Storageflex RAID 3945N User Manual

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Storageflex

3945N NAS RAID Manual

Version 5.3

www.Storageflex.com

Administrator Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE.........................................................................................................................4

ABOUT THIS GUIDE ..................................................................................................... 4

WHO SHOULD USE THIS GUIDE............................................................................... 4

WHERE TO FIND INFORMATION ............................................................................ 4

WARRANTY & LIABILITY LIMITATIONS .............................................................4

ABOUT STORAGEFLEX 3945N NAS RAID............................................................... 8

CONNECTING APPLIANCES TO THE NETWORK.............................................. 10

CONNECTING THE APPLIANCE TO YOUR NETWORK ................................... 10

CONFIGURING THE APPLIANCE FOR YOUR NETWORK...............................10

LOCATING THE APPLIANCE ON YOUR NETWORK......................................... 11

CONFIGURING NEW APPLIANCES........................................................................ 13

SEARCHING YOUR NETWORK FOR LOCAL APPLIANCES ............................ 14

SEARCHING FOR REMOTE APPLIANCES ...........................................................15

LOGGING ON TO A NEWLY INSTALLED APPLIANCE..................................... 16

ENTERING THE SERIAL NUMBER......................................................................... 17

NAMING THE APPLIANCE ....................................................................................... 18

CONFIGURING NETWORK (OPTIONAL).............................................................. 19

VERIFYING THE DATE AND TIME ........................................................................20

ASSIGNING A PASSWORD ........................................................................................ 21

MANAGING APPLIANCE SETTINGS......................................................................23

MANAGING GROUPS LOCALLY............................................................................. 27

MANAGING SHARES.................................................................................................. 29

MANAGING FOLDERS ............................................................................................... 32

CHECKING THE STATUS OF THE APPLIANCE.................................................. 34

CHECKING USER CONNECTIONS TO THE APPLIANCE .................................35

VIEWING SETTINGS OF THE APPLIANCE .......................................................... 36

VIEWING LOGS OF THE APPLIANCE .................................................................. 37

MONITORING HARDWARE STATUS OF THE APPLIANCE............................. 38

CHANGING ADMINISTRATIVE PASSWORD FOR THE APPLIANCE ...........40

CHANGING THE DATE AND TIME.........................................................................41

SHUTTING DOWN APPLIANCE ..............................................................................42

CONFIGURING ADVANCED SETTINGS ................................................................ 43

APPLIANCE NAME .....................................................................................................44

NETWORK DOMAIN................................................................................................... 44

DNS SEARCH ORDER................................................................................................. 44

Administrator Guide

OBTAINING AN IP ADDRESS FROM A DHCP SERVER..................................... 45

SETTING A STATIC IP ADDRESS............................................................................ 46

CONFIGURING NIC TEAMING................................................................................ 47

THE WAYS TO AUTHENTICATE USERS AND GROUPS ................................... 48

AUTHENTICATE USERS AND GROUPS AGAINST LDAP SERVER ................ 52

MANAGE USERS AND GROUPS WITH APPLIANCEVIEW ............................... 53

ENABLING MACINTOSH SUPPORT....................................................................... 55

ENABLING UNIX SUPPORT...................................................................................... 56

LARGE NETWORK SETTINGS ................................................................................ 57

CONFIGURING LDAP SERVER ............................................................................... 58

CONFIGURING NIS ................................................................................................... 59

POLICY MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................... 61

UPDATING APPLIANCE VIA WEB.......................................................................... 69

TROUBLESHOOTING THE APPLIANCE............................................................... 72

CONFIGURING STORAGE SETTINGS ................................................................... 75

AVAILABLE RAID LEVELS IN STORAGEFLEX.................................................. 75

VOLUME MANAGEMENT......................................................................................... 76

CLUSTERING ............................................................................................................... 83

USING THE APPLIANCE ........................................................................................... 86

FINDING APPLIANCES IN NETWORK NEIGHBORHOOD ............................... 86

FINDING APPLIANCES WITH FIND COMPUTER............................................... 87

SAVING FILES TO THE APPLIANCE (WINDOWS) ............................................. 87

ASSIGNING A DRIVE LETTER TO THE APPLIANCE ........................................ 87

CONNECTING THROUGH THE NETWORK BROWSER OR CHOOSER........ 88

CONNECTING THROUGH THE FINDER (MAC OS X)........................................ 88

SAVING FILES TO THE APPLIANCE (MACINTOSH)......................................... 89

MOUNTING A SHARE ON THE APPLIANCE (LINUX AND UNIX)................... 90

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APPENDIX A: USING THE ONLINE HELP .............................................................. 92

APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY ........................................................................................... 93

APPENDIX C: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ).................................. 104

Preface

About this Guide

This Administrator Guide, with respect to the user interface, is focused on the JAVA based management tool, ApplianceView.

Who should use this guide

This Administrator Guide is written for the Administrator of a Storageflex-enabled NAS Appliance. This guide assumes that you have some knowledge about basic computer networking. The guide outlines:

• Proper installation of a new Appliance on a network.

• Management of the Appliance through the Java-based application.

• Using the Appliance in Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX

Networks.

Where to find information

Administrator Guide

•

Information relevant for the Administrator of an Storageflex appliance is located in chapters 1 through 6

• Information relevant for network users of an Storageflex appliance is located

in chapter 7

Warranty & Liability Limitations

ATTENTION: USE OF THE SOFTWARE IS SUBJECT TO THE STORAGEFLEX SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS SET FORTH BELOW. USING THE SOFTWARE INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE LICENSE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE LICENSE TERMS, YOU MUST RETURN THE SOFTWARE FOR A FULL REFUND.

The following terms govern your use of the enclosed Software unless you have a separate written agreement with Storageflex Inc.

License Grant

Storageflex Inc. grants you a license to use one copy of the Software. "Use" means storing, loading, installing, executing or displaying the Software. You may not modify the Software or disable any licensing or control features of the Software. If the Software is licensed for "concurrent use", you may not allow more than the maximum number of authorized users to use the Software concurrently.

Administrator Guide

Ownership

The Software is owned and copyrighted by Storageflex Inc. or its third party suppliers. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Software and is not a sale of any rights in the Software. Storageflex Inc.'s third party suppliers may protect their rights in the event of any violation of these License Terms.

Copies and Adaptations

You may only make copies or adaptations of the Software for archival purposes or when copying or adaptation is an essential step in the authorized use of the Software. You must reproduce all copyright notices in the original Software on all copies or adaptations. You may not copy the Software onto any bulletin board or similar system.

No Disassembly or Decryption

You may not disassemble or decompile the Software without obtaining prior written consent from Storageflex Inc. In some jurisdictions, Storageflex Inc.'s consent may not be required for disassembly or decompilation. Upon request, you will provide Storageflex Inc. with reasonably detailed information regarding any disassembly or decompilation. You may not decrypt the Software unless decryption is a necessary part of the operation of the Software.

Transfer

Your license will automatically terminate upon any transfer of the Software. Therefore, you must delete all copies of the Software installed on your system prior to transfer. Upon transfer, you must deliver the Software, including any copies and related documentation, to the transferee. The transferee must accept all License Terms set forth in the present document as a condition of the transfer.

Termination

Storageflex Inc. may terminate your license upon notice for failure to comply with any of the License Terms set forth in this agreement. Upon termination of your license, you must immediately destroy the Software, together with all copies, adaptations and merged portions in any form.

Administrator Guide

Export Requirements

You acknowledge that the licensed Software is subject to the export control laws and regulations of the U.S.A., and any amendments thereof. You confirm that you may not export or re-export the Software or any copy or adaptation to any countries that are subject to U.S.A. export restrictions. To do so would be in violation of any applicable laws or regulations.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights

The Software and documentation have been developed entirely at private expense and are provided as "commercial computer software" or "restricted computer software". They are delivered and licensed as "commercial computer software" as defined in DFARS 252.227-7013 (Oct 1988), DFARS

252.211-7015 (May 1991) or DFARS 252.227-7014 (Jun 1995), as a "commercial item" as defined in FAR 2.101 (a), or as "restricted computer software" as defined in FAR 52.227-19 (Jun 1987) (or any equivalent agency regulation or contract clause), whichever is applicable. You have only those rights provided for such Software and Documentation by the applicable FAR or DFARS clause or Storageflex Inc. Standard Software Agreement for the product.

STORAGEFLEX 3945N NAS RAID STATEMENT

1. Storageflex Inc. warrants to you that Storageflex Inc. software will not fail to execute its programming instructions after the date of purchase, for the period specified above, due to defects in material and workmanship when properly installed and used. If Storageflex Inc. receives notice of such defects during the warranty period, Storageflex Inc. will replace software media that does not execute its programming instructions due to such defects.

2. Storageflex Inc. does not warrant that the operation of Storageflex Inc. products will be uninterrupted or error free.

3. Warranty does not apply to defects resulting from (a) improper or inadequate maintenance or calibration, (b) software, interfacing, parts or supplies not supplied by Storageflex Inc., (c) unauthorized specification changes for the product, or (d) improper site preparation or maintenance.

4. ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS LIMITED TO THE DURATION OF THE EXPRESSED WARRANTY SET FORTH ABOVE. Some states or provinces do not allow limitations on the duration of an implied warranty, so the above limitation or exclusion might not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you might also have other rights that vary from state to state, or province to province.

LIMITED WARRANTY

Administrator Guide

5. THE REMEDIES IN THIS WARRANTY STATEMENT ARE YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES. EXCEPT AS INDICATED ABOVE, IN NO EVENT WILL STORAGEFLEX INC.BE LIABLE FOR LOSS OF DATA OR FOR DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL (INCLUDING LOST PROFIT), OR OTHER DAMAGE, WHETHER BASED IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE. Some states or provinces do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.

Administrator Guide

1 About Storageflex 3945N NAS RAID

Overview

Storageflex Software

A Storageflex NAS Appliance enables cross-platform file sharing for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX users. Storageflex server software is the engine that drives your network attached storage appliance. Setup, configuration, and management are accomplished through ApplianceView, the Java management tool.

Integrated Management

Storageflex provides simple management tools for locating and configuring appliances. The management interface is available in a Java-based version that installs directly on client computers from the ApplianceView CD-ROM.

ApplianceView, the Java user interface unifies access to all Storageflex enabled appliances on a network. The ApplianceView management software installs on the administrator's hard drive, and automatically detects new appliances as they are added. The administrator configures basic network settings for each appliance with a simple first-time setup wizard. Then, ApplianceView lets them view and manage all Appliances on the Local Area Network (LAN). In addition, ApplianceView can be configured to view and manage Appliances outside of the LAN. ApplianceView is featured in this software release.

