuthentication(new NtlmPasswordAuthentication(address, username, password));
        SmbSession.logon(getDomain(), authentication);

    }

    /**
     *
     * @param path
     * @return
     * @throws java.lang.Exception
     */
    public LinkedList<String> getList(String path) throws Exception
    {
        LinkedList<String> fList = new LinkedList<String>();
        SmbFile f = new SmbFile(path,authentication);
        SmbFile[] fArr = f.listFiles();

        for(int a = 0; a < fArr.length; a++)
        {
            fList.add(fArr[a].getName());
            System.out.println(fArr[a].getName());
        }

        return fList;
    }

    /**
     *
     * @param path
     * @return
     * @throws java.lang.Exception
     */
    public boolean checkDirectory(String path) throws Exception
    {
        if(!isExist(path))
        {
            System.out.println(path + " not exist");
            return false;
        }

        if(!isDir(path))
        {
            System.out.println(path + " not a directory");
            return false;
        }

        return true;
    }

    /**
     *
     * @param path
     * @return
     * @throws java.lang.Exception
     */
    public boolean isExist(String path) throws Exception
    {
        SmbFile sFile = new SmbFile(path, authentication);

        return sFile.exists();
    }

    /**
     *
     * @param path
     * @return
     * @throws java.lang.Exception
     */
    public boolean isDir(String path) throws Exception
    {
        SmbFile sFile = new SmbFile(path, authentication);

        return sFile.isDirectory();
    }

    /**
     *
     * @param path
     * @throws java.lang.Exception
     */
    public void createDir(String path) throws Exception
    {
       SmbFile sFile = new SmbFile(path, authentication);

       sFile.mkdir();
    }

    /**
     *
     * @param path
     * @throws java.lang.Exception
     */
    public void delete(String path) throws Exception
    {
        SmbFile sFile = new SmbFile(path, authentication);
        sFile.delete();
    }

    /**
     *
     * @param path
     * @return
     * @throws java.lang.Exception
     */
    public long size(String path) throws Exception
    {
        SmbFile sFile = new SmbFile(path, authentication);

        return sFile.length();
    }

    /**
     *
     * @param path
     * @return
     * @throws java.lang.Exception
     */
    public String getFileName(String path) throws Exception
    {
        SmbFile sFile = new SmbFile(path, authentication);

        return sFile.getName();
    }

    /**
     * @return the domain
     */
    public UniAddress getDomain()
    {
        return domain;
    }

    /**
     * @param domain the domain to set
     */
    public void setDomain(UniAddress domain)
    {
        this.domain = domain;
    }

    /**
     * @return the authentication
     */
    public NtlmPasswordAuthentication getAuthentication()
    {
        return authentication;
    }

    /**
     * @param authentication the authentication to set
     */
    public void setAuthentication(NtlmPasswordAuthentication authentication)
    {
        this.authentication = authentication;
    }

}

At some point you might need to setup a VM using an ISO file. This post shows how to setup a file share for use by XenServer.

1. Within XenServer, click Storage | New Storage Repository.

2. Click the Windows File Sharing (CIFS) radio button and click next.

3. Enter the desired name and share name. Click Finish.

4. The new repository (CIFS ISO library) is displayed in the left-hand pane of XenCenter with details on the right-hand-side.

5. Now you can use the ISOs on this Windows Share to setup your VM by changing the DVD drive setting to the desired ISO.

I came across an interesting article on “100TB video storage” at StorageMojo.  My detailed response below..

To handle such throughput and capacity, clustered storage architecture is the way to go. Just a bunch of servers with direct attached SATA-II disks – 12 to 24 disks per box (eg. Dell 1950III+MD1000 or HP DL320s) with Infiniband or 10GigE interconnect will deliver screaming throughput. GigE should also work fine for most users, because a 8 node storage cluster can accommodate 8 to 32 GigE ports, delivering aggregated 600MB/s to 2GB/s. If you want to optimize further, eliminate the raid controller card and directly connect the disks through SAS controllers. Configure the disks in JBOD mode. Let the cluster file system handle volume management.  Infiniband RDMA or 10GigE as NAS protocol can offer 700MB/s per system.  Infiniband is cost effective (3500 USD for 36 port switch) and mature.  10GigE is getting ready. Make sure your 10GigE vendor has a stable TCP offload engine (TOE) driver for your operating system. Since it is not viable to upgrade all the systems (workstations) to a high performance interconnect, it is OK hybridize 1GigE and Infiniband/10GigE.

