Creating CIFS mounts from AIX to the Isilon

macrun95 

The SMB client built into AIX & HPUX is extremely immature, in that it uses ASCII for SMB1 setup and teardown messages.  Isilon only supports these setup and teardown requests in a binary format.  Keep in mind ASCII for setup/teardown was phased out with Windows NT 4.0, that's how old it is.  You have 2 possible approaches at this point:

1. Install a mature samba client within AIX:

     https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-aix_samba/

     http://www.perzl.org/aix/index.php?n=main.samba

2. Isilon's OneFS is a multi-protocol filesystem.  Switch this data access to NFS instead of SMB, keeping in mind how the permissions overlap if SMB data access is also necessary.

Hope this helps,

~Chris

Maybe this White Paper will help you Eric.

https://support.emc.com/docu42659_White_Paper:_EMC_Isilon_Multiprotocol_Data_Access_with_a_Unified_Security_Model_for_SM…

Thanks for the response.  I've tried using NFS but get the same error.  I had our Isilon admin add and export a directory to the lpar I'm testing from.  It's still not able to see the path to the exported directory from the Isilon.

Can the AIX host ping the SSIP of the Isilon cluster? Make an SR so EMC support can investigate.

> I've tried using NFS but get the same error.

Can you please list the exact mount syntax you're using on the client, and the export path you created on the Isilon?

I'm assuming this isn't something really simple like the local mount point not existing...?

From the showmount command it would appear that your directory is not exported on the Isilon.  That's where I would look next.

Also, you may or may not want everyone to be able to mount your FSA data.  I might consider restricting that to the IIQ host unless you have a reason for anyone to get to it.  Just a thought.

Go under the protocols tab in the GUI for NFS Exports for more info on your cluster.

I can ping the Isilon from the AIX server.

Here is the stanza from /etc/filesystems:

/test_nfs:

        dev             = "/ifs/COTX-ISILON/TestFolderNFS"

        vfs              = nfs

        nodename   = cotx-isilon

        mount         = false

        type            = nfs

        options       = rw,bg,hard,intr,sec=sys

        account      = false

Here is the command and the error:

alleyecare(root)[pts/4]/> mount /test_nfs

nfsmnthelp: 1831-019 cotx-isilon: A file or directory in the path name does not exist.

mount: 1831-008 giving up on:

cotx-isilon:/ifs/COTX-ISILON/TestFolderNFS

A file or directory in the path name does not exist.

The path is case-sensitive. Can you provide the output of the following from the Cluster CLI

ls -ld /ifs/COTX-ISILON

and

ls -ld /ifs/COTX-ISILON/TestFolderNFS

Ok, I think I figured it out.  I don't like the way it works and maybe there is a way around it, but this is what I did.

I changed the "Always read-write clients:" in the export settings to the ip address of the AIX lpar.  I was then able to mount the filesystem.  I added the ip address of another system and was able to mount the filesystem on that lpar.

Now, is there a way to universally open it up or do I have to add every ip address of every system to that field?

COTX-ISILON-2# ls -ld /ifs/COTX-ISILON

drwxrwxr-x +  11 group  wheel  377 Apr 16 14:32 /ifs/COTX-ISILON

COTX-ISILON-2# ls -ld /ifs/COTX-ISILON/TestFolderNFS

drwxrwxr-x +  3 MEDSYN\vmadhavar  MEDSYN\domain us  39 Apr  1 11:37 /ifs/COTX-ISILON/TestFolderNFS

alleyecare(root)[pts/4]/> showmount -e cotx-isilon

export list for cotx-isilon:

/ifs/.ifsvar/modules/fsa (everyone)

The next thing worth seeing is the output from this command from the client:

showmount -e cotx-isilon

Thanks Adam, that fixed it.  I removed all the client information from the client fields and am now able to mount it from all of my lpars.

Thanks to everyone for your help!

Hello,  I had a related question.  I have not been able to find any information on this.

We have an AIX 6.1 host that needs to mount an SMB share.  The AIX admin said he installed the default CIFS client.

He is unable to mount the share.  He opened a case with IBM support who told him that I need to enable NetBIOS on the Isilon for this to work.  I found that the only supported client is Samba on Isilon.  He does not want to install it but I am pushing him to. He is pushing back telling me that Samba requires NetBIOS as well.  I found that Samba server uses NetBIOS-less connections but could not find anything on the Client.  Anyone have any info on this and how I can get it to work?

Update: I got the Admin to install the Samba client.  He can now see all the mounts on the Isilon when he runs smbclient -L. He is telling me that the mount is still failing.  I now feel like it is a syntax issue since he can connect to the Isilon.

Thanks

jpesaturo,

Read my post above. It's likely that you'll never get the native CIFS client in AIX or HPUX to work, because it still behaves like a Windows NT SMB client by using ASCII(instead of binary) for the setup and teardown messages over SMBv1.  Tell your AIX admin that he needs to load the AIX SAMBA client instead.  I posted some links above that should be helpful.

~Chris