Appliance Management Software Compatibility

The ApplianceView management software installs on any computer running Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT, or Windows XP. Someone with Administrator rights must complete installation on Windows NT, 2000, or XP in some cases. Linux (x86 and PowerPC) and Mac OS X (10.1.2,

10.1.5, 10.2, 10.2.6, and 10.3) are supported as well.

Administrator Guide

Storageflex 3945N NAS RAID Software Features

XFS Journaling File System

•

• The Linux 2.4.21 kernel

• Supports the following network protocols: NFS (Unix), SMB/CIFS (Windows) and

AFP (Apple), and FTP

• Available in English, Japanese, French, Traditional Chinese, and German versions

• Hardware and Software RAID levels 0, 1 and 5 available, with RAID management

tools

• Hot spare assignment for Hardware RAID

• ApplianceView, the Java based Management Tool

• UPS automatic server shutdown available

• Support for up to five Ethernet cards in a single appliance

• Network card load balancing to equalize the traffic between up to five Ethernet cards

• User & Group management in Local (with ApplianceView) or Native (against Active

Directory Services) or Mixed (against Primary Domain Controller) security modes, as well as support for NIS and LDAP client and server

• NFS dynamic UID/GID mapping

• Folders & Sharing management by Access Control Lists

• Large Network Support

• WINS Server service available

• Support for NAS clustering

• SNMP and SMTP notifications are available

• ISCSI protocol support

• Automatic & wizard based installer for easy server setup.

ApplianceView Minimum Hardware Requirements

To install ApplianceView, the Java based configuration tool, you must have at least the following hardware configuration.

• 128 MB RAM

• A computer running Windows 98, NT, 2000, or XP, Linux (x86 or PowerPC) or Mac

OS X 10.1.2, and better.

• 55 MB of free hard drive space

• Pentium-II processor or greater

Administrator Guide

2 Connecting Appliances to the Network

Installation

This section explains how to add new Appliances to your network. The Appliance installs in three simple steps.

1. Connect the appliance to your network and to power

2. Configure the appliance for your network

3. Locate the appliance on your network

Connecting the Appliance to your network

To connect the appliance:

1. Connect an Ethernet cable from the Appliance to an active port on a network hub or switch.

2. Connect the power cord to the Appliance, and then plug it into an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or a standard power outlet on the wall.

3. Turn the Appliance on.

Configuring the Appliance for your network

In most cases, the Appliance automatically configures itself. If the appliance does not receive an IP address from a DHCP server, it may assign itself an IP address. The Appliance tests for available addresses, starting at 169.254.0.1, and takes the first available address.

Note

Storageflex recommends that you give the Appliance a static IP address or a non-expiring DHCP lease time. If no DHCP server is available on your network for initial setup, please add a route to the 169.254.* network to configure the appliance with a static IP address (please see the Complete FAQ in Appendix C).

Administrator Guide

Locating the Appliance on your network

The default name of a new Appliance is AWxxxxxx, where xxxxxx is the last six digits of the MAC (Media Access Control) address of the network card installed in the appliance.

Note

To locate the appliance, try one of the following methods:

DHCP server may assign other names to a newly-installed Appliance.

• Use the Find Computer command on the Windows Start menu.

Search for the appliance by its default name.

• Look for the appliance in Network Neighborhood (called My Network Places

in Windows 2000), under Workgroup.

Note

If you locate the appliance by one of these methods, it is ready for use. You can use the Appliance the same as you would any other network-attached resource.

If you do not locate the appliance by one of these methods, add a route to

169.254.* networks to locate an Appliance (please see ApplianceView Complete FAQ document on client CD for specific details). Below are general steps on how to do that.

The appliance may take 15 minutes or more to show up in Workgroup.

• Windows

From the Start Menu, the ApplianceView program group, click Route Helper.

• Linux

- Start new terminal session.

- Change to ApplianceView installation directory:

cd ~/ApplianceView

- Run the linrouter.sh script:

./linrouter.sh

- Type in your user password if prompted.

Please note that you should be in ”sudoers” group in order to perform changes in route tables. Please ask your administrator to configure sudo for you if you are not able to do this.

• Mac OS X

- Launch Terminal which is located under Applications/Utilities in Finder.

Administrator Guide

- From Terminal console, change directory to the place where ApplianceView is installed:

cd ~/Applications/ApplianceView

- Launch the macrouter.sh script:

./macrouter.sh

- Type in your OS X password (the same one that you use to log onto your Mac), if prompted.

Please note that you should have the right to administer your Mac in order to perform changes in route tables. Ask your administrator for help if you cannot change this setting of your user account on Macintosh.

Administrator Guide

3 Configuring New Appliances

About ApplianceView

With ApplianceView, you can access all the Storageflex NAS Appliances on your network through a single management tool. ApplianceView installs on any Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X based computer.

Installing ApplianceView on Client PCs

Install ApplianceView on any Windows 98/2000/NT/XP, Linux or Mac OS X PCs that you will use to configure and manage Appliances. If you are running Windows NT, 2000, or XP, you may probably need to log in as a user with administrative privileges before installing the software.

To install ApplianceView on a client PC:

1. Insert the ApplianceView CD-ROM in the CD drive of the client PC.

2. For Linux/Power PC installation, please use the Java Runtime Environment 1.3.1 package provided by your Linux distribution vendor. Do not forget to check (and add if required) a path to your installation of Java Runtime Environment within the system PATH variable on Windows or Linux.

3. - On Windows systems, run the setup.exe file from CD.

- On Linux (x86) systems, run the setup.bin file from CD.

- On Linux (PowerPC) systems, run the setup.bin file from the “novm” folder

of client CD. Please make sure that you have JRE 1.3.1 for PowerPC installed before running ApplianceView installer.

- On Mac OS X, drag the setup.zip file from CD onto your desktop, and

double-click it; the StuffIt! Expander will start. After it quits, the Setup icon on your Desktop appears; please double-click it.

4. Follow the onscreen instructions in the ApplianceView setup program. The ApplianceView configuration manager installs on your computer.

Launching ApplianceView

Launch ApplianceView whenever you want to change the configuration or check the status of an Appliance on your network.

To launch ApplianceView:

• On Linux, launch the X terminal console, change directory to the one where ApplianceView is installed, and type ./ApplianceView.

• On Mac OS X, please use the shortcuts on your Desktop, or browse to ApplianceView installation folder, and double-click the ApplianceView icon.

• On Windows, please use the ApplianceView shortcuts from the Start Menu, or browse to ApplianceView installation folder, and launch ApplianceView application.

Descriptions of problems that you may face during installation are included into Storageflex Complete FAQ document that you may find on CDROM in the “docs/faq” folder.

The ApplianceView configuration manager opens.

Administrator Guide

Searching your network for local appliances

Storageflex devices available on your local network show up under Local Appliances in the left column.

To search the network for local appliances:

1. Launch ApplianceView.

2. Local appliances are auto-detected.

Note

If your Appliance is located on the other subnet, you should use the Search for Remote function which is described below.

Additional appliances available on your network will show up under Local Appliances in the left column.

• If the appliance displays using this method, it is ready for immediate

administration.

• If your newly installed appliance does not show up initially, please refer

to “Locating your appliances on the network” topic of chapter 2, as well as to “Storageflex Complete FAQ” document from client CD. The FAQ may contain last-minute issues and questions that are not covered by this document.

Administrator Guide

Searching for remote appliances

You can locate remote Storageflex appliances by their IP address or their URL. A search for a remote appliance will succeed only if your network is properly configured to reach the subnet that the appliance is on.

To locate a remote appliance by the IP address:

1. From the ApplianceView menu, select Network.

2. Select Search for Remote.

The Remote Appliance Location window appears.

3. Type in the IP address of the remote appliance.

4. Click OK.

The appliance shows up in the list of remote appliances available for administration.

To locate a remote appliance by the URL:

1. From the ApplianceView menu, select Network.

2. Select Search for Remote.

3. The Remote Appliance Location window appears.

4. Select Appliance URL.

5. Type in the URL of the remote appliance.

6. Click OK.

The appliance shows up in the list of remote appliances available for administration.

Locating Appliances that do not show up initially

On Windows systems, route addition is done by Route Helper application located under the same program group in Start Menu as the NAS Manager itself.

On Linux and Mac OS X, you will be prompted for your password in order to perform changes in route tables. Please note that on Linux you should be in `sudoers` group in order to perform changes in route tables. On Macintosh, you should have administrator access level in order to do this. For route addition, please use linrouter.sh script on Linux, and macrouter.sh script on Mac OS X. These scripts are located in the ApplianceView installation directory. They must be launched from Terminal session. If you are not familiar with terminal and sudo, you can ask your system administrator to configure them for you.

You may also refer to “Locating your appliances on the network” topic in chapter 2, as well as to “Storageflex Complete FAQ” document from client CD. It may contain last-minute issues and questions that are not covered by this document.

Logging on to a newly installed appliance

Initially, the Appliance has an administrative password set to “ADMIN”. To protect the appliance from unauthorized access, set an administrative password in Step 3 of the Setup Wizard.

Administrator Guide

To log on to an Appliance using ApplianceView:

1. Double-click the name of the appliance you want to connect.

2. Enter a password at the Appliance Logon prompt. Default password is

“ADMIN”.

3. Click OK.

Administrator Guide

Configuring a New Appliance with Setup Wizard

The Appliance Setup Wizard guides you through five configuration steps for the Appliance:

1. Serial number registration

2. Naming the Appliance

3. Configuring Network (optional)

4. Verifying the date and time

5. Assigning an administrative password

• After completing each step, click Next to proceed to the next step.

• If you need to modify settings in a previous step, click Previous.

• If you need help completing a step, click Help to access additional information for that

setup step.

• To cancel the setup wizard, click Cancel at any time.

1 Entering the serial number

• Enter the serial number that was included with the ApplianceView package.

• Click Next to proceed to the next step.

2 Naming the appliance

Administrator Guide

• Give the appliance a name of 15 characters or less so that all clients on the network

can locate the appliance. The appliance name may not contain any non-English characters.

• Click Next to proceed to the next step.

Administrator Guide

3 Configuring Network (optional)

• Specify an IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway for your Appliance

if needed, otherwise leave everything unchanged. Please refer to chapter 5, “Configuring Network Settings” for details on how to configure other network settings of your Appliance.