GlusterFS is a cluster file system, volume manager, software RAID and a NAS protocol. It can aggregate individual commodity storage servers or multiple SAN volumes into single large volume with global name space. It is fully distributed (with no meta-data server), runs entirely in user space (no kernel patches) and self-heals (no fsck downtime).  Users can access the storage volumes over multi-protocol – GlusterFS, CIFS, NFS, HTTP and FTP.  GlusterFS is fairly easy to install unlike other cluster file systems mentioned above. Mac OS X users can mount GlusterFS natively on their desktops. There is no need for NFS/CIFS gateway. When mounted natively, each client can access the data directly without going through additional hops (as in NFS access).  GlusterFS natively supports 1GigE, 10GigE and Infiniband RDMA verbs. It has a number of production deployments and an active community around. Check out at http://www.gluster.org

A screenshot of GlusterFS clustering four Sun x4500 in to a 140TB NAS volume and a 70TB replicated volume.

GlusterFS 140TB Clustered Storage

Saya menemukan masih ada beberapa kantor yang menjalankan aplikasi yang ditulis dengan FoxPro. Seperti yang saya alami di kantor saya, kami bahkan masih men-develop beberapa project baru dengan FoxPro, sambil menunggu project migrasi ke Java selesai.

Saat perusahaan kami memutuskan untuk beralih ke Linux, kami pun ditantang untuk dapat menjalankan FoxPro di Linux. Hal yang cukup mudah dilakukan karena adanya Dosemu. Solusi yang dulu kami gunakan yaitu:
1. Data disimpan di satu komputer Linux yang dipasang Samba Server.
2. Pada client diinstall:
a. Dosemu.
b. Samba Client.
3. Di Dosemu di-install FoxPro.
4. Client me-mount data dari server dengan samba:

mount -t smbfs -o rw,username=blabla,password=blabla,uid=1000,gid=1000 //dbfserver/datadir /mnt/datadbf

5. Di autoexec.bat (/home/user/.dosemu/drive_c/autoexec.bat) di line paling akhir, ditambahkan:
lredir d: linux\fs/mnt/datadbf
Sehingga data di server kita akses di dosemu dan foxpro sebagai drive D:

Dengan 1-2 user, konfigurasi ini berjalan dengan mulus. Sampai pada suatu saat terjadi masalah, yaitu index file tidak terupdate dengan benar saat menambahkan record baru. Selain itu muncul juga masalah lain, yaitu update yang dilakukan di satu komputer, tidak terlihat di komputer lain. Hal ini mengindikasikan bahwa 1 file DBF tidak dapat dibuka, apalagi di-update oleh 2 client secara bersamaan. Sehingga, kami terpaksa bekerja secara bergantian.

FIX-1 : veto oplock

Protokol file-sharing di Window$ menggunakan mekanisme locking terhadap file yang sebetulnya lebih mengarah ke ‘caching’, dan Samba mencoba mengikuti standar ini. Artinya secara default, Samba melakukkan caching terhadap file. Ini bukanlah hal yang kita inginkan, sebab dapat mengacaukan program FoxPro.

Jadi, perbaikannya adalah dengan men-disable fitur ini untuk file-file database dan index FoxPro. Tambahkan settingan global ini di /etc/samba/smb.conf :

veto oplock files = /*.dbf/*.DBF/*.idx/*.IDX/*.cdx/*.CDX/*.fpt/*.FPT/

Dengan setting tersebut, sistem pun pulih, untuk sementara. Kemudian terjadi lagi masalah di mana terkadang update oleh satu User tertimpa oleh update User lain. Hal ini dapat disebut sebagai racing condition, yang kembali mengancam integritas data.

FIX-2 : locking dengan flock()

Setelah membaca dokumentasi di FoxPro, saya menemukan bahwa seharusnya program yang dijalankan secara multi-user menggunakan mekanisme locking agar integritas database dapat terjaga. Penggunaan “set exclusive” saja ternyata tidak cukup, maka program pun dirubah dengan menambahkan locking kapanpun akses kritis terhadap database diperlukan.

Anehnya, ternyata locking tidak bekerja, apabila satu user sedang me-lock suatu file, user lain masih dapat me-locknya juga. Jangankan locking dengan flock(), ternyata “set exclusive’ pun tidak bekerja.

