OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 September 2007 www.novell.
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novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Contents About This Guide 1 Overview of the NetWare Traditional File System 1.1 1.2 1.3 NetWare Traditional Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 What Happens When You Mount a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 Traditional Volume Objects in eDirectory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Traditional Volume Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1.5 Suspending File Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Salvaging and Purging Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4.2.1 Configuring Salvage for All NSS Volumes on the Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4.2.2 Salvaging Deleted Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4.2.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 8.9 Resolving Volume Mounting Problems Caused by the Name Space Module . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 About This Guide This guide discusses how to configure and manage the NetWare® Traditional File System for Novell® Open Enterprise Server 2 NetWare and NetWare 6.5 SP7.
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novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Overview of the NetWare Traditional File System 1 1 The NetWare® Traditional File System provides legacy storage and file system management for Novell® Open Enterprise Server NetWare. The Novell Storage ServicesTM File System (NSS) provides the primary system for storage and file management for NetWare. The NetWare operating system and its extensions are installed on an NSS pool and volume, named sys.
When you boot a NetWare server, each Traditional volume is mounted, meaning the following: The volume becomes visible to the operating system. The volume’s File Allocation Table (FAT) is loaded into memory. A single block of data in the file takes up one entry in the FAT. Because of this, volumes with a smaller block size require more server memory to mount and manage, and it takes longer to mount the volume. However, if most of your files are small, a large block size wastes disk space.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 A single disk can contain volume segments from multiple volumes. If a single disk fails, each volume segment on it fails, causing all of the volumes that have volume segments on that server disk to fail. To achieve fault tolerance, you should protect the volumes against disk failure by setting up a software RAID 1 (mirroring) device for the partitions. See “Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault Tolerance” on page 35.
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novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Using NetWare Traditional Volumes in a Virtual Guest Server Environment 2 2 NetWare® Traditional volumes can be used on NetWare guest servers in a virtualized environment just as they are on physical NetWare servers. Novell® Storage ServicesTM (NSS) is responsible for managing virtual devices for the virtual machine, which parallels the NSS role for storage management on physical servers.
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novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes 3 3 You manage the NetWare® Traditional File System volumes with Novell® Remote Manager for NetWare. For information about this management tool, see OES 2: Novell Remote Manager for NetWare Administration Guide. This section discusses the following file and directory management tasks: Section 3.1, “Using Novell Remote Manager for NetWare,” on page 17 Section 3.
3 Click OK. The management interface opens in your Web browser. The Partition Disks page displays the server disk’s layout according to the physical connections in your server. It uses indentation to indicate where a volume physically resides. It lists adapters, devices, partitions, Traditional volumes, and free space at different levels of indentation.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 3.3 Creating a NetWare Partition for Traditional Volumes The first task for setting up the NetWare Traditional file system is to create partitions on your storage devices. The maximum supported partition size for Traditional NetWare partitions is 4 GB. 1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manage Server > Partition Disks. 2 Locate the device that you want to create the partition on, then click the Create link next to it.
3.6 Deleting a NetWare Partition If you delete a partition, you destroy all volumes and data on that partition. If the partition is mirrored, the other partitions in the mirror group retains the data from the deleted partition. Before you can delete a mirrored partition, unmirror the partition, then delete it. Unmirror a Partition 1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manager Servers > Partition Disks. 2 Locate and the partition you want to unmirror, then click the Remove Mirror link next to it.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 IMPORTANT: Some attributes cannot be changed after the volume is created. You must decide before you go forward what attributes you want to assign. Select any of the following options: Compression: Enables the file system to compress the files in the volume. You set up file compression when you create volumes. After you enable file compression, you cannot turn it off for the life of the volume.
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manage Servers > Volumes. 2 Locate the volume you want to set quotas for, then click the Space Quota link next to it. 3 Click Volume Space Quota. 4 Specify the value (in megabytes) of the space size you want to specify, then click Apply. 5 To confirm your decision, click OK. 3.12 Salvaging and Purging Files Files deleted from the NetWare server remain on the disk until the deleted files are purged. Deleted files can be salvaged any time before they are purged.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 If you have insufficient memory to mount a Traditional volume with a long name space, you might want to convert the volume to an NSS volume. For information, see “Upgrading Legacy NSS and NetWare Traditional Volumes” in the OES 2: NSS File System Administration Guide. This section discusses the following: Section 3.14.1, “Calculating Memory Required for Name Space Support,” on page 23 Section 3.14.2, “Adding a Name Space,” on page 23 Section 3.14.
