freeStor 4020 4-bay Desktop Network Storage USER’S MANUAL Rev. 2.
Copyright and Trademark Information This document contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated into another language without express prior to written consent of Freedom9 Inc. © Copyright 2005-2006, freeStor and the freedom9 company logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Freedom9 Inc. All rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 2 3 4 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................7 1.1 TERMS ...........................................................................................................................................7 1.2 SYSTEM BENEFITS AND KEY FEATURES ...........................................................................................7 1.3 PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS ........................
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual 4.2 SYSTEM BACKUPS WITH DISKSAFE EXPRESS ................................................................................68 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.2.4 4.2.5 4.2.6 4.2.7 4.2.8 4.2.9 4.2.10 4.3 Installing the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator ..................................................70 Installing DiskSafe Express..................................................................71 Starting DiskSafe Express....................................................................
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1: Front Panel.............................................................................................................................. 10 Figure 1-2: Rear Panel .............................................................................................................................. 11 Figure 2-1: Hard Drive Tray....................................................................................................................... 13 Figure 2-2: SATA Connector .............
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 3-17: Backups Page....................................................................................................................... 45 Figure 3-18: Alerts Page ........................................................................................................................... 48 Figure 3-19: Firmware Page...................................................................................................................... 50 Figure 3-20: USB Page ..............
1 Introduction The freeStor 4020 is an intelligent network storage solution for small office, medium office, and home network environments. The freeStor 4020 features an integrated file server with system backup, system recovery, and managed shared files by user names or groups. The freeStor 4020 can connect to a Gigabit Ethernet network and can support up to 4 3.5” SATA (serial advanced technology attachment) hard disk drives (HDD).
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual connections. 1.3 Product Specifications Hardware Specifications Processor Intel IOP80219 400MHz Memory DDR 256 MB Flash 8 MB NOR Flash HDD Up to four 3.5” SATA Hard Disks from 80GB to 500GB Maximum Capacity Up to 2.0TB Network One Intel gigabit LAN port interface SATA Controller Intel SATA Controller USB 2 x USB 2.
addition to printing) • Windows Printing System (WPS) • Non-PostScript printing (Mac) • Duplex-only (two-way) communication Note: Refer to your printer’s documentation for information about disabling duplex communication. With some duplex printers, printing might complete successfully, although errors might occur. In addition, some features (such as the printer reporting low ink levels) might not function since two-way communication is not supported. 1.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual 1.5 Front Panel The front panel (Figure 1-1) contains the power button, hard disks, and status LEDs. Figure 1-1: Front Panel HDD Active LED This LED flashes GREEN when the HDD is active. HDD Power LED This LED lights up GREEN when the HDD is installed properly. HDD tray lock Turn the lock horizontally to lock the tray in place, or vertically to unlock it. LAN Link LED This LED will flash ORANGE if the network interface is being used.
1 or RAID 10 is used, GREEN when RAID 5 is used, and is off if no RAID is used. 1.6 Rear Panel The rear panel (Figure 1-2) contains the system fan, power supply, USB 2.0 ports, gigabit LAN port, power cord connection, and reset button. Figure 1-2: Rear Panel USB 2.0 Ports The USB ports can be used to connect USB printers and external storage to the freeStor 4020. USB hubs are not supported by these USB ports. Power Outlet Supplies power to the device. Gigabit LAN Port Gigabit Ethernet connection.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Serial ATA hard disk At least one Serial ATA HDD installed with at least 80GB capacity All clients using DSE must meet the following requirements: BIOS Client PCs must be able to boot from a CD Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000 (Professional, Server, or Advanced Server) with Service Pack 2 Operating System or above. Note: The operating system must be installed on the first partition (Drive C).
2 Installation and Setup 2.1 Hard Drive Installation It is highly recommended that all of the hard drives used are the same size. However, if they are different sizes, it is recommended that the drives are placed from largest to smallest from the top tray to the bottom tray. Note: At least one SATA hard disk with at least 80 GB capacity must be installed before the unit can be used. The unit does not ship with any hard drives installed. Follow these steps to install a hard drive into the unit: 1.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual 2. Slide the new hard drive into the tray and fasten the screws underneath the tray (Figure 2-3). Figure 2-3: Attaching the Hard Drive to the Tray 3. Pull out the handle before inserting the hard drive tray into the freeStor 4020. 4. After the tray has been inserted, push the handle back into position to lock the tray in place. 5. Repeat steps 1-4 for the remaining hard drives that need to be installed. 6.
