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#1
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EMC SAN Question...
We have a few CX400s and EMC Fibre Switches at a datacenter. My boss is in
charge of the SAN configuration and he really does a poor job of it. I'm looking to give him some help, but he doesn't really let anyone else touch the SAN except himself (which is hilarious, believe me). What I want to know is: what operating system does the SAN/Fibre Switches run? I glanced over his shoulder and watched it boot once and it looked like Linux. Is it Linux or is it some proprietary OS? I'm hoping it's Linux as it would open the door to a ton of possibilities. Thanks guys. Michael |
#2
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Michael,
It depends on which EMC switch. They are OEM'd from either Brocade or McData. If you'll post the EMC model #, I'll send you back which switch is underneath ( and tell my secret decoding cipher) - actually, you could do it yourself. if the model number has a B in it, it's a brocade. ex: DS-16B if the model number has a(n) m in it, it's a mcdata. DS-24M Regardless of the model, neither of them run linux. good luck. Flogi. "Michael" wrote in message ... We have a few CX400s and EMC Fibre Switches at a datacenter. My boss is in charge of the SAN configuration and he really does a poor job of it. I'm looking to give him some help, but he doesn't really let anyone else touch the SAN except himself (which is hilarious, believe me). What I want to know is: what operating system does the SAN/Fibre Switches run? I glanced over his shoulder and watched it boot once and it looked like Linux. Is it Linux or is it some proprietary OS? I'm hoping it's Linux as it would open the door to a ton of possibilities. Thanks guys. Michael |
#3
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Hello Michael,
No it's not Linux *spit* ;-) More likely a derivative of a RTOS like vxWorks or something (I did know what was used once, but my brain only holds so much information and old stuff drops out over time :-) Your boss might just be restricting access to stop "accidents", if you've any critical systems/applications on your SAN then I wouldn't go playing with it ... see if you can get a test rig to mess about on, or bug your boss for training (point out that it's always a good idea to have a couple of staff members skilled up in case of emergencies). May I ask what it is you think you're boss is doing poorly ? Regards Mark "Michael" wrote in message ... We have a few CX400s and EMC Fibre Switches at a datacenter. My boss is in charge of the SAN configuration and he really does a poor job of it. I'm looking to give him some help, but he doesn't really let anyone else touch the SAN except himself (which is hilarious, believe me). What I want to know is: what operating system does the SAN/Fibre Switches run? I glanced over his shoulder and watched it boot once and it looked like Linux. Is it Linux or is it some proprietary OS? I'm hoping it's Linux as it would open the door to a ton of possibilities. Thanks guys. Michael |
#4
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"Mark Smith" wrote in message
om... Hello Michael, No it's not Linux *spit* ;-) More likely a derivative of a RTOS like vxWorks or something (I did know what was used once, but my brain only holds so much information and old stuff drops out over time :-) Darn.... If it were some sort of *nix derivative, then you could do all sorts of umm....creative stuff with it. ;-) Your boss might just be restricting access to stop "accidents", if you've any critical systems/applications on your SAN then I wouldn't go playing with it ... see if you can get a test rig to mess about on, or bug your boss for training (point out that it's always a good idea to have a couple of staff members skilled up in case of emergencies). Eh, the boss *is* the accident. ;-) May I ask what it is you think you're boss is doing poorly ? Well, it's stuff like this...each server on the SAN has two fibre cards (one to each fibre switch: primary and secondary). We had to do a firmware upgrade and he managed to take the entire service down, even though we were doing one switch at a time. We also swapped out the secondary switch once and he somehow messed up the zoning such that all the database drives were dropped (once again, bringing down the service). The guy types with his thumbs so I had to go in and redo the zoning all myself (since I type oh, I don't know...8 million times faster than he does). The thing is....I'm quite certain that the constant problems we have aren't typical of most SAN users and it just seemed to me that there had to be a better option to configure the SAN without having to use this stupid, slow Java GUI. So yeah, I was hoping it'd be a Linux derivative so I could do something like this: 1) Prepare for a switch swap/upgrade/whatever by recreating the configuration files beforehand 2) Mount the new switch with the new config files 3) Schedule to work, then swap the cables into the new switch ports The downtime of the primary or secondary side would only be the time it took to swap the ports and re-establish the paths. Of course, these things don't run a *nix OS so I guess it doesn't work that way....or can it? Michael [snip] |
#5
