SIMPLESHARE USER’S GUIDE
Copyright ©2005 by SimpleTech™, Inc. All rights reserved. This guide is copyrighted by SimpleTech™ with all rights reserved. Information contained in this document, including but not limited to any instructions, descriptions and product specifications, is company private to SimpleTech and shall not be modified, used, copied, reproduced or disclosed in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the written consent of SimpleTech.
Disclaimer of Liability Information contained in this document, including but not limited to any instructions, descriptions and product specifications, is subject to change without prior notice. SIMPLETECH, INC. PROVIDES NO WARRANTY WITH REGARD TO THIS GUIDE OR ANY OTHER INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH REGARD TO ANY OF THE FOREGOING.
GETTING STARTED Congratulations on purchasing your new high performance SimpleShare Office Storage Server. SimpleShare makes it possible for you to easily add high performance storage to your home or small business network. SimpleShare is ideal for sharing data files, digital photos, and music with other users on your local network. In addition, with SimpleShare, everyone on the network has instant access to extra storage.
WHAT’S INCLUDED WITH SIMPLESHARE The following items are included in the SimpleShare package. If any items are missing or damaged, please contact your SimpleShare reseller or retailer for replacements.
FEATURES AND BENEFITS • Easy setup—no device drivers or configuration required (no network experience required) • Web-based interface for setting up advanced features from networked computers • Automatically adjusts to 10Mbps or 100Mbps Ethernet speeds • Supports file sharing between Windows, Mac and Unix/Linux computers • Built-in print server allows addition of a network printer • Windows Domain and Workgroup configuration options • Supports access to shared folders by group or individual use
SIMPLESHARE INSTALLATION CD The SimpleShare Installation CD contains the NASFinder configuration utility and user documentation for your SimpleShare Office Storage Server. The CD is configured to automatically run NasFinder when it is inserted into your CD-ROM drve. However, you can directly access the directories and files on the installation CD. • SimpleShare Administrator - Provides a platform-independent, HTML-based tool for configuring and managing your SimpleShare Office Storage Server accelerator.
ABOUT THIS GUIDE This user guide provides instructions for setting up and operating the SimpleTech DirectPath SimpleShare Office Storage ServerH Streaming Media Kit in the HP ProLiant DL380 G3 server. This guide also provides information on evaluating SimpleShare Office Storage Server performance. Using This Guide The following conventions are used in this manual: • Currier type indicates screen text. • Buttons and keys you press are indicated by small icons—such as • Items you select are in bold.
Safety Icons This guide contains the safety instructions that must be observed in order to avoid personal injury or damage to your equipment. The safety instructions have been classified according to the seriousness of the risk. All safety instructions must be read carefully and fully understood before installing the SimpleShare Office Storage Server or performing maintenance on your computer equipment.
EMISSION AND IMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS FCC Declaration of Conformity This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a commercial environment.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Getting Started iv What’s Included With SimpleShare v Features and Benefits vi Registering SimpleShare vi Installing SimpleShare 1 System Requirements and Recommendations 1 Requirements 1 Recommendations 1 Installing SimpleShare Server 2 Setting Up SimpleShare for the First Time 3 Expanding SimpleShare’s Capabilities 10 Connecting a USB Printer 10 Connecting a USB Drive 11 Accessing Shares 12 Accessing SimpleShare From Windows 13 Accessing SimpleShare From Mac OS X 16 xi
Managing SimpleShare 18 Running SimpleShare Administrator 19 Setting the SimpleShare Network Name 20 Setting the Administration Username and Password 21 Setting the Date and Time Manually 22 Acquiring the Date and Time From Your Browser 24 Synchronizing the Date and Time with an NTP Server 25 Upgrading SimpleShare Firmware 27 Setting Up Email Alert Notification 28 Setting Up Popup Alert Notification 29 Adding SimpleShare to an Existing Workgroup 30 Adding SimpleShare to an Existing Domain 31 Restoring Facto
Erasing a Disk Pool 43 Erasing a Disk Drive 44 Enabling Disk Power Management 46 Viewing Disk Drive Health Information 47 Running Disk Drive Self-Tests 49 Removing External Drives 51 Viewing Foreign Disk Information 53 Claiming Foreign Disk for SimpleShare 54 Claiming a Foreign Disk as FAT32 56 Claiming a Blank Disk for SimpleShare 58 Claiming a Blank Disk as FAT32 60 Checking Foreign Disk File System Integrity 62 Creating a Basic Pool 64 Creating a Mirror Pool 67 Creating a Striped Pool 71 Deleting (Wiping
Changing the Encryption Password 88 Disabling Pool Encryption 90 Mounting Encrypted Pools 92 DHCP Client Network Setup 94 DHCP Server Network Setup 95 Static IP Network Setup 97 Enabling the Print Server 98 Disabling the Print Server 100 Installing Printer Drivers on Windows Computers 101 Specifications 103 Product Support 104 SimpleTech Technical Support 104 Worldwide Headquarters 104 Certification and Warranty 105 FCC Compliance 105 Limited Warranty 106 Modifications 106 GPL Statement 106 xiv
INSTALLING SIMPLESHARE Installing SimpleShare is easy. This guide assumes the user has a basic understanding of Personal Computers and networks. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS REQUIREMENTS RECOMMENDATIONS • • DHCP server • Network router or switch Windows XP (Home and Professional), Windows 2000 (Professional and Server, Windows 2000 (Professional and Server), Windows Me and 98SE • Intel Pentium III processor (or later) • 256 MB RAM • Web browser (Internet Explorer 5.