2.2 Storage System Console Installation The Storage System Console is a Windows application included with the freeStor 4020. The software allows you to discover and access all freeStor 4020’s on the network. Although not required, the Storage System Console makes configuring and managing the units much easier. The Storage System Console runs on the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 2 or higher, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 2-5: Customer Information 6. On the following page (Figure 2-6), click “Next” to install the Storage System Console in the displayed location, or click “Browse…” to select or specify a different location and then click “Next”. Figure 2-6: Destination Location 7. Review your selections and click “Next” to proceed (Figure 2-7).
Figure 2-7: Summary 8. To complete the installation, click “Finish” (Figure 2-8). Figure 2-8: Installation Complete Once the Storage System Console has been installed, run the program from the Start Menu (Start Æ Programs Æ Storage System Console). When the Storage System Console starts, it will automatically scan the network for freeStor 4020 devices. After the scan is complete, the devices found will be listed in the left pane (Figure 2-9).
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 2-9: Storage System Console In the left pane, select the name of the new unit and click “Log On Storage System Manager” to access the web interface of the device. If any freeStor 4020 units are added to the network after the software has started, click “Discover Storage Systems” to rescan the network for the new units. 2.3 System Setup Once the hard drives have been successfully installed, the freeStor 4020 will have to be configured before it can be used.
4. The web interface of the freeStor 4020 can be accessed by using the Storage System Console (see Section 2.2) or by using a web browser. For access using a web browser, open up a web browser (Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox 1.06 or higher) and enter the IP address of the unit in the address bar. 5. For both connection methods, the web browser will be connected to the freeStor 4020 and the System Initialization screen will be displayed (Figure 2-10).
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 2-11: Welcome Screen 11. Click “Next” to proceed to the next page. 12. The next page contains the End User Software License Agreement (Figure 2-12). If you agree to the terms, click on the “I accept the license agreement” check box and click “Next”. Note: You cannot use the freeStor 4020 if you do not agree to the terms in the End User Software License Agreement. Figure 2-12: End User Software License Agreement 13.
numbers, and hyphens. To proceed, click “Next”. Figure 2-13: Host Name 14. On the next page, enter the current date and time (Figure 2-14). The time must be entered in 24-hour notation (2:15 PM should be entered as 14:15). After entering the date and time, click “Next”. Figure 2-14: Date/Time 15. On the next page, enter the network settings of the freeStor 4020 (Figure 2-15). If the network has an existing DHCP server, select “Get an IP address automatically”.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 2-15: Network Settings 16. The next page will ask for the disk configuration to use for the freeStor 4020 (Figure 2-16). The options presented on the page vary depending on the number of hard drives in the unit.
17. To add or remove hard drives from the freeStor 4020 at this time, add or remove one drive at a time, and click “Scan” before adding or removing the next drive. Note: It is strongly recommended that all of the drives that are to be used in the final configuration be installed at this time. Adding or removing drives after this step could require drive reconfiguration and data loss. 18.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 2-17: Backup Calculator 22. On the following page, you can select how much space to allocate to backups and how much to shared folders (Figure 2-18). Based on the information provided on the previous page, the suggested percentage of backup space will be automatically entered in the text box. To change the percentages, select a text box and enter a new percentage.
Figure 2-18: Disk Space Distribution 23. Confirm that all of the settings are correct and click “OK” when the confirmation page appears. The configuration page (Figure 2-19) will appear to show the progress of the system setup. Once the setup is complete, the system will restart automatically. Figure 2-19: System Configuration After the unit restarts, the web management interface can be used to add users and create shared folders to start using the freeStor 4020.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual 3 Web Management Interface The web management interface can be accessed using a web browser directly connecting to the IP address of the freeStor 4020, or the Storage System Console (see Section 2.2). When first accessing the web interface, the login screen (Figure 3-1) will appear. Enter the user name and password and click “Login”. The default user name is “admin” and the default password is “storage”.
3.1 Main Menu After logging in, the Home page will be displayed on the screen. The main menu (Figure 3-2) is displayed along the top of every page and allows you to access all of the freeStor 4020’s features. The main menu has the following items: Figure 3-2: Main Menu • Home: Displays information about the total storage capacity on the storage system, how much disk space is allocated for shared folders, how much is allocated for backups, and how much is used for each.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual disks because some of the disk space is needed for the operating system and management software. In addition, the amount of used backup capacity will be greater than the total size of all the disks listed on the Backups page because additional storage space is needed for the data that has changed between backups. Figure 3-3: Home Page Clicking on the Connection Status button will display a list of users and the shared folders they are connected to (Figure 3-4).
Figure 3-3: Connections Page 3.3 Users Clicking on the “Users” button in the menu will open the Users Page (Figure 3-5) which allows you to manage the users on the freeStor 4020.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual By default, the freeStor 4020 includes a user named “guest” that has a password of “guest”. Windows and OS X users can access all shared folders that the user “guest” is authorized to access. However, for increased security, it is advised that additional users are added as well.
