OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
Novell
Open Enterprise Server
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007
2
September 2007
www.novell.com
NETWARE® TRADITIONAL FILE
SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION GUIDE
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Contents
About This Guide 9
1 Overview of the NetWare Traditional File System 11
1.1 NetWare Traditional Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.1.1 What Happens When You Mount a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.1.2 Traditional Volume Objects in eDirectory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2 Traditional Volume Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3 What’s Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Using NetWare Traditional Volumes in a Virtual Guest Server Environment 15
3 Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes 17
3.1 Using Novell Remote Manager for NetWare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Managing NetWare Partitions for Traditional Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3 Creating a NetWare Partition for Traditional Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.4 Expanding the Size of a NetWare Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.5 Unmirroring a Mirrored NetWare Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.6 Deleting a NetWare Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.7 Creating and Mounting a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.8 Mounting a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.9 Dismounting a Traditional Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.10 Expanding the Size of a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.11 Setting the Space Quota for a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.12 Salvaging and Purging Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.13 Loading and Installing Name Spaces on a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.14 Storing Non-DOS Files on a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.14.1 Calculating Memory Required for Name Space Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.14.2 Adding a Name Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.14.3 Removing Name Spaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.15 Creating an eDirectory Object for a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.16 Naming or Renaming a Traditional NetWare Partition or Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.17 Deleting a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.18 Repairing a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.18.1 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.18.2 Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.19 Protecting Data: Disk Mirroring and Duplexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.20 Using Directory Map Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.21 Upgrading Media Format from Traditional Volumes to NSS Volumes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
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4 Configuring Advanced Features for Traditional Volumes 29
4.1 Compressing and Decompressing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.1 Planning for File Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.2 Setting Server-Level File Compression Attributes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.1.3 Enabling File Compression for a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.4 Disabling File Compression for a Traditional Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Contents 5
4.1.5 Suspending File Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.2 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
4.2.3 Purging Deleted Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5 Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault Tolerance 35
5.1 Planning Your Software RAID1 Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.1.1 Fault Tolerance for Traditional Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.1.2 Key Concepts for Mirroring Traditional NetWare Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.1.3 Improving Fault Tolerance for Software RAID1 Devices with Duplexing . . . . . . . . . . 36
5.1.4 Example Software RAID1 Solution for Fault Tolerance of Traditional Volumes. . . . . 37
5.2 Managing Traditional Software RAID1 Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.1 Mirroring Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2.2 Unmirroring Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.2.3 Recovering Data from an Out of Sync Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6 Using Software RAID0 Devices to Enhance Disk I/O Performance 41
6.1 Planning Your Software RAID0 Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
6.2 Managing Traditional Software RAID0 Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
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7 Optimizing Disk and Cache Performance for Traditional Volumes 43
7.1 Optimizing Storage Disk Capacity for Traditional Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.1.1 Saving Disk Space with Block Suballocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.1.2 Disable Read-After-Write-Verify. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.1.3 For 16-Bit Disk Adapters, Increase the Number of Reserved Buffers Below 16 MB . 44
7.1.4 Use Drivers that Support Scatter/Gather Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.1.5 Provide a Disk Large Enough for a Memory Core Dump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.1.6 Select Segments for Volumes from Different Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.1.7 Monitor Free Space in Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
7.2 Improving Disk Reads on Traditional Volumes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
7.2.1 Change Concurrent Disk and Directory Writes for Faster Reads for Traditional
Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
7.2.2 Change the Turbo FAT Wait Time for Faster Reads of Traditional Volumes. . . . . . . 46
7.3 Improving Disk Writes for Traditional Volumes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
7.3.1 Increase the Number of Concurrent Writes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
7.3.2 Change Disk and Directory Caching for Faster Writes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7.3.3 Turn Off Read-After-Write Verification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
7.4 Configuring SET Parameters for the NetWare Traditional File System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
7.5 Configuring Common File System SET Parameters for NetWare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
8 Troubleshooting 51
8.1 Resolving File I/O Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
8.2 Resolving Volume I/O Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
8.3 Resolving Problems When the Server Hangs after Mounting the Last Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
8.4 Resolving Problems When No Volumes Mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
8.5 Resolving Problems When Only Some Volumes Mount. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
8.6 Resolving Disk Error Problems When a Volume is Mounting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
8.7 Resolving Memory Errors When a Volume Is Mounting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
8.8 Resolving Volume Mounting Problems Caused by Corrupted Directory Entry Tables or File
Allocation Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
6 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
8.9 Resolving Volume Mounting Problems Caused by the Name Space Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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Contents 7
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8 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
About This Guide
This guide discusses how to configure and manage the NetWare® Traditional File System for
®
Novell
following sections:
Open Enterprise Server 2 NetWare and NetWare 6.5 SP7. The guide is divided into the
Chapter 1, “Overview of the NetWare Traditional File System,” on page 11
Chapter 2, “Using NetWare Traditional Volumes in a Virtual Guest Server Environment,” on
page 15
Chapter 3, “Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes,” on page 17
Chapter 4, “Configuring Advanced Features for Traditional Volumes,” on page 29
Chapter 5, “Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault Tolerance,” on page 35
Chapter 6, “Using Software RAID0 Devices to Enhance Disk I/O Performance,” on page 41
Chapter 7, “Optimizing Disk and Cache Performance for Traditional Volumes,” on page 43
Chapter 8, “Troubleshooting,” on page 51
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Audience
This guide is intended for system administrators of a NetWare server that uses NetWare Traditional
file systems.
Feedback
We want to hear your comments and suggestions about this manual and the other documentation
included with this product. Please use the User Comment feature at the bottom of each page of the
online documentation, or go to www.novell.com/documentation/feedback.html and enter your
comments there.
Documentation Updates
For the most recent version of the NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide for OES,
see the OES Documentation Web Site (http://www.novell.com/documentation/oes2/index.html).
Additional Documentation
For more information, see the following:
OES 2: NetWare Server Disks and Storage Devices
OES 2: File Systems Management Guide
OES 2: NSS File System Administration Guide
OES 2: Novell Remote Manager for NetWare Administration Guide
Documentation Conventions
In Novell documentation, a greater-than symbol (>) is used to separate actions within a step and
items in a cross-reference path.
About This Guide
9
A trademark symbol (®, TM, etc.) denotes a Novell trademark. An asterisk (*) denotes a third-party
trademark.
When a single pathname can be written with a backslash for some platforms or a forward slash for
other platforms, the pathname is presented with a backslash. Users of platforms that require a
forward slash, such as Linux* or UNIX*, should use forward slashes as required by your software.
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10 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
1
Overview of the NetWare
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Traditional File System
The NetWare® Traditional File System provides legacy storage and file system management for
®
Novell
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. For information, see “Comparison of NSS on NetWare and the
NetWare Traditional File System” in the OES 2: NSS File System Administration Guide.
IMPORTANT: You can optionally use the Traditional volumes on the same server with your NSS
volumes. However, if you are planning to implement Apple* File Protocol (AFP), Network File
System (NFS), or Common Internet File System (CIFS) for this server, you must use the NSS file
system, not the Traditional file system for your system volume and for any data volumes that use
these protocols. For information, see OES 2: Native File Access Protocols Guide.
To upgrade your Traditional volumes to NSS volumes, see “Upgrading Legacy NSS and NetWare
Traditional Volumes” in the OES 2: NSS File System Administration Guide.
This section discusses the following key concepts:
Open Enterprise Server NetWare.
Section 1.1, “NetWare Traditional Volumes,” on page 11
1
Section 1.2, “Traditional Volume Segments,” on page 12
Section 1.3, “What’s Next,” on page 13
1.1 NetWare Traditional Volumes
Traditional volumes consist of a fixed amount of physical space on one or more server disks. A
NetWare server supports up to 255 volumes of any combination of Traditional and NSS volumes,
plus the system volume.
During installation of OES NetWare, your system volume is automatically created as an NSS
volume. After installation, you can use Novell Remote Manager for NetWare to create a new
Traditional volume on any disk that has a NetWare partition. For information, see the OES 2: Novell
Remote Manager for NetWare Administration Guide.
