Storage object names must be unique on a server. If the server is part of a cluster, then all pools and volumes must have unique names across all servers in the cluster, whether they are in shared relationships or not.
NSS storage object names are case insensitive. Names such as AURORA, Aurora, and aurora are the same. NSS saves pool and volume names in uppercase. NSS software RAID device names and labels are case sensitive. For example, if you enter MyRaid as the name, it is saved as MyRaid only.
IMPORTANT:Because Linux treats filenames as case sensitive, when using NSS volumes on Linux, make sure to mount the volume with the Long name space (ns=long) option so that file queries are case insensitive. For information, see Section 18.11, Mounting NSS Volumes with Linux Commands.
For the NSS file system, the maximum length supported for a filename (the name and file extension) is 255 16-bit Unicode characters. The maximum length supported for the full path name (which includes the volume name, directories, filename, extension, and delimiters in the path) is 1023 16-bit Unicode characters. However, different tools, applications, and file systems place different limits on filenames and path lengths, some of which can be more or less restrictive than these limits. While it is possible to create a full path that is longer than 1023 characters, most tools will have difficulty dealing with it.
Use the guidelines in Table 5-3 to determine the length requirements for names of NSS Storage objects.
Table 5-3 Storage Object Name and Password Length
|
NSS Storage Object |
Minimum Number of Characters (16-bit Unicode Characters) |
Maximum Number of Characters (16-bit Unicode Characters) |
|---|---|---|
|
Device name for a physical or logical device |
2 |
15 |
|
Device name for a software RAID 0 and RAID 5 |
1 |
128 (iManager) 15 (NSSMU) Longer names are truncated. |
|
Device name for a software RAID 1, RAID 0+1, and RAID 5+1 NOTE:RAIDs 0+1 and 5+1 can be created only from NSSMU. |
1 |
80 (iManager) 15 (NSSMU) Longer names are truncated. |
|
Partition label |
2 |
128 |
|
Pool name |
2 |
15 |
|
Volume name |
2 |
15 |
|
Encryption password for encrypted NSS volumes. Use standard ASCII characters |
2 (a minimum of 6 is recommended) |
16 |
|
Pathnames for files, including the server name, volume name, path delineators (such as colons, slashes, and dots), directory names, filename, and file extension |
1 |
255 |
Valid device, pool, and volume object names conform to the following naming conventions. We recommend that you also consider the character conventions for the software RAID names in order to have consistent naming policies on your system.
Use only valid characters:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789_!@#$%&()
IMPORTANT:Special characters (non-alphanumeric) can create confusion or problems for some configuration files, command line utilities, applications, and scripts. For example, the ampersand (&), at (@), dollar sign ($), exclamation point (!), percent (%), and number sign (#) characters should be avoided for this reason. For more information, see Section 5.4.4, Other Naming Guidelines
Do not use spaces in the object name.
Do not begin or end the object name with an underscore (_).
Do not use multiple contiguous underscores (__) anywhere in the object name.
IMPORTANT:Novell Cluster services supports only alphanumeric characters and the underscore character in cluster resource names. Special characters ( !@#$%&() )are not supported. Because the pool name is automatically used in the pool cluster resource name, do not use special characters in pool names for pools that you plan to cluster enable.
In general, we recommend that you avoid using reserved names or words as names of Storage objects in order to avoid confusion.
For example, the following case-insensitive names are reserved names:
Some characters on Linux, such as the ampersand (&), dollar sign ($), exclamation point (!), and number sign (#) characters, can cause problems in some configuration files, command line utilities, applications, and scripts. You might need to use different techniques in each case to make the name be accepted in the manner intended. Refer to the documentation for the specific consumer application or utility to find how to treat names that contain special characters in that environment.
To avoid this extra effort, we recommend that you avoid using special characters in names of Storage objects.
Because the “at sign” (@) character (also called “the at symbol”) is an element of electronic mail addresses, such as code@engineer.com, it might cause confusion and possible problems in a Storage object name. A Web browser or other application could mistake it for an e-mail address.
We recommend that you do not use the @ character in Storage object names.
The percent character (%) might cause problems if it is passed in a format string to an application routine that uses it to delineate parameters. For example, if a volume name that contains the percent character, such as store%sales, is passed to an (s)printf routine, the (s)printf routine might look for parameters that are not there and crash.
We recommend that you do not use the percent character in Storage object names.
If spaces are used in User or Group object names, you must enclose the object name in double quotation marks (") in order for it to be recognized in command line utilities, scripts, and applications.
If special characters are used in User or Group object names and passwords, you might need to use different escape techniques in command line utilities (such as Bash on Linux) to make the name be accepted in the manner intended. Refer to the documentation for the specific command line utility to find how to escape special characters in that environment.
For example, enclosing the name in double quotation marks and preceding the character with a backslash are common techniques for escaping special characters when parsing command lines.
To avoid this extra effort, we recommend that you avoid using special characters in names of User and Group objects and in passwords.