Figure 3-6: Add User Page 2. The next page that is displayed depends on the type of user being added. For Windows and OS X users, the page shown in Figure 3-7 will be displayed, and for Linux and Mac users, the page shown in Figure 3-8 will be displayed.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 3-8: NFS Add User Page 3. For Windows and OS X users, enter the user name and password users have to enter to access their account. Re-enter the password in the last field and click “Done” to continue. The user name can be up to 20 characters long and must consist of letters and numbers only.
To edit an existing user: 1. Click the radio button beside the user to edit and click “Edit”. For Windows and OS X users, the page shown in Figure 3-7 will be displayed. Only the password used to access the shared folders can be changed, but not the user name. This change will not affect current connections, but will take effect the next time someone tries to connect to a shared folder. 2. For Linux and other Mac users, the page shown in Figure 3-8 will be displayed.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 3-9: Groups Page To add a new group: When you create a group, you typically specify which users should be members of that group, although you can create an empty group and add users later. A user must be created from the Users page before being added to a group. Each user can be a member of multiple groups. For example, the user Alice might be a member of both the Marketing and Executives groups. The freeStor 4020 supports up to 16 groups at any one time.
Figure 3-10: Add Group Page 4. In the “Group name” text box, enter a unique name for the group. This name can be up to 15 characters long and can include letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores. 5. Specify which users should belong to this group, and then click “OK”: To select multiple, contiguous users, hold down the Shift key and select the first user, then select the last user. All users between the first and last selected user are selected.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual a group, that user immediately has access to all the shared folders that the group is authorized to access. However, if you remove a user from a group, the change does not take effect until that user disconnects from the shared folder or shuts down the computer. For example, the user Alice might be a member of both the Marketing and Executives groups.
have access to the Budget shared folder (since their access rights were determined by their group membership), but Alice will continue to have read-only access, since that access right was granted to her on a user level. To remove a group: 1. In the navigation bar, click Users. 2. In the left pane, click Groups. 3. In the Groups list, select the group that you want to remove. 4. Click “Remove”. 5. When prompted to confirm the removal, click “Yes”. The group no longer appears in the Groups list. 3.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual By default, the freeStor 4020 includes a shared folder named public, and all Windows and OS X users can access it and create, modify, or delete files in the folder unless you change the list of authorized users or their access rights. In addition, when a Windows or OS X user is added, the storage system automatically creates a shared folder with the same name as the person’s user name. Only that user can access that shared folder.
Figure 3-12: Add Shared Folder Page 2. The next page that is displayed depends on the type of used that was selected. For Windows and OS X users, the page shown in Figure 3-13 will be displayed, and for Linux and Mac users, the page shown in Figure 3-14 will be displayed.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 3-14: NFS Add Shared Folder Page 3. In the Shared folder name text box, enter a unique name for the shared folder, and then click “Next”. This name can be up to 64 characters long and can contain letters, numbers, hyphens, underlines, and spaces. Note: Each shared folder name must be unique. For example, if you create a shared folder named Photos for Windows/OS X users, you cannot subsequently create a shared folder named Photos for Linux/Mac users.
Figure 3-15: CIFS Define Folder Permissions Page 41
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 3-16: NFS Define Folder Permissions Page 6. From the Unauthorized users list, select the name of the user(s) who should be given access this shared folder. To select multiple, contiguous users, hold down the Shift key and select the first user, then select the last user. All users between the first and last selected user are selected. To select multiple, non-contiguous users, hold down the Ctrl key as you select each user.
Unauthorized users list includes User2 and User3. If you select Group1 and click “Add (Read-Only)”, Group1 moves to the Authorized groups list, but User2 and User3 do not move to the Authorized users list. This allows you to specify unique access rights for those users. For example, you could select User3 and click “Add (Read/Write)”. This willl mean that everyone in Group1 will have read-only access to the shared folder except User3, who will have read/write access to it.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual user that you want to assign to this USB disk, and then click “Next”. 5. The operating system used by the user determines which option you should choose Windows/OS X user (CIFS) or Linux/Mac user (NFS). Note: Linux and Mac users access shared folders using NFS. In this environment, access to shared folders is given to entire computers, not to individual users of those computers.
3.6 Managing Backups Once the users have used DiskSafe Express to back up their computer hard disks to the storage system, clicking on the “Backups” button in the menu will open the Backups Page (Figure 3-17) which displays a list of each computer that has performed a backup, the size of each protected disk, the date and time of the last four backups, and the backup disk ID (the number used to identify the backup on both the storage system and on the Status page in DiskSafe Express).