You subdivide Traditional volumes in two ways:
Physically: Traditional volumes consist of physical partitions called volume segments. If a
Traditional volume contains multiple volume segments, its member segments can reside on
multiple server disks. For information about volume segments, see Section 1.2, “Traditional
Volume Segments,” on page 12.
Logically: You divide volumes into directories. In turn, the directories contain files and
subdirectories created by network supervisors and users who have the appropriate rights. For
information about directories and subdirectories, see “Understanding NetWare Directory
Structures” the OES 2: File Systems Management Guide.
Overview of the NetWare Traditional File System
11
1.1.1 What Happens When You Mount a Traditional Volume
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.
The volume’s directory entry table (DET) is loaded into the server memory.
As the Traditional volume is mounted, the FAT and DET fill cache buffers in the server memory.
The more files and directories in the volume, the longer it takes to mount. If a Traditional volume
fails to mount, it might be because you have run out of server memory.
1.1.2 Traditional Volume Objects in eDirectory
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In Novell eDirectoryTM, each Traditional volume is represented by a Volume object. Volume objects
are leaf objects that represent a physical volume or logical volume on the network.
The Volume object’s properties contains the following information:
The NetWare server the physical volume resides on
The volume name recorded when the volume was initialized on the server (for example, sys:)
The volume’s owner
Space use restrictions for users
A description of the volume’s use
Statistical information on disk space availability, block size, directory entries, name space
support, and so on.
1.2 Traditional Volume Segments
A Traditional volume can use space from up to 32 logical or physical devices. The volume can grow
up to 1 TB in total size for all segments combined. Each segment of space is taken from a NetWare
partition. The segments of space are automatically carved by the management tools when you create
the volume.
The advantage of distributing a volume’s segments across multiple server disks is that different parts
of the same volume can be read from or written to concurrently, which speeds up disk I/O.
Because of hardware restrictions, a hard drive can contain up to four NetWare partitions, or three
NetWare partitions and one DOS partition. (The hard drive that contains the sys: volume also
contains a DOS partition.)
Each NetWare partition can contain up to eight Traditional volume segments. Thus, a single server
disk can contain up to 32 volume segments (4 NetWare partitions with 8 segments each). A single
NetWare partition can contain up to eight Traditional NetWare volumes, each with a single volume
segment.
12 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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.
You can add volume segments to a Traditional volume if free space is available, but you cannot
remove them. Removing a segment from a volume destroys the entire volume.
You can increase the size of a Traditional volume by adding another server disk to the NetWare
server, setting up a NetWare partition on the disk, then adding one or more segments in the partition
to the existing volume.
1.3 What’s Next
Use the table below to determine where next to go in this document.
Tas k Re ference
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Configure and manage Traditional NetWare
partitions and volumes
Optimize storage performance Chapter 4, “Configuring Advanced Features for
Create a software RAID device Chapter 5, “Using Software RAID1 Devices for
Troubleshoot problems Chapter 8, “Troubleshooting,” on page 51
Plan your directory structure “Planning Directory Structures for NetWare” in the
Create and manage directories and files, including
purging and salvaging (undeleting) deleted files
Configure file system trustees, trustee rights,
inherited rights filters, and attributes for directories
and files
Chapter 3, “Configuring and Managing NetWare
Traditional Volumes,” on page 17
Traditional Volumes,” on page 29
Data Fault Tolerance,” on page 35
Chapter 6, “Using Software RAID0 Devices to
Enhance Disk I/O Performance,” on page 41
OES 2: File Systems Management Guide.
“Configuring Directories for NetWare and NSS on
Linux” in the OES 2: File Systems Management
Guide.
“Configuring File System Trustees, Trustee Rights,
Inherited Rights Filters, and Attributes” in the OES
2: File Systems Management Guide.
Overview of the NetWare Traditional File System 13
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14 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
2
Using NetWare Traditional
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Volumes in a Virtual Guest Server
Environment
NetWare® Traditional volumes can be used on NetWare guest servers in a virtualized environment
just as they are on physical NetWare servers. Novell
managing virtual devices for the virtual machine, which parallels the NSS role for storage
management on physical servers. For information, see “Using NSS in a Virtual Guest Server
Environment” in the OES 2: NSS File System Administration Guide.
For information about using Xen* virtual environments on an OES 2 Linux virtual host server, see
“Introduction to Xen Virtualization” in the Virtualization: Getting Started guide.
For information on setting up a NetWare virtualized guest server on the host server, see “Setting Up
Virtual Machines” in the Virtualization: Getting Started guide and “NetWare Virtual Machines” in
the Virtualization: Guest Operating System Guide.
®
Storage ServicesTM (NSS) is responsible for
2
Using NetWare Traditional Volumes in a Virtual Guest Server Environment
15
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16 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
3
Configuring and Managing
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NetWare Traditional Volumes
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 3.2, “Managing NetWare Partitions for Traditional Volumes,” on page 18
Section 3.3, “Creating a NetWare Partition for Traditional Volumes,” on page 19
Section 3.4, “Expanding the Size of a NetWare Partition,” on page 19
Section 3.5, “Unmirroring a Mirrored NetWare Partition,” on page 19
Section 3.6, “Deleting a NetWare Partition,” on page 20
Section 3.7, “Creating and Mounting a Traditional Volume,” on page 20
Section 3.8, “Mounting a Traditional Volume,” on page 21
Section 3.9, “Dismounting a Traditional Volume,” on page 21
Section 3.10, “Expanding the Size of a Traditional Volume,” on page 21
Section 3.11, “Setting the Space Quota for a Traditional Volume,” on page 22
3
Section 3.12, “Salvaging and Purging Files,” on page 22
Section 3.13, “Loading and Installing Name Spaces on a Traditional Volume,” on page 22
Section 3.14, “Storing Non-DOS Files on a Traditional Volume,” on page 22
Section 3.15, “Creating an eDirectory Object for a Traditional Volume,” on page 24
Section 3.16, “Naming or Renaming a Traditional NetWare Partition or Volume,” on page 24
Section 3.17, “Deleting a Traditional Volume,” on page 24
Section 3.18, “Repairing a Traditional Volume,” on page 24
Section 3.19, “Protecting Data: Disk Mirroring and Duplexing,” on page 26
Section 3.20, “Using Directory Map Objects,” on page 26
Section 3.21, “Upgrading Media Format from Traditional Volumes to NSS Volumes,” on
page 27
3.1 Using Novell Remote Manager for NetWare
To access Novell Remote Manager for NetWare:
1 Open a Web browser, then go to the following URL to open the login page.
https://server-ip-address:8009
Replace server-ip-address with the IP address (such as 192.168.1.1) or DNS name (such as
servername.example.com) of the server you want to manage.
Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes
17
2 Type your administrator username (such as admin) and password.
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.
Depending on what tasks can be performed on the listed storage item, Novell Remote Manager for
NetWare displays task-based links next to the devices, Traditional volumes, and free space:
Create: Create a new volume on the selected device.
Mirror: Create a mirrored partition on the selected device.
Expand: Expand an existing Traditional volume or software RAID1 device (mirrored
partition).
Rename: Change the name of the Traditional NetWare partition or Traditional volume.
Delete: Remove the Traditional NetWare partition or Traditional volume. Deleting a partition
or volume destroys all the data in it.
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Remove Mirror: Remove a mirrored partition from the mirrored group (a software RAID1
device).
You must assign the free space on the disk to create a Traditional volume. With Traditional volumes,
you assign physical volume segments from physical partitions on multiple devices. There are
physical limitations in how you combine member segments to create the volume. For information,
see Section 1.2, “Traditional Volume Segments,” on page 12.
3.2 Managing NetWare Partitions for Traditional Volumes
NetWare partitions can be created on any hard drive and can coexist with other partitions such as
DOS, Windows*, and UNIX. Disk space not assigned to NetWare partitions can be used for the
Novell Storage Services
When there is a DOS partition on the drive, it should always be the first partition on the device. The
NetWare partition should always be the last partition on the drive.
You can have as many as four partitions on the same drive, including multiple NetWare partitions.
If you have partitions from previous versions of NetWare that you are no longer using, you can
delete them and create a new NetWare partition.