• Click Next button to proceed to the next step.

4 Verifying the date and time

Administrator Guide

• Verify the date, the time, and the time zone for your appliance.

• Click Next to proceed to the next step.

Administrator Guide

5 Assigning a password and Administrative SMTP Configuration

• Assign an administrative password for the appliance.

The appliance is shipped with a default password setting (“ADMIN”). Choose a secure password that you will remember easily. You will use this password in the future to view or change configuration settings for this Appliance. The password may not contain any non-English characters.

• Enter the e-mail address of the person who manages this appliance, along with SMTP

server that will be used to send e-mail messages into the Administrative e-mail and Administrative SMTP server fields, respectively.

• Click Finish. If you have changed appliance name, it will be rebooted. Otherwise, only

its management engine will be restarted. Both cases require that you log on again a bit later.

Logging On a Configured Appliance

Log on an appliance to check its status or change its configuration. Your connection is automatically terminated after 15 minutes of inactivity.

To log on to an appliance using ApplianceView:

1. Launch ApplianceView. ApplianceView Starts.

2. Double-click the appliance you want to connect to on the left side of the screen.

3. Type in the administrative password for the appliance.

4. Click OK.

You are logged in to the appliance.

Logging Off an Appliance

When you have finished administrative tasks you should log off the appliance. Logging off terminates your connection to the appliance.

Administrator Guide

To log off an Appliance:

1. Click Logoff Appliance, located on the left.

2. Confirm logoff (select Yes from the popup window)

You are logged off the appliance. You may now log back on to another appliance, or close the management tool.

Administrator Guide

4 Managing Appliance Settings

Configuring the Appliance to Use a UPS

If a supported UPS is connected to the server via serial cable, UPS monitoring can be turned on. When UPS monitoring is on, the server will automatically perform a safe shutdown in case the UPS battery level becomes critical in a power outage.

To enable UPS monitoring:

1. If using ApplianceView click Maintenance.

2. Click UPS tab.

3. Select the appropriate UPS model from Supported Models

4. Click Apply.

5. Click the Start button.

After several seconds, UPS monitoring starts. If there is a power outage, and the UPS battery level reaches critical the server will safely shutdown.

Managing Users and Groups on the Appliance

By default, everyone on your network has access to the Appliance immediately after it is installed. The authentication for users can be changed from local (on the appliance) to either Primary Domain Controller or Active Directory Services (on the network). You can make this change in the Security tab under Advanced Settings in ApplianceView.

Note

If either the Primary Domain Controller or Active Directory Services authenticate users and groups for the Appliance, user and group information must be added, modified and deleted on the Primary Domain Controller or Active Directory Services, respectively, not through ApplianceView.

The choice of security mode should be made early. Later changes to the security mode may cause some users to lose access to files stored on the appliance.

Managing Users Locally

If users are authenticated locally on the appliance, add, delete, or edit user information through Users & Groups on the Main Menu.

To add a new user:

1. Click Security on the main menu.

2. Click Users tab. The User Management screen opens.

Administrator Guide

3. Click Add on the User Management screen.

4. Enter the user's Name, Description, and Password.

5. Use the same name and password the user has for logging into the network. Adjust membership of an user in groups using >> and << buttons. By default, each user is included into group called “users”.

6. Click Accept.

The new user is added to the list of users who can access this appliance.

Administrator Guide

To edit user information:

1. Click Security.

2. Click Users tab.

3. Select the user:

4. Left click on the name of the user and then click Edit.

5. Change the user's description and/or password.

6. Click Accept.

The information for the selected user is modified.

To create NFS mappings for an existing user

1. Click Security on the main menu.

2. Click on the NFS Mappings tab. The Mappings window opens.

3. Select user icon from the combo box.

4. Enter Host, Remote UID, and (optionally) charset.

5. Press the Add button.

If you'd like to delete some entries then select them from a table and click on the Remove button.

The mapping is finished.

Administrator Guide

To create SMB mappings for an existing user

1. Click Security on the main menu.

2. Click on the SMB Mappings tab. The Mappings window opens.

3. Select user icon from the combo box.

4. Pick Local or NIS user from a combo box, and then corresponding Samba user.

5. Press the Add button.

6. If you'd like to delete some entries then select them from a table and click on the Remove button.

The mapping is finished.

Notes:

• If a user doesn't exist create it first and then enter Mapping settings.

• Samba mappings are only essential in case Mixed or Native modes are

active.

Administrator Guide

To remove a user:

1. Click Security, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click Users tab.

• Select the user

• Left click on the name of the user.

3. Click Remove . A confirmation dialog opens.

4. Click OK to remove the user.

The user is removed from the list of users who can access this appliance.

Managing Groups Locally

If groups are authenticated locally on the appliance, add, delete, and edit group information through the User & Group Maintenance screen.

To organize users into a group:

1. Click Security, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click Groups tab.

The Group Maintenance window opens.

Administrator Guide

3. Enter the name and description for the group.

4. In the Network Users list, select each user you want to add to the group.

5. Click >> to add the users to the Group Members list.

6. Click Accept. The users are added to the group.

To edit group information:

1. Click Security, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click Groups tab. Select the group:

3. Left-click the group name and then click Edit.

4. Change the users who are authorized to access the group or the group description.

5. Click >> to add users to the Group Members list.

6. Click << to remove users from the Group Members list

7. Click Accept.

The group has been modified.

To create or to modify NFS GID mapping for an existing group:

1. Click Security, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click on the NFS Mappings tab. The NFS Mappings window opens.

3. Pick Group icon from the combobox.

4. Enter Host and Remote GID, as well as remote charset.

Administrator Guide

5. Press the Add button.

If you'd like to delete host entries then select them and click on the Remove button. The mapping is finished.

To remove a group:

1. Click Security, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click Groups tab.

3. Select the group

4. Left click on the name of the group.

5. Click Remove. A confirmation dialog opens.

6. Click OK to remove the group.

The group is removed from the list of groups that can access this appliance.

Note

Removing a group does not remove the users that were assembled in that group. The users will still have their individual permissions to access folders and shares.

Managing Access to Folders and Shares

The administrator manages access to files on the Appliance by controlling how the folders are shared. For each shared folder, or "share", the administrator can define which users and groups are permitted access.

Managing Shares

A share is a folder that has been shared for private or public use on the Network. Shares names must be 12 characters or less (in order to provide compatibility between different systems; for Windows 2000 and higher, you can use more characters), and cannot contain any of the following characters \ / : * ? “ < > | # . % @. By default, a new share created on the Appliance is accessible to everyone on the network until the administrator changes the permissions.

To create a new share using ApplianceView:

1. Click Folders & Sharing, located on the Main Menu.

2. Browse through the directory tree, then right click on desired drive or folder.

3. A menu appears.

4. Select Create new folder.

Administrator Guide

5. Delete the name, type in a new name for the share, and press the <Enter> key.

6. Right-click newly-created folder, and pick Share this folder from popup menu.

The new share has been created.

To change permissions for a share or folder using ApplianceView:

1. Click Folders & Sharing, located on the Main Menu.

2. In the ApplianceView folder tree, browse to the share whose permissions you want to change.

3. Right click on a folder or share. Click Properties.

4. The Properties window opens. Click Permissions tab.

Administrator Guide

5. Modify the permissions for the share as desired.

6. To add users and groups to the Authorized Users list click Add button. Select Users or Croups window opens.

Note

At the screenshot above, the term “OTHERS” means all other users and groups on Appliance. Thus, permitting full access to OTHERS, you are actually permitting access to any user on the system.

7. Select Users or Groups you want to add and press Select button. Then set the selected user or group permissions as desired.

8. To remove users and groups from the Authorized Users list select user or group you want to remove and click Remove button.

9. Click Accept.

Access to the share is limited to the users and groups you have authorized.

Administrator Guide

To rename a share using ApplianceView:

1. Click Folders & Sharing, located on the Main Menu.\

2. Right click on the name of the share you want to change.

3. Select Rename current folder.

4. A cursor appears at the end of the current share name.

5. Delete the current name, type in the new name and press <Enter>.

The share is renamed.

To delete a share using ApplianceView:

1. Click Folders & Sharing, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click the red criss-cross sign in the Delete column, located to the right of the share you want to delete.

3. Select Delete current folder.

The share is deleted from the Appliance.

Managing Folders

A folder is a subdirectory of a share. Folder names can be up to 31 characters, and cannot contain any of the following characters \ / : * ? “ < > | # . %. This is a good practice to follow in order to avoid incompatibilities between different systems, for example, between Linux and older versions of Mac OS. The administrator may want to create several folders so that the files in a share can be organized. It is important to understand that all of the folders inherit permissions of the share that they are under unless set otherwise.

To create a new folder using ApplianceView:

1. Click Folders & Sharing, located on the Main Menu.

2. Browse to the share that you want to create a folder under.

3. Right click on the share that you want to create a folder under.

4. Select Create new folder.

5. A folder named new folder appears.

6. Delete the name, type in a new name for the folder, and press <Enter>.

The new folder has been created.

Administrator Guide

To rename a folder using ApplianceView:

1. Click Folders & Sharing, located on the Main Menu.

2. Browse to the desired folder.

3. Right click on the share that you want to create a folder under.

4. Select Rename current folder.

5. A cursor appears at the end of the current folder name.

6. Delete the current name, type in the new name, and press <Enter>.

The folder is renamed.

To delete a folder using ApplianceView:

1. Click Folders & Sharing on the Main Menu.

2. Browse to the folder that you want to delete.

3. Right click the folder you want to delete.

4. Select Delete current folder.

The folder is deleted from the Appliance.

Monitoring the Appliance

In the Status screen you can view the space available on each drive partition and check which users are currently connected.

Checking the Status of the Appliance

To view the disk space information in ApplianceView:

1. Click Status, located on the Main Menu.

Administrator Guide

Select the Usage tab at the top of the screen if it is not already selected.

A pie chart displays the amount of free and used space on the currently selected partition of the appliance.

Note

If there is more than one partition on the Appliance, you can click to the right of the box labeled Partition, and view other partitions on the Appliance

Administrator Guide

Checking User Connections to the Appliance

Use the Refresh button to get the most recent list of user connections to the appliance. The administrator is not included in this list.

To view the user connections in ApplianceView:

1. Click Status, located on the left side of the screen.

2. Click the Active Users tab at the top of the screen.

All users currently connected to the appliance are listed.