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual To change the recovery CD password: 1. In the Computer name list, select the name of the computer whose recovery CD password is to be changed. 2. In the Recovery CD password text box, type the password to use. (This password must be 12–16 characters long.) 3. Click “Change Password”. The user must provide this password when recovering a disk from this storage system using the recovery CD.
Deleting a client If you remove DiskSafe Express from a particular computer, or if you change the computer name, the original computer name remains on the storage system and counts toward the total number of computers that are allowed to back up to the storage system. To both delete all backups of all disks for a particular computer and the computer name, you must delete the client itself. To delete a client: 1.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 3-18: Alerts Page To set up e-mail alerts: 1. Specify whether or not the storage system should send e-mail notifications when a problem occurs by selecting or clearing the “Send e-mail notifications” check box. 2. If you select this option, enter the fully qualified domain name or IP address of your email server and at least one email address. 3. If you clear this option, e-mail notifications will not be sent, and all the related fields on this page appear dimmed.
IP address of your email server. 5. If required by your email server, enter a user name and password for logging into that server in the User name and Password text boxes. 6. If your email server cannot use the default sender email address (root@localhost), or if you want the individuals who receive email notifications to be able to reply to the alert, enter the address that you want to appear as the return address in the Sender e-mail address text box.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Restarting the storage system when a backup is occurring will not have any adverse effect; the backup will resume automatically when the storage server resumes operation. However, restarting the storage system when a disk is being recovered can potentially corrupt the user’s operating system, and the user will have to recover the system disk using the recovery CD (or, if the system disk was not protected, re-install the operating system).
disks are identified by the names usbdisk1 and usbdisk2. USB printers are identified by the names usbprinter1 and usbprinter2. These names cannot be changed. Figure 3-20: USB Page When you plug a USB device into the storage system, the storage system automatically detects it and adds that device to the USB page. (You might need to click “Scan” to update the display.) However, when you want to unplug a USB device from the storage system, you must first use the Manager to disconnect it.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual 3.10 System Settings Clicking on the “Advanced” button in the menu, then clicking “System” on the left menu will open the System page (Figure 3-21) which displays the settings that you specified when you initially configured the storage system, such as the storage system name, and the current date and time. Note: Changing the storage system name might affect access to shared folders or backups, depending on how your network is configured and how users access the storage system.
Figure 3-21: System Page Using the System page, you can also change the administrator name and password to use for logging in to the Manager. To change any of the system settings: 1. Make the desired changes based on the following options: • Storage system name: The name of the freeStor 4020 used on the network. This name can be up to 15 characters long and can include letters, numbers, and hyphens. • Date: The current date. • Time: The current time. • Time zone: The local time zone.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual • Password: The password used to log into the web interface. • Confirm password: If changing the password, must match the password entered in the Password textbox. The user name and password are case-sensitive. 2. Click “Apply”. 3. When the confirmation message appears, click “OK”. 3.
Figure 3-22: Network Page You can also configure the storage system to act as a DHCP server. In other words, the storage system can assign IP addresses to other computers in your network, simplifying the network configuration of each individual system. In addition, your storage system can act as an FTP server. This allows all Windows/OS X users to use a Web browser or FTP client to access the public folder.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual storage system. For more information, refer to “Accessing the storage system using FTP”. To change any of the network settings: 1. Make the desired changes based on the following options: • Workgroup name: The workgroup to which the storage system belongs on the network. In the Workgroup name text box, enter the name of the workgroup. This name can be up to 15 characters long.
3.12 Disk Configuration Clicking on the “Advanced” button in the menu, then clicking “Disks” on the left menu will open the Disks page (Figure 3-23) which displays information about all the hard disks that are currently installed in your storage system.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual • The model number, serial number, and size of each hard disk. • The current status of each disk: o RAID – The disk is working properly as part of the specified RAID level. o New – The disk has been added to the storage system but is not part of a RAID. o Spare – The disk is acting as a spare disk for the RAID.
Figure 3-24: Disk Configuration Page 5. If you want to add or remove hard disks, do so one at a time and click “Scan” after each action. 6. To accept the default disk configuration (which will provide the best level of data protection available for the number of hard disks currently installed), click “Next”. By default, a linear disk configuration is used for a single hard disk, RAID 1 is used for two hard disks, and RAID 5 is used for three or four hard disks. 7.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual Figure 3-25: Disks to Back Up Page 9. In the Number of disks to back up list, select the total number of disks that you plan to back up to this storage system. 10. If some computers have multiple disks, be sure to select the total number of disks that you plan to back up. For example, if your network has five computers and each computer has two hard disks, you would select 10. 11.