FIX-3 : CIFS

Setelah riset dengan mencari sumber di Internet, saya menemukan bahwa SMBFS sudah mulai ditinggalkan karena beberapa bug, dan disebutkan juga bahwa file-locking tidak bekerja di SMBFS. Disarankan untuk beralih ke CIFS, saya pun kemudian melakukan test dengan CIFS ini. Hasilnya, ternyata benar file locking dapat bekerja dengan sempurna.

Command untuk mounting berubah menjadi:
mount -t cifs -o rw,user=blabla,password=blabla,uid=1000,gid=1000,noperms //dbfserver/datadir /mnt/datadbf

Program pun dijalankan lagi dan untuk beberapa waktu dapat berjalan dengan baik. Tampaknya permasalahan belumlah selesai, beberapa kali terjadi kehilangan data. Data yang sudah di-update oleh user, ternyata tidak tersimpan di database.

FIX-5 : nounix and directio

Ternyata meskipun locking dapat bekerja dengan baik, update oleh satu user, tidak dapat dilihat secara langsung oleh user lain. Apabila satu file DBF dibuka secara bersamaan oleh lebih dari satu user, pada saat satu user melakukan perubahan, user lain tidak dapat melihatnya secara langsung. User lain haruslah menutup file DBF tersebut dan membuka nya kembali, barulah update dapat terlihat.

Cara ini tentu tidak nyaman dan menurunkan produktifitas user. Apalagi kami mengalami lonjakan jumlah pengguna program FoxPro ini, dari semula hanya 2 user, hingga saat ini ada hampir 20 user.

Setelah searching di internet, akhirnya saya menemukan kunci dari permasalahan ini, yaitu dengan menambahkan option pada command untuk mounting data.

mount -t cifs -o rw,user=blabla,password=blabla,uid=1000,gid=1000,noperms,nounix,directio

Options nounix dan directio ternyata memecahkan masalah dengan CIFS.

Kesimpulan:

Agar sebuah program FoxPro dapat dijalankan secara multi-user dengan skema Linux+Dosemu+CIFS, ada beberapa “tuning” yang harus kita lakukan dalam sistem. Di antaranya:
1. Menambahkan option veto oplock files terhadap file-file yang berkaitan dengan FoxPro di konfigurasi server Samba.
2. Menggunakan CIFS untuk mounting direktori data, bukan SMBFS.
3. Options mounting dengan CIFS yang digunakan: noperms,nounix,directio
3. Menyesuaikan program, agar melakukan locking saat mengakses data yang akan dirubah.

Post ini merupakan lanjutan dari post SMBFS vs CIFS. Setelah saya melakukan investigasi lebih lanjut, saya menemukan hasil yang berbeda dengan yang sebelumnya saya dapatkan. Which is, cukup aneh, dan membuat saya sangat heran. Padahal metode test yang saya lakukan masih sama.

Untuk itu, saya merasa perlu menerangkan secara singkat prosedur test yang saya lakukan:
1. User1 dan User2 adalah 2 (dua) komputer yang berbeda.
2. Mounting dengan CIFS di User1 dan User2.
3. Dibuat satu file DBF untuk ekperimen, kita sebut file tersebut test.dbf.
4. User1 flock() file test.dbf.
5. User2 flock() file test.dbf juga. User2 harusnya diblok dengan pesan ‘Attempting to lock…’
6. User1 update record.
7. User1 unlock file test.dbf.
8. Pada saat yang sama User2 seharusnya keluar dari blok, dan me-lock file test.dbf.
9. User1 dan User2 cek isi record, apakah sudah terlihat hasil update User1 di langkah 6.
10. User2 update record.
11. User2 unlock file test.dbf
12. User1 dan User2 cek isi record, apakah sudah terlihat hasil update User2 di langkah 10.
13. User1 flock() file test.dbf.
14. User1 dan User2 cek isi record, bandingkan dengan hasil di langkah 12.

Hasil yang sudah saya dapatkan sebelumnya menunjukkan bahwa dengan CIFS kita dapat me-lock suatu file DBF di FoxPro, namun update oleh satu user tidak dapat dilihat oleh user lain sekalipun file sudah di-lock. Dengan membuka ulang file DBF-nya dengan “use”, barulah perubahan tersebut dapat kita lihat. Terlepas dari apakah kita me-lock file-nya atau tidak.