INSTALLING SIMPLESHARE SERVER 1 Connect the provided Ethernet cable to the Network connector on SimpleShare’s rear panel. Connect the other end of the cable to your switch, router or directly to your computer. 2 Connect the low voltage connector on the AC power adapter to SimpleShare’s DC-IN jack. Connect the power plug on the other end of the adapter to a live 120/240V electrical outlet, surge protector or UPS (uninterruptable power supply). Only use the AC power adapter that came with SimpleShare.
SETTING UP SIMPLESHARE FOR THE FIRST TIME Once the SimpleShare server is connected and powered on, you can begin using it to share files and data with other network users immediately. However, if SimpleShare is installed on a complex network configuration that routes traffic to various network segments (subnets) using gateways and routers, locating SimpleShare using its network name might be difficult without assistance.
2 On the Welcome to NASFinder page, click SimpleShare servers.
SimpleShare Discovery displays the network name, IP address and connection status of detected SimpleShare servers. “Available” This icon indicates NASFinder has detected and is able to communicate with SimpleShare from your computer. “Unavailable” This icon indicates NASFinder has detected, but cannot communicate with SimpleShare from your computer. Typically, this occurs when SimpleShare and the computer accessing SimpleShare are configured on different network segments or subnets.
4 In the login prompt, enter SimpleShare’s administration username and password. If you are configuring SimpleShare for the first time, enter the factory default username admin and password simple. If you want the system to remember your password, select Remember my password, then click OK to continue. You are now ready to complete SimpleShare basic setup.
The Server Name Setup page allows you to change SimpleShare’s network name. 5 In Machine Name, enter a new name for SimpleShare or choose to keep the current name. Choose a name that is easy to remember. For example, you can use the owner’s last name, a description of the data SimpleShare will store, or where SimpleShare will be located. If there’s only one SimpleShare on your network, you can use its default name, “SimpleShare.
The Administration Security Setup page allows you to change the administration username and password required to access SimpleShare configuration data. 7 Enter a new username and password for accessing SimpleShare. If you are logging onto SimpleShare for the first time, enter the default username “admin” and password “simple.” In Confirm Password, re-enter the new password to verify that it was entered correctly. 8 Click Next to continue.
Share Management makes it easy to access your shared folders in Windows. Share Management assigns a drive letter to SimpleShare folders, allowing them to be accessed from My Computer. 9 Choose a drive letter from the Map to Local Drive list next to the share you want to map. For each share you don't want mapped to your computer, choose None. 11 On the Setup Complete page, click Done to exit NASFinder.
EXPANDING SIMPLESHARE’S CAPABILITIES CONNECTING A USB PRINTER 1 Connect one end of a USB cable to the USB port on the printer. Connect the other end of the cable to one of the USB ports on SimpleShare. 2 Connect AC power and power on the printer according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer. 3 In the Administration menu, click Basic. 4 Click Reboot to restart SimpleShare and apply your changes. 5 In the confirmation dialog, click OK .
CONNECTING A USB DRIVE 1 Connect one end of a USB cable to the USB port on the disk drive. Connect the other end of the cable to one of the USB ports on SimpleShare. 2 Connect AC power and power on the disk drive according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer. 3 Run SimpleShare Administrator to setup the new disk on SimpleShare. If you are setting up SimpleShare for the first time, complete the basic setup before running SimpleShare Administrator.
