Administrator Guide

Option 4 - Network
Connect to the share using the Windows Network. This option does not map the share.
1. From the Start menu, select Computer. The Computer window opens.
2. Click Network.
3. Locate the NAS appliance and double-click it.
4. From the SMB shares list, select the SMB share that you want to connect to.
Show Dot Files to SMB Client
You can enable or disable the show dot les setting for each SMB share. By default, the setting is enabled, which means les with
names that start with a dot character (period) are shown to SMB clients. When disabled, les that start with a dot are shown with a
hidden ag set to SMB clients of all versions (SMB, SMB2) that access the specic share. This setting applies to all les and folders
in the system, regardless of the creation origin.
1. In the Storage view, select a FluidFS cluster.
2. Click the File System tab.
3. In the File System view, select SMB Shares.
4. In the SMB Shares panel, select an SMB share and click Edit Settings.
The Edit SMB Share Settings dialog box opens.
5. Click Content.
6. Enable or disable showing les with names starting with a dot:
• To enable showing les with names starting with a dot, select the Show les with name starting with a dot checkbox.
• To disable showing les with names starting with a dot, clear the Show les with name starting with a dot checkbox.
7. Click Apply, then click OK.
Branch Cache
Branch cache, when properly congured in both the client computers and the FluidFS cluster, signicantly improves performance for
consecutive reads from dierent clients on the same network communicating with FluidFS cluster over WAN.
To optimize WAN bandwidth when users access content on remote servers, branch cache reads content from the main oce and
caches the content at branch oce locations, allowing client computers at branch oces to retrieve the data locally. When branch
cache is congured, Windows branch cache clients rst retrieve content from the storage system and then cache the content on a
computer within the branch oce. If another branch-cache-enabled client in the branch oce requests the same content, the
storage system rst authenticates and authorizes the requesting user. The storage system then determines whether the cached
content is still up to date and, if it is, sends the client metadata about the cached content. The client then uses the metadata to
retrieve content directly from the local host of the cache, if such data exists locally. The client then uses the metadata to retrieve
content directly from the cache of the local host.
Branch cache has the following limitations:
• FluidFs will not calculate hash for les smaller than 64 KB or larger than 256 MB.
• The hash calculation will not be performed on read-only, full, or replication destination volumes.
Conguring Branch Cache
Branch cache must be properly congured on each client that supports branch cache on the branch oce site.
About this task
On Windows 7 or 8, set the appropriate group policies: Computer Conguration → Policies → Administrative Templates →
Network → Turn on BranchCache → Enabled.
On Windows 8.1, you can also congure branch cache using PowerShell cmdlets such as Enable-BCHostedClient -ServerNames
hosted_cache_server_name.
FluidFS NAS Volumes, Shares, and Exports
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