Getting Ready to Install

Before installing StorNext File System, make sure that all LUNs are visible to the MDC.

Note: A LUN, or logical unit number, is a logical device that corresponds to one or more disks, drives, or storage devices.

If there are any connection issues, resolve them before installing StorNext. For assistance in configuring storage devices, refer to the documentation that came with the storage device, or contact the manufacturer.

Note: LUNs that you plan to use in the same stripe group must be the same size. Consider this when configuring storage devices. (For more information about stripe groups, see the StorNext User’s Guide.)

Caution: StorNext does not support the connection of multiple devices through fibre channel hubs. Multiple devices must be connected using fibre channel switches.

Caution: Quantum recommends that only the storage devices required for an environment are visible to each system. Unnecessary disk visibility will affect system start-up performance and increase the risk of inadvertent reuse of resources.

Caution: Additionally, it is recommended that sites never perform operating (OS) installations while hardware is attached to a StorNext storage network. Numerous instances of OS installations accidentally overwriting StorNext volumes have been observed in the past.

StorNext supports LUNs greater than 1 TB in size if they are allowed by the operating system. To enable support for 1 TB or larger LUNs, all StorNext LUNs must be correctly labeled according to the requirements of the operating system running on the MDC as well as the operating system running on all connected clients. Disk LUNs can be labeled as EFI. Before installing StorNext, decide what label type will be used.

Required disk LUN label settings based on operating system and LUN size are presented in Table 1. Before installing StorNext, install any required operating system patches or updates (for both MDC and client) as indicated in the notes for Table 1.

Note: After labeling a disk LUN, you must reboot systems running Solaris before they can access the disk LUN.

Table 1: Required Disk LUN Labels

Operating System	Label for LUNs < 1 TB	Label for LUNs 1–2 TB	Label for LUNs > 2 TB
Windowsa	EFI	EFI	EFI
Linux 2.6 Kernel	EFI	EFI	EFI
Solaris 10b	EFI	EFI	EFI
HP-UXc	EFI	EFI	EFI
IBM AIXd	EFI	EFI	EFI
SGI IRIXe	Not supported	Not supported	Not supported
Apple Xsan 2.1.1 (macOS X 10.5 Leopard)	EFI	EFI	EFI
Apple Xsan 2.2 (macOS X 10.6 Snow Leopard)	EFI	EFI	EFI
a. For Windows XP 32-bit systems only, support for LUNs larger than 2 TB is limited to the first 2 TB. All other supported Windows platforms (including Windows XP 64-bit) support LUNs greater than 2 TB. b. Support for 2 TB or larger LUNs requires Solaris 10 Update 2 (06/06). c. Supports only the first 2 TB of LUNs larger than 2 TB. d. Supports only LUNs of 2.2 TB or less. e. IRIX is not supported starting with StorNext 4.0. However, StorNext 3.5 IRIX clients can be used with StorNext MDCs.

Note: For best results, Quantum recommends using persistent binding for disk LUNs. For more information, contact the vendor of your HBA (host bus adapter).

• For management servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 6 or 7, before installing SNFS and SNSM you must first install the kernel header files (shipped as the kernel-devel or kernel-devel-smp RPM, depending on your Linux distribution).
• For servers running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, you must install the first kernel source code (shipped as the kernel-source RPM). StorNext will not operate correctly if these packages are not installed. You can install the kernel header files or kernel source RPMs by using the installation disks for your operating system.
• In addition, for MDC installs on Linux the PERL package is required.

• For customer supplied metadata-controllers and hardware, install the fuse-libs package on the system before installing the stornext_full or snfs_client_plus_mover packages.

The maximum hostname length for a StorNext server is limited to 255 characters. Before you begin the installation, verify that the destination hostname is not longer than 255 characters.

The installation software files are extracted into the /tmp/stornext directory by default. The software, when extracted, requires approximately 40 MB of space. Make sure there is enough free space in the default directory to extract the files. If there is not sufficient space, you may need to specify an alternative directory with the -d option.

To specify an alternate location before beginning the installation, enter the following command:

where <snfs_full.bin> is the name of the Linux RPM installation file, and <dir> is the directory into which you want to extract the installation files.