ACCESSING SHARES You can access the shares (shared folders) on SimpleShare from the Web browser on a Windows, Macintosh, Linux or Unix computer. This section contains detailed instructions for accessing SimpleShare data Windows and Macintosh computers. If you are operating in a Linux or Unix environment, refer to documentation for your specific operating system for instruction on accessing and mounting network shares. SimpleTech highly recommends that you back up files the files on SimpleShare.
ACCESSING SIMPLESHARE FROM WINDOWS 1 In the Address box of your Web browser, type \\simpleshare_name (where simpleshare_name is the network name of your SimpleShare server), and then press the Enter key. To access the shared folders, you must type backslash character when entering SimpleShare’s name. 2 In the login prompt, enter your user password for accessing the shared folders on SimpleShare. If you want the system to remember your password in the future, select Remember my password.
Internet Explorer appears displaying the SimpleShare’s root directory and the shared folders available on SimpleShare. You are now ready to save files to or retrieve files from SimpleShare. To make it easier to access SimpleShare shared folders in the future, you can assign a drive letter to a share, allowing you to access the folder using My Computer. To map a shared folder, continue to Step 4 on page 15.
4 In the Tools menu, click Map Network Drive. 5 Open the Drive list and select a drive letter to assign to the shared folder you want to map to your computer (or accept the next available drive letter displayed in the list). 6 In Folder, type \\simpleshare_name\share_name (where SimpleShare_name is the network name of your SimpleShare server and share_name is the name of the shared folder you want to map to your computer). You can also use the Browse button to find the share.
ACCESSING SIMPLESHARE FROM MAC OS X 1 Open the Go menu in Finder and click Connect to Server. 3 After selecting your SimpleShare, click Connect. 2 In the Connect to Server window, select your SimpleShare from the servers listed in the left pane. If Workgroup names are listed, check the Workgroup in which your SimpleShare is a member.
4 In the SMB Mount dialog box, select the share you want to access from the drop-down list, then click OK . 5 In the SMB/CIFS Filesystem Authentication dialog, enter your SimpleShare administration username and password. If you are logging onto SimpleShare for the first time, enter the default username “admin” and password “simple.” 6 If you want the system to remember your authentication information, select Add to Keychain. 7 After making your selections, click OK .
MANAGING SIMPLESHARE This section provides detailed instructions on managing your SimpleShare Office Storage Server.
ADMINISTRATION RUNNING SIMPLESHARE ADMINISTRATOR 1 In the Address box of your Web browser, type http://simpleshare_name (where simpleshare_name is the network name of your SimpleShare server), and then press the Enter key. 2 In the login dialog box, enter the administration username and password for accessing SimpleShare. If you want the system to remember your password in the future, select Password my password. Click OK to log onto the SimpleShare Administrator.
SETTING THE SIMPLESHARE NETWORK NAME The name you choose for SimpleShare is very important. This name not only gives SimpleShare a unique identity on the network, but is required in order to access SimpleShare data. When choosing a name, pick one that is easy to remember. For example, you can use your last name, a description of the data SimpleShare will store, or where SimpleShare will be located. If there’s only one SimpleShare on your network, you can use its default name, “SimpleShare.
SETTING THE ADMINISTRATION USERNAME AND PASSWORD The Administration Security Setup page allows you to specify a username and password pair to guard against unauthorized access to SimpleShare's Web-based configuration utility. To enable security, you may choose to specify a username, a password or both. To disable security, leave the Username and Password text boxes empty. 1 In the Administration menu, click Basic. 2 Enter a new administration username and/or password for SimpleShare.
SETTING THE DATE AND TIME MANUALLY 1 In the Administration menu, click Basic. 2 Click the Set Time Manually hyperlink.
3 On the Setting The Time page, enter the current date and time. 4 Open the clock mode list and select the appropriate clock mode (AM, PM or 24-Hour), and then click Apply . 5 On the Apply screen, click Continue . 6 On the Administration - Basic page, select the region, country and city in which SimpleShare is located. 7 Click Apply . You may need to adjust the time setting in the future to accommodate daylight savings time.
ACQUIRING THE DATE AND TIME FROM YOUR BROWSER 1 In the Administration menu, click Basic. 2 Click Set SimpleTech NAS Time To Match. 3 On the Apply screen, click Continue . 4 On the Administration - Basic page, select the region, country and city in which SimpleShare is located. 5 Click Apply . You may need to adjust the time setting in the future to accommodate daylight savings time.