WARNING: When creating a disk partition, never specify a partition size larger than the actual size
of the disk. If you specify a larger size, NetWare eventually tries to use the excess disk space. When
it determines there is no corresponding disk location, it deactivates the volume stored on the disk.
TM
file system.
For more information, see Chapter 3, “Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes,”
on page 17.
18 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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 In the Partition Type drop-down list, select the type of partition you want to create. For
example, a Traditional NetWare partition.
4 Click Create Partition and Volume.
5 Specify the size of the partition in bytes (B), kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes
(GB).
The physical size of the partition must be at least 100 KB.
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 partition should not be more than 120 MB larger than the data
size of the existing partitions in the mirror group.
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6 (Conditional) To create a partition that can be mirrored, click Mirror, then select one of the
following options:
Create New Mirror: This option means you are making the partition capable of being
part of a mirror group. You do not actually create the group until you add another mirrored
partition to the partition you are creating.
Existing Mirror Group: This option lets you add this new partition to one of the mirror
groups in the list. From the list of existing mirror groups that are compatible in data area
size, select the ID of the mirrored partition.
7 Complete the required fields, click Create, then click OK to confirm your decision.
If this is a mirrored partition, NetWare displays the status as “100% mirrored” when the
mirroring is complete.
3.4 Expanding the Size of a NetWare Partition
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manage Server > Partition Disks.
2 Locate the partition you want to expand, then click the Expand link next to it.
3 Under Free Disk Space, select the device with the amount of space available that you want to
use.
4 Specify the amount of space (in megabytes) that you want to use.
5 Click Expand.
3.5 Unmirroring a Mirrored NetWare Partition
If a partition is mirrored, you must unmirror it before you can delete it. For more information about
mirroring, see Chapter 5, “Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault Tolerance,” on page 35.
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manager Servers > Partition Disks.
2 Locate the partition you want to unmirror, then click the Remove Mirror link next to it.
Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes 19
This removes the partition from the mirror group. You can now delete the partition, if desired.
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.
This removes the partition from the mirror group. You can now delete the partition.
Delete a Partition
1 Delete all Traditional volumes contained in the partition you want to delete.
1a Click Manager Servers > Volumes to view a list of volumes.
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IMPORTANT: Volumes must have the Long namespace enabled in order to appear in the
list in Novell Remote Manager. To enable the Long namespace, see Section 3.13,
“Loading and Installing Name Spaces on a Traditional Volume,” on page 22.
1b For each volume you want to delete, locate the volume, then click the Delete link next to
it.
2 Click Manage Server > Partition Disks.
3 Locate the partition you want to delete, then click Delete link next to its name.
4 Click OK to confirm the delete.
3.7 Creating and Mounting a Traditional Volume
To create Traditional volumes on your NetWare server, follow these guidelines:
You cannot put Traditional volumes in an NSS storage pool.
If you create a Traditional volume in NetWare 6.5 or later, you cannot access that volume from
previous releases of NetWare. The file system format is not compatible.
To create a Traditional volume:
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, Click Manage Server > Partition Disks.
2 Locate the free space on the device where you want to create the volume, then click the Create
link next to it.
3 In the Partition Type drop down-list, select the type of partition you want to create. For
example, a Traditional NetWare partition.
4 Provide information for the required fields for the type of partition and volume you want to
create, then select the check boxes for the volume attributes that you want to set.
20 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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. You can back up the data in uncompressed form,
create a new uncompressed volume, then restore the uncompressed data to the new
volume.
Migration: Enables the operating system to move infrequently accessed data to remote
areas on your server. This creates space for new and more commonly accessed data.
Selecting this option only enables the attribute. The data migration feature uses a thirdparty software package that does the migration function.
Suballocation: Enables the file system to divide partially used disk blocks into
suballocation blocks of 512 bytes. These blocks can be used by other data files.
Mount Volume on Creation: Instructs the operating system to mount the volume when
you create it. Otherwise, you can mount it later.
5 Click Create, then click OK to confirm.
6 After creating a volume, you must mount it in order to use it. Locate the newly created volume
in the list, then click Mount Volume.
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3.8 Mounting a Traditional Volume
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, Click Manage Server > Volumes.
2 Locate the volume you want to mount, then click the Mount link next to it.
When the page refreshes, the option changes from Mount to Dismount.
3.9 Dismounting a Traditional Volume
To repair a Traditional volume, you must dismount that volume.
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, Click Manage Server > Volumes.
2 Locate the volume you want to dismount, then click the Dismount link next to it.
When the page refreshes, the option changes from Dismount to Mount.
3.10 Expanding the Size of a Traditional Volume
To increase the size of a Traditional volume, add another segment to that volume.
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, Click Manage Server > Partition Disks.
2 Locate the volume you want to expand, then click the Expand link next to it.
3 Under Free Disk Space, select the device with the amount of space available that you want to
use.
4 Specify the amount of space (in megabytes) that you want to use
5 Click Expand.
NetWare creates a volume segment of that size, then adds it to the volume.
Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes 21
3.11 Setting the Space Quota for a Traditional 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.
Purging frees the space used to store the deleted files on the server’s server disk. If a disk runs out of
free space, NetWare automatically purges the files that were deleted first. For instructions on
salvaging and purging deleted files, see “Salvaging and Purging Deleted Files on NetWare Volumes”
in the ConsoleOne 1.3.x User Guide.
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3.13 Loading and Installing Name Spaces on a Traditional Volume
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manage Servers > Volumes.
2 Locate the volume you want to view, then click the Name Spaces link next to it.
3 Locate the name space you want to load, then click the Not Loaded link for the name space in
the Name Space Module Status column.
4 Locate the name space you want to install, then click the Not Installed link for the name space
in the Volume Name Space Status column.
5 To confirm your decision, click OK.
3.14 Storing Non-DOS Files on a Traditional Volume
By default, NetWare Traditional volumes support DOS naming conventions. To store non-DOS files
on a Traditional volume, you must load the appropriate name-space NetWare Loadable Module
TM
(NLM
are available with NetWare:
) program and add the name-space support to that volume. The following NLM programs
mac.nam (Macintosh*)
long.nam (IBM* OS/2*, Windows)
nfs.nam (NFS)
TM
An FTAM name space module is available from third-party providers.
Each name space you add to a Traditional NetWare volume requires additional server memory. If
you add name-space support to a volume and do not have enough memory, that volume cannot be
mounted.
22 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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 3.14.3, “Removing Name Spaces,” on page 24
3.14.1 Calculating Memory Required for Name Space Support
Use the following formula to calculate the name space memory requirement for Traditional NetWare
non-DOS volumes:
0.032 x volume_size (in MB) / block_size (in MB)
Round the size up to the highest number.
For example, adding Macintosh name space to a 100 MB volume with a block size of 4 MB would
require 1 MB of additional memory:
0.032 x 100 MB / 4 = 0.8 MB
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3.14.2 Adding a Name Space
You must add name spaces only once, not each time you start the server.
Prerequisites
A mounted Traditional volume
Sufficient memory
Procedure
1 To load the appropriate name space: At the server console prompt, enter:
load [path]name_space
For example, to load the name space module for Macintosh support, enter:
load mac.nam
2 To add name-space support to the volume: At the server console prompt, enter:
add name space name to volume_name
In this example, name is the name space NLM and volume_name is the name of the volume
that stores the non-DOS files.
3 To verify that the name space loaded: At the server console prompt, enter:
volumes
This displays a list of all name spaces for the server.
Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes 23
3.14.3 Removing Name Spaces
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
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If a NetWare volume exists on the server and does not have a corresponding Volume object in
Novell eDirectory
Manager on the Partition Disks page. This can occur when you create a new server and keep an
existing Traditional volume.
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manage Servers > Volumes.
2 Locate the volume where you want to create a new eDirectory object, then click the Create
eDir Object next to it.
TM
, a Create eDir Object link appears on the volume line in Novell Remote
3.16 Naming or Renaming a Traditional NetWare Partition or Volume
After creating a partition, you can give the partition a name (label). You can rename the partition by
modifying the label. You can also delete the label.
Naming or Renaming the Partition Label
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manage Servers > Partition Disks.