Hasil test terbaru yang saya lakukan, menyimpulkan bahwa dengan locking, update bisa terlihat secara langsung, tanpa perlu membuka ulang DBF dengan use. Kemungkinan perubahan ini diakibatkan oleh mount options yang berbeda. Kebetulan saya mendapatkan informasi dari arsip suatu milis yang saya lupa namanya. Dengan menambahkan nounix dan directio sebagai mount options, sepertinya membuat perbedaan antara hasil test pertama dengan hasil test kedua.

Namun, syarat agar perubahan tersebut dapat dilihat secara langsung oleh user lain, ada 2 cara:
1. Dengan ‘go top’ dahulu kemudian ‘goto’ record yang dimaksud. Atau dengan kata lain, kita pindah ke record yang lain dahulu kemudian kembali ke record yang semula. Update dapat dilihat.
2. Dengan mekanisme locking dengan flock() seperti langkah-langkah test yang saya sebutkan di atas.

Cara yang terbaik tentu saja dengan mekanisme locking dengan flock(), sesuai anjuran FoxPro di Help page nya.

A few days ago we received alerts for the /ddvar fileystem from one of our Data Domain units. Normally, I would not manually remove any files from this filesystem due to it being mainly used by the underlining OS and not for NAS storage. In this case, the problem was the “core” subdirectory. I tried to remove the files from a Windows machine, but due to permission issues, I was unable to do so. Even through Windows (CIFS) to the DataDomain, I was able to modify the permissions of the file(s) and still would receive a permission denied issue when trying to remove. The quick solution here was to add my Linux box to the NFS access list, mount “/ddvar”, and remove the files as the root user. Below details the process that worked for me.

DataDomain Web Alert

SSH to the DataDomain and add my Linux systems IP address

admin1@DataDomain01# nfs add /ddvar 172.16.100.6
Mount the DataDomain /ddvar export on the Linux system
root@tstbox02:~# mount DataDomain01:/ddvar /mnt/DataDomain01/

Move into the core sub-directory under the ddvar mount point

root@tstbox02:~# cd /mnt/DataDomain01/core/

Check the directory for files. As you can see below, the core directory contained 47 gig worth of data

root@tstbox02:/mnt/DataDomain01/core# ls -lah
total 47G
drwxrwsr-x  2 root group 4.0K 2009-01-14 22:43 .
drwxr-xr-x 12 root group 4.0K 2009-04-02 10:28 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 2.2M 2008-04-10 14:23 cmdb.core.26956.1207851782.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 3.8M 2008-04-10 15:06 core.13124
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 121K 2008-04-08 07:01 ddfs.core.14547.1207652507.gz
-rw-------  1 root group 352K 2008-04-07 22:56 ddfs.core.15098.1207618361.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 09:30 ddfs.core.15100.1207747799.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-08 10:37 ddfs.core.15125.1207665449.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-08 10:38 ddfs.core.15505.1207665497.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 09:31 ddfs.core.15506.1207747848.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 527M 2008-09-10 16:27 ddfs.core.1560.1221078099.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 166M 2008-04-08 07:32 ddfs.core.15675.1207654304.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-08 10:39 ddfs.core.15795.1207665554.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 09:32 ddfs.core.15813.1207747905.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 636M 2008-07-28 15:20 ddfs.core.15991.1217272516.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-08 10:40 ddfs.core.16055.1207665605.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 09:33 ddfs.core.16095.1207747957.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-08 07:32 ddfs.core.18047.1207654349.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-08 07:33 ddfs.core.18231.1207654404.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-08 07:34 ddfs.core.18591.1207654458.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 548M 2008-09-20 02:56 ddfs.core.22290.1221893385.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 10:23 ddfs.core.22705.1207750958.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 10:23 ddfs.core.22875.1207751006.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 10:24 ddfs.core.23008.1207751055.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 553M 2008-08-19 15:26 ddfs.core.23183.1219173638.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 10:25 ddfs.core.23269.1207751113.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 09:06 ddfs.core.28347.1207746385.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 09:07 ddfs.core.28507.1207746432.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 09:08 ddfs.core.28694.1207746490.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 09:09 ddfs.core.28989.1207746540.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 167M 2008-04-09 09:14 ddfs.core.29883.1207746837.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 213M 2008-04-07 22:05 ddfs.gdb.15098.1207618361

Since I verified that we do not need the archived (.gz) files, they were removed

root@tstbox02:/mnt/DataDomain01/core# rm *.gz

By only retaining the newer files in this directory, the size is now down to 1.6 gigs.

root@tstbox02:/mnt/DataDomain01/core# ls -lah
total 1.6G
drwxrwsr-x  2 root group 4.0K 2009-04-15 14:29 .
drwxr-xr-x 12 root group 4.0K 2009-04-02 10:28 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 3.8M 2008-04-10 15:06 core.13124
-rw-r--r--  1 root group 213M 2008-04-07 22:05 ddfs.gdb.15098.1207618361

Once this was completed, the alert in this DataDomain cleared in the web interface.