SYNCHRONIZING THE DATE AND TIME WITH AN NTP SERVER If Internet access is available through your network, you can configure SimpleShare to periodically synchronize its calendar and clock with a public Network Time Protocol (NTP) server on the Internet. Specifying an NTP server and clicking the Apply button will not cause the date and time on SimpleShare to change immediately.
1 In the Administration menu, click Basic. 2 In the uppermost NTP Servers text box, enter the IP address of the primary NTP public time server you want to access. In the two remaining text boxes, enter the IP addresses of your first and second alternate NTP servers. You can specify the IP addresses of up to three NTP servers. SimpleShare connects to the first available server in the list. 3 Select the region, country and city in which SimpleShare is located. 4 Click Apply .
UPGRADING SIMPLESHARE FIRMWARE 1 Save the update file to a location accessible to your computer. Download the new firmware version from the SimpleShare website at www.simpletech.com/support or contact SimpleTech. For contact information, see “SimpleTech Technical Support” on page 104. 2 In the Administration menu, click Firmware. 3 In New Firmware, enter the path to the update file or click Browse to locate the file. 4 Click Upgrade . 5 In the confirmation dialog, click OK .
SETTING UP EMAIL ALERT NOTIFICATION Email Notification allows SimpleShare to inform network users of system error conditions through e-mail messages. Before setting up E-mail Alert Notification on SimpleShare, make sure your network’s SMTP server is set up and can be accessed SimpleShare. 1 In the Administration menu, click Alerts/Logging. 6 To verify that email alert notification is working properly, click Send Test E-Mail , then confirm that the email recipients received the test alert notice.
SETTING UP POPUP ALERT NOTIFICATION Email Notification allows SimpleShare to inform network users of system error conditions through onscreen messages. Before setting up Popup Alert Notification on SimpleShare, make sure the message popup service has been enabled on each computer selected to receive the messages. 1 In the Administration menu, click Alerts/Logging. 2 Select Pop-Up Notification Enabled.
ADDING SIMPLESHARE TO AN EXISTING WORKGROUP 1 In the Administration menu, click Windows Setup. 2 Select Workgroup Member Mode, then in Workgroup Name, type the name of the workgroup to which you are making SimpleShare a member. 3 Select the share access method to be enabled on SimpleShare. • To provide share access to all users in a Workgroup, select Password Based Share Access.
ADDING SIMPLESHARE TO AN EXISTING DOMAIN 1 In the Administration menu, click Windows Setup. 2 Select Domain Member Mode, then in Domain Name type the name of the domain to which you are making SimpleShare a member. 3 Click Apply . 4 In Domain Authentication dialog, enter the username and password you use to log onto Windows as the administrator or a member of the administrator’s group, then click OK .
RESTORING FACTORY SETTING 1 In the Administration menu, click Basic. 2 Click Restore Defaults . 3 In the confirmation dialog, click 4 On the Apply screen, click Managing SimpleShare OK Continue to continue. .
RESTARTING SIMPLESHARE 1 In the Administration menu, click Basic. 2 Click Reboot .
SHARE MANAGEMENT SETTING FILE SYSTEM SUPPORT ON SIMPLESHARE 1 In the Share Management menu, click Basic. 2 Locate the shared folder you want to setup, and then select file system(s) supported on the share. • To enable CIFS support on SimpleShare for Windows and Mac computers, select Enabled from the Windows Access (CIFS) list. • To enable NFS support on SimpleShare for Unix/Linux computers, select Enabled from the Unix/Linux Access (NFS) list. 3 Click Apply .
CREATING A SHARE Share Authentication only provides password protection on shares when accessed from Windows computers. To enable share authentication, SimpleShare must be configured as a member of a Windows workgroup. 1 In the Share Management menu, click Create Share . 2 In New Share Name, enter a descriptive name for the share you want to create. 3 Choose the disk pool in which the new share will reside from the Create in Pool list. 4 Select file system(s) supported on the share.
5 To enable authentication (password security) on the new share, select Enable Share Authentication. 6 In Share Password, enter a password for accessing the share. Passwords can be up to eight characters long and may contain any combination of alphanumeric characters (A-Z and 1-9) and special characters such as &, $, and >. Spaces are not allowed. 7 In Confirm Password, re-enter the password to confirm it was entered correctly. 8 Click Create Share .