Administrator Guide

Viewing Settings of the Appliance

The appliance’s current settings are displayed on this screen. To change these settings, click Settings on the main menu.

To view the appliance’s settings in ApplianceView:

1. Click Status, located on the left side of the screen.

2. Click the Settings tab at the top of the screen. The appliance’s current settings are displayed.

Administrator Guide

Viewing Logs of the Appliance

To view event logs of the appliance's management engine:

1. From the ApplianceView menu, click Status.

2. Select the Log Viewer tab at the top of the screen.

Administrator Guide

Monitoring Hardware Status of the Appliance

It is possible to monitor the status of hardware sensors of an Appliance if they’re available (for example, system temperature, voltage, fan speed, etc.).

To check status

1. Click Maintenance.

2. Click Monitoring tab.

3. Pick the desired sensor from the tree on the left.

4. Observe light color in the tree view. Red means warning; green is OK.

5. Observe numeric values of voltages, fan speeds, etc. on the right.

To enable monitoring

1. Click Maintenance.

2. Click Monitoring tab.

3. Pick the desired sensor from the tree on the left.

4. Check the Enable monitoring checkbox.

5. Click Set.

Administrator Guide

Monitoring for the appropriate sensor is turned on.

To disable monitoring

1. Click Maintenance.

2. Click Monitoring tab.

3. Pick the desired sensor from the tree on the left.

4. Uncheck the Enable monitoring checkbox.

5. Click Set.

Monitoring for the appropriate sensor is turned off.

To set specific description label for any sensor

1. Click Maintenance.

2. Click Monitoring tab.

3. Pick the desired sensor from the tree.

4. Type description into the appropriate field on the right.

5. Click Set.

To fix the status of newly-inserted disk

1. Click Maintenance.

2. Click Monitoring tab.

3. Pick the desired disk sensor from the tree.

4. Click Fix on the right.

The status of a disk should change to Ok.

Changing the administrative password

Administrator Guide

Note

To change the administrative password:

1. Click Maintenance, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click the Administration tab.

3. Enter the current password and the new administrative information:

4. Enter new password and confirm it.

5. Enter administrative e-mail address where you would like to receive

6. Enter administrative SMTP mail server name. This server will be used to

7. If your administrative SMTP server requires authentication, please enter

Non-English characters are not allowed as part of an administrative password

warnings and other messages from an appliance.

send e-mails to administrative e-mail address.

Administrator Guide

8. Enter a name of administrative SNMP server to send SNMP messages through it.

9. Click Accept to commit the changes.

Note

If you want to keep your administrator and root passwords in sync, check the Synchronize with root password checkbox before applying changes.

You may test if your SMTP/SNMP servers setup is correct. Just click Send test e-mail or Send test SNMP alert buttons after filling in appropriate text fields, respectively.

Changing the date and time

To change the date and time for the Appliance:

1. Click Maintenance, located on the Main Menu.

2. Сlick the Date/Time tab.

3. Change the date and time for the appliance, or click the Synchronize button to set appliance clock the same as your computer one.

4. Click Accept to commit the changes.

Shutting Down an Appliance

Administrator Guide

Important

To shut down an appliance:

You are administering a server that is designed to remain on most of the time. If you really want to turn the appliance off, be sure no users are connected.

• Click Shutdown Appliance, located on the Main Menu.

• If you want to turn the appliance off, select Shutdown, and click OK.

• If you want to restart the appliance, select Restart, and click OK.

• If you want to leave the appliance on, click Cancel.

Administrator Guide

5 Configuring Advanced Settings

Changes to Advanced Settings

Incorrectly changing advanced settings described below may negatively affect the performance of your appliance or may compromise the security of your network. Be sure you know how to properly change these settings before proceeding.

Name and DNS

You can change the name of your Appliance and the settings for your domain name server. Your network administrator or Internet service provider can furnish this information.

Appliance Name

To change the name of the Appliance:

1. Click Networking, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click the Name/DNS tab.

3. Change the Appliance Name as desired. Give the appliance a name of 15 characters or less.

4. Click Accept to update the configuration.

Network Domain

If your network uses domain mode, enter the correct domain for your network. If the appliance obtains its address information from a DHCP server however, the network domain information is obtained automatically, and is grayed out.

To change the Network Domain:

1. Click Networking, located on the Main Menu.

Administrator Guide

2. Select Name/DNS: Click the Name/DNS tab.

3. Change the Network Domain as desired.

4. Click Accept.

The domain for your appliance is changed.

DNS Search Order

The DNS search order specifies one or more Domain Name Servers for the Appliance to use. DNS servers are used in the order they are listed. If the appliance obtains its IP address from a DHCP server, DNS fields are automatically filled with the correct information, and are grayed out.

To change the DNS Search Order using ApplianceView:

1. Click Networking, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click the Name/DNS tab.

3. Click the DNS Search Order field.

4. Use Add and Edit and the up and down arrows to arrange DNS addresses.

5. Click Accept.

The order the appliance uses to search for a DNS server is changed.

Administrator Guide

More Networking

Each Appliance on the network needs an IP (Internet Protocol) address. Appliances containing two or more NICs (network interfaces cards), can have multiple IP addresses There are two methods of assigning an IP address to an appliance: using a DHCP server to automatically assign the appliance an IP address and specifying a static IP address. See your network administrator before modifying these settings.

Note

It is recommended that you give the Appliance a static IP address or a non-expiring DHCP lease time.

Obtaining an IP Address from a DHCP Server

The appliance can be configured to receive an IP address from a DHCP server. To automatically assign an IP address to the Appliance, you must have a DHCP server attached to the network.

Note

To enable load balancing in a multi-NIC server, at least two network cards must be both connected to, and properly configured on the same subnet. If you want to connect the appliance to multiple networks, the NICs should be both connected to, and properly configured on different subnets.

To have the Appliance automatically obtain an IP address:

1. Click Networking, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click the NICs tab.

3. Select the interface eth0:

4. Click the eth0 tab.

5. Select Obtain an IP address from a DHCP server.

6. Click Accept.

Your appliance is now configured to receive its IP address automatically.

Setting a Static IP Address

The appliance can be configured to use a static IP address. Before setting a static IP address, ensure that the address you are trying to assign is not already in use by another computer on the network. If you are using a multi NIC server, and want to enable load balancing, multiple NICs must be both connected to, and given IP addresses on the same subnet.

Administrator Guide

To specify a static IP address:

1. Click Networking, located on the Main Menu.

2. Select Networking:

3. Click the NICs tab.

4. Select the NIC that you want to configure:

5. Click on tab of the NIC you want to configure.

6. Select Specify an IP address.

7. Enter the IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway in the appropriate fields. Your network administrator can provide you with this information.

8. Click Accept.

The appliance now uses a fixed IP address to access the network. To configure additional NICs in a multi NIC server, repeat this procedure.

Administrator Guide

Configuring NIC Teaming (IP Failover)

You can include several network interface cards into one with NIC Teaming (the so-called IP Failover). This should increase network connection stability since the idea of IP Failover is to have an array of network interface cards with the same IP address, and when one card fails, others continue working.

Note: There is no sense to include only one card into IP Failover. Configuration tabs for the corresponding network interface cards that are included into IP Failover are marked red.

To set up IP Failover:

1. From the ApplianceView menu, click Networking.

2. Click the NICs tab.

3. Select the tab of the NIC you want to include.

4. Check the Include in IP Failover checkbox. The tabs of the cards selected are marked red.

5. If you want to configure additional NICs, repeat steps 3 - 4.

6. At the NIC teaming tab, please click the Specify an IP address radio button, then enter the IP address, Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway. Alternatively, you can click the Obtain an IP address from DHCP server radio button in order to configure failover parameters automatically from DHCP server. Your network administrator can provide this information.

If you want to make IP Failover your default gateway interface, please click an appropriate checkbox at the bottom of the screen.

In addition, the Load balancing for IP Failover is supported. Check the appropriate checkbox to enable it.

7. After you are finished configuring NICs, click Accept.

8. Click OK.

The appliance begins rebooting. After the appliance reboots it uses the parameters you have just set up to access the network.

Administrator Guide

The Ways To Authenticate Users And Groups (Security Modes)

By default, user security is managed locally on the Appliance. Everyone on your network has access to the appliance immediately after installation. The Security tab allows you to change from this local mode to native mode (authenticate Users and Groups against your Active Directory Services) or to mixed mode (authenticate Users and Groups against your Primary Domain Controller). You can limit access to the appliance to particular users or groups of users in one of three ways:

• Authenticate Users and Groups against your Active Directory Services.

• Authenticate Users and Groups against your Primary Domain Controller.

• Authenticate Users and Groups against your LDAP Server.

• Manage Users and Groups with ApplianceView.

Note

Changing security modes may cause some users to lose access to shared files. You may need to restore user access rights by granting access in the new security mode.

Administrator Guide

Authenticate Users and Groups against your Active Directory Services (Native Mode)

If the Appliance authenticates users and groups against your Active Directory Services, users and groups must be added, modified, and deleted on Active Directory server, not through ApplianceView. In addition, you will not be able to view user and group information through ApplianceView; users are simply authenticated against the Active Directory server when they attempt to connect to a share.

To authenticate users and groups against Active Directory Services:

1. Click Security, located on the Main Menu.

2. Select Security Mode:

3. Click the Modes tab.

4. Select Native mode.

5. Enter the names of your ADS Domain name (but not DNS domain name), Active Directory Services, Realm, KDC and your WINS Server in the appropriate fields. Your network administrator can provide this information. Additional information and answers for the recent ADS questions can be found in Storageflex Complete FAQ document in Appendix C.

6. Click Accept.

Administrator Guide

The method of security is changed. Make changes to users and groups through the Active Directory Services. Do not manage users and groups through ApplianceView, except for the UID/GID mapping information which is NFS-related, and, thus, cannot be managed through Active Directory Services.

Authenticate Users and Groups against your Primary Domain Controller (Mixed Mode)

To save network resources and improve security, you may want to authenticate users and groups on a primary domain controller. You will not be able to edit user and group information through ApplianceView (except for NFS UID/GID mappings); users are simply authenticated against the primary domain controller when they attempt to connect to a share.

Administrator Guide

To authenticate users and groups against primary domain controller:

1. Click Security, located on the Main Menu.

2. Select Security Mode:

3. Click the Modes tab.

4. Select Mixed mode.

5. Enter the names of your NT Domain Name (but not DNS domain name), Primary Domain Controller and your WINS Server in the appropriate fields. Your network administrator can provide this information. . Additional information and answers for the recent ADS questions can be found in Storageflex Complete FAQ document in Appendix C.