2 Locate the partition you to want to label or rename, then click the Set Partition Label link next
to it, or click the link for the name of the partition.
3 In the Enter the New Partition Label field, specify the name for the partition.
4 Click Apply, then click OK.
Deleting the Partition Label
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manage Servers > Partition Disks.
2 Locate the partition you want to delete the label from, then click the Name link of the partition.
3 Click Delete Partition Label, then click OK.
3.17 Deleting a Traditional Volume
1 In Novell Remote Manager, click Manager Servers > Volumes to view a list of volumes.
2 Locate the Traditional volume you want to delete, then click the Delete link next to it.
3 Click OK to confirm your choice.
3.18 Repairing a Traditional Volume
Typically, you cannot mount a Traditional volume if it has even minor damage. Occasionally, a
damaged volume mounts and causes errors in the process.
24 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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.
Following are typical instances when the Vrepair utility can help:
A hardware failure either prevented a volume from mounting or caused a disk read error.
NOTE: Although the Vrepair utility cannot fix hardware problems, it can sometimes fix
related volume damage.
A power failure caused a corrupted volume.
The server console displays a mirroring error when the server boots.
This mirroring refers to the two copies of FATs and DETs that the operating system keeps (if
disks are mirrored, NetWare keeps four copies).
If a volume fails to mount as the server is booting, the Vrepair utility loads automatically and
attempts to repair the volume.
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When the Vrepair utility autoloads, it uses the default options. If you want to use an alternate option,
load the Vrepair utility manually and set the alternate option before running the Vrepair utility.
NOTE: If you do not want the Vrepair utility to automatically repair a volume that fails to mount,
use the “SET” parameter named Automatically Repair Bad Volumes to change the default value of
On to Off.
3.18.1 Prerequisites
The volume you want to repair must be dismounted. For instructions, see Section 3.9,
“Dismounting a Traditional Volume,” on page 21.
If the volume to be repaired has name space support, the corresponding Vrepair name space
module (v_namespace.nlm) must be located in either the sys:\system directory or in a
search path directory.
Example modules include v_mac.nlm and v_long.nlm.
3.18.2 Procedure
1 At the server console prompt, enter
vrepair [volume_name] [logfile_name]
Replace volume_name with the name of the volume to repair. If there is only one volume that
is dismounted, you don’t need to specify this parameter, because the Vrepair utility attempts to
repair that volume.
If you want to save the error log, replace the logfile_name with the name of the file you
want the Vrepair utility to create. The Vrepair utility creates a log of errors it finds. It displays
the errors on screen and writes them to a file if you specify a filename.
Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes 25
When you launch the Vrepair utility, an Options menu is displayed.
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.
If more than one volume is dismounted, select the volume to repair from those listed.
If only one volume is dismounted, the Vrepair utility assumes it is the volume that needs
repairing and begins the repair.
As the volume is being repaired, the server console screen displays a message indicating
vrepair activity.
4 (Optional) Modify error log settings after the repair has started.
If the Vrepair utility finds many errors during the repair process, you might want to change
some of the run-time error settings. To modify these settings after the repair has started, press
F1 to display the Current Error Settings menu.
Select Option 1 if you do not want the Vrepair utility to pause after each error.
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Select Option 2 if you want the Vrepair utility to log errors in a text file.
Select Option 3 to stop the volume repair.
Select Option 4 to continue with a volume repair after you have stopped it.
5 When the repair is complete, answer Y (yes) when prompted to write repairs to the disk.
6 If the Vrepair utility has found errors, run vrepair again by repeating Step 2 through Step 5.
Repeat until the Vrepair utility finds no errors.
If you are unable to mount the volume after running the Vrepair utility several times, you must
delete the volume, then re-create the volume using Novell Remote Manager for NetWare.
3.19 Protecting Data: Disk Mirroring and Duplexing
NetWare allows you to protect your data with disk mirroring or duplexing. For information, see
Chapter 5, “Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault Tolerance,” on page 35.
3.20 Using Directory Map Objects
A Directory Map object represents a particular directory in the file system. If you create a Directory
Map object to point to an application, users can access the application by mapping a drive to the
Directory Map object.
Directory Map objects can be especially useful in login scripts by indicating directories that contain
applications or other frequently used files. For instructions on creating Directory Map Objects, see
“Creating a Directory Map Object” in the ConsoleOne 1.3.x User Guide.
For example, if you have a directory that contains a word processor, you will probably map a
network-search drive to that directory in any login scripts you create. If you should later upgrade the
26 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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
points to the word processor directory (sys:\public\wpr\80).
Then, with a map command in your login scripts, map a search drive to the Directory Map object,
rather than to the specific directory:
map ins s2:=.current.wpr.sales.novell_us
For a general description of the Map command, see “MAP” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
When users log in, their network-search drive is mapped to the current_wpr Directory Map
object, which points to the directory containing WPR8.0.
Later, if you upgrade to WPR9.0 and change the directory’s name to sys:\public\wpr\90,
you would change only the Directory Map object to indicate the new path.
You would not change the map command in the login scripts because the map command still
indicates the correct Directory Map object.
, you could create a Directory Map object called current_wpr that
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3.21 Upgrading Media Format from Traditional Volumes to NSS Volumes
For information on upgrading the media format for a Traditional volumes to the media format for
NSS volumes, see “Upgrading Legacy NSS and NetWare Traditional Volumes” in the OES 2: NSS
File System Administration Guide.
Configuring and Managing NetWare Traditional Volumes 27
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28 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
4
Configuring Advanced Features
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007
for Traditional Volumes
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. If you set the File Compression attribute for a
Traditional volume, NetWare compresses files that have been inactive for a period of time.
Compression typically occurs at non-peak hours.
IMPORTANT: You cannot use compression for volumes on removable drives, such as CDs, DVDs,
or ISO files.
NetWare maintains the original version of a file during compression. When compression completes,
NetWare replaces the original with the compressed version of the file, if no errors occurred. If errors
do occur during compression, NetWare leaves the original version intact.
4
This section discusses the following topics:
Section 4.1.1, “Planning for File Compression,” on page 29
Section 4.1.2, “Setting Server-Level File Compression Attributes,” on page 30
Section 4.1.3, “Enabling File Compression for a Traditional Volume,” on page 31
Section 4.1.4, “Disabling File Compression for a Traditional Volume,” on page 31
Section 4.1.5, “Suspending File Compression,” on page 32
4.1.1 Planning for File Compression
To effectively use file compression for your Traditional volumes, you must understand several key
concepts:
“Only Inactive Files Are Candidates for Compression” on page 30
“Decompression Activity Depends on Available Space” on page 30
“Immediate Compression Impacts CPU Performance” on page 30
“Files Remain Compressed during Backup and Restore” on page 30
“Compressed Volumes Remain Compressed” on page 30
“How to Monitor Compression Activity” on page 30
Configuring Advanced Features for Traditional Volumes
29
Only Inactive Files Are Candidates for Compression
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.
Decompression Activity Depends on Available Space
Compressed files are uncompressed as they are needed, then remain uncompressed until they are
inactive for an extended period. For a file to be uncompressed, there must be enough free space on
the volume to accommodate the uncompressed file size.
Immediate Compression Impacts CPU Performance
Compression is usually a low-priority process thread because of compression’s impact on
performance. If you flag an item for immediate compression during peak system usage, performance
might deteriorate.
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Files Remain Compressed during Backup and Restore
TM
Backup applications that use Novell Storage Management Services
(SMSTM) can back up and
restore files in their compressed state. Other applications might decompress them.
Compressed Volumes Remain Compressed
The File Compression attribute can be turned on when you create the Traditional volume or at any
time afterwards. However, after you enable file compression for a Traditional volume, you cannot
turn it off. Instead, you can suspend the compression activity, as needed.
If you want to turn off file compression, you must back up the volume in its uncompressed state,
then restore the data to a new volume on which the File Compression attribute is not set.
How to Monitor Compression Activity
Monitor compression activity via the set command’s Compress Screen parameter. For instructions
on how to use the set command, see “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
4.1.2 Setting Server-Level File Compression Attributes
For the NetWare server, the compression parameters apply to all files and directories in
compression-enabled volumes on the server. They have no affect on the file compression for
volumes where the volume’s File Compression attribute is disabled.