Data Domain Web Alert Cleared

Notes: Always verify files that are being removed are not needed. If there are core files present, it generally means the system has hit an error. Verify with your DataDomain support before modifying the ddvar filesystem.

Beberapa tahun yang lalu, diperkenalkan CIFS (Common Internet File System) di Linux sebagai pengganti SMBFS (Samba File System). Awalnya saya tidak tahu apa perbedaan antara keduanya, tapi yang pasti berdasarkan beberapa sumber yang dapat dipercaya, CIFS lebih baik dari SMBFS. Nah, di mana lebih baiknya saya juga kurang mengerti.

Jadi untuk solusi Linux+Dosemu+FoxPro+SMBFS, saya rubah menjadi Linux+Dosemu+FoxPro+CIFS. Perubahan ini tidak saya lakukan menyeluruh untuk melihat di mana letak perbedaannya, dan sejauh mana peningkatan kedua File System ini. Kondisi yang ada saat ini, beberapa komputer menggunakan CIFS, dan yang lain menggunakan SMBFS. Perlu diketahui juga bahwa salah satu alasan yang memperkuat saya untuk migrasi ke CIFS di beberapa komputer adalah kenyataan bahwa di Ubuntu versi terbaru (Gutsy ke atas) solusi Linux+Dosemu+FoxPro+SMBFS tidak bekerja. Files yang di-mount dengan SMBFS tidak dapat di-write di Dosemu.

Lalu worst case pun terjadi, anehnya, kasus-kasus bermunculan tidak langsung muncul pada saat saya merubah dari SMBFS ke CIFS. Kasus-kasus pun munculnya secara acak baik waktu, program, dan database. Saya sempat frustasi beberapa bulan karena masalah ini.

Akhirnya saya melakukan test, yang saya coba se-sistematik mungkin. Saya melakukan test perbandingan terhadap files yang di-mount dengan SMBFS dan CIFS. Hasilnya pun kemudian memberikan pencerahan yang luar biasa (untuk saya).

Hasil dari test menunjukkan bahwa CIFS memang lebih baik dari SMBFS dalam hal Locking. Artinya, mekanisme Locking di FoxPro dapat berjalan dengan baik. Tapi, kelemahannya adalah isi record / file tidak langsung ter-update saat ada perubahan oleh user lain. Ini fatal sekali. Meskipun sudah dilakukan prosedur locking sesuai standar, file tidak ter-update. Apabila file di buka ulang, barulah update dari user lain terlihat.

Berbeda dengan SMBFS, mekanisme Locking di FoxPro tidak dapat dilakukan. Meskipun file / record di-lock, user lain tetap dapat melakukan lock di file / record yang sama. Namun, update file dapat terlihat secara instant oleh user lain. Ini tentunya setelah saya modifikasi smb.conf untuk mematikan Op-Lock terhadap files database.

Langkah selanjutnya adalah merubah semua komputer untuk menggunakan SMBFS. Tapi masalahnya untuk komputer dengan sistem operasi Ubuntu Gutsy, Hardy, Intrepid tidak dapat menggunakan SMBFS. Maka solusinya adalah dengan mengganti sistem operasi dengan Ubuntu versi sebelumnya (downgrade) atau menggunakan Distro lain.

В порте munin-node под FreeBSD в модулях df и df_inode кто-то забыл проигнорировать smbfs и cifs. (вместо этого почему-то грепом фильтруются строчки с “//”, что странно и глупо.

В результате по куче причин df может окончиться таймаутом, и в графике появится дырка, а на почту прилетит тревожное уведомление.

Чтобы исправить надо в /usr/local/share/munin/plugins/df и df_inode в двух местах добавить smbfs в игнор:

/bin/df -P -t noprocfs,devfs,fdescfs,linprocfs,nfs,smbfs | tail +2 | grep -v “//” | while read i; do

grep можно убрать.

Ноду рестартовать после этого не нужно.

