Administrator Guide

Option 3 - Map the Share as a Network Drive
Map the share as a network drive.
Steps
1. Open Windows Explorer and choose Tools → Map Network Drive. The Map Network Drive dialog box opens.
2. From the Drive drop-down list, select any available drive.
3. Either type the path to the SMB share that you want to connect to in the Folder field or browse to the SMB share:
\\client_vip_or_name\smb_share_name
4. Click Finish.
Option 4 - Network
Connect to the share using the Windows Network. This option does not map the share.
Steps
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 files setting for each SMB share. By default, the setting is enabled, which means files with names
that start with a dot character (period) are shown to SMB clients. When disabled, files that start with a dot are shown with a hidden flag
set to SMB clients of all versions (SMB, SMB2) that access the specific share. This setting applies to all files and folders in the system,
regardless of the creation origin.
Steps
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 files with names starting with a dot:
• To enable showing files with names starting with a dot, select the Show files with name starting with a dot checkbox.
• To disable showing files with names starting with a dot, clear the Show files with name starting with a dot checkbox.
7. Click Apply, then click OK.
Branch Cache
Branch cache, when properly configured in both the client computers and the FluidFS cluster, significantly improves performance for
consecutive reads from different 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 office and caches
the content at branch office locations, allowing client computers at branch offices to retrieve the data locally. When branch cache is
configured, Windows branch cache clients first retrieve content from the storage system and then cache the content on a computer
within the branch office. If another branch-cache-enabled client in the branch office requests the same content, the storage system first
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 files smaller than 64 KB or larger than 256 MB.
• The hash calculation will not be performed on read-only, full, or replication destination volumes.
FluidFS Administration
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