6. Click Accept.

7. Make changes to users and groups on the Primary Domain Controller. Do not

manage users and groups through ApplianceView, except for the UID/GID mapping information which is NFS-related, and, thus, cannot be managed through Active Directory Services.

Administrator Guide

Authenticate Users and Groups against LDAP server (LDAP Mode)

In LDAP mode, you are able to manage users and groups via ApplianceView. Please note that you can configure your Appliance to act as LDAP server itself.

To authenticate users against LDAP server:

1. Click Security, located on the Main Menu.

2. Click Modes tab, specify Workgroup.

3. Specify LDAP Server Host (hostname or IP address of LDAP server).

4. Specify LDAP Server Port (by default, it is 389).

5. Specify Name of base ("o=organization" without quotes).

6. Specify Name to bind ("cn=ldapadmin,o=organization" without quotes).

7. Specify Password to bind (password of superuser LDAP account).

8. Specify User suffix ("ou=users" without quotes).

9. Specify Group suffix ("ou=users" without quotes).

10. Specify Samba ID mapping suffix ("ou=idmap" without quotes).

11. Click Apply.

The appliance will be rebooted to enable authentication against LDAP server.

Administrator Guide

If you are using external LDAP server, you should create Samba schema for it first. In case you’re using the Appliance itself to act as LDAP server, this schema will be created automatically after you enable LDAP server function of the Appliance (please see “Configuring LDAP server” below).

Schema files for various LDAP servers may be found here:

http://samba.org/ftp/unpacked/samba_3_0/examples/LDAP/

However, the only approved (in given case) LDAP server is OpenLDAP

( http://www.openldap.org/ ). Samba schema for OpenLDAP can be found in

Samba distribution ( http://samba.org/ ) or here:

http://samba.org/ftp/unpacked/samba_3_0/examples/LDAP/samba.schema

Initial tree should be created on LDAP server as follows:

dn: o=organization

objectClass: organization

o: organization

dn: ou=users,o=organization

objectClass: organizationalUnit

ou: users

dn: ou=groups,o=organization

objectClass: organizationalUnit

ou: groups

dn: ou=idmap,o=organization

objectClass: organizationalUnit

ou: idmap

Superuser account should be created as follows:

cn=ldapadmin,o=organization

Manage Users and Groups with ApplianceView (Local Mode)

If the Appliance maintains User and Group information, users and groups must be added, modified, and deleted through ApplianceView.

Administrator Guide

To manage users and groups with ApplianceView:

1. Click Security, located on the Main Menu.

2. Select Security Mode:

3. Click the Modes tab.

4. Select Local mode.

5. Enter the name of your Workgroup in the appropriate field.

6. Configure WINS Support:

7. Click Neither to turn off WINS support

8. Click WINS Server to configure the Appliance as a WINS server

9. Click WINS Client to configure the Appliance as a WINS client and enter the IP address of the WINS server in Remote WINS Server field.

10. Click Accept

Users and Groups can now be managed locally on the appliance.

Administrator Guide

Macintosh/UNIX/FTP Support

The Appliance can be configured to support file sharing with Macintosh and UNIX/Linux users on your network. Macintosh and UNIX/Linux users share files on the appliance through AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol), NFS (Network File System), and FTP, (File Transfer Protocol) respectively.

Enabling Macintosh Support

To enable Macintosh support:

1. Click Networking, located on the Main Menu.

2. Select Mac/Unix.

3. Click the Mac/Unix tab.

4. Select Enable Macintosh Networking (AppleTalk).

5. Click Accept.

Macintosh users can now connect to the appliance.

Enabling UNIX Support

To enable UNIX support:

1. Click Networking, located on the Main Menu.

2. Select Mac/Unix.

3. Click the Mac/Unix tab.

4. Select Enable UNIX Networking (NFS).

5. Click Accept.

Unix users and other NFS users can now connect to the appliance.

Enabling FTP Support

To enable FTP support:

1. Click Networking, located on the Main Menu.

Administrator Guide

2. Select Mac/Unix/FTP.

3. Click the Mac/Unix/FTP tab.

4. Select Enable Anonymous FTP.

5. Click Accept.

FTP clients can now connect to the appliance in order to download files from public shares.

Administrator Guide

Large Network Settings

You can configure your Appliance to access other subnets of the network. Large Network settings can only be used when the appliance has a static IP address. If the appliance obtains its IP address from a DHCP server, the Large Network settings are automatically configured with no entries.

To edit the large network settings

1. Click Networking, located on the Main Menu.

2. Select Large Network.

3. Click the Large Network tab.

4. To add an entry, click Add, and enter the appropriate information.

5. To edit an entry: Select the subnet you wish to change, and click Edit. Enter the appropriate information.

6. Click Accept.

The appliance can now be seen from the other subnets of the network.

Configuring LDAP Server

It is possible to set up your Appliance to act as LDAP server. This will allow to store information about users in a LDAP database and connect to it from miscellaneous clients, including the Appliance itself.

Administrator Guide

To set up LDAP server

1. Click Security.

2. Click LDAP Server tab.

3. Enter Name of base, Name to bind, and Password to bind into the appropriate text fileds like it is displayed on the screenshot above.

4. Click Accept.

LDAP server parameters are set up.

Administrator Guide

To start LDAP server

Note

1. Click Security.

2. Click LDAP Server tab.

3. Click Start.

To stop LDAP server

1. Click Security.

2. Click LDAP Server tab.

3. Click Stop.

You should configure LDAP server properly before starting it up.

Light color changes to green. LDAP server is started.

Light color changes to red. LDAP server is stopped.

Configuring NIS

Administrator Guide

To start NIS service on Appliance and locate master servers automatically

1. Click Security.

2. Click the Modes tab.

3. Click NIS mode radio button.

4. Type in NIS Domain name into the appropriate field.

5. Check the Broadcast mode checkbox in order to enable broadcast mode.

6. Click Apply.

NIS service is restarted using the parameters supplied.

To start NIS service on Appliance and locate master servers by IP address

1. Click Security.

2. Click the Modes tab.

3. Click NIS mode radio button.

Administrator Guide

4. Type in NIS Domain name into the appropriate field.

5. Click Add.

6. Type in IP address of master server, and click OK.

7. If you need to delete master server entry, click Remove.

8. Click Apply.

NIS service is restarted using the parameters supplied.

Policy Management

Policy Management is used to simplify routine administration tasks that are performed on your Appliance time after time.

Policy Rules are managed using convenient wizards.

Each rule consists of conditions, actions, and roles; they are described below.

Administrator Guide

Available Conditions

Conditions are used to specify when a rule should be executed. Currently, the following conditions are available.

• Fan Speed is used to specify the speed of a CPU fan, in RPM.

• Snapshot Fill is used to specify snapshot fill percentage.

• Time Period is used to specify a period of time, starting from a certain

date, and ending up on some other date. One can specify not only the solid period of time but certain months, days, and even hours within the given period.

Administrator Guide

• RAID Status is used to specify a RAID which may fail.

• Disk Inserted is used to specify the new HDD insertion.

• Disk Lost is used to specify the disk crash.

• Voltage is used to specify CPU and I/O Voltage values.

Administrator Guide

Available Actions

Actions are used to perform specific actions at certain time. Below is a list of available actions.

• Send Email is used to send e-mail messages when action is activated.

Administrator Guide

• Send Event is used to send messages when action is activated.

• Send SNMP is used to send SNMP messages when action is activated.

• Snapshot Increase is used to increase snapshot in size when action is

activated. You should also select temporary disk that will be used at the time of operation.

Administrator Guide

• Sync Snapshot is used to synchronize snapshot when action is activated.

• Sync System is used to synchronize volumes of two systems on the

network when action is activated. You should select the desired volume on each appliance. To specify Appliances located on remote network, you should click the Search for Remote… button.

Administrator Guide

Available Roles

Role is like some kind of description. Currently, there are two roles: Monitoring and Storage. They are used only to describe to which class one would like a new rule to assign.

Managing Policy Rules

To add new rule:

1. Click Policy, located on the main menu.

2. Click New rule wizard

3. Wizard window opens.

4. Type in new rule name.

5. Click Next.

6. Actions list opens.

7. Click

down

8. Specific action setup window opens.

9. Fill in required fields for specific action.

10. Click appropriate radio button to select preferred rule execution strategy.

11. Click Next to proceed to the next step, or pick more actions.

12. Conditions list opens.

to move actions from the list of available ones. Click up and

buttons to arrange the list of selected actions.

button at the top toolbar.

Administrator Guide

13. Click

and down

to move conditions from the list of available ones. Click up

buttons to arrange the list of selected conditions.

14. Fill in required fields for specific condition.

15. Select rule list type using appropriate radio button at bottom of the list.

16. Click Next to proceed to the next step, or pick more conditions.

17. Roles list opens.

18. Click

down

to move role types from the list of available ones. Click up and

buttons to arrange the list of selected roles.

19. Click Next to proceed to the final step.

20. Final step window is displayed.

21. Edit rule name here if required, and type in rule description.

22. Click Finish.

New rule is added.

To edit existing rule:

1. Click Policy, located on the main menu.

2. Click desired policy rule from the tree view on the right.

3. Click Edit selected rule

4. Wizard window opens.

5. See steps 4-22, “To create new rule”, for details.

The rule is edited.

To delete existing rule:

1. Click Policy, located on the main menu.

2. Click desired policy rule from the tree view on the right.

3. Click the Remove selected rule screen.

4. Confirmation window opens.

5. Click OK to delete the selected rule.

The rule is deleted.

button from toolbar at the top of the screen.

button from the toolbar at the top of the

Administrator Guide

To edit existing condition:

1. Click Policy, located on the main menu.

2. Click desired condition from the tree view on the right.

3. Click Edit condition wizard

4. Wizard window opens.

5. Adjust conditions list.

6. Click Ok.

Condition is edited.

To edit existing action:

1. Click Policy, located on the main menu.

2. Click desired role from the tree view on the right.

3. Click Edit action wizard

4. Wizard window opens.

5. Adjust actions list.

6. Click Ok.

Action is edited.

To edit existing role:

1. Click Policy, located on the main menu.

2. Click desired role from the tree view on the right.

button from toolbar at the top of the screen.

Role is edited.

