Facilis TERRABLOCK - Chapter 4 - Working with Shared File System; Launching the TerraBlock Manager and Creating Volumes

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Chapter 4 – Working with Shared File System
To use the Shared File System, there first must be a properly formatted volume on
the TerraBlock Server. All the following steps are described in Chapter 3 – Setup
and Administration.
 The following steps assume version 7.1 has been installed properly
and all prerequisites for hardware have been met. See the
“TerraBlock 7.1 Release Notes: Hardware and Software
Requirements” for more information.
Launching the TerraBlock Manager and Creating Volumes
The easiest way to create volumes for use with the Facilis Shared File System (SFS)
is by launching the TerraBlock Manager on a Fibre Channel or Ethernet attached
workstation, opening the ‘Create Volume…’ dialog and selecting Mount Type: ‘Multi-
user Write’ in the ‘Create Volume’ dialog.
After the appropriate volume name, size, and drive group have been selected, Multi-
user Write volumes will then be created, formatted using NTFS and set to Multi-user
Write automatically on the TerraBlock Server.
Single-user Write volumes can be switched to Multi-user Write after they have been
created and formatted. Single-user Write volumes created using the Auto Format
feature will be formatted automatically on Windows (NTFS) and Macintosh (HFS+)
clients. Single-user Write volumes can only be created on a fibre attached client.
While it is possible to use an HFS+ formatted volume as Multi-user Write by
installing MediaFour MacDrive software (purchased separately) on the TerraBlock
Server, NTFS format is recommended.
 Note: Single-user Write volumes created on Linux clients must be
manually formatted with a file system (i.e. XFS) using Logical Volume
Management (LVM) and/or shell commands. Single-user Write
volumes formatted with XFS are not supported for use as Multi-user
Write volumes.
 Note: When installing the Mac OSX or Linux TerraBlock Manager on a
fibre client, to ensure the Multi-user Write driver is properly installed,
mount a Multi-user Write volume and then reboot the client. This
reboot procedure only needs to occur once, after the first initial
mount of a Multi-user Write Volume. Subsequent reboots when
mounting Multi-user Write volumes are not necessary.
 When creating and formatting a volume, be sure to choose a large enough
size to accommodate the project. If necessary, volume expansion is
supported. Refer to the section Change Volume: Change Size.
 Whenever possible, the TerraBlock Server drive rescan process
should be avoided during heavy client workstation use.