DELETING A SHARE 1 In the Share Management menu, click Basic. 2 In Disk Pool Mappings, click you want to delete. Delete 3 In the warning dialog, click . OK 4 In the verification dialog, click Managing SimpleShare OK next to the share .
RENAMING A SHARE 1 In the Share Management menu, click Basic. 2 Click Rename Share. 3 Select the share you want to rename from the Old Share Name list. 4 Enter the new share name in New Share Name. 5 Click Rename Share .
ENABLING SECURITY ON AN EXISTING SHARE Share Authentication only provides password protection for shares when accessed from Windows machines. To enable share authentication, SimpleShare must be configured as a member of a Windows workgroup. 1 In the Share Management menu, click Share Access. 2 From the Share Name list, choose the share you want to modify. 3 Select Enable Share Authentication. 4 In New Password, enter the password required to access the selected share.
DISABLING SECURITY ON AN EXISTING SHARE 1 In the Share Management menu, click Share Access. 2 From the Share Name list, choose the share you want to modify. 3 Deselect Enable Share Authentication. 4 Click Apply . 5 In the confirmation dialog, click Managing SimpleShare OK .
BASIC DISK MANAGEMENT SimpleShare’s is equipped with either an 160 MB or 250 MB internal IDE hard disk drive, depending on the model you purchased. However, SimpleShare’s storage capacity can be easily increased by attaching an external disk drive. The disk space on SimpleShare is divided into storage areas or “Disk Pools.” You can create multiple storage areas on a single drive or combine multiple drives to create a single pool.
RENAMING A DISK DRIVE 1 In the Disk Management menu click Basic. 2 Select Show Disk Details. The Show Disk Details checkbox is located at the bottom of the Disk Management page. It may be necessary to use the scroll bar to see the checkbox. 3 Click Rename Disk . 4 Select the disk you want to rename from the Old Disk Name list. 5 In New Disk Name, enter the new name of the disk. 6 Click Rename Disk . 7 In the confirmation dialog, click Managing SimpleShare OK .
ERASING A DISK POOL 1 Erase all shares from the disk pool you want to delete. For instructions, see “Deleting a Share” on page 37. Deleting shares and disk pools erases all data within them so make complete backups prior to deleting shares or disk pools. Before you can delete a disk pool, you must first delete all shares allocated within the pool. Quick Erase performs a brief erasure of the primary file system structures but does not erase all locations on the disk that contained user data.
ERASING A DISK DRIVE Erasing disks destroys the existing data on the disks. Do not use this function unless you wish to destroy the data on a disk. Exercise extreme caution when using this function, as the data on disks that are erased using this function may not be recoverable. Quick erase only takes a few minutes to complete. However, portions of the data may be recoverable using data recovery tools. If you are concerned about erased data becoming available to others, perform a full erase.
4 In Disks Available, select each disk you want to erase. 5 In Safety Confirmation, type Yes, destroy everything on this disk. 6 Click Quick Erase or Full Erase , depending on the type of erase process you want to perform. Quick Erase performs a simple erase of the primary file system structures but does not erase all locations on the disk that contained user data. Full Erase performs multiple erasure passes on the entire disk. 7 In the confirmation dialog, click Managing SimpleShare OK .
ENABLING DISK POWER MANAGEMENT Disk power management allows the internal SimpleShare disk drive to be automatically powered off during periods when it is not being accessed. 1 On the Disk Management menu, click Disk Power Management. 2 Choose Specify Timeout to enable automatic power management. 3 Enter the time-out period in the Minutes and Seconds text boxes.The time-out period can range from 0 (zero) minutes and 0 seconds, up to 21 minutes and 15 seconds. Seconds can only be set in increments of 5.
VIEWING DISK DRIVE HEALTH INFORMATION SimpleShare’s internal disk drive supports SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) for monitoring drive health. SMART monitors the operation of the disk drive for signs of impending failure. Health is information is reported to SimpleShare and can be viewed on the Health Report page. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 Select Show Disk Details. The Show Disk Details checkbox is located at the bottom of the Disk Management page.
4 Click Continue to the Disk Management - Basic page.
RUNNING DISK DRIVE SELF-TESTS SimpleShare's internal disk drive supports self-tests as part of its health monitoring system. These self-tests check the operation of the disk drive inspect internal components and calibration of the disk drive attempting to detect failures or potential failures. These self-tests do not modify or destroy user data. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 Select Show Disk Details. The Show Disk Details checkbox is located at the bottom of the Disk Management page.