3. Click Edit roles wizard

4. Wizard window opens.

5. Adjust roles list.

6. Click Ok.

Note

If you unable to see the newly-created rule on the list, please click

the Refresh button on a toolbar.

button from toolbar at the top of the screen.

Updating Appliance via Web

There is a possibility to update server software of your Appliance using the remote repository on the Web. This should work in most cases even if you are behind firewall. Updating Appliance via Web is the most easy way to install recent security fixes, for example. Your appliance vendor should provide you repository access information.

Administrator Guide

To update your Appliance using direct Internet connection:

1. Click Maintenance.

2. Click Update tab.

3. Type in Repository address on the web.

4. Type in repository Login and Password.

5. Click Update.

Update was started.

To update your Appliance using Proxy server:

1. Click Maintenance.

2. Click Update tab.

3. Check Use proxy checkbox.

4. Type in Repository address on the web.

5. Type in repository Login and Password.

6. Type in Proxy server address.

7. Type in Login and Password for Proxy server (optional).

8. Type in Proxy server Port value (optional).

9. Click Update.

Update via proxy server was started.

Administrator Guide

Troubleshooting the Appliance

When you observe strange behaviour of your appliance, or you see that some addon cards do not work properly, you should use the Troubleshooting feature of ApplianceView.

Note: If you believe that e-mailing any appliance configuration files compromises your security, please read the text below carefully in order to learn what information is obtained, how it is encrypted, and make a decision.

To enable debug logs of the appliance's management engine:

1. From the ApplianceView menu, click Status.

2. Select the Troubleshooting tab at the bottom of the screen.

3. Click the Enable button, the light color (red) on the left should change to

green. It means that logs are enabled.

Administrator Guide

To disable debug logs of the appliance's management engine:

1. From the ApplianceView menu, click Status.

2. Select the Troubleshooting tab at the bottom of the screen.

3. Click the Disable button, the light color (green) on the left should change to red. It means that logs are disabled.

To enable or disable debug logs of the appliance's management engine at boot time:

1. From the ApplianceView menu, click Status.

2. Select the Troubleshooting tab at the bottom of the screen.

3. Click the Enable debug logs at server start-up checkbox. When the checkbox is checked, appliance will enable logging at each boot.

To obtain server configuration snapshot:

1. From the ApplianceView menu, click Status.

2. Select the Troubleshooting tab at the bottom of the screen.

3. Click the Obtain server configuration snapshot button.

4. In a Save File dialog, please pick a target directory and a file name, then click the Save File button.

5. If you've picked a file that already exists at step 4, you will be prompted for overwrite. The Ok button will confirm it, the Cancel button will reject overwrite.

6. Success message is displayed. Please click Ok button at this stage.

7. Send the file that you've saved at steps 4-6 to your appliance vendor's support service via e-mail or upload it to the FTP server if it is very huge.

Administrator Guide

What is inside the configuration snapshot:

1. Network configuration (host and domain names, gateway, gateway device and IP addresses of an appliance).

2. Information about appliance shares and UID/GID mappings.

3. Management engine status and debug log files.

4. Kernel modules configuration file.

5. A list of hardware devices present in the system, and their specific features.

Note

1 Configuration snapshot itself is a compressed file which is encrypted with the PGP key. It means that only an owner of the key can decrypt the data retrieved from your appliance.

2 No passwords are included into the snapshot.

Administrator Guide

6 Configuring Storage Settings

Managing RAID

Through ApplianceView, you can create, edit, deconstruct, and view a RAID.

Available RAID levels

Three types of RAID configurations are available for the data partition. These RAID levels can be used on a multi-drive appliance, whether or not a hardware RAID card is installed. If there is no hardware RAID card installed, you can use software RAID. It is important to note that for a two-drive appliance, the only RAID levels available are 0 and 1. For an appliance with three or more drives, RAID levels 0, 1, and 5 are available.

RAID 0: Single Large Volume

This type of RAID is also referred to as striping. RAID 0 interleaves blocks of data between several drives. Even though multiple drives exist in the array, to the user a RAID 0 appears as a single large volume. It is important to understand however, that there is no form of data backup when using a RAID 0. If a single drive fails, you will lose the entire array. This type of RAID should not be used for mission critical data. RAID 0 is available for any system with two or more drives.

RAID 1: Mirroring

This type of RAID is used to create a mirror copy of the information contained on one or more of the disks. In this method, a mirror is created for each drive containing data. For example, in a two drive RAID 1 setup, both drives contain the exact same data. Since there is 100% redundancy, there is no risk of losing data if one drive fails. RAID 1 is available for any system with two or more drives.

RAID 5: Disk Striping with Distributed Parity

This type of RAID features both striping and redundancy. This type of RAID uses a technique called distributed parity, which allows data to be recovered if one drive in the RAID fails. In addition, data blocks are interleaved evenly across the drives in parity bits. RAID 5 is only available for systems that have three or more drives.

Volume Management

This chapter explains how to control your Appliance Volume settings. As you can see above, there are several RAID levels possible to use. But Volume Management is not limited to RAID creation only. Below you may learn about other ways to configure storage settings of your Appliance.

Click Storage on the main menu, then Volume Management tab. On the left side of this tab, you will see a list of drives and partitions.

On the right side, you will see visual representation of your storage structure.

Feel free to drag any objects here. In order to arrange the objects automatically, you should click the Arrange button.

If the structure of your storage is complicated, you can use the Zoom In/Zoom Out buttons to change the zoom ratio.

In case the structure of your storage does not fit the program window, you can maximize window and/or use scrollbars.

Each object, except for the storage, drives, and partitions, can be deleted. In order to perform deletion, please right-click desired object, and pick Delete from popup menu.

Each object has properties that you can view. Just right-click desired object, and pick Properties from the popup menu.

If you performed some action by mistake, you can easily Undo or Redo it using the corresponding buttons. Please note that undo and redo operations are multilevel.

Please note that Macintosh users should use CTRL+mouse click to call the popup menu instead of right mouse button click.

Caution!

No operations are performed on Appliance, unless and until you press the Accept button at the bottom of the screen! It means that your storage structure (and, thus, your data) remains unchanged until you accept the changes you have made. Please be very careful while configuring volumes. Improper configuration may lead to data loss.

Administrator Guide

RAIDs

Creating RAIDs

You can create RAIDs from disks or partitions.

1. Click the right mouse button on the Storage icon.

2. Select Create RAID from the popup menu.

3. Select disks or partitions you would like to add into RAID.

4. Pick RAID level from a combo box.

5. Click the Accept button.

Note that there is no possibility to add or remove disks or partitions to/from RAID. In order to do that you must first delete a RAID and then recreate it again.

Administrator Guide

Deleting RAIDs

You can easily delete any of the RAIDs by selecting Delete popup menu item. If there is an LVM that is built on the RAID being deleted, it will be deleted along with RAID.

RAID Properties

To find out what partitions and disks a RAID is based on see the Components tab of its properties dialog. Double-click the RAID icon or select the Properties menu item from its popup menu to bring up the corresponding window. The General tab lets you know about free and used space of a RAID.

Logical Volume Managers (LVMs)

Creating Logical Volume Managers (LVMs)

LVMs can be created from disks, partitions, and RAIDs.

1. Click the right mouse button on the Storage icon.

2. Select Create LVM from the popup menu.

3. Select disks, partitions, or RAIDs you would like to add into LVM.

4. Click the Accept button.

You can easily add disks or partitions to LVM.

1. Click the right mouse button on the LVM icon.

2. Select Add Components from the popup menu.

3. Select disks or partitions you would like to add to LVM.

4. Click the Accept button.

You can also remove disks or partitions from LVM.

1. Click the right mouse button on the LVM icon.

2. Select Delete Components from the popup menu.

3. Select disks or partitions you would like to remove from LVM.

4. Click the Accept button.

Administrator Guide

Please note that you can also simply drag and drop disks, partitions or RAIDs to the LVM icon in order to edit LVM contents.

Deleting LVMs

You can easily delete any of the LVMS by selecting Delete menu item in its popup menu.

LVMs Properties

Another way to control what an LVM consists of is to use its properties dialog. Select the Properties menu item of any LVM to see the dialog. The General tab lets you know about free and used space of an LVM. The second one called Components allows to manage disks, RAIDs and partitions of the LVM. This is another way to add or remove components of LVM. Remember, that all changes are applied on a server only after you press the Apply button.

Regions

Creating Regions

Regions can be created from LVMs.

1. Click the right mouse button on the LVM icon.

2. Select Create Region from the popup menu.

3. Type in the size of region you would like to create.

4. Select components (RAIDs, disks, partitions) that are preferred to place a region at.

5. Click the Accept button.

Note

It is not possible to create a Region on LVM until its (LVMs) creation is applied to server.

Administrator Guide

In addition, there is an ability to merge regions (just drag & drop regions to merge them) or:

1. Click the right mouse button on the Region icon.

2. Select Merge... from the popup menu.

3. Pick regions you would like to merge.

4. Click the Accept button.

Note

It is possible to merge only non-occupied regions, i. e. you cannot merge regions if there are LVs on them.

There is a possibility to resize a region. In order to do this, select a Resize popup menu item. You should see a dialog where you can type new region size (the old size is also shown there).

Deleting Regions

Any of the Regions except 'shapshotted' can be deleted through selecting Delete popup menu item. To delete a 'snapshotted' one, delete an associated snapshot first.

Region Properties

To find out what partitions, disks or RAID a Region is based on, please see the Components tab of its properties dialog. Double-click the Region icon or select the Properties popup menu item to perform this. The General tab lets you know about free and used space of a Region.

Administrator Guide

Logical Volumes (LVs)

Creating Logical Volumes (LVs)

LVs can be created from disks, partitions, RAIDs, or regions.

1. Click the right mouse button on the desired object name or icon.

2. Select Create LV from the popup menu.

Deleting LVs

You can easily delete any of the LVs by selecting the Delete popup menu item.

LVs Properties

Double-click an LV icon or select the Properties popup menu item to bring up its properties dialog. The General tab lets you know about free and used space of a particular LV.

Administrator Guide

Snapshots

Creating Snapshots

Snapshots can be created from disks, partitions, RAIDs, or regions.

1. Click the right mouse button on the desired object icon.

2. Select Create Snapshot from the popup menu.

3. Select disks, partitions, or RAIDs you would like to place snapshot onto.

4. Click the Accept button.

Snapshots (their representation in a Volume Management) have the same functionality as LVs.

