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Configuring XenData Archive Series Software Version 5 for use with OS X Clients XenData Technical Note XTN1001 February 2, 2010 Copyright 2010 XenData Limited. All rights reserved. Overview XenData Archive Series software has been certified with OS X versions 10.5.x (Leopard) and 10.6.1 (Snow Leopard) using the SMB network protocol. This XenData Technical Note provides configuration requirements when using Mac OS X clients that access an archive running XenData Archive Series software, version 5.0x. Introduction We recommend that Mac OS X clients use the SMB network protocol when archiving to and restoring from a XenData archive. The XenData archive appears to OS X clients as a Windows SMB share. When a Mac file is written to a Windows SMB share (such as a XenData archive), OS X often creates a data fork file and a hidden resource fork file. In addition, programs such as Finder write a hidden Desktop Services Store file (.DS_Store file). The resource fork file is usually small. For example, the resource fork files associated with MOV files created by Final Cut Pro or QuickTime Pro are typically 4KB in size. The data fork file has the same name as the original and the resource fork file has the same name but is pre-pended with '._'. For example, if QuickTime Pro creates a file called 'abc.mov' and the file is saved to a Windows share, the data fork file will also be named 'abc.mov' and the hidden resource fork file will be named '._abc.mov'. XenData Archive Series versions 5.00 and above have built-in hidden File Group rules to correctly handle resource fork files and Desktop Services Store files. Prior versions of XenData Archive Series software required that File Group rules be configured by the system administrator to handle resource fork files and Desktop Services Store files. This is not required and should not be implemented with versions 5.x. OS X 10.6 introduced a technique to embed the resource fork information as extended attributes over SMB to an NTFS share using NTFS Streams. This technique is used by OS X 10.6 by default. However, XenData Archive Series version 5 does not support NTFS Streams and you will receive an error when attempting to write to a XenData archive server unless the default OS X 10.6 behavior is changed to prevent the use of NTFS Streams. The recommended method for disabling NTFS Streams is described below. Configuring Mac OS X Clients 1. Disable the use of NTFS Streams (OS X 10.6 only) On each of the OS X 10.6 client computers that write files to a XenData archive, create a /etc/nsmb.conf file, if it doesn't already exist: sudo vi /etc/nsmb.conf Inside the file, put in the following: ########## Note: You will need to make this change on any OS X system that runs 10.6 or later and writes files over SMB which will end up written on a XenData Archive Series 5.0x server. That means this change should be implemented even if the files are first written to another Windows share. 2. Avoid Degraded Archive Performance due to Icon Preview (OS X 10.5 and 10.6) When a folder is opened using Finder, all files contained in that folder are read if 'show icon preview' is enabled. This will cause unnecessary file restores from the archive. The best way to avoid this problem is to disable this preview option within Finder. This setting is found in the Finder menu at View>Show View Options>Show icon preview. Configuring the XenData Archive 1. Avoiding the Display of Hidden Directories Finder will display hidden directories on a Windows share. XenData Archive Series software stores file system metadata in hidden files contained within hidden directories created at the root of the archive logical drive letter. To avoid displaying these hidden directories with Finder, do not share the archive logical drive at its root. 2. Avoiding Degraded Archive Performance due to Temporary Files Mac OS X can create a temporary file if the file it intends to delete is currently locked. This can occasionally happen if the file has just been in use. OS X will rename the file to one with the name .smbdeleteXXXX.XXX. A File Group rule specifying that files named .smbdelete* should not be saved to tape is recommended. Related Technical Information
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