4 Choose Run Short Test or , depending on the type of self-test you want to perform. Run Short Test Run Long Test Run Short Test performs a quick check to verify that the drive is fully operational. Run Long Test performs a comprehensive test of the disk drive. 5 If you want SimpleShare Administrator to display an onscreen message when the self-test completes, select Notify Test Results. 6 Click Run Self Test to begin the testing disk drive.
REMOVING EXTERNAL DRIVES Disconnecting an external USB drive without performing a safe removal causes an alert notification to appear across the top of the SimpleShare Administrator window indicating that the disk was removed unexpectedly. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 Click Safely Remove Disk below the external drive you f l R want toSremove. 3 In the dialog that appears indicating that the disk can now be safely removed, click OK .
FOREIGN AND BLANK DISK MANAGEMENT When a USB drive formatted with the FAT or NTFS file system is connected to SimpleShare recognizes the drive as a “Foreign Disk,” and immediately makes it available to users on the network. The share name for foreign disks is set by SimpleShare, base on the file system used on the disk. The files on foreign disks are not modified by SimpleShare in any way.
VIEWING FOREIGN DISK INFORMATION 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Foreign Disk. 2 To view detailed disk information, select Show Foreign Disk Details.
CLAIMING FOREIGN DISK FOR SIMPLESHARE Claiming a disk places the disk under the exclusive control of SimpleShare and allows you to manage the disk using SimpleShare Administrator. Once SimpleShare claims a disk it is no longer readable by Windows or Mac OS computers and any data that existed on the drive is destroyed. Claiming a disk destroys the data on the disk. If you have important data on the drive, create a backup. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 Select Show Disk Details.
4 In New Disk Name, enter a descriptive name for the disk being claimed. 5 Make sure Claim as FAT32 Disk is not selected. “Claim as FAT32 Disk” is intended for disks that may be attached to Windows or Mac OS computers in addition to SimpleShare. To enable all SimpleShare capabilities, make sure Claim as FAT32 Disk checkbox is not selected. “Foreign and Blank Disk Management” on page 52 provides detailed information on the limitations of using FAT32 disks.
CLAIMING A FOREIGN DISK AS FAT32 you want to claim. SimpleShare allows you to claim a blank disk and format it with the FAT32 file system. Though SimpleShare recognizes the drive as a foreign disk, this feature is useful the if you plan to use the drive on Windows or Mac computers as well as SimpleShare. “Foreign and Blank Disk Management” on page 52 provides detailed information on the limitations of using FAT32 disks. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 Select Show Disk Details.
3 In New Disk Name, enter a descriptive name for the disk being claimed. 4 Select Claim as FAT32 Disk. 5 Select file system(s) to be supported on the disk. • To enable CIFS support on the share for Windows and Mac computers, select CIFS Access. • To enable NFS support on the share for Unix/Linux computers, select NFS Access. 6 To enable authentication (password security) on the new share, select Enable Share Authentication. In Share Password, enter a password for accessing the share.
CLAIMING A BLANK DISK FOR SIMPLESHARE Claiming a disk places the disk under the exclusive control of SimpleShare and allows you to manage the disk using SimpleShare Administrator. Once SimpleShare claims a disk it is no longer readable by Windows or Mac OS computers and any data that existed on the drive is destroyed. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 Select Show Disk Details. The Show Disk Details checkbox is located at the bottom of the Disk Management page.
4 In New Disk Name, enter a descriptive name for the disk being claimed. 5 Make sure Claim as FAT32 Disk is not selected. “Claim as FAT32 Disk” is intended for disks that may be attached to Windows or Mac OS computers in addition to SimpleShare. To enable all SimpleShare capabilities, make sure Claim as FAT32 Disk checkbox is not selected. “Foreign and Blank Disk Management” on page 52 provides detailed information on the limitations of using FAT32 disks. 6 Click Claim .
CLAIMING A BLANK DISK AS FAT32 SimpleShare allows you to claim a blank disk and format it with the FAT32 file system. Though SimpleShare recognizes the drive as a foreign disk, this feature is useful the if you plan to use the drive on Windows or Mac computers as well as SimpleShare. “Foreign and Blank Disk Management” on page 52 provides detailed information on the limitations of using FAT32 disks. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 Select Show Disk Details.