512-MB disk would be .5 GB (512 divided by 1024 is .5). Note: Only 99% of the available storage space can be allocated for backups. If the amount of disk space you need exceeds that limit, you will not be able to back up all the disks. 18. The Disk Space Distribution page (Figure 3-26) appears: Figure 3-26: Disk Space Distribution Page 19. To change the percentage of space allocated for shared folders and backups, enter the desired percentage for each usage type. (The percentages must add up to 100%.
freeStor 4020 User’s Manual be displayed and the storage system will restart. Figure 3-28: Disk Configuration Completion Page 23. Close the browser window. 24. After the system has restarted, you can access the Manager and re-create your users and shared folders. 3.13 Logging Out When you have finished using the Manager, it is recommended that you log out to ensure that unauthorized individuals do not make changes to the storage system. To log out: 1. Clicking on the “Log Out” button in the menu. 2.
Figure 3-29: Shut Down Page Warning: If you shut down the storage system, users will no longer be able to access the shared folders on the storage system. If users have shared files open, data might be lost. Be sure to have all users save their changes and close any open files before you shut down the storage system. Shutting down the storage system when a backup is occurring will not have any adverse effect; the backup will resume automatically when the storage server is powered on again.
4 File Sharing and System Backup 4.1 File Sharing The freeStor 4020 allows users to share files quickly and easily, using multiple operating systems. By default, there is one shared folder called “public” that is accessible by all users. Additional shared folders can be created by using the Web Management Interface. The procedure for accessing shared folders depends on the operating system being used. 4.1.
3. In the Drive list, select the drive letter that you want to assign to the shared folder. 4. In the Folder text box, enter the following: “\\storage_system\shared_folder” where storage_system is the name or IP address of the storage system, and shared_folder is the name of the shared folder. For example, if the storage system name is Storage and the shared folder name is Photos, you would enter the following: “\\Storage\Photos”.
storage systems. This might take a few minutes. As soon as the scan is complete, the left pane displays a tree view of all the storage systems it found: Note: If you connect a storage system to the network after the Storage System Console has already scanned it, or if you change the IP address of the storage system, you must click Discover Storage Systems to scan the network again and update the tree in the left pane. 4.
example, “mount storage_system:/nas /NASDisk-00002/folder /mnt/my_directory”). 4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for each shared folder that you want to access. 4.1.3 Macintosh Clients The procedure for accessing a shared folder on a Mac varies, depending on whether the Mac is running OS X or an older operating system. (Macs running OS X can access the same shared CIFS folders as Windows users. Mac running older operating systems can access the same shared NFS folders as Linux users.
to prevent a particular user from accessing it altogether or to limit a user to read-only access), all existing users have full read/write access to the public folder when accessing it via FTP. To access the storage system using FTP: 1.
DiskSafe Express can automatically perform a backup at regularly scheduled intervals – either once a day or once a week. (You can also disable automatic backups and just perform backups manually at a time of your choosing.) Up to four backups are saved on the storage system for each computer; each time a new backup is performed, the oldest backup is automatically deleted.
which is installed automatically if it is not already installed. IMA requires an additional 5 MB of free hard disk space (for both the application and associated log file data). Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 is also required and installed automatically if it is not already installed. The .NET Framework requires approximately 40 MB of additional free hard disk space.
After your computer restarts, you can install DiskSafe Express. 4.2.3 Installing DiskSafe Express You must install DiskSafe Express on each computer whose local disks you want to protect. To install DiskSafe Express: 1. Ensure the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator 2.0 is already installed by following the steps in the previous section. 2. Insert the Installation CD into your CD-ROM drive. 3. In Windows Explorer, open the “DiskSafeExpress” folder on the installation CD. Double-click the “DSESetup.
Figure 4-4: .NET Framework License Agreement 8. If you agree to the terms of the license agreement, select “I agree” and then click “Install”. 9. It might take some time to copy and configure the associated files. Note: The remaining time might be reported as 0 and it might appear that no progress is occurring. However, configuration is occurring in the background. 10. When a message appears, indicating that the installation of Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 is complete, click “OK”. 11.
4-6). Figure 4-6: DiskSafe Express License Agreement 13. If you agree to the terms of the license agreement, select “I accept the terms of the license agreement” and then click “Next”. 14. On the next page (Figure 4-7), click “Next” to install DiskSafe Express in the displayed location. Alternatively, you can click “Browse”, select or enter a different location, click “OK”, and then click “Next”.