Open Heise hat ein sehr interessantes HowTo zum Thema “Open Solaris als Fileserver” veröffentlicht. Hier wird Schritt für Schritt erklärt wie man einen FileServer unter Open Solaris aufsetzt, zum Einsatz kommt ein Softwareraid der Kategorie 5 (Mirroring+Parity) unter Verwendung von handelsüblichen Desktop-Komponenten. Der Server fällt also unter die Kategorie “Bezahlbar” und hat mit Open Solaris 2008.11 sogar ein kostenloses Betriebssystem. Die Leistungsdaten sind beeindruckend und mit ZFS als Dateisystem kann ein solcher Fileserver selbst teuren Komplettlösungen paroli bieten.

Weitere Infos unter:
Open Solaris als Fileserver HowTo

For the record I’m primarily a Linux user I run linux on my work laptop, home workstation and server. I’ve always admired Mac’s from a far and secretly wanted one, though I never confessed this to my fellow linux friends. About a week ago I purchased my first Mac a shinny new MacBook and so far I’ve enjoyed getting familiar with it – but… Along the way I’ve found a few things that I think that Apple needs to improve on. They are as follows.

• Network Share Mapping/Mounting – This really needs to improve. I mean SMB/CIFS shares have been around for what 15+ years and “Go -> Connect to Server” is the best that Apple can muster!?! Even linux does a better job.

• Make and Sell Real docking stations (revolutionary in design) – The Bookendz docks for MacBooks and Macbook Pro’s are fugly and from an aesthetic perspective do not go with the beauty that Mac’s are. Apple should really look at developing something that uses magnetic induction charging and wirelessly interfaces with the dock that USB/Firewire devices and Speakers are connected to. No one wants to fuss with the cable mess that Macbooks offer when going between home and work.

• Develop an email client that interfaces with Exchange. Sorry Apple but Microsoft has won in the corporate environment with Exchange. This was grasped when developing the iPhone but lost with OS X. Asking customers to pay another $100 to buy Microsoft office to get Entourage on top of their already expensive apple computer is a bitter pill.

Just food for though from a new Mac user.

Ya era hora de poder librarnos de los examenes y poder ponernos a cacharrear con el señorito Alfresco, en un primer momento nos a costado asentarlo en el ordenador, problemas con los conectores, con la base de datos, etc , etc

Ya sabeis que todas estas cosas son de tirar de manual a piñon pero bueno, por fin he podido instalarlo hacer un vuelo mas o menos en profundidad sobre el entorno y empaparme del aroma al que voy a oler durante muchos dias seguidos. Al que no sepa que es alfresco , le dire que es un CMS, ~~ , vale que no sabeis que es un CMS pos yo llamo a papa google y a mama wikipedia y en dos momentos explicado.

Un Sistema de gestión de contenidos (Content Management System en inglés, abreviado CMS) es un programa que permite crear una estructura de soporte (framework) para la creación y administración de contenidos, principalmente en páginas web, por parte de los participantes.

Consiste en una interfaz que controla una o varias bases de datos donde se aloja el contenido del sitio. El sistema permite manejar de manera independiente el contenido y el diseño. Así, es posible manejar el contenido y darle en cualquier momento un diseño distinto al sitio sin tener que darle formato al contenido de nuevo, además de permitir la fácil y controlada publicación en el sitio a varios editores. Un ejemplo clásico es el de editores que cargan el contenido al sistema y otro de nivel superior (directorio) que permite que estos contenidos sean visibles a todo el público (los aprueba).

By Wikipedia (CMS)

Y por si esto fuera poco os dejo un enlace muy interesante y obligatorio para la utilizacion de Alfresco, es su definicion y un poco de historia general, todo ello otorgado por mami, jejeje

Alfresco es un sistema de administración de contenidos de código libre / abierto, basado en estándares abiertos y de escala empresarial para Windows y sistemas operativos similares a Unix. Está diseñado para usuarios que requieren un alto grado de modularidad y rendimiento escalable. Alfresco incluye un repositorio de contenidos, un framework de portal web para administrar y usar contenido estándar en portales, una interfaz CIFS que provee compatibilidad de sistemas de archivos en Windows y sistemas operativos similares a Unix, un sistema de administración de contenido web capacidad de virtualizar aplicaciones web y sitios estáticos vía Apache Tomcat, búsquedas vía el motor Lucene y flujo de trabajo en jBPM. Alfresco está desarrollado en Java.

