CentOS: add SAN directory to local file system

RobertSubnet · 06-11-2009, 10:20 PM

Hello all. This is a great site and I have learned a lot just by lurking.

I have a CentOS 5.3 box and would like to add a directory on a remote SAN device to my local file system.

Using parted, what would the device name be to create the partition?

The SAN box has an IP address of 192.168.1.200

Can this even be done?

Thanks,
~Robert

jamescondron · 06-11-2009, 10:23 PM

I wouldn't use parted, to be fair; what fs type are you trying to mount? You could use Samba if a Windows Partition, NFS if a *NIX Partition, SSHFS if needed.

RobertSubnet · 06-12-2009, 12:03 AM

Right now I do not have the partition defined. So anything that *nix recognizes would be fine. This is really an exercise in "lets see if I can do this..."

jamescondron · 06-12-2009, 12:10 AM

Okay, well unless you do something RAID based, or similar, you'll need an existing partition on an existing system/box. This is a piece of the proverbial really, the partition obviously has to have an FS on it to even begin to save files on.

You'll struggle to get a remote disk recognised as a raw device on your machine, your best bet by far is to use something like nfs or samba to mount it over a network. For me:

Remote machine has ext3 FS and the relelvant nfs server modules in the kernel. The local machine has a mount point and nfs client modules in the kernel. Mount as per

Code:

mount remotemachine:/path/to/share/directory /local/mount/point
ls /local/mount/point
<THE REMOTE FILES HERE>

The file /etc/exports is used for nfs sharing; there are suggestions and samples in here before you edit it.

Thats how I would go for it. That being said, don't use NFS outside a network, it is insecure over the internet

anomie · 06-12-2009, 12:32 PM

Where is the remote SAN? 192.168.1.200 is an RFC 1928 IP -- not routable across the 'net.

Just curious, too: what type of SAN and how are you managing it?