Figure 4-8: DiskSafe Express Installation Completed 16. If you do not want to restart your computer at this time, select “No, I will restart my computer later” and then click “Finish”. You do not have to restart the computer immediately after installation, but you do have to restart it before running DiskSafe Express. 17. After you restart the computer, the License dialog box appears (Figure 4-9). Figure 4-9: DiskSafe Express License Dialog 18. Type the key code for licensing the product and click “OK”.
to Section 4.2.5. 4.2.4 Starting DiskSafe Express To start DiskSafe Express, click Start Æ Programs Æ DiskSafe Express. If you did not protect a disk after installing DiskSafe Express and restarting your computer, you will be prompted to do so the first time you run this application. For information about this wizard, refer to Section 4.2.6. If you already protected a disk, the application window appears (Figure 4-10).
the product. If your computer has an Internet connection, the license is activated automatically. However, if your Internet connection was temporarily down or if your computer has no Internet connection, your license will not be activated. You must activate your license within 30 days of installing DiskSafe Express; otherwise you will not be able to perform a backup or recovery after that time.
computer with Internet and e-mail access. If you used a shared folder, access that folder from a computer with Internet and e-mail access. 5. From the computer that has Internet and e-mail access, e-mail the license file to the following address: “dsekeycode@freedom9.com”. 6. When you receive an e-mail response, save the returned license file back to the shared folder, floppy disk, or USB disk. 7.
4.2.6 Protecting Your Disks After you install DiskSafe Express and restart your computer, the Protect a Disk wizard runs automatically. Using this wizard, you can specify which disk or partition you want to back up, where the backups should be stored, when automatic backups (if any) should occur, and what password you want to use for the recovery CD. If you cancel this wizard, you can start it again at any time using the following procedure. To protect a disk: 1.
In addition, you can recover a data disk or partition using DiskSafe Express, but you can recover a system disk or partition only using the recovery CD, so if you have separate partitions for your system information and your data, you might want to protect each one separately. Recommendations: • If your computer has only one disk with one partition, select the disk. • If your disk has a system partition and a data partition, select one of the partitions and complete the wizard.
From the Discovered storage systems list, select the storage system where you want to back up the selected disk. The name of the storage system automatically appears in the Storage system name or IP address text box. If no storage systems are automatically discovered, or if you want to back up your disk to a different storage system, enter the name or IP address of the desired storage system in the Storage system name or IP address text box. Click “OK”.
(Figure 4-14). Figure 4-14: Previously Backed Up Page If you select Re-use the existing backup, you must select which backup to reuse from the list. Then click “Next” and go to the next step. If you select Create a new backup and click “Next”, you must select the desired backup location as described in step 4. 6. Specify when you want backups to occur in the Backup Schedule page (Figure 4-15).
list. If you want backups to occur once a week, select the day of the week from the Recurrence list. Then select the time. If you don’t want backups to occur automatically, select “Not Scheduled” from the Recurrence list (the Time field will be dimmed). Backups will occur only when you start one manually. Notes: • Only four backups of each protected disk or partition are saved on the storage system, so if you back up your disk every day, you’ll be able to recover data from only the last four days.
system, you will not be prompted to provide this password again. However, if you protect a second disk using a different storage system, you will be prompted to provide a password for that storage system. • You can change this password later using DiskSafe Express. Figure 4-16: Recover CD Password Page 9. Review all your selections and click “Finish” on the next page (Figure 4-17).
If you want to protect additional disks or partitions, repeat this procedure for each one. Note: If you subsequently change the drive letter of a protected disk or partition, you must restart DiskSafe Express to update this application.. 4.2.7 Manually Backing Up Your Disk Once you protect a disk, it is automatically backed up at regular intervals (unless you chose Not Scheduled from the Recurrence list when you completed the schedule). However, you can also back up a disk manually at almost any time.
4. If you’re stopping a backup, the backup stops immediately. 5. If you’re stopping a recovery, a confirmation message appears. Click “OK” to stop the recovery now, or click “Cancel” to proceed with it. 4.2.9 Changing the Backup Schedule When you protect a disk, you specify when you want backups to occur. However, you can change this schedule at any time. To change the backup schedule: 1. In the DiskSafe Express utility, click “Schedule”. 2.
2. In the Protected disk list, select a disk whose backup resides on the storage system whose recovery CD password you want to change. To double-check your selection, click “Status”. The name of the storage system appears in the Backup location area. Then click “Restore” to return to the Restore page. 3. Click “Recovery CD Password” to open the dialog box to change the password (Figure 4-18). Figure 4-18: Changing Recovery CD Password Dialog 4.
• Recovering an entire non-system disk or partition: If you protected a disk or partition that isn’t being used to run the operating system, you can recover that disk or partition using DiskSafe Express. You might need to do this if the disk has become corrupted or the data has been extensively damaged. The entire disk or partition will be restored to its exact state at the time of the selected backup.
backup for which No appears in the Backup View Open column. 4. Click “View Backup”. 5. When the confirmation message appears, click “OK”. After a few moments, a window opens automatically, displaying all the data associated with the selected backup. You can now open the folders and files in the backup view to make sure they contain the information you want, and copy any of the data to your local disk. Warning: You can open and change the files in the backup view, and even create new folders or files.