The following list identifies set command parameters that affect file compression. For details
about each parameter and instructions for setting them, see “Configuring Compression for a Server”
in the OES 2: NSS File System Administration Guide.
Compression Daily Check Stop Hour
Compression Daily Check Starting Hour
30 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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.You can also set the File Compression attribute later. However, after you enable file
compression for a volume, you cannot turn it off. For instructions on setting file compression for
volumes, directories, and files, see “Setting Server-Level File Compression Attributes” on page 30.
The following set command parameters affect how file compression behaves. For information on
how to use the set command, see “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
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“Days Untouched Before Compression” on page 31
“Minimum Percentage Compression Gain” on page 31
Days Untouched Before Compression
Use the set command’s parameter named Days Untouched Before Compression to set this interval
of inactivity. This parameter specifies the number of days that must pass without access to a file
before the file can be compressed. The parameter uses the date the file was last accessed to gauge
whether a file should be compressed.
Minimum Percentage Compression Gain
To avoid the overhead of uncompressing files that do not compress well, the system calculates the
compressed size of a file before actually compressing it. If no disk space can be saved by
compression, or if the size difference does not meet the value specified by the set command’s
parameter named Minimum Percentage Compression Gain, the file is not compressed.
4.1.4 Disabling File Compression for a Traditional Volume
File compression is enabled and disabled at the volume level. If you do not enable the File
Compression attribute when you create a volume, you can subsequently enable it using the set
command. However, after it is enabled, file compression cannot be disabled on the volume unless
you re-create the volume.
You can temporarily suspend file compression using the set command’s Enable File Compression
parameter. For more information, see Section 4.1.5, “Suspending File Compression,” on page 32.
Configuring Advanced Features for Traditional Volumes 31
4.1.5 Suspending File Compression
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.
4.2 Salvaging and Purging Files
Traditional volumes provide a salvage subsystem where deleted files are retained on the server until
a purge delay time elapses, the deleted file is salvaged, or the deleted file is purged manually,
whichever first occurs. The default purge delay time is four (4) days. When the purge delay time
elapses or if server runs out of disk allocation blocks on the volume, deleted files are deleted in a
first-deleted, first-purged order.
Section 4.2.1, “Configuring Salvage for All NSS Volumes on the Server,” on page 32
Section 4.2.2, “Salvaging Deleted Files,” on page 32
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Section 4.2.3, “Purging Deleted Files,” on page 33
4.2.1 Configuring Salvage for All NSS Volumes on the Server
By default, all volumes on the server can optionally use the salvage feature to save deleted files for
some predefined time or until space is needed. If you do not want files to be salvageable after
deletion, you can enable the Immediate Purge of Deleted Files parameter. When this parameter is
enabled at the server level, whenever a file is deleted, it is purged immediately. This server-level
salvage setting overrides the settings for volume-level and file-level salvage parameters. For
instructions, see “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
Table 4-1 Server-Level Salvage Parameter
Parameter Description
/(No)ImmediatePurgeOfDeletedFiles
Supported Values: On or Off (default)
If this parameter is set to On, all files on all
Traditional volumes or NSS volumes on the server
are purged immediately when they are deleted.
4.2.2 Salvaging Deleted Files
Salvageable files are deleted files that are saved by NetWare after being deleted by users
When you delete a file on a Traditional NetWare volume, the deleted file is moved into the
sys:\deleted.sav directory, which is known as the file salvage area. No record is kept of
where the file originated, so salvaging files by their original directory is not possible.
32 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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.
Deleted files are saved until the server’s purge delay time elapses, the administrator manually purges
them, or the NetWare server runs out of disk allocation blocks on the volume.
4.2.3 Purging Deleted Files
Salvageable files are usually stored in the directory they were deleted from. If a directory is deleted,
NetWare moves the salvageable files from the deleted directory to the deleted.sav directory.
When the NetWare server runs out of blocks, it purges deleted files. It deletes the files in the order
that they were deleted (first in, first out) in any of the salvageable areas. Purged files cannot be
salvaged.
To purge files and directories as they are deleted, use one of these methods:
Use the set command at the NetWare server console to disable the salvageable file feature.
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By default, the Immediate Purge of Deleted Files parameter is set to Off. By default, files are
salvaged when they are deleted instead of being purged immediately.
To purge files as they are deleted, set the parameter named Immediate Purge of Deleted Files to
On. This increases performance, but at the cost of losing the salvageable file feature. For
instructions, see “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
Set the Purge attribute for individual files and directories.
If a file is flagged with the Purge attribute, the file is purged when it is deleted.
If a directory is flagged with the Purge attribute, NetWare purges all files in that directory when
the directory is deleted. Purged files and directories cannot be recovered.
Use Novell Remote Manager for NetWare to manually purge individual files and directories.
For instructions, see the OES 2: Novell Remote Manager for NetWare Administration Guide.
Configuring Advanced Features for Traditional Volumes 33
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34 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
5
Using Software RAID1 Devices for
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Data Fault Tolerance
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 5.1, “Planning Your Software RAID1 Device,” on page 35
Section 5.2, “Managing Traditional Software RAID1 Devices,” on page 37
5.1 Planning Your Software RAID1 Device
Mirroring is a software RAID1 technique that writes data in parallel to multiple separate devices. If
one device fails, the other member devices remain available.
You can create a software RAID1 device with up to four member partitions, including the original
partition and up to three mirrored partitions. Each member partition resides on a separate server
disk.
As contrasted to a hardware RAID1 device, the server operating system controls the mirroring
activity in a software RAID1 device, which can slightly impact the CPU performance for the server.
Adding additional mirrors after the first contributes to availability, but it also incrementally impacts
CPU performance.
5
Typically, you write only to the original partition and send duplicate writes to the mirrored
partitions. However, you can read from all member partitions. This improves the read performance
of your Traditional volumes that contain volume segments in member partitions of the RAID.
This section discusses the following considerations for achieving fault tolerance:
Section 5.1.1, “Fault Tolerance for Traditional Volumes,” on page 35
Section 5.1.2, “Key Concepts for Mirroring Traditional NetWare Partitions,” on page 36
Section 5.1.3, “Improving Fault Tolerance for Software RAID1 Devices with Duplexing,” on
page 36
Section 5.1.4, “Example Software RAID1 Solution for Fault Tolerance of Traditional
Volumes,” on page 37
5.1.1 Fault Tolerance for Traditional Volumes
If you mirror one partition, you do not necessarily provide data protection for the entire volume. To
create software RAID1 devices for Traditional NetWare partitions, you must keep in mind the
relationship between Traditional NetWare partitions, volumes, and volume segments. (For
information about these key concepts, see Chapter 1, “Overview of the NetWare Traditional File
System,” on page 11.)
Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault Tolerance
35
NetWare partitions consist of up to 8 volume segments. Each segment can be allocated separately as
a member of a different Traditional volume. If you mirror a partition, the volume segments it
contains are mirrored on the mirror partition. For a Traditional volume that spans multiple server
disks, only its volume segments in that particular partition are mirrored. The volume segments on
other partitions on the same or different server disks remain unprotected. To fully protect your
Traditional volume, you must create a RAID1 device for each Traditional NetWare partition that
contains one of the volume’s segments.
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. The physical size of the partition must be at least 100 kilobytes (KB), but no more than
120 megabytes (MB) larger than the data size of the existing partitions in the mirror group.
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All member partitions in the software RAID1 device must have the same sharable status. Either
all are sharable for clustering, or all are not.
Partitions you add to the software RAID1 device cannot be members of any other software
RAID device. They must be standalone partitions.
Only partitions marked with the Mirror attribute can be used as a software RAID1 mirrored
partition. You must set the Mirror attribute for partitions when you create them; you cannot add
the option later.
Although you can mirror one partition to as many as four other partitions, mirroring two
partitions is typically sufficient fault tolerance for most systems.
If a mirrored disk fails and cannot be accessed by the server, you can unmirror the server’s
partitions on the functional disk, then salvage the lost volume segments.