Administrator Guide

Clustering

Clustering is used to increase storage stability and/or increase total available storage size. Clustering requires at least two servers to be present on the network. Three types of clustering are supported in Storageflex software.

• Multihost Failover is used to increase storage stability on the network. The idea is to use computers in cluster as spare ones. When one system fails, the others are continuing to work with very short period of network connection loss (less than a minute).

• Aggregation is used to increase available storage size. When this type of clustering is used, all the servers in cluster will be visible as one virtual storage.

• Mirroring is used to protect data integrity. The idea is to mirror data across the servers in the cluster.

Administrator Guide

Note

For clustering, it is required to have at least two NICs in each server that is participating in the cluster. One NIC will be used for data transfer, another one will be used for inter-server communication (“heartbeating”). It is required that data NICs should be connected to one subnet while heartbeating NICs should be connected to another subnet. Do not mix different types of NICs on the same subnet

since it may lead to an improper cluster operation and could result into an inability to reconfigure your cluster.

Note

Please make sure that all of the appliances participating in cluster have static IP addresses before setting up clustering. With IP addresses obtained via DHCP, cluster setup may fail or function improperly.

To configure cluster

1. Click Storage, located on the main menu.

2. Click Build at the bottom of the screen.

3. Build new cluster window appears.

4. Pick cluster type from appropriate combo box.

5. Pick heartbeating interface from appropriate combo box.

6. Pick other Appliances (also called slave servers or nodes) you would like to include into cluster from the list. For remote Appliances, use the Search for Remote… button.

Administrator Guide

7. Click OK.

8. Type in administrator passwords for each Appliance when prompted, and click OK.

The cluster is built. At this moment, all the slave servers should disappear from the ApplianceView. They all are now part of one cluster.

7 Using the Appliance

Naming Folders

Use the following conventions when naming folders that will be shared with users of Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP or Macintosh:

• Use any combination of numbers, letters, spaces, dashes, underscores, and apostrophes.

• Limit folder names to 255 characters or less for Windows, 31 characters or less for Macintosh.

If folders will be shared with users running Windows for Workgroups or DOS, name the folders with eight or fewer alphanumeric characters and without symbols such as spaces, dashes, underscores, or apostrophes.

Working from a Windows Computer

The Appliance is ready for use as soon as it is installed on your network. If necessary, the administrator may limit access to files to particular users or groups. Otherwise, files on the appliance are available to everyone who has access to your network. Use the Appliance as you would any other drive or server on the network:

Administrator Guide

• Browse for the appliance in Network Neighborhood (it is called My Network

Places in Windows 2000) or Windows Explorer.

• Create and save shared files in folders and shares on the appliance.

• Back up files stored on the appliance.

• Create shortcuts to folders and shares that you use often.

Finding appliances in Network Neighborhood (My Network Places)

To locate the Appliance in Network Neighborhood:

1. From your computer desktop, double-click on Network Neighborhood (it is called My Network places in the latest Windows versions).

2. Double-click on Entire Network.

3. Browse to the appliance.

4. By default, appliances initially appear in Workgroup. The administrator may reassign the appliance to another workgroup using ApplianceView.

The default name of an appliance is AWxxxxxx, where xxxxxx represents the last six numbers of the appliance's MAC address. The administrator may rename the appliance using the administration tools.

5. Double-click the appliance icon to view shares and folders.

Administrator Guide

Finding appliances with Find Computer

To locate the Appliance using Find Computer:

1. From the Windows Start menu, choose Find, and then click Computer.

The Find Computer dialog box opens:

2. Type the name or IP address of the Appliance in the entry field.

The default name of an appliance is AWxxxxxx, where xxxxxx is the last six digits of the appliance's MAC address.

3. Click Find Now.

4. Locate the correct Appliance and double-click on it to connect.

Saving files to the appliance (Windows)

You can save files on the Appliance by using the Save As command on the File menu. You can also drag files to Appliance folders in Network Neighborhood or Windows Explorer.

Assigning a drive letter to the appliance

You can assign, or "map" a drive letter to the Appliance. Assigning a drive letter to the Public share or a frequently accessed folder on the appliance gives you a convenient, direct path to your data.

To map to a shared folder:

1. Double-click on Network Neighborhood.

2. Browse to the appliance or folder you want to map to.

3. Right click on the folder you want to map to.

4. From the menu, choose Map Network Drive.

The Map Network Drive box opens with the path to the folder you selected.

5. In the Drive field, select the drive letter you want to use for this folder.

6. Check Reconnect at Logon to automatically connect to this folder the next time you start Windows.

7. Click OK.

You can now locate the appliance in My Computer under the drive letter you assigned.

Working from a Macintosh Computer

Note

• Browse to the appliance through Network Browser or Chooser (Mac OS 9).

• Connect to the appliance shares over AFP or Samba (CIFS) protocol using

Finder (Mac OS X).

• Create and save shared files in folders and shares on the appliance.

• Back up files stored on the appliance.

• Make an alias for folders and shares that you use often.

This version of Storageflex software supports Mac OS X 10.1.2, 10.1.5, and better based computers, as well as Mac OS 9 ones.

Administrator Guide

Connecting through the Network Browser or Chooser (Mac OS 9)

To connect to the Appliance:

1. Open the Apple menu by clicking on the apple in the menu bar.

2. Select the Network Browser or Chooser.

If connecting through the Chooser, select AppleShare.

The available network resources are listed.

3. Select the Appliance you want to connect to and click OK.

4. Log on the appliance, either as a guest or with your user name and password.

5. Select the folder you want and click OK.

6. The Appliance folder is now on the Macintosh desktop.

Administrator Guide

Connecting through the Finder (Mac OS X)

To connect to the Appliance:

1. Select Go, and then Connect to server… from the Finder menu, or press the Apple+K on the keyboard.

2. Pick Appliance from the list.

3. Log on the appliance, either as a guest (without password) or with your user name and password.

4. Select the folder you want and click OK.

5. The Appliance folder is now on the Macintosh desktop.

Saving files to the appliance (Macintosh)

You can save files on the Appliance by dragging the files onto Appliance folders on your desktop. Appliance folders remain mounted on the Macintosh desktop until you drag them to the trash.

Working from a Linux Computer

The Appliance is ready for use from clients using NFS as soon as it is installed on your network. Use the Appliance as you would any other drive or server on the network:

• Connect to the appliance by IP address and directory path to a local mount point.

• Create and save shared files in folders and shares on the appliance.

• Backup files stored on the appliance.

• Create KDE/GNOME desktop icons and symbolic links for convenience and faster access.

• To handle Samba (Windows) connections, you can also use the LinNeighborhood utility with a convenient GUI.

Mounting a share on the appliance (Linux and UNIX)

You must know the appliance IP address and public mount point in order to connect to the appliance. Once the IP address and target mount point are established, the appliance is accessed using a mount command with the target IP address, target mount point, and local mount point, in the form of ‘mount ipaddress:/target-directory-path /local-mount-point’. The target directory path depends on how the appliance disks are configured. If the appliance has been configured with a static IP address, ask the administrator for this address to connect to the server. If the appliance is set to obtain a DHCP IP address automatically, either get the IP address from the DHCP manager application, or ask the system administrator.

Note

NFS mounts only succeed with public shares on the server. Private shares should be accessed through Windows or Macintosh clients.

Administrator Guide

To create a local mount

1. From a Linux console, type: mkdir [directory name] <Enter>

For example, if you want to create a directory named testdir, you would type:

mkdir testdir

And then press <Enter>

Type: ls [directory name] <Enter>

The contents of the directory display; it is empty.

Administrator Guide

To view the shares available for NFS mounting

1. From a Linux console, type: showmount [appliance IP address] –-exports <Enter>

For example, if the appliance’s IP address is 192.168.0.230, you would type:

showmount 192.168.0.230 –-exports

And then press <Enter>

Decide which share path you want to mount from the list displayed on the screen.

To mount an available share on the appliance to a local mount point

1. From a Linux console type: mount [appliance IP address]:/[path on appliance] [local mount point] <Enter>

For example, if the appliance’s IP address is 192.168.0.230, the path on the appliance is /drives/RaidVolume2/public, and the local mount point is /testdir, you would type:

mount 192.168.0.230:/drives/RaidVolume2/public /testdir

And then press <Enter>

Type: ls [directory name] <Enter>

The contents of the directory -- now containing files on the appliance, are displayed. This directory can now be used as if it were a local directory on the client.

To disconnect a share mounted on the Linux client

1. Type: umount [directory name] <Enter>

For example, if path on the local Linux client is /testdir, you would type:

umount /testdir

And then press <Enter>.

Type: ls [directory name] <Enter>

The contents of the directory display; it is empty.

Administrator Guide

Appendix A: Using the Online Help

Online Help

The online users guide is included with this release of Storageflex. Additionally, the online help is installed locally to all computers with ApplianceView.

Viewing Online Help

There are two ways of accessing online help in ApplianceView

• Context sensitive help: The context sensitive help can be accessed on each

screen by clicking Help, at the bottom of the screen in ApplianceView. Help for the specific screen you are viewing will be displayed in the default Internet browser. When you are finished viewing the help, click on either Help Index to view a list of help topics, or Close Help to close the browser.

• Help Index: The help index is available in the Help menu in ApplianceView.

Click the Help menu, and select Online Help. Help topics will be displayed on the left window of your default Internet browser. Click the help topic you would like to view, and it will appear in the right window. When you are finished viewing the help, click on either Help Index to return to the index, or Close Help to close the browser.

Printing Online Help Screens

If you would like to print an online help screen, and have a printer connected to the computer that has ApplianceView installed, you may do so from the Internet browser.

To print an online help screen

• Click File and select Print to begin the printing process.

The help screen is printed.

Administrator Guide

Appendix B: Glossary

Active Directory Services

Active Directory, which is an essential component of the Windows 2000 architecture, presents organizations with a directory services designed for distributed computer environments. Active Directory allows organizations to centrally manage and share information on network resources and users while acting as the central authority for network security.

Administrative Password

Setting an administrative password ensures the administrator that unauthorized users do not have access to ApplianceView, the appliance management software. The administrator can set the administrative password by using the Setup Wizard in ApplianceView.

AppleTalk Filing Protocol (AFP)

The AppleTalk Filing Protocol is the file sharing protocol that is used in a Macintosh (AppleTalk) network. Storageflex supports AFP connections.