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Your boss might just be restricting access to stop "accidents", if you've any critical systems/applications on your SAN then I wouldn't go playing with it ... see if you can get a test rig to mess about on, or bug your boss for training (point out that it's always a good idea to have a couple of staff members skilled up in case of emergencies). Eh, the boss *is* the accident. ;-) Your problems are much greater than the SAN going up and down. Sooner or later a boss like this is going to put you in a very precarious spot and you're not going to be able to get out of it -- regardless of your technical skill. Never underestimate the treachery of office politics. I wouldn't spend one nanosecond in a position where I had to consider ways to circumvent my boss. Nothing good can come of that sort of environment. I saw quoted somewhere that "there are seldom good technical solutions to behavioral problems." True. --T ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =--- |
#6
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"Michael" wrote in
: "Mark Smith" wrote in message om... Hello Michael, No it's not Linux *spit* ;-) More likely a derivative of a RTOS like vxWorks or something (I did know what was used once, but my brain only holds so much information and old stuff drops out over time :-) Wrong. FabricOS 1.x, 2.x and 3.x are based on vxworks, but the 4.x series (for the silkworm 12k and 3900's) is a realtime linux. It works really well, too. Darn.... If it were some sort of *nix derivative, then you could do all sorts of umm....creative stuff with it. ;-) No. Although there is a root account that gives you a real shell, it is not available to regular users and if you change anything with it, you forfeit the right to support. Don't get any funny ideas -- /Jesper Monsted BCFP |
#7
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"Jesper Monsted" wrote in message
.163... "Michael" wrote in : "Mark Smith" wrote in message om... Hello Michael, No it's not Linux *spit* ;-) More likely a derivative of a RTOS like vxWorks or something (I did know what was used once, but my brain only holds so much information and old stuff drops out over time :-) Wrong. FabricOS 1.x, 2.x and 3.x are based on vxworks, but the 4.x series (for the silkworm 12k and 3900's) is a realtime linux. It works really well, too. Thanks, Jesper. I'm glad I wasn't just seeing things. Darn.... If it were some sort of *nix derivative, then you could do all sorts of umm....creative stuff with it. ;-) No. Although there is a root account that gives you a real shell, it is not available to regular users and if you change anything with it, you forfeit the right to support. Don't get any funny ideas Hmm....that's unfortunate. The Java GUI and web interface that's used to maintain the SAN leaves a lot to be desired. I had dreams of performing batch updates etc. via command line scripts, but it looks like those dreams have been nipped early. ;-) Michael |
#8
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"Jesper Monsted" wrote in message Wrong. FabricOS 1.x, 2.x and 3.x are based on vxworks, but the 4.x series (for the silkworm 12k and 3900's) is a realtime linux. It works really well, too. Wow! I never knew that :-) Wonder if it was a technical or financial reason to switch ? I'll have to have another look at the Brocades ... chances are slim at the mo as it's all McData where I am. Darn.... If it were some sort of *nix derivative, then you could do all sorts of umm....creative stuff with it. ;-) No. Although there is a root account that gives you a real shell, it is not available to regular users and if you change anything with it, you forfeit the right to support. Don't get any funny ideas So no getting Quake to run then ? :-) Mark |
#9
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"Michael" wrote in message ...
No. Although there is a root account that gives you a real shell, it is not available to regular users and if you change anything with it, you forfeit the right to support. Don't get any funny ideas Hmm....that's unfortunate. The Java GUI and web interface that's used to maintain the SAN leaves a lot to be desired. I had dreams of performing batch updates etc. via command line scripts, but it looks like those dreams have been nipped early. ;-) Actually Michael, Brocade does have an excellent CLI, and they also have a Perl API. You may have to purchase the API Toolkit (you should talk to your EMC rep about this). Either of these methods would allow you to write your own scripts without invalidating Brocade's support. - Sean |
#10
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Nicolas CHEVE wrote in message ...
Le 20 Oct 2003 07:08:33 -0700 (Sean Cummins) a crit: Actually Michael, Brocade does have an excellent CLI, and they also have a Perl API. You may have to purchase the API Toolkit (you should talk to your EMC rep about this). Either of these methods would allow you to write your own scripts without invalidating Brocade's support. - Sean Sean, You talk about a perl API for brocade switch. Could you give me more informations about this ? Do you have an URL about this ? THY Nicolas Nicolas, Certainly. You can find some info at http://www.brocade.com/products/api_scripting.jsp but there does not appear to be any way to download the API from Brocade's public site. There is a "Buy Now" button at the bottom of the page that directs you to a course enrollment page, which states that you will be given access to the API if you attend the course. I obtained the API toolkit for free by attending one of Brocade's many free seminars, so you may be able to get it there as well. I believe you can also download it if you work for a partner company (and have a partner login), and you MAY be able to get it if you have a support contract (not sure about that one). I would bet that if you just asked your Brocade (or EMC, or whoever your primary vendor is) sales rep they'd probably give it to you as well. - Sean |
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