File Tips and FAQs

 

NFS only supports close-to-open cache consistency, which may prevent clients from reading another client's written updates until the writer has closed the file.

If you need a more robust file coherency, we recommend accessing files with a StorNext client. For more information, see StorNext File System Data Coherence in the StorNext 7 Documentation Center.

 

Under certain circumstances, moving a file to an SMB mounted directory in which a file with the same name already exists, can overwrite the original file without a prompt or warning. This issue occurs with certain Windows clients, such as in a Unix-like environment and with command-line interface tools.

Use standard file browsers, such as Windows Explorer or the Windows cmd prompt interface, to move files. Do not move files from mounted shares.

 

Because StorNext directory quotas are not enforced by SMB shares exported from NAS, some Windows system applications, such as Notepad, can silently fail if the changes exceed these directory quotas. In other words, when a quota value is exceeded, a file length of zero is written to the StorNext file system. The system does not issue warnings or errors that the quota has been exceeded.

If you must enforce StorNext directory quotas, we recommend using the StorNext Windows client to write data to the StorNext file system. This resolution ensures that users can access SMB shares in a read-only mode to avoid content being rewritten and quotas being exceeded.

 

Note: This issue only applies to Mac operating systems (OS).

When Mac OS Finder is in view mode, it locks files being accessed from the network. You cannot save certain files, such as Adobe PhotoShop files, when they are in this locked-state. An error such as the following is displayed:

Could not save <file> because write access was not granted.

To resolve this issue, you need to unlock the file.

  1. Do one of the following to unlock the file:
    • Deselect the file you are trying to save by selecting another file.
    • Switch Finder to another mode, other than view mode.
    • Close the Finder window.
  2. Save your file.

    If these steps do not resolve the issue, ask your system administrator to issue the system show smb detail command on the Appliance Controller. They will then need to submit a support ticket to Quantum. See Log Files.

 

Note: This issue only applies to Mac operating systems (OS).

If you cannot save Microsoft Excel files accessed from an SMB share on a MAC client, you may be running into permission issues. You can do one of the following to resolve the issue:

  • Access the file from an SMB1 share (smb://server/share)
  • Add the following parameters to the SMB share's configuration:

    x86_64:srv> share change smb global delete veto files = yes,veto files = /.TemporaryItems/

    By preventing Microsoft Excel from accessing the .TemporaryItems directory, you force the software to store temporary files in a sub-directory of the original file's directory.

 

When you copy a directory from a workstation to a NAS share, the folder may be grayed out for one of the following reasons:

  • Directories are time stamped with a create time of Unix epoch time 0 (Jan 1 1970 00:00:00 UTC).
  • Directories are copied from sources that do not or that inadequately support storage of create time.

You can avoid this issue by enabling the named streams option for SMB shares. See SMB Share Options.

If you do not have the named streams option enabled and the issue occurs, you can resolve the issue as follows.

  • From a macOS client that is bound to the OD server, manually set the directory time stamp by issuing the following command:

    $ TZ=UTC touch -t <directory_time_stamp> <filename> [...]

    • You can set the directory time stamp between Jan 1 1970 00:00:00 UTC (Unix epoch time 0) and Jan 24 1984 08:00:00 UTC.

      Because the directory's creation time is set to Jan 24 1984 08:00:00 UTC, you must set the new directory time stamp to be prior to Jan 24 1984 08:00:00 UTC.

    • Make sure to use the following format when entering the directory time stamp: YYYYMMDDHHMM

Example

$ TZ=UTC touch -t 197001010000 <filename> [...]