Appliance Name

The Appliance Name is the name that the Appliance uses for identification on the network. When the Appliance is first setup, its Appliance Name will be AW plus the last six digits of the MAC address for its network interface card (NIC). For example if the MAC address of the Network Interface Card in the Appliance is 00:E0:18:5f:54:75, its Appliance Name will be AW5f5475. In the Setup Wizard packaged with ApplianceView, you may change the Appliance Name. However, the new name must be 15 characters or less, all of which must be alphanumeric.

Authentication

Authentication is the process by which a computer allows a client to connect if a valid username and password are supplied. Based upon how the administrator configures ApplianceView, the Storageflex server can be set up to authenticate users in ApplianceView, on the NT domain server, or on the Primary Domain Controller (PDC).

Authentication Types

See User Authentication Types

Client PC

A client PC is a computer that can connect to a server by using communication protocols. For example, in Storageflex a client is a computer that connects to the appliance.

Administrator Guide

Default Gateway

See Gateway Address

Disk Segment

The analogy for a disk segment is to a traditional disk partition, such as DOS, Windows, etc.

Domain Name Service (DNS) Server

Since the Internet, as well as most Local Area Networks use TCP/IP, they do not understand domain names. Rather, these networks only understand Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The DNS server runs software that allows domain names to be converted into IP addresses. So if a user were to type www.storageflex.com the address field of an Internet browser, a DNS server would convert it to the proper IP address, which in this case is 168.144.128.216. In the same manner in which DNS servers are used for the Internet, they can also be used for Local Area Networks, so that computer names, rather than IP addresses can be used to share files. However, in a windows only network, a Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) Server is used to convert computer names to IP addresses.

Administrator Guide

Domain

A Domain is a group of computers that are connected by both hardware and software so that files can easily be shared between users. The key difference between a workgroup and a domain is that in the latter, the Primary Domain Controller (PDC) maintains database regarding which users and groups have access to the files and shares that exist on the computers that belong to the domain. This is contrast to a Microsoft Windows Workgroup, where each computer that belongs to the workgroup maintains a database of which users can access its files and shares. The diagram below is a representation of a typical domain; notice how the PDC maintains a list of the users who have access to the files and shares for each computer.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server

A DHCP server automatically assigns IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to client machines on a TCP/IP network. Typically, the System Administrator provides the DHCP manager software a range of available IP addresses, and then the DHCP Server assigns available IP addresses to client PCs as needed.

Ethernet

See LAN

Administrator Guide

EVMS

EVMS stands for Enterprise Volume Management System.

Folder Tree

The Folder Tree is a list of all of the folders and shares on the Appliance that is displayed in ApplianceView. The Administrator may have to double click the icon of the drive, share, or folder to view other shares and folders that are lower in the tree.

Gateway address

In a Local Area Network (LAN), the Gateway Address (Default Gateway) is the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the router that allows requests for Internet data to get out of the local network. If the Server Appliance has a static IP address, the Default Gateway address needs to be entered in ApplianceView.

Hardware RAID Appliance

A Hardware RAID Appliance is an Storageflex enabled Appliance that uses a hardware controlled Redundant Array of Independent Disks. In order to create a Hardware RAID Appliance, a RAID controller card must be installed inside the Appliance.

Hub

See Network Hub

Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE)

IDE is the most widely used interface for connecting peripherals such as hard drives and CD-ROM drives to a workstation. Without using an additional controller, only two IDE devices can be plugged into the motherboard. Storageflex supports both the IDE and the SCSI interfaces.

Internet Protocol (IP) address

Each computer in the network, including the Appliance has a unique IP address. This address is either automatically assigned from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, or manually assigned by a system administrator. The IP address allows the computer to communicate with other computers as part of a TCP/IP network.

ApplianceView

ApplianceView is the Java based management software that allows an administrator to view and modify the configuration of all Storageflex Appliances in a network. ApplianceView, a Windows application, installs on the administrator's hard drive,

Administrator Guide

and automatically detects new Appliances as they are added to the Local Area Network (LAN). In addition, ApplianceView can be configured to view and manage Appliances outside of the LAN, provided that they have domain names or Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

Kernel

The kernel is the low level fundamental part of Linux that resides in memory at all times, and provides basic services for all other parts of the operating system. Storageflex uses the 2.4 kernel, one of the most recent versions available.

LDAP

LDAP stands for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. LDAP is an industry standard for organizing data of all kinds for easy and flexible retrieval.

LAN cable

A LAN cable is used to connect devices in a Local Area Network. This is also referred to as a Patch Cable or an Ethernet Cable.

Linux

Linux is an open source, freely distributable version of the UNIX operating system. The Storageflex server is based on the Linux operating system.

Local Appliances

A Local Appliance is an Storageflex Appliance that is attached to the Local Area Network by an Ethernet cable. Local appliances are automatically recognized, and added to the list of Local Appliances by ApplianceView.

Local Area Network (LAN)

A LAN consists of several computers that are networked together using physical connections. Although there are several types of LAN, Ethernet is by far the most popular, and is the only type of LAN that Storageflex supports.

Logical Drive

In the context of a partitioned disk drive or a RAID, a logical drive refers to the users perception of a disk drive. This is in contrast to a physical drive, which is the actual disk drive, irrespective of how the user may view it. For example, a workstation could have one 80 GB hard drive (one physical drive), but the drive may be setup in four partitions of 20GB each (four logical drives). In this case, the user will view the one single physical drive as four distinct drives since Microsoft Windows displays each partition as a separate drive. In the case of a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), several physical drives actually appear as one logical drive.

Logical Volume

A mountable storage object.

Administrator Guide

Logical Volume Manager (LVM)

It is a group of multiple physical volumes that are pooled into logical volume.

Media Access Control (MAC) Address

The unique 12-digit alphanumeric identification number assigned to the Network Interface Card (NIC) in the Appliance. MAC addresses are written as six sets of two numbers separated by colons. When you first configure the Appliance, its name on the network will be AW plus the last six digits of its MAC address. For example if the MAC address of the Network Interface Card in Appliance is 00:E0:18:5f:54:75, its name on the network will be AW5f5475.

Name

See Appliance Name

Network Attached Storage (NAS)

A Network Attached Storage device is a specialized file server that connects to a network via an Ethernet cable. The Storageflex software package allows an OEM to create a robust NAS device.

Network Domain

See Domain

Network Hub

A Network Hub is a device, which allows several computers to be connected to a Local Area Network (LAN) via Ethernet cables.

Network File System (NFS)

Network File System is the file sharing protocol that most UNIX computers use. Through NFS, users who have access may manipulate the shared files and folders on a remote server as if it was their local computer. Storageflex supports NFS connections.

Network Interface Card (NIC)

A Network Interface Card is a piece of hardware that is either built into the motherboard, or is a card that plugs into the motherboard. The function of the NIC is to allow communication from one computer to another. In order to access the Local Area Network, a computer must have a NIC installed. Each NIC has a unique Media Access Control (MAC) address that allows computers to be distinguished from each other on a network. While there are several types of NICs, the most common is Ethernet. Therefore, Storageflex was designed to support most Ethernet NICs.

Administrator Guide

NIS

NIS stands for the Network Information Service. It allows multiple computers in a local area network to share administrative data. The data itself is stored in a central database, and then it is distributed over the network.

Patch Cable

See LAN cable

Partition

A partition is a subdivision of the physical hard drive that has been segmented into logical drives for some purpose. The user will view each of the partitions as a separate physical drive, even though in actuality each partition is a logical drive. In any single physical drive the total disk space is equal to sum of the total disk space in all of the partitions (logical drives). For example, a workstation could have one 80 GB hard drive (one physical drive), but the drive may be setup in four partitions of 20GB each (four logical drives). In this case, the user will view the one single physical drive as four distinct drives since Microsoft Windows displays each partition as a separate drive.

Physical Volume (PV)

A PV is just a physical medium.

Primary Domain Controller (PDC)

The Primary Domain Controller is the server that authenticates a user when attempting to connect to a share in a domain. In a large Local Area Network, where there are hundreds or thousands of users, there may be several domain controllers. In this case, one or several Backup Domain Controllers (BDC) would also authenticate users.

Physical Drive

In the context of a partitioned disk drive or a RAID, a physical drive refers to the actual hard disk drive. This is usually compared to a logical drive, which is how a user perceives the drive. For example, a workstation could have one 80 GB hard drive (one physical drive), but the drive may be setup in four partitions of 20GB each (four logical drives). In this case, the user will view the one single physical drive as four distinct drives since Microsoft Windows displays each partition as a separate drive. In the case of a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), several physical drives actually appear as one logical drive.

Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)

A Redundant Array of Independent Disks is a series of multiple physical drives that have been made into a single logical drive either through hardware or software. While Storageflex supports both hardware and software RAID, hardware RAID is outside the control of ApplianceView and must be configured and maintained

Administrator Guide

through the hardware RAID controller. There are several different levels of RAID, each offering a different set of advantages and disadvantages.

Region

An ordered set of logically contiguous sectors. (Note that in general they are not supposed to be physically contiguous).

Reiser File System

Reiser File System is a new journaling file system that is included with this release of Storageflex . Since Reiser is a journaling file system, following a system crash or power failure, the administrator does not have to wait long periods of time before the appliance becomes available. Instead, a record of file operations is written to a journal that can be checked in the background after the appliance becomes available. In addition, Reiser File System is faster, and supports larger file sizes than many traditional file systems.

Remote Appliance

A Remote Appliance is an Storageflex Appliance that is outside of the Local Area Network (LAN). If your LAN has a router that is able access to the network you are trying to reach, ApplianceView can be configured to view and manage remote appliances.

Security

See User Authentication Types

Server Message Block (SMB)

Server Message Block is a file sharing protocol used for Microsoft DOS and Windows computers. Through SMB, users on the Local Area Network who have been given access may manipulate the shared files and folders on another computer as if it was their local computer. Storageflex supports SMB connections.

A share is a folder that has been shared for use on the Network. Shares must be 12 characters or less, and may not contain any of the following characters \ / : * ? “ < > | # . %. Shares on the Appliance can be created either in ApplianceView, Microsoft Windows, or Macintosh’s OS.

Single Drive Appliance

An appliance that uses a single hard drive as the storage medium. All information that is stored on the appliance will be contained on the single hard drive.

Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI)

The Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) is a hardware interface for connecting peripherals, such as hard drives, CD-ROM drives, and printers. In order to utilize SCSI, a SCSI controller is required, as well as SCSI cables and SCSI compatible peripherals. While the majority of desktops PCs use the Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interface, servers often utilize SCSI since it offers many

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Storageflex RAID 3945N User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

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