4 In New Disk Name, enter a descriptive name for the disk being claimed. 5 Select Claim as FAT32 Disk. 6 Select file system(s) to be supported on the disk. • To enable CIFS support on the share for Windows and Mac computers, select CIFS Access. • To enable NFS support on the share for Unix/Linux computers, select NFS Access. 7 To enable authentication (password security) on the new share, select Enable Share Authentication. In Share Password, enter a password for accessing the share.
CHECKING FOREIGN DISK FILE SYSTEM INTEGRITY The Check and Repair option is only available for foreign disks formatted with the FAT file system. . 1 On the Disk Management menu, click Foreign Disks. 2 In Disk Partition Mappings, click the Check and Repair S f l R button of the disk you want to repair.
3 After reviewing the results of the integrity check, click Continue to return to the Foreign Disk Management Basic page.
DISK POOL MANAGEMENT CREATING A BASIC POOL One method of using additional drives added to SimpleShare is to simply use the additional disk to create new shares. This is the easiest method and only requires claiming the new disk, creating one or more pools on the disk and finally creating share(s) within the new pools. This procedure is for creating a basic unencrypted pool. If you want to create an encrypted pool, see “Creating an Encrypted Pool” on page 85.
4 To set the capacity of the new pool manually, complete the following steps: • In Pool Mapping Preference select Manual Configuration. • In Disk Assignment select the Use checkbox for each disk being used to create the pool. Disk Assignment allows you to specify which disk drives are to be used by the pool being created. To create a pool that only occupies a portion of a single disk, make sure to only select the Use checkbox for the drive you want to use.
6 In the confirmation dialog, click the OK . To avoid losing data, do not reset or power off the SimpleShare server, or click any browser menus or buttons while the disk pool is being created. 7 On the Create Disk Pool Result page, click Continue to Disk Management to view information on the new disk pool or click Create Share to create a share in the new pool.
CREATING A MIRROR POOL Mirror pools are pools that use equal amounts of space on two or more disks. Mirror pools allow you to create multiple copies of important data. Each disk drive used in a mirror pool contains a copy of the same data files. The primary disk or “Base” contains the original file. Whenever a file in the Base is saved, the file is updated in the mirror. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Create New Pool. 2 In New Pool Name, enter a descriptive name for mirror pool. 3 Selected Mirroring.
4 To have SimpleShare determine which drive will store the Base and which drive will store the Mirror, in Pool Mapping Preference select Auto Configuration, then do one of the following to set the capacity of the pool: • To set the size of the Mirror equal to the amount of available space on the Base, select Maximize Size, then, continue to Step 8 on page 69.
5 To configure the pool manually, select Manual Configuration. 6 In Disk Assignment, select the drive to store the Base pool and the drive to store the Mirror pool. 7 In Space Allocation, enter the size (in gigabytes) of the Base pool. The pool size can be set by entering the capacity in the text box or using the slider control. When entering the size of the Base and Mirror manually, you must enter the same value for each disk. 8 Click Create Pool .
9 In the confirmation dialog, click the OK . To avoid losing data, do not reset or power off the SimpleShare server, or click any browser menus or buttons while the disk pool is being created. 10 On the Create Disk Pool Result page, click Continue to Disk Management to view information on the disk poll you just created or click Create Share to create a share in the pool.
CREATING A STRIPED POOL The main reason for creating a striped pool is to increase performance. Two or more disks are required to create a striped pool. Striped pools alternate (or interleave) the data accessed in the pool. They do not provide for multiple copies of data stored in a pool and do not provide for protection from loss of data should a drive fail. In fact should a single drive that is part of a striped pool fail all data in the pool is lost even though the remaining disk(s) are functional.
To configure the Mirror pool automatically, continue to Step 4. To configure the pool manually, go to Step 7 on page 73. 5 To configure the pool parameters automatically, in Pool Mapping Preference select Auto Configuration, then do one of the following to set the capacity of the each stripe in the pool: • To create the largest pool possible, based on the amount of available disk space on each disk, select Maximize Size, then continue to Step 7 on page 73.
6 To configure the pool parameters manually, in Pool Mapping Preference select Manual Configuration, then do one of the following to set the capacity of the each stripe in the pool: • In Disk Assignment, select the disk to contain Stripe 0, Stripe 1 and Stripe 3 (if three drives are connected to SimpleShare). • In Space Allocation, enter the size (in gigabytes) of the stripe to be created on each disk. The stripe size can be set by entering the capacity in the text box or using the slider control.