• When a backup view is open, that backup will not be deleted to make room for new backups until it is closed or unless the storage system runs critically low on resources. If you view the oldest backup, and the maximum number of backups is reached, new backups cannot occur until the view of the oldest backup is closed (as described in the next step). • When you close the DiskSafe Express application window, you will be prompted to close all open backup views.
indicated by Yes in the Backup View Open column), select the open backup view and click “Close View”. 4. In the Backups list, select the backup that you want to recover. 5. Click “Restore Disk”. 6. When the confirmation message appears, click “Yes”. The disk or partition is recovered to exactly its state at the date and time of the selected backup. To let you monitor the progress of this activity, the Status page appears automatically.
In most cases, there will be only one NIC, and you can simply select “Next”. This screen displays only the NICs on this system that are supported by DiskSafe Express. If no NICs appear on this screen, you might need to install an appropriate network driver.
If you don’t remember your password, you can change it using the web interface and enter the new password here. 10. In the left column, select the backup that corresponds to the disk or partition that you want to recover. If you protected only one disk or partition, only one item will appear in this list. If you protected multiple disks or partitions, you can identify the right item by looking at the Attr and Size columns.
15. Select the disk where you want to recover the data, and select “Next”. Note: If you are recovering a system disk, the system to which you are recovering the data must be identical to the original system. For example, if the original system had a particular type of network adapter, the system to which you are recovering the data must have the exact same type of network adapter. Otherwise, the recovered files will not operate properly. 16. If you selected the backup of a disk in step 10, go to step 18.
• To restart the computer, select “Finish”. 20. When the computer restarts, use the appropriate procedure for your system to configure the computer to boot from the local hard disk once more. 21. Start DiskSafe Express and remove protection from the recovered disk or partition (as described in the next section). 22. Restart the computer. 23. Protect the recovered disk once again, re-using the original backup 4.3.
Appendix A: Disk Configurations Your storage system supports the following types of disk configurations: • Linear: A linear configuration is similar to using multiple hard disks in a regular computer. Each disk is an independent entity, and the data on it is self-contained. You can add or remove the disks without affecting the other disks. All the available disk space is used for data. If your storage system has only one disk, you must use a linear configuration.
You can use RAID 5 only if your storage system has at least three disks. If the disks are not the same size, the smallest of the disks determines how much disk space is available for data. For example, if one disk is 300 GB, one is 400 GB, and one is 500 GB, only 300 GB from each disk can be used. Two thirds of each disk (200 GB) is used for storage space, and the remaining third is used for parity information. As a result, for all three disks, only 600 GB of disk space would be available for data.
access all the data. In a normal state, you cannot add a disk to a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration. Any disk that you install will not be used unless you subsequently reconfigure the storage system. Warning: Reconfiguring your storage system disks deletes all the data on your storage system. However, if you currently have three disks and a RAID 5 configuration, you can add a fourth disk as a spare (essentially changing from RAID 5 to RAID 5 + spare while retaining all your existing data).
** Figure B-1: Disk Change Notification Page 3. To add the disk to the storage system, click “Add New Disk”. If the information on this page is not correct, click “Scan” to scan the storage system again and update the page. You can also click “Shut Down” to shut down the storage system, but you will be presented with this page again the next time you access the Manager.
** Figure B-2: Add New Disk Page 4. Take the desired action: • To add the disk to a linear configuration or use it as a spare for a normal three-disk RAID 5 configuration: Click “Add” and the Disks page will indicate the current state of the disk configuration. • To add the disk to the storage system but not add it to the RAID at this time: Click “Ignore” and the Disks page will list that the disk is part of the storage system, but its status is New, indicating that it is not being used.
** Figure B-3: Disk Change Notification Page – New Disk 3. Click “Ignore” to continue rebuilding the disk and return to the Manager. The Disks page shows the progress of the rebuilding progress. Alternatively, if the information on this page is not correct, click “Scan” to scan the storage system again and update the page. You can also click “Shut Down” to shut down the storage system. When you restart the storage system, this page will re-appear. A.
and whether the RAID is in a normal or degraded state. You can determine the effect of disk removal/failure by looking at the Hotplug Indicator on the Disks page. If this indicator is GREEN, disk removal/failure will have no effect on the RAID. If this indicator is YELLOW, disk removal/failure will cause RAID degradation, but you will still be able to access all the data. If the indicator is RED, disk removal/failure will cause the entire RAID to fail.
