HP StorageWorks Clustered File System 3.6.0 Windows Storage Server Edition (server/software bundle) Release Notes (403107-008, February 2008)

• The following Disk and File Ma nagement features provided in Windows 2003 R2: File Server
Management, Microsoft Services for Network File System, File Server Resource Manager.
• TheActiveDirectory features provided in Windows2003R2.
• If you restore data from an NTFS filesy stem to a P SFS filesystem, you may see warnings such as
the
following. The warnings indicate that da ta belonging to an unsupported NTFS feature will
be lost during the restore.
Warning: The target file system does not support some of the
features of the original filesystem. Some data may not be restored
as a result. Warning: Unable to set the short 8.3 name for
“V:\test-restore\WINNT\q50.dmp.gz”. Reason: The parameter is
incorrect.
Filesystem semantics
The PSFS files
ystem differs semantically from the NTFS filesystem in the following ways :
• A file c a nnot be deleted if it is currently open on another no d e.
• A file cannot be “renamed over” if it is currently open on another node. For example, an attempt
to
rename fil
ea
to fileb willfailif fileb is currently open on another node.
• The time that a file was last accessed is not updated after a successful read operation, even on
the
local node.
• When a dire
ctory is renamed, subsequent change notify requests within that d irectory are not
completed
.
For example, if Windows Explorer is o pen at a certain d irectory on the local node
and that directory is renamed on a remote node, any subsequent changes to the renamed
directory will not appear in the local Explorer window. You will need to close and reopen
Explorer
to see the renamed directory.
• Memory-mapped files are not coherent across nodes. Because PSFS is a shared filesystem,
the
same file can be m apped into memory on more than one node. When a change is made
to a
file on a remote node, the local nod e does not see the change immediately. This occurs
because
the
operating system on the remote node may not immediately wri te the change to disk.
Conseq
uently, PSF S allows writes to files that are being exe cuted on other nodes.
• If the Bypass Traverse Checking privilege is not enabled, differences in traverse access checking
for Directory Change Notification (DCN) may be observed. On NTFS, before a change notify
request is completed, an ac cess check is performed to determine whether the subscriber has
traverse access to the directory in which the contents were modified. If the subscriber does not
have t
raverse access, the change notification will not be delivered.
• On PSFS, this check is not performed and the contents of directories (e.g., the names of fi les)
may be exposed via DCN to a user who would otherwise not obtain this data. Traverse access
chec
king other
than during directory change notification is as expected, so access to file contents
is notcompromised. Theuserisadvised nottodependontraverseaccesscheckingto protect
sensitive data that is encoded in the names of files or directories. Instead, the user should place
sensitive data in files and should rely on file security descriptors to deny access to the files’
con
tents
by unauthorized users.
Windows utilities and services
The following Windows utilities differ in operation on NTFS and PSFS filesystems:
• Disk checks—In both Windows Explorer and the Disk Management utility, you can right-click a
disk volume to see its properties. The Tools tab on the Properties window includes an option to
check the disk volume for errors. This option cannot be used with PSFS filesystems. Also, the
command line
chkdsk utility cannot be used to check for errors. In place of these utilities, use the
HP
Clustered Gateway psfsch eck utility to check the disk. See the HP StorageWorks Clustered File
System 3.6.0 Window Storage Server Edition adm inistration guide for details about the utility.
• Remote Storage Service—Because PSFS filesystems do not suppor t reparse points representing
offline files, the Remote Storage Service m ight not operate correctly. If the cluster has a large
number of disks, you may see error messages g enerated from this service. If you do not need the
Remote Storage Ser vice, it c an be disabled in the Services Control Panel applet.
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