If you want to remove a hot-plug mirrored disk without bringing down the server, you must
unmirror the disk first.
5.1.3 Improving Fault Tolerance for Software RAID1 Devices with Duplexing
Mirroring stores the same data on separate disks on the same controller channel. If you mirror
partitions on separate disks over different controller channels or host bus adapters, this is called
duplexing. Duplexing can also concurrently use two instances of a driver for the channels.
Duplexing is the recommended method for fault tolerance because two channels rarely fail
simultaneously.
The process for mirroring and duplexing is the same. The term mirroring is used in all menus in
Novell Remote Manager for NetWare to refer to both mirroring and duplexing.
36 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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. Each physical NetWare partition is further subdivided into eight volume segments of about
500 MB each. The first four disks contain 32 volume segments that can be allocated to up to 32
separate Traditional volumes. (4 disks x 1 partition per disk x 8 volume segments per partition = 32
volume segments) You choose to create 8 Traditional volumes, each with 4 segments that span the
four disks.
For data fault tolerance, you create four software RAID1 mirrored partitions on the fifth server disk,
where the other device’s partition are mirrored separately. In Figure 5-1, single partitions on several
smaller disks are mirrored to similarly sized partitions on one larger disk. In this configuration, if
any of the small disks fail, the data on the volume segments can be recovered from the mirrored
partition. However, if the large server disk fails, all of the mirrored partitions would also fail. The
original data would not be harmed.
Figure 5-1 Mirroring Small Disks to Partitions on One Large Disk
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Disk 4
Disk 3
Disk 2
Disk 1
Disk 0
Mirrored to
partition 3
Mirrored to
partition 2
Mirrored to
partition 1
Mirrored to
partition 0
NetWare
Partition 3
NetWare
Partition 2
NetWare
Partition 1
NetWare
Partition 0
5.2 Managing Traditional Software RAID1 Devices
This section discusses the following management tasks:
Section 5.2.1, “Mirroring Partitions,” on page 37
Section 5.2.2, “Unmirroring Partitions,” on page 38
Section 5.2.3, “Recovering Data from an Out of Sync Disk,” on page 38
5.2.1 Mirroring Partitions
You set the Mirror attribute for a partition when you create it.
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 Create.
3 In the Partition Type drop-down list, select the type of partition you want to create.
Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault Tolerance 37
For example, a Traditional NetWare partition.
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.
6 (Conditional) To create a partition that can be mirrored, select Mirror and select one of the
following options:
Create New Mirror: This option means you are making the partition capable of being
part of a mirror group. You do not actually create the group until you add another mirrored
partition to the partition you are creating.
Existing Mirror Group: (If you select this option, also select the ID of the mirrored
partition.) This shows a list of existing mirror groups that are compatible in data area size.
This option lets you add this new partition to one of the mirror groups in the list.
7 Complete the required fields, click Create, then click OK to confirm your decision.
If this is a mirrored partition, NetWare displays the status as “100% mirrored” when the
mirroring is complete.
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5.2.2 Unmirroring Partitions
You must unmirror mirrored partitions before you can delete a partition or conduct surface tests on a
disk.
1 In Novell Remote Manager for NetWare, click Manager Servers > Partition Disks.
2 Locate the partition you want to unmirror, then click the Remove Mirror link next to it.
This removes the partition from the mirror group. You can now delete the partition, if desired.
5.2.3 Recovering Data from an Out of Sync Disk
After a server disk is unmirrored, its status is listed as either Not Mirrored or Out of Sync
on the Disk Partition Mirroring Status list.
Checking Mirror Status
1 At the server console command prompt, enter
mirror status
Resynchronizing the Mirror
When a server disk is listed as Out of Sync, the operating system does not recognize any volume
information on it. Use this procedure to recover data from an Out of Sync partition.
1 At the server console command prompt, enter:
remirror partition id
Substitute the actual partition ID for id. For example, if the device is 0X1e, enter
remirror partition 1e
38 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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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Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault Tolerance 39
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40 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
6
Using Software RAID0 Devices to
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Enhance Disk I/O Performance
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
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.
This section discusses the following:
Section 6.1, “Planning Your Software RAID0 Device,” on page 41
Section 6.2, “Managing Traditional Software RAID0 Devices,” on page 42
6.1 Planning Your Software RAID0 Device
Striping is a software RAID technique that writes data concurrently to multiple separate devices.
Consider the following guidelines before creating your RAID 1 device:
A segment is the amount of storage space used from each disk you plan to use in the software
RAID device. A software RAID0 device can accommodate 2 to14 segments.
A stripe is the amount of data the file system places on one device before moving to the next
device. The stripe size ranges from 4 KB to 256 KB, in increments of 2 KB. The default stripe
size is 64 KB.
®
Traditional File
6
Each segment in the software RAID0 configuration should come from a different device. You
can obtain segments from the same device, but this can severely impede the performance of
your file system on the RAID.
It is best to use segments of the same size when you create your RAID device. The size of each
segment must be compatible in data area size with other segments you plan to use. The
minimum segment size is 100 KB. The maximum size must not be more than 120 MB larger
than the size of other partitions. The size the RAID pulls from each segment is equivalent to the
size of its smallest member segment.
All member segments in the software RAID0 device must have the same sharable status. Either
all are sharable for clustering, or all are not. Set the segment’s disk as Sharable or Not
Shareable before you build the RAID.
If one of the member disks fails, all volumes on the RAID device become unavailable. After
you replace the disk, you must restore each volume from backup media. Each volume’s data
must be restriped across all segments in the RAID before you can use the volume again.
If one of the member disks fails, the entire volume becomes unavailable. Therefore, you should
mirror or duplex volumes built on RAID0 devices. To mirror the software RAID0 devices, the
devices in the mirror must have no disks in common. This configuration creates a software
RAID 10 Traditional volume.
Using Software RAID0 Devices to Enhance Disk I/O Performance
41
6.2 Managing Traditional Software RAID0 Devices
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 3.7, “Creating and Mounting a Traditional Volume,” on page 20.
To create a RAID 10 Traditional volume, mirror the volume you just created. For information on
mirroring Traditional volumes, see Chapter 5, “Using Software RAID1 Devices for Data Fault
Tolerance,” on page 35.
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42 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
7
Optimizing Disk and Cache
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Performance for Traditional
Volumes
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 7.4, “Configuring SET Parameters for the NetWare Traditional File System,” on
page 48
Section 7.5, “Configuring Common File System SET Parameters for NetWare,” on page 49
For instructions on using the set command, see “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
For instructions on configuring set command parameters in Novell Remote Manager for NetWare,
see the OES 2: Novell Remote Manager for NetWare Administration Guide.
7.1 Optimizing Storage Disk Capacity for
7
Traditional Volumes
There are several options for increasing the capacity of your storage disks:
Section 7.1.1, “Saving Disk Space with Block Suballocation,” on page 43
Section 7.1.2, “Disable Read-After-Write-Verify,” on page 44
Section 7.1.3, “For 16-Bit Disk Adapters, Increase the Number of Reserved Buffers Below 16
MB,” on page 44
Section 7.1.4, “Use Drivers that Support Scatter/Gather Functionality,” on page 44
Section 7.1.5, “Provide a Disk Large Enough for a Memory Core Dump,” on page 44
Section 7.1.6, “Select Segments for Volumes from Different Disks,” on page 44
Section 7.1.7, “Monitor Free Space in Volumes,” on page 44
7.1.1 Saving Disk Space with Block Suballocation
Use block suballocation to enhance use of disk space.
Block suballocation divides any partially used disk block into suballocation blocks of 512 bytes.
These suballocation blocks can be used by files to share what would otherwise be unavailable space.
You can set block suballocation only when creating a Traditional volume. For instructions on setting
block suballocation on Traditional volumes, see Section 3.7, “Creating and Mounting a Traditional
Volume,” on page 20.
Optimizing Disk and Cache Performance for Traditional Volumes
43
Keep at least 1000 free blocks on each Traditional volume that has suballocation enabled. Free
blocks are disk blocks that have no files stored in them. If the number of free blocks is low, the
suballocation increases server utilization. To view the number of free blocks, view the volume’s
details in iManager.
