Also posts two new how-to articles

Apple has posted several new articles in its support database, including two that address specific issues. One deals with upgrading to Lion from Snow Leopard from a RAID volume, while the other explains some unexpected XSan Admin behavior when inconsistent or missing-name server records are used. XSan users also got a tutorial on advanced mounting options, while a fourth deals with restoring Lion Server from a Time Machine backup.

Article TS4212 acknowledges that users will receive an error message if they attempt to upgrade to Lion from Snow Leopard in situations where the Snow Leopard boot volume is a software RAID volume. Running the Lion installer from the boot volume (as would normally be done) produces the error message "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again."

The fix is to move the Lion installer to a volume that is not part of the software RAID. The error will also occur if the Snow Leopard boot volume is not part of a Software RAID, but the Lion installer is being started from a volume that is part of a software RAID.

Apple also posted a tutorial on how to restore Lion Server from a Time Machine backup, which can vary slightly depending on whether the service data was stored on the startup (boot) drive or on a non-boot drive. If the service data is on the startup volume, and only that volume is being restored, users can use an internal Recovery HD, Lion Internet Recovery, an external Lion Recovery Drive, or the Recovery partition of your Time Machine backup.

If service data is on a non-startup volume and the non-startup volume is being restored, or both the startup and non-startup volumes need to be restored (Lion Server v10.7.3 and later), then a more complex procedure outlined in the technote needs to be followed.

Two new articles posted today deal with XSan, the network storage and clustered file system for OS X that allows multiple computers to read and write to files simultaneously over a fibre channel network. The first deals with an issue where missing-name or inconsistent server records results in inconsistent behavior, including being unable to reach some client machines or slow performance while executing commands. The solution is to implement full name records in the DNS for the local network, with Apple suggesting that both Address and Pointer records be implemented for every interface on every computer.

The second is an informational article explaining how to employed advanced command-line options for controlling how XSan volumes are mounted on XSan clients. The article lists examples and argument conditions for the xsanctl code command.

by MacNN Staff