Finished the NetApp Fundamentals class today, all in all it was a good class. We covered a lot of information but not with a lot of depth. Knowing what I have lined up at work I think it would be great if I could take the CIFS class, however that is another three day class and I am not sure if work will pay for that. I’ll keep it in mind as the Healthcare filers will be doing some tricky work with CIFS and I know it would be beneficial. We finished class early today (around noon) so I thought about going to the Grand Canyon, but with it being 240 miles away the time doesn’t work out to make it worth trying. I thought about trying to catch an earlier flight out, but sitting stand by potentially until my scheduled flight tomorrow doesn’t sound to appealing either. It was nice being out here though, the weather was perfect and from what I have been told it’s like this eight months out of the year, the other four are really hot, but I think I could handle it, after all that’s what air conditioning is for right?
Tag Archives: Phoenix
java netapp.cmds.jsh
One of the problems I have with the NetApp filers is the inability to use simple UNIX commands like cp (copy) and mv (move) even though their base OS is Linux. Often times I have needed to use these commands to make backup copies of files I need to modify but have not been able to. There are a number of ways to get around this problem:
- export and mount /vol/vol0 to a UNIX host and use native UNIX commands
- CIFS share /vol/vol0 to a Windows host and use Native windows commands
- create a snapshot of /vol/vol0 and use the Data ONTAP native rdfile and wrfile command
Of course there are problems with these as well.
- In order to make use of exporting and mounting the volume I would require access to a UNIX host with the appropriate permissions to perform these actions; which often enough I do not have access to.
- In order to use a CIFS share the filer needs to have a CIFS license in place and have access to a windows system that has access to the filer; and at least one of my filers does not have a CIFS license, and on the ones that do I may not have access to a system that can map the CIFS share on the given network.
- the Data ONTAP rdfile and wrfile commands are useful, but dangerous. wrfile, which allows you to write to a file, first destroys the file (removes all data from it) then opens it for you to add to. This means if you forget to use rdfile first to see the contents of the file, then you have just erased the file. Correcting this can be as simple as pulling the original file from a snapshot (if you remembered to take one) or as complicated as needing to create the file from scratch.
The solution to all these problems is to use an undocumented java shell on the filer which grants the ability to use cp, mv and other commands.
Here is an example of the command to drop to the java shell and a list of the commands available:
filer01>java netapp.cmds.jsh
jsh> ?
Java Shell commands:
cd [directory]
pwd
ls [-l]
cat file
rm file [file2 …]
cp src dest
mv src dest
ps [-l]
kill <-1|-9> threadName
gc
classpath [pathname]
syspath [pathname]
Debug on|off
threads
monitors
heap
version
syncdb
du [-sk] [files or directories]
java_class [&]
ONTAP_cmd
jsh> exit
filer01>
jsh> ?
Java Shell commands:
cd [directory]
pwd
ls [-l]
cat file
rm file [file2 …]
cp src dest
mv src dest
ps [-l]
kill <-1|-9> threadName
gc
classpath [pathname]
syspath [pathname]
Debug on|off
threads
monitors
heap
version
syncdb
du [-sk] [files or directories]
java_class [&]
ONTAP_cmd
jsh> exit
filer01>
This command alone has made this class worth it for me, this will come in very handy in the future.
First Day Results
Looks like I worried about my driving route to class for nothing. When I went out this morning to head to class I found the road had been re-opened, apparently they only close it off on the weekend. I got to the training center early, as is my habit, and got registered and signed in. Turns out there only four of us in the class and three of us have some NetApp experience. Should be interesting, this is just the Data ONTAP 7.3 Fundamentals class, so hopefully I will get some good information out of the class. The instructor seems pretty knowledgeable and easy to talk to, should be a fun and quick paced class due to both the small class size and the people here. The first day went by pretty quick and so far the knowledge was pretty basic and stuff I already knew, but some of it I had never used so the labs were pretty useful. Looking forward to what the rest of the week brings.
Arrived in Phoenix
Landed in Phoenix earlier today and made my way to my hotel. I actually managed to take a wrong turn on the way to the hotel even with having a GPS unit in the car (a Toyota Corolla) so I am not to thrilled about the potential of me getting lost over the next week. To top it off the main road is closed right outside my hotel in the direction I need to go to get to class. I was able to find a different route to class already, but I have to do it by driving the opposite direction than the GPS says to go, thus forcing it to calculate a new route. The area is nice, though I am already tired of the dessert colors, all of the houses are painted a muted yellowish color or a kind of sand gray, on the bright side the temperature is in the low 70s and the sky is a brilliant blue. I wouldn’t mind having this kind of temperature year round! Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.