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.
7.1.3 For 16-Bit Disk Adapters, Increase the Number of Reserved Buffers Below 16 MB
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If you have a 16-bit disk adapter, make sure you increase the number of reserved buffers below 16
MB. Use the set command or the Monitor (monitor) utility to set the Reserved Buffers Below 16
MB parameter to its upper limit, 300. The parameter is found in Monitor > Available Options >
Server Parameters > Memory. For instructions, see “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
Remember that too many reserved buffers can prevent large volumes from mounting in a Traditional
file system. As soon as possible, upgrade the system to a newer board that can access higher
memory.
7.1.4 Use Drivers that Support Scatter/Gather Functionality
Scatter/gather is an I/O technique to organize the read and write calls from multiple data buffers that
are separated in memory. The purpose is to lower the overhead associated with each call by reducing
the number of calls that must be made.
7.1.5 Provide a Disk Large Enough for a Memory Core Dump
Provide a device that is large enough to hold a core dump of the server’s memory. A core dump
cannot span multiple devices.
7.1.6 Select Segments for Volumes from Different Disks
If a volume comprises two or more segments, each segment should be on a different disk. If the
volume is made of more than one segment on one disk, the volume spans between the two segments,
slowing performance.
7.1.7 Monitor Free Space in Volumes
Keep at least 10% free space in any NetWare volume, except for the sys: volume, where there
should be 20% free space.
44 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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WARNING: Do not fill up your sys: volume. This could damage your entire file system. The
Transaction Tracking System
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.
Move any user files or print queues to another volume.
Do not store replicas on servers with low disk space.
Limit the size of auditing files on Traditional NetWare partitions.
TM
, which protects Novell eDirectoryTM, shuts down, compromising the
7.2 Improving Disk Reads on Traditional Volumes
On a server that is read-intensive, the following procedures can improve the speed of disk reads on
your NetWare Traditional volumes.
Section 7.2.1, “Change Concurrent Disk and Directory Writes for Faster Reads for Traditional
Volumes,” on page 45
Section 7.2.2, “Change the Turbo FAT Wait Time for Faster Reads of Traditional Volumes,” on
page 46
7.2.1 Change Concurrent Disk and Directory Writes for Faster Reads for Traditional Volumes
Use this procedure if your server is slow to respond to read requests.
NOTE: This procedure requires that you decrease the values of the Maximum Concurrent Disk
Cache Writes parameter and the Maximum Concurrent Directory Cache Writes parameter. Although
decreasing these values increases the speed of read requests, it might decrease the speed and
efficiency of write requests.
Modify the following parameters by using “SET” as described in the OES 2: Utilities Reference.
Decrease the value of Maximum Concurrent Disk Cache Writes.
If the parameter is currently set to the default value of 50, try setting the value to 10.
Decrease the value of Maximum Concurrent Directory Cache Writes.
If the parameter is currently set to the default value of 10, try setting the value to 5.
Increase the value of Directory Cache Buffer Non Referenced Delay.
This parameter specifies how long a directory entry must be cached before it can be
overwritten. Increasing this value causes the system to allocate more directory cache buffers
and thus speeds up directory access.
If the parameter is currently set to the default value of 5.5 seconds, try setting the value to 60
seconds.
Optimizing Disk and Cache Performance for Traditional Volumes 45
7.2.2 Change the Turbo FAT Wait Time for Faster Reads of Traditional Volumes
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.
If network users frequently access files larger than 64 blocks, increase the value of FAT Re-U s e Wait
Tim e, using “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities Reference. You must specify the value in seconds.The new
setting is persistent through a server reboot. If the parameter is currently set to the default value of
329.5 seconds (5 minutes 29.6 seconds), try setting the value to 600 seconds (10 minutes).
7.3 Improving Disk Writes for Traditional Volumes
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For a write-intensive server, the following procedures can improve the speed of disk writes:
Section 7.3.1, “Increase the Number of Concurrent Writes,” on page 46
Section 7.3.2, “Change Disk and Directory Caching for Faster Writes,” on page 47
Section 7.3.3, “Turn Off Read-After-Write Verification,” on page 47
7.3.1 Increase the Number of Concurrent Writes
You can increase the speed and efficiency of disk cache writes by increasing the number of write
requests that can be executed at one time.
To determine whether you must increase the number of concurrent writes, first compare the number
of dirty cache buffers to the total number of cache buffers. These statistics are found on the General
Information screen in the monitor utility. Dirty cache buffers contain data that has not yet been
written to disk.
The ratio of dirty cache buffers to total cache buffers is an indicator of the efficiency of disk cache
writes. If the number of dirty cache buffers is greater than 70% of total cache buffers, increase the
number of concurrent write requests.
NOTE: Increasing the number of concurrent disk cache writes slows disk cache reads. You might
want to balance the speed of disk writes and reads to meet the needs of users. If your server’s
processing load is write-intensive, you can favor disk writes. If it is read-intensive, favor disk reads.
Increase the value of Maximum Concurrent Disk Cache Writes, using “SET” in the OES 2: Utilities
Reference. The new setting is persistent through a server reboot. If the parameter is currently at the
default value of 50, try increasing it to 100.
46 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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.
This parameter specifies how long the system waits before writing a not-completely-dirty
cache buffer to disk.
If the value is low, the system writes to disk more frequently, but writes fewer requests each
time. If the value is high, the system waits longer before writing to disk, but executes more
write requests with each operation. A higher value provides greater efficiency in writing to
disk.
If the parameter is currently at the default value of 3.3 seconds, try increasing the value to 7
seconds.
Increase the value of the Dirty Directory Cache Delay Time parameter.
This parameter specifies how long the system keeps a directory table write request in memory
before writing it to disk.
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IMPORTANT: Increasing the parameter provides slightly faster performance, but can increase
the chance of directory tables becoming corrupted.
If the parameter is currently at the default value of 0.5 seconds, try increasing the value to 2
seconds.
Increase the value of the Maximum Concurrent Directory Cache Writes parameter.
This parameter determines how many write requests from directory cache buffers are executed
at one time. Increasing this value increases the efficiency of directory cache write requests.
Increasing the number of concurrent directory cache writes decreases the speed of directory
cache reads. Balance the speed of writes and reads to meet the needs or your users.
If the parameter is currently at the default value of 10, try increasing the value to 25. The
changed value is now persistent.
7.3.3 Turn Off Read-After-Write Verification
Read-after-write verification is almost always provided by the hard disk. If your hard disk provides
read-after-write verification, you might want to disable the software version of read-after-write
verification in order to nearly double the speed of disk writes.
WARNING: Turning off read-after-write verification can increase the risk of data corruption on the
server’s hard disk. You should use the following procedure only if your disks provide read-afterwrite verification and are reliable, or if your disk subsystem provides data fault tolerance through
mirroring.
Prerequisite
Hard disks that provide their own means of read-after-write verification.
Optimizing Disk and Cache Performance for Traditional Volumes 47
Procedure
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.
Table 7-1 SET Parameters for a Traditional File System Volume
SET Parameters for the Traditional File System Default Value
Volume Log File State 1
Volume TTS Log File State 1
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Volume Log File Overflow Size 4194304
Volume TTS Log File Overflow Size 4194304
Auto TTS Backout Flag On
TTS Abort Dump Flag Off
TTS UnWritten Cache Wait Time 1 minute 5.9 seconds
TTS Backout File Truncation Wait Time 59 minutes 19.2 seconds
Dirty Directory Cache Delay Time 0.5 seconds
Directory Cache Allocation Wait Time 2.2 seconds
Directory Cache Buffer NonReferenced Delay 5.5 seconds
Maximum Directory Cache Buffers 2000
Minimum Directory Cache Buffers 500
Maximum Number Of Internal Directory Handles 100
Maximum Number Of Directory Handles 20
Maximum Record Locks Per Connection 500
Maximum File Locks Per Connection 2500
Maximum Record Locks 20000
Maximum File Locks 200000
Read Ahead Enabled On
Read Ahead LRU Sitting Time Threshold 10 seconds
Minimum File Cache Buffers 20
Maximum Concurrent Disk Cache Writes 750
48 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
SET Parameters for the Traditional File System 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 29.6 seconds
Allow Deletion Of Active Directories On
Maximum Percent of Volume Space Allowed for Extended Attributes 10
Maximum Extended Attributes per File or Path 16
Purge Files On Dismount Off
Fast Volume Mounts On
Maximum Percent Of Volume Used By Directory 13
Maximum Subdirectory Tree Depth 25
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Volume Low Warn All Users On
Volume Low Warning Reset Threshold 256
Volume Low Warning Threshold 256
Turbo FAT Re-Use Wait Time 5 minutes 29.6 seconds
Allow Unowned Files To Be Extended On
Auto Mount Mirrored Volume Containing Inactive Device Off
7.5 Configuring Common File System SET Parameters for NetWare
The SET parameters for Common File System are shared by NSS and Traditional file systems. Ta ble
7-2 indicates the default settings in NetWare 6.5 or later for the Common File System SET
parameters.
