Xsan (/ ˈ ɛ k s æ n /) is Apple Inc.'s storage area network (SAN) or clustered file system for macOS. Xsan enables multiple Mac desktop and Xserve systems to access shared block storage over a Fibre Channel network.

Mar 21, 2025 · With the Xsan command-line management tools built into macOS Big Sur and later, you no longer need macOS Server to create and administer Xsan storage networks.

This guide provides basic command-line instructions on how to configure and manage an Xsan storage area network (SAN). Before you begin, familiarize yourself with two command-line tools, cvlabel and xsanctl. You can do this by opening the Terminal app and typing man cvlabel, then pressing the Return key.

Nov 10, 2021 · In this post I will walk through creating a new Xsan from scratch on macOS Monterey. Our test environment is made up of 2 Intel Mac Minis with ATTO Thunderlink fibre adapters connected to a fibre switch and one 12 drive RAID unit connected to the same switch.

An array of LDAP URLs where Xsan systems can obtain SAN configuration updates. This key is required for all Xsan SANs. There should be one entry for each Xsan MDC.

Apr 18, 2004 · Xsan is a 64-bit cluster file system for Mac OS® X that enables organizations to consolidate storage resources and provide multiple computers with concurrent file-level read/write access to shared volumes over Fibre Channel.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of Xsan and how you can use it to organize RAID arrays into shared volumes of storage. Chapter 2 includes hardware and software requirements, SAN planning guidelines, and basic steps for setting up an Xsan volume.

In all cases there are 2 Xsans. One hosts the production volume with fast storage and many clients for video, audio, and graphics production. The other Xsan hosts a nearline volume for synced backups of […] We posted previously about making manual profile changes when changing an Xsan’s .auth_secret.

Follow the instructions on the following pages to set up your SAN for the first time. To install the components of your SAN, follow the instructions that come with each computer, RAID storage system, and switch. Don’t turn on any of the equipment until you are instructed to do so. Unpack each computer that will be part of the SAN.

Sep 13, 2016 · This guide describes how to set up and manage an Xsan 5 storage area network (SAN). Xsan combines RAID arrays into large, easy-to-expand volumes of storage that clients use like local disks, but which are actually shared over a high-speed Fibre Channel fabric or a Distributed LAN Client (DLC) connection.