You can remove the name space by deleting the volume and re-creating it, or by using the Vrepair utility. For instructions, see Section 3.18, “Repairing a Traditional Volume,” on page 24. 3.15 Creating an eDirectory Object for a Traditional Volume If a NetWare volume exists on the server and does not have a corresponding Volume object in Novell eDirectoryTM, a Create eDir Object link appears on the volume line in Novell Remote Manager on the Partition Disks page.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Dismount the volume (see Section 3.9, “Dismounting a Traditional Volume,” on page 21), then use the Vrepair utility to correct volume problems or to remove name space entries from File Allocation Tables (FATs) and Directory Entry Tables (DETs). You can run the Vrepair utility (vrepair) on a damaged volume while other volumes are mounted. For details about using the Vrepair utility, see “VREPAIR” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
2 Accept the default options, or select alternate options, as appropriate. The first time you try to repair a volume, accept the default options. If the default options fail to repair the volume, select alternate options. 2a To accept the default options, continue with Step 3. 2b To set alternate options at the Options menu, choose Set Vrepair Options, then select Option 2. 3 To begin the repair process, choose Repair A Volume from the Options menu.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 word processor and rename the directory, you need to change the mapping in every login script where that search mapping appears. By using a Directory Map object, you could avoid making changes to the login scripts. First, using ConsoleOne®, you could create a Directory Map object called current_wpr that points to the word processor directory (sys:\public\wpr\80).
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novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Configuring Advanced Features for Traditional Volumes 4 4 This section discusses how to optimize file system performance for your NetWare® Traditional File System storage and file management systems. Section 4.1, “Compressing and Decompressing Files,” on page 29 Section 4.2, “Salvaging and Purging Files,” on page 32 4.1 Compressing and Decompressing Files One way to conserve disk space is to compress files.
Files automatically pass in and out of their compressed state as they are unused, then used. It is not necessary to separate application files from data files for file compression because NetWare compresses files based on the interval of time that a file remains inactive. Most application files are used regularly. Use the set command to preclude compression of frequently used applications. For instructions, see “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Minimum Compression Percentage Gain Enable File Compression Maximum Concurrent Compressions Convert Compressed to Uncompressed Option Decompress Percent Disk Space Free To Allow Commit Decompress Free Space Warning Interval Deleted Files Compression Option Days Untouched Before Compression 4.1.3 Enabling File Compression for a Traditional Volume You choose to compress files when you create volumes by setting the File Compression attribute.
Use the set command’s Enable File Compression parameter to temporarily suspend file compression for a volume. For instructions, see “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference. While file compression is suspended, files that would have been compressed are queued and compressed when compression is re-enabled. You can also use the monitor utility to change file compression parameters. For a general description, see “MONITOR” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference. 4.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 You can view a list of deleted files in a directory and recover files by using Novell Remote Manager for NetWare. For more information on salvaging files, see the OES 2: Novell Remote Manager for NetWare Administration Guide. Recovered files contain information about who deleted the files and when they were deleted.
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novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault Tolerance 5 5 NetWare® Traditional File System volumes can span multiple disks. If a single disk fails, all Traditional volumes that have segments on that disk also fail. To increase the data fault tolerance of a server that has a Traditional file system, you can mirror the data from a Traditional NetWare partition on one disk to Traditional NetWare partitions on other disks. This section discusses the following: Section 5.
5.1.2 Key Concepts for Mirroring Traditional NetWare Partitions The following are important concepts for mirroring Traditional NetWare partitions: All member partitions of a software RAID1 device must be of the same type. A Traditional NetWare partition can only be mirrored to other Traditional partitions. Each member partition in the software RAID1 device must be compatible in data area size. The new partition must be at least the same size or slightly larger than the other partitions in the group.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 5.1.4 Example Software RAID1 Solution for Fault Tolerance of Traditional Volumes As an example, consider a server that has five server disks. Four of the disks (0, 1, 3, and 4) are under 4 gigabytes (GB) and each disk contains a single partition the size of the disk. The fifth disk (5) is 20 GB and contains four partitions of 4 GB each; the remaining 4 GB capacity are unused free space.
4 Click Create Partition and Volume. 5 Specify the size of the partition in bytes (B), kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes (GB). If you plan to make this a mirrored partition, it must be compatible in data area size with other partitions you plan to use. The physical size of the partition must be at least 100 KB, but no more than 120 MB larger than the data size of the existing partitions in the mirror group.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 This initiates the resynchronization process for the mirror group that contains the partition you selected. 2 Check the mirror status to confirm the resynchronization.
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novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Using Software RAID0 Devices to Enhance Disk I/O Performance 6 6 If your disk response time is slow for heavily used volumes, you can improve disk I/O performance by using a software RAID0 device for the volume. Even though the NetWare® Traditional File System volumes can comprise segments from multiple disks, the disks are not forced to distribute data evenly across the member disks. A RAID0 device evenly stripes data across its disks.