IMPORTANT: When modifying Common File System SET parameters, ensure that your planned
settings satisfy the requirements for both your NSS and Traditional volumes.
Table 7-2 Common File System SET Parameters
Common File System SET Parameters Default Value
Maximum Transactions 10000
Maximum Concurrent Directory Cache Writes 75
Minimum File Delete Wait Time 1 minute 5.9 seconds
Immediate Purge Of Deleted Files Off
Compression Daily Check Stop Hour 6
Optimizing Disk and Cache Performance for Traditional Volumes 49
Common File System SET Parameters 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 18.5 seconds
Deleted Files Compression Option 1
Days Untouched Before Compression 14
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50 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
8
Troubleshooting
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 8.5, “Resolving Problems When Only Some Volumes Mount,” on page 53
Section 8.6, “Resolving Disk Error Problems When a Volume is Mounting,” on page 53
Section 8.7, “Resolving Memory Errors When a Volume Is Mounting,” on page 53
Section 8.8, “Resolving Volume Mounting Problems Caused by Corrupted Directory Entry
Tables or File Allocation Tables,” on page 54
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8
Section 8.9, “Resolving Volume Mounting Problems Caused by the Name Space Module,” on
page 55
8.1 Resolving File I/O Errors
To resolve a file I/O error, try one or more of the following:
Make sure that the volume (especially volume sys:) is mounted.
If the volume is out of disk space, error messages appear on the Logger Console screen
indicating that the volume is almost out of disk space. Check this screen for messages.
Check how much space remains on the sys: volume. If it is low, increase the size by adding
free space.
To increase the amount of free space, do one or more of the following:
Delete extraneous files (if you can log in from a workstation).
At the server console prompt, enter set immediate purge of files = on, then retry
the action.
If you have an additional disk, increase the size of the volume by creating an additional
segment of the volume on the disk.
8.2 Resolving Volume I/O Errors
To resolve a volume I/O error on Traditional volumes, try one or more of the following:
Make sure that all devices that contain the volume are online. (Volumes can span multiple
devices.)
Repair the volume using the Vrepair utility.
Make sure that the volume is visible.
Troubleshooting
51
If you have tried all of the above without success, contact a Novell® Support Provider or the disk
drive manufacturer.
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.
Check the network board configurations of the boards in the server and the settings shown on
the server and make sure that the settings match.
Make sure that all server and workstation network boards are seated properly and that cabling
and connections are attached securely.
Make sure that the terminators on cables have the right ohm rating and are installed correctly.
The IBM PC Cluster sends a broadcast message during initialization, then stops processing if
the network is not cabled or terminated properly.
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Check the network boards in all workstations for correct node address settings.
8.4 Resolving Problems When No Volumes Mount
The sys: volume contains the NetWare system files and the NLMTM programs.
If the sys: volume does not mount when the server is booted, then the autoexec.ncf file does
not execute, LAN drivers do not load, and the volume does not become part of the Novell
eDirectory
To diagnose problems when no volumes mount, identify whether the following conditions exist:
The sys: volume is corrupted.
The server disk containing volume sys: volume has failed.
The cable or power to the external server disks has malfunctioned.
To resolve problems when no volumes mount, do the following:
Repair the volume using the utilities that are appropriate for the volume type.
Check the cabling and power to the external server disks. Replace any faulty components.
Replace the server disk containing the sys: volume.
TM
tree.
Create the partitions and the sys: volume.
Restore the data from a backup copy.
52 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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.
8.6 Resolving Disk Error Problems When a Volume is Mounting
To diagnose problems when disk errors occur while a Traditional volume is mounting, identify
whether the following conditions exist:
novdocx (en) 6 April 2007
The server does not have enough memory to mount the volume.
The operating system is experiencing directory sector mismatching. This mismatching can be
caused if the media is defective or if the server is turned off without the Down command.
To resolve disk error problems that occur while a volume is mounting:
Check the status of the available cache buffers. If the available cache buffers are fewer than
20%, add more memory to your server.
Minor errors usually correct themselves through normal network use. For example, if a FAT
entry is wrong, the entry is updated and corrected the next time the table is written to. If errors
do not correct themselves, repair the volume using the Vrepair utility.
8.7 Resolving Memory Errors When a Volume Is Mounting
To diagnose memory error problems when a Traditional volume mounts, identify whether the
following conditions exist:
Volumes take more memory to mount than they require after being mounted because the
mounting process performs consistency checks (for example, the duplicate copies of all the
tables are checked).
Volumes and directory entries grow dynamically. Therefore, if your server is using most of the
RAM (file cache buffers are close to 20% of the memory) and you dismount a volume, you
might not be able to remount the volume unless additional memory is available.
Each additional name space support that you add to a volume increases the size of the file
allocation tables and directory entry tables. Adding name space support can cause the tables to
grow so large that the server does not have enough RAM to mount the volume.
Troubleshooting 53
To resolve memory errors when a volume mounts, perform the following actions or ensure that the
following conditions exist:
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.
For example, you can free up memory by combining few files in many directories into fewer
directories so that most directories have about 32 files, then purging the deleted subdirectories
and files.
Calculate how much memory you need and add memory to the server.
Remove any recently added name space support.
WARNING: This is a destructive step that destroys all the extended file information. Before
taking this step, try to free up enough memory so that the volume mounts and you can back up
the data.
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Have all users log out, then unload all NLM programs except the volume’s disk drivers.
Dismount any mounted volumes.
To remove the name space on a Traditional volume, load the Vrepair utility, select Set Vrepair
Options, then select the Remove Name Space Support from the Volume and Write All Directory
and FAT Entries Out to Disk options. Exit to the main menu, then run VRepair > Repair a
Vo l ume on the volume that would not mount.
8.8 Resolving Volume Mounting Problems Caused by Corrupted Directory Entry Tables or File Allocation Tables
To diagnose problems when mismatches exist in the duplicate copies of the FAT and directory entry
table (DET) on Traditional volumes, identify whether the following conditions exist:
A power failure has occurred and the server has not been shut down with the down command.
A server disk has failed.
A disk channel error has occurred. A volume does not dismount when you enter the
dismount command.
Directory information in cache is not completely written to disk.
To resolve problems when mismatches exist in the duplicate copies of the FAT and DET, do the
following:
Use the Vrepair utility to repair the disk.
Add a UPS system so that the server is shut down automatically when a power failure occurs.
Replace faulty disks or controllers.
54 OES 2: NetWare Traditional File System Administration Guide
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.
The NLM to load the name space has not been copied to the boot directory of the server.
To resolve problems when a Traditional volume cannot mount because the name space NLM
program is not loaded, do the following:
Load the name space NLM program, then mount the volume. Copy the name space NLM to the
server boot directory and add the load command to the startup.ncf file. The NLM then
loads automatically whenever the server is booted.
Delete the name space configuration from the volume.
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WARNING: This is a destructive step that destroys all of the extended file information.
Back up all non-DOS files.
Load the Vrepair utility, select Set VRepair Options, then select the Remove Name Space
Support from the Volume and Write All Directory and FAT Entries to Disk options. Exit to the
main menu, then run Vrepair > Repair a Volume on the volume that would not mount.
Troubleshooting 55
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