** Figure B-4: Disk Change Notification Page – Degradation Take the appropriate action: • To scan the storage system again and update the information on the page: Click “Scan”. • To re-install the same disk or install a new disk: Click “Shut Down”. After the storage system shuts down, install the disk and then restart the system. Note: If you are re-installing multiple disks, be sure to re-install them in the opposite order than you removed them.
** Figure B-5: Disk Change Notification Page – RAID Failure Take the appropriate action: • Scan the storage system again and update the information on the page: Click “Scan”. • To re-install the same disk: Click “Shut Down”. After the storage system shuts down, re-install the same disk and then restart the system. Note: If you removed multiple disks, be sure to re-install them in the opposite order than you removed them.
storage system is running, you can swap only two disks, and you must restart the system after you swap the disks. If you swap the disks when the storage system is not running, you can swap all four disks, and the system will function as it previously did when you restart it. Notes: For RAID 5 + spare, if you swap the disks when the storage system is running, one of the swapped disks must be the spare. For RAID 10, the swapped disks must be in different pairs.
Note: If the firmware on your new unit is newer than the firmware on your hard disks, you might want to contact your vendor about obtaining the latest firmware. Refer to “Upgrading the firmware” on page 62 for information about upgrading to newer firmware. If no message appears, you can manage the unit as you did before.
Appendix B: Troubleshooting Viewing the system log The System Log page (Figure B-6) displays a list of events that have occurred on the storage system. Reviewing this list can help you identify and resolve any problems that you might encounter. ** Figure B-6: System Log Page To view event information: 1. In the navigation bar, click “Advanced”. 2. In the left pane, click “System Log”.
B.1 Disconnecting from Shared Folders If you need to reconfigure the disks in your storage system or shut it down for any reason, all users should disconnect from the shared folders to ensure that the process proceeds smoothly. You might also want to have users disconnect from the shared folders if you want to change their access rights, since otherwise the change will not take effect until the user shuts down the computer.
The procedure for disconnecting from a shared folder on a Mac varies, depending on whether the Mac is running OS X or an older operating system. To disconnect from a shared folder on a Mac running OS X: 1. On the desktop, select the shared folder from which you want to disconnect. 2. From the File menu, click “Eject”. Any open window to the shared folder closes, and the shared folder disappears from the desktop.
In addition, pressing this button restarts the storage system, which mightadversely affect user connections to shared folders. Be sure to do this only whenusers are not connected to shared folders or performing recovery. Problem: The users can’t access the shared folders. Resolution: • Make sure the storage system is powered on, connected to the network, and operating properly. • Make sure the user configuration is correct.
IP address and ending IP address must be the same. If the network configuration is correct and it still doesn’t work, the DHCP service might not be working properly. Restart the storage system. Problem: The users cannot access the storage system using FTP. Resolution: Make sure that Enable FTP server is selected on the Network page and that the users are using the correct address for accessing the storage system.
Note: When authentication errors occur, invalid backups might be created on the storage system. To ensure that you don’t use up disk space unnecessarily, be sure to delete any extraneous backups on the storage system. Compare the Backup disk ID on the Status page in DiskSafe Express with the Backup Disk ID on the Backups page in the Manager to determine which backup is actually being used. Problem: The Status page indicates that the backup is offline.
• If the IP address of the storage system changed (for example, if the storage system obtains its IP address from a DHCP server and acquired a new one after you added the storage system to the list of backup locations), you must start DiskSafe Express so that it can retrieve the new IP address. You must do this each time the IP address on the storage system changes. Problem: I can’t change my backup schedule. Resolution: On the Status page, make sure that the Status is Normal.
Once the file has been created, you can send it to Technical Support. Using the recovery CD To create a diagnostic file using the recovery CD: 1. Insert the recovery CD into the computer’s CD-ROM drive and press Alt+F2. 2. At the command line, enter the following command and then press Enter: “xray” 3. When prompted, insert a formatted floppy disk into the computer’s floppy disk drive or attach a USB disk and press Enter. 4. Select the media where you want to save the diagnostic file and press Enter.
Appendix C: Glossary Client – Any desktop, notebook or laptop that is connected to the freeStor 4020. DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) – A protocol that allows computers to be automatically assigned an IP address from a DHCP server. DNS Server Address (Domain Name System) – The Domain Name System (DNS) is a distributed Internet directory service. DNS is used mostly to translate between domain names and IP addresses, and to control email delivery.
SATA (serial advanced technology attachment) – SATA is a successor to the older Parallel ATA or IDE technology allowing for faster data transfer speeds. Subnet Mask – A mask used to determine what subnet an IP address belongs to. Subnets enable the network administrator to further divide the host part of the address into two or more subnets.