By Mami

Me gustaria subiros un dia de estos un video titulado “Alfresco en una hora” muy interesante para saber lo que realmente se puede hacer con este Gestor de Contenidos.

This post is mainly for my own benefit.  I mount Windows shares on my SuSE linux box so infrequently, I have to dig through past notes to remind myself what the syntax is.

To mount a Windows share on SLES linux using cifs:

mount -t cifs -o username=jsmith //po5/gwdompri /mnt/po5/gwdompri

• jsmith is the user account to authenticate as
• //po5/gwdompri is the Windows server and share you wish to mount
• /mnt/po5/gwdompri is the location to mount the share, or where you access it on the local Linux box.

•  you will be prompted for the password 
• /mnt/po5/gwdompri must exist

Replify is delighted to make available our new White Paper to our blog readers.

Click here to get the latest Replify White Paper on CIFS Acceleration Using Replify’s Reptor

Today Symantec are announcing their scalable NAS product called FileStore.  This simple appliance claims to offer linear scaling for up to 2PB of storage per cluster, leveraging all the benefits of the Veritas storage products we’ve come to know and love over the years.  But what chance has this competitor in a crowded market?

Have a look a the graphic on the right.  This pretty much sums up what FileStore is about – it’s an appliance serving standard file system protocols (NFS/CIFS/FTP/HTTP) using whatever storage you choose to place at the back end.  Up to 16 ‘nodes’ can be clustered together, working as a single load-balanced entity.  Each node uses commodity x86 hardware.

OK, so these features offer nothing special so far.  However, Symantec are using their Veritas heritage to provide some useful functionality into the product.  Firstly, nodes can be added and removed transparently, including the addition of nodes at higher specifications and O/S levels.  This means the technology can easily be refreshed over time; a painful scenario that most storage admins don’t like to have to go through.  Replacing storage is also simple as FileStore uses the Veritas File System under the covers.  Think of how a ‘plex’ can be replaced on a VFS today – add a new plex from the new storage, mirror these up and remove the old plex – voila!, transparent migration.

There’s also the option of tiering storage at the file level, another benefit of using VFS.  Individual files can be mapped to tiers of storage based on customer-defined policies, which provides the exact level of granularity needed.

What about scale?  Well, Symantec claim linear scalability and a SPEC SFS rating that will exceed the ones posted by Netapp.  These figures aren’t available yet but when they are will make interesting reading.  Finally there’s the thorny subject of the existing customer base.  Symantec claim to have been using FileStore to support their SaaS online backup service for the last 3 years.  This stores around 40PB of data for 9 million users.  In addition, there are large customers around the world already using FileStore, including TaoBao in China.

OK, it can’t all be good news.  What marketing slides tend not to show are the little details that matter, such as management interfaces and feature sets.  I’ve not seen details on what other functionality is available with FileStore - snapshots, replication, de-duplication, compression, encryption all come to mind.  However with a starting price of $6995 for a 2-node 2-socket system, do many of those features matter?

Cuando intento conectar desde un cliente XP(tm) a un recurso compartido de Samba, el tiempo de respuesta es terriblemente lento (entre 20-40s para mostrar el share), este tiempo se agrava cuando nuestro servidor samba y los clientes no están en la misma red y la “electrónica de red”  es complicada.

Encontré la solución en este post. que viene a decir que cuando un cliente XP intenta conectar con un recurso compartido, no lo hace mediante SMB/CIFS sino que lo intenta primero por WebDAV y una vez que no ha tenido resultado intenta el SMB. ¡ No me lo puedo creer! ¡ Cáspita!. Vamos a comprobarlo “logeando” el tráfico entre el cliente XP y el servidor samba, efectivamente nuestro amigo intenta primero una conexión por el puerto 80.

Si en nuestro cortafuegos no  hacemos un REJECT explícitamente cuando el cliente XP intenta la conexión al 80 se realiza un DROP (por defecto), por lo que el cliente XP no recibe una negación y espera a agotar el timeout para lo conexión WebDAV antes de intentar el SMB. Denegando explicitamente con REJECT las conexiones al puerto 80 de nuestro servidor samba, ya sea con iptables o con nuestro cortafuegos favorito, conseguiremos reducir ostensiblemente los tiempos de conexión.

mount -t cifs //{server}/{share name} -o username={username},password={password} {mount folder}

You may find that some other sites that instruct you to use smbfs as the file system. Please not that smbfs is outdated and please use cifs instead.