You must use Novell Storage ServicesTM Management Utility or the NSS Storage Management plugin for iManager to create a software RAID0 device. For instructions, see “Managing Software RAID Devices” in the OES 2: NSS File System Administration Guide. After you create the RAID0, use Novell Remote Manager for NetWare to create a Traditional volume on the device. Make sure to use the RAID0 for your segment. For information on creating a Traditional volume, see Section 3.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 Optimizing Disk and Cache Performance for Traditional Volumes 7 7 NetWare® provides several methods for improving the performance of your NetWare Traditional File System: Section 7.1, “Optimizing Storage Disk Capacity for Traditional Volumes,” on page 43 Section 7.2, “Improving Disk Reads on Traditional Volumes,” on page 45 Section 7.3, “Improving Disk Writes for Traditional Volumes,” on page 46 Section 7.
7.1.2 Disable Read-After-Write-Verify Disable Read-After-Write-Verify in the Monitor (monitor) utility if your hard disk provides this capability. Read-After-Write-Verify is almost always provided by the hard disk itself. Use the Read-AfterWrite-Verify feature only if your hardware does not provide this feature but does support softwarecontrolled Read-After-Write-Verify. For information, see Section 7.3.3, “Turn Off Read-After-Write Verification,” on page 47. 7.1.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 WARNING: Do not fill up your sys: volume. This could damage your entire file system. The Transaction Tracking SystemTM, which protects Novell eDirectoryTM, shuts down, compromising the eDirectory replicas on the server. To keep enough free space on volumes, try the following suggestions: Regularly monitor each volume’s disk space. Use the Volume Low Warning Threshold parameter to specify when you are warned that a volume is running out of disk space.
When a program randomly accesses a file that contains more than 64 file allocation table (FAT) entries, the file system builds a turbo FAT index for the file so that the information in the file can be accessed quickly. The Turbo FAT Re-Use Wait Time parameter specifies how long a turbo FAT index remains in memory after the indexed file is closed. When the turbo FAT index is in memory, files can be opened and information accessed faster.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 7.3.2 Change Disk and Directory Caching for Faster Writes Change the Disk and Directory Caching parameter for faster writes if network users frequently make many small write requests and the server is slow to respond to the requests. Use “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference to modify the following parameters: Increase the value of the Dirty Disk Cache Delay Time parameter.
Use the “SET” command as described in the OES 2: Utilities Reference to disable the Disk Read After Write Verification parameter. 7.4 Configuring SET Parameters for the NetWare Traditional File System Table 7-1 indicates the default settings in NetWare 6.5 or later for the Traditional file system SET parameters.
Default Value Dirty Disk Cache Delay Time 3.3 seconds Minimum File Cache Report Threshold 20 Automatically Repair Bad Volumes On File Delete Wait Time 5 minutes 29.
Default Value Compression Daily Check Starting Hour 0 Minimum Compression Percentage Gain 20 Enable File Compression On Maximum Concurrent Compressions 2 Convert Compressed To Uncompressed Option 1 Decompress Percent Disk Space Free To Allow Commit 10 [XXX] Decompress Free Space Warning Interval 31 minutes 18.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 8 Troubleshooting 8 This section presents various troubleshooting procedures for resolving problems with Traditional volumes: Section 8.1, “Resolving File I/O Errors,” on page 51 Section 8.2, “Resolving Volume I/O Errors,” on page 51 Section 8.3, “Resolving Problems When the Server Hangs after Mounting the Last Volume,” on page 52 Section 8.4, “Resolving Problems When No Volumes Mount,” on page 52 Section 8.
8.3 Resolving Problems When the Server Hangs after Mounting the Last Volume To diagnose problems when the server stops processing after mounting the last volume, identify whether the following conditions exist: Make sure the server network board is installed or seated correctly and is initializing when the server is started. Make sure that the server network board is configured correctly.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 8.5 Resolving Problems When Only Some Volumes Mount To diagnose problems when only some volumes mount, identify whether the following conditions exist: The server does not have enough RAM. The disk drivers for external drives are not loaded. To resolve problems when only some volumes mount, do the following: Add more RAM. Verify which drivers are loaded. 8.
Check the status of the available cache buffers. If the cache buffers are fewer than 20%, add more RAM to your server. Free up memory by unloading resources. On volumes using the Traditional file system, streamline the directory structure. Each subdirectory takes at least one directory block (by default, a 4 KB block of memory). Therefore, subdirectories with only one file require as much memory as directories with 32 files. Check the 4 KB size.
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007 8.9 Resolving Volume Mounting Problems Caused by the Name Space Module After a volume has been configured to support more than the DOS naming convention, the name space NLM program must be loaded before the volume can be mounted. To diagnose problems when a Traditional volume cannot mount because the name space NLM program is not loaded, identify whether the following conditions exist: The command to load the name space NLM is not in the startup.ncf file.
