Apple on Thursday released Xserve RAID Admin 1.1, an update to the Xserve RAID remote management software that simplifies the setup and monitoring of storage volumes. There’s no online information about what changes are in the incremental upgrade.
The self-monitoring technology and automatic notification service maximizes storage availability while minimizing the pressure on system administrators, according to Apple. The Java-based application provides an interface for creating protected storage volumes, logging events, managing preferences and monitoring storage hardware from just about any networked computer over TCP/IP.
Monitoring panes display detailed information on arrays, drives, Fibre Channel, network, thermal, power and events. You can add new systems to the Admin via IP or Apple’s Rendezvous technology. Rendezvous is a zero configuration technology that brings together Internet IP standards and LAN networks. Using Rendezvous, devices such as printers can be seen on a network with no setup from the end user.
The RAID Admin tool also lets you set up notification via e-mail to alert you when a problem is detected. Also included in it are Fibre Channel networking features such as LUN masking, which enables you to make storage volumes accessible to specific host systems while masking them from others on the Fibre Channel network. Xserve RAID Admin 1.1 — a 5MB downloadable file — requires Mac OS X 10.2.4 or higher.