Clariion AX4

[lone_jedi1214]

First time posting, hope I do it right.

I came across a Clariion AX4 server and power supply. It aged out from my friend's work (). It has 9 bays at 1TB each and all appear in working order, though, I haven't pulled them out and viewed them individually to see if I need to format our what. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for trying to turn it into a volume that an existing FreeNAS system can recognize and mount.

Here's the real catch- I can't get into the thing. I've tried wireshark, to sniff out an IP address but, the packet headers might as well be in Chinese. A few addresses popped out but, I can't get into any of them. I have to assume that the original OS that came with it is wiped. It's out of contract with EMC and I've spent literally a month in their forums trying to find "reset" or 'restore' advice in their forums, but to no avail.

Here's the question, before I invest any more time in trying to salvage this thing, is it even possible for an existing FreeNAS system to recognize and mount an external piece of hardware such as this? I don't necessarily need it to be part of the existing volumes I have (assume all drives are same size). I'm just wondering if it's possible to use FreeNAS as the controller of this server. It's such a nice compact enclosure seems wasteful. Any advice, tricks, links, or walkthroughs would be really helpful and really appreciated. Thank you.

 

[m0nkey_]

No, not possible to use for FreeNAS. These things have 1GB RAM per storage processor, the AX4 has two storage processors.

 

[Nick2253]

So, are you trying to install FreeNAS on this thing, or just get FreeNAS to attach to it, and share it's data as a NAS?

If it's the latter, I wouldn't bother with FreeNAS. There are easier ways to do the data sharing. Part of the power of FreeNAS comes from ZFS, which means direct control over the data. Using a device like a Clariion assumes that the Clariion controls the disks, and you just need the abstracted data storage.

 

[lone_jedi1214]

I was trying to get FreeNAS to attach to it, and share its data on NAS.

And while I can appreciate the Clariion can control the disks, the problem with that is that I can't get into the darn thing to even see if the OS was wiped or what. There are a couple of utilities to try, which I have tried, including an initialization wizard. But again, no luck. And this thing is way outisde of my comfort zone and knowledge base.

I did read about how to hit a "reset" button allowing for 15 minute window to set up a new user. But I can't even get to the dang internal site to try it.

Short of calling EMC for support, for which I'm sure there's an $8k contracted fee or something, I'm just stumped on how to make use of it. Truth be told, it's just a pretty rack mount device and I was hoping to get just some storage out of it. Hosting VMware and such would be cool, but I was just trying for the basics.

If you have any insights on how to just get into the thing, that would be cool. I realize this is now probably outside the scope of this forum though. I'll try to post on Stack overflow later if I get time and post a link to that thread here. But thanks for your time and help.

 

[Mirfster]

I came across a Clariion AX4 server and power supply. It aged out from my friend's work

Might want to ask your friend if they know how or see if he can ask the people who administered it.

 

[lone_jedi1214]

Agreed. That was the first thing I did. I asked just for the IP. I didn't ask for any pointers or anything else. No response from IT when he asked for me. I guess they've made it a point not to assist with "personal" tech issues. Like... Just an ip... That's all I need... Fine dude.

Used Wireshark, angryip, and a couple other random networking mappers. Wireshark gives an ip. But inputting that does nothing... I see a "who has 10.3.1.x, tell 10.3.1.y". Which I think is one sp trying to talk to the other. Can't figure this out... Will try again later with a glass of wine. See if that sparks some creativity. Thanks all.