Perform File System Actions

On the Configuration menu, click File Systems to display the Configuration > File Systems page.

After you have created at least one file system, you can perform various file system-related actions:

Action

Description

Stop

Stops the file system.

Start

Starts the file system.

Start and Activate

Starts and activates the file system in one step, saving you the time of starting and activating separately.

Start and Mount

Starts and mounts the file system in one step, saving you the time of starting and mounting separately.

Activate

Activates the file system.

Mount

Mounts the file system.

Unmount

Unmounts the file system.

Make

Makes an additional file system.

Update

Applies configuration changes to the file system.

Note: This option might temporally cause a delay in the GUI response while the file system is updated. If a managed file system is modified, a new metadata archive may be generated.

Check

Initiates a check of the file system. You should perform a check if you plan to expand or migrate the file system. This operation might take a significant amount of time, depending on the size of the file system, so plan accordingly. For more information, see Check a File System.

Expand

Expands the file system in preparation for migration. Use this option to add stripe groups to a file system. Ensure that all needed disks are visible before starting this process. For more information, see Expand a File System.

Note: This option may trigger a temporary stall as the file system is updated. If a managed file system is modified a new metadata archive may be generated.
StorNext does not support expansion on stripe groups containing mixed-sized LUNs. For example, if you create a file system that has two different-sized disks in a user-data only stripe group and then attempt to add a new disk to that stripe group and expand it, the expansion will fail.

Note: For Window MDCs and Linux MDCs that do not have the StorNext GUI functionality available, see "Using Resource Allocation From the Command Line" in the StorNext User's Guide.

Migrate

Migrates the file system after expansion. This option is used to migrate data or metadata off of existing storage. If migrating metadata the metadata will be migrated without changing the metadata layout. If a data stripe group is being migrated, data will be moved from a selected stripe group to other stripe groups. For more information, see Migrate a File System.

Stripe Group Actions

Allows you to perform actions pertaining to stripe group management. This option is used to add, delete, suspend, resume, offload, and defragment stripe groups. See Stripe Group Actions.
  1. Select the desired file system.
  2. Select the desired action from the Select Action list.
    • The Check, Expand, Migrate and Stripe Group Actions actions take you to a separate page and require additional steps to complete the action. These additional steps are described in the sections below.
  3. When a message informs you whether the action was completed successfully, click OK to continue.

You should perform a file system check whenever you migrate the file system. This might take a significant amount of time, depending on the size of the file system, so plan accordingly.

After you select Check File System, the Tools > File Systems > Check File System page appears. This page displays all file systems available for checking.

Note: You can check only one file system at a time.

To initiate a new check, select the desired file system and click Check.

At the bottom of the page, information about previously run checks is displayed, including the file system names, start and end times of the checks, and check statuses.

  • When you initiate a new check, you can monitor the status.

  • To view a detailed report about one of these checks, select the desired check and then click Report.

  • To delete a previously run check, select the check you want to delete and then click Delete.

  • To delete all previously run checks, click Delete All.

When you are finished on the Tools > File Systems > Check File System page, click Done.

This function allows you to expands a file system in preparation for migration. Use this option to add stripe groups to a file system.

This feature enables you to migrate file system data to tertiary storage. Depending on the size of the file system, this process could take some time to complete, so plan accordingly.

After you select this action, the Tools > File Systems > Migrate page appears. Follow these steps to begin file system migration:

  1. At the top of the page, select the file system whose data you want to migrate.

  2. At the bottom of the page, select the stripe group to which you will migrate data.

  3. Click Migrate.

  4. When you are finished on the Tools > File Systems > Migrate page, click Done.

This feature enables you to add, delete, suspend, resume, offload, and defragment stripe groups.

Note: Depending on the size of the file system, certain actions could take some time to complete. You may need to plan accordingly.

After you select this action, the Tools > File Systems > Stripe Group Actions page appears. For complete details, see Stripe Group Actions.

The Metadata Archive History feature enables the Metadata Archive subsystem of StorNext's FSM to keep track of past versions of the file system's metadata. This allows you to perform queries about the former state of the file system.

There are three tools you can use to perform the queries:

Tool Description
snhistory This tool lets you query for the history of file system activity that has occurred between two given points of time.
snaudit This tool allows an administrator to query and discover which machines and users performed modifications or I/O to a file.
snrecover This tool uses a file system's currently active metadata archive to recover recently deleted files.

For additional information, see the snhistory, snaudit, and snrecover commands in the StorNext Man Pages Reference Guide.