8 In the confirmation dialog, click OK . To avoid losing data, do not reset or power off the SimpleShare server, or click any browser menus or buttons while the disk pool is being created. If SimpleShare displays a pop-up indicating that all columns should add up to the same disk space, space allocation for each disk is not set properly. Make sure only a single checkbox in each Stripe n column is selected and that the total space allocated for all disks in a stripe is the same for each stripe.
DELETING (WIPING) A POOL Before you can delete a disk pool you must remove all shares residing within the pool (Deleting a Share). Erasing a disk pool destroys all data saved to the pool. We recommend that you back up your data before proceeding. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 In Disk Pool Mappings, click the Delete button to the right of the pool you want to delete.
3 In the confirmation dialog, click OK . 4 Click Quick Erase or Full Erase , depending on the type of erase process you want to perform. Quick Erase erases data from the disk pool. However, data can be recovered using special data recovery utilities. Full Erase overwrites the entire disk pool with random data, making data recovery impossible.
RENAMING A POOL 1 In the Disk Management menu click Basic. 1 Click Rename Pool . The Rename Pool button is located at the bottom of the Disk Management page. It may be necessary to use the scroll bar to see the button. 2 Select the pool to be renamed from the Old Pool Name list. 3 Enter the new descriptive name in New Pool Name. 4 Click Rename Pool . 5 In the confirmation dialog, click Managing SimpleShare OK .
RESIZING A POOL SimpleTech recommends that you backup all your data before resizing pools. Loss of power or other failures during the resize operation could result in data loss. You must also delete all shares on disk pools to be resized. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Resize Pool. 2 From the Pool Name list, choose the disk pool you want to resize. 3 In Space Allocation, enter the desired size (in gigabytes) of the pool being resized.
5 In the confirmation dialog, click the OK . To avoid losing data, do not reset or power off the SimpleShare server, or click any browser menus or buttons while the disk pool is being created. 6 On the Resize Pool Result page, click Managing SimpleShare Continue .
ADDING A MIRROR TO AN EXISTING POOL 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Add Mirrors/Spares. 2 From the Pool Name list, choose the pool you want to mirror. 3 In Number of Additional Mirrors, enter the number of mirrors to be created. Pools can only be mirror to a separate physical disk. Therefore, the number of mirrors you can create of a pool depends on the number of disks connected to SimpleShare. 4 In Disk Assignment, select the checkbox for the drive(s) on which the mirror will be stored.
6 In the confirmation dialog, click OK . To avoid losing data, do not reset or power off the SimpleShare server, or click any browser menus or buttons while the disk pool is being created. 7 On the Add Mirrors/Spares Result page, click Managing SimpleShare Continue .
8 In the Administration menu, click Basic. 9 Click Reboot to restart SimpleShare and apply your changes. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic to check the rebuild status of the new mirror pool. To add a mirror to an existing pool, SimpleShare must rebuild the disk array, which takes an extensive amount of time. For example, adding a 150 GB mirror may take approximately 4 hour to create.
REMOVING A MIRROR OR SPARE 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Remove Mirrors/Spares. 2 From the Pool Name list, choose the pool you want to modify. 3 In Available Mirrors/Spares, select the mirror(s) or spare(s) to be removed from the mirror pool. Make sure the checkboxes for disks that are to remain part of the mirror pool are not selected. For example, to remove all mirrors and keep the Base pool, select all existing mirrors except the Base.
5 On the Remove Mirrors/Spares Result page, click Continue .
CREATING AN ENCRYPTED POOL Encrypted pools provide security for the data stored in the pool. Encrypted pools must be remounted whenever SimpleShare is rebooted, powered off or reset to factory defaults. Instructions for mounting an encrypted pool are provided in “Mounting Encrypted Pools” on page 92. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Create New Pool. 2 In New Pool Name, enter a descriptive name for the encrypted pool. 3 Select Encrypt Pool.
6 To set the capacity of the new pool manually, complete the following steps: • In Pool Mapping Preference, select Manual Configuration. • In Disk Assignment, select the Use checkbox for each disk being used to create the pool. Disk Assignment allows you to specify which disk drives are to be used by the pool being created. To create a pool that only occupies a portion of a single disk, make sure to only select the Use checkbox for the drive you want to use.
8 In the confirmation dialog, click OK . To avoid losing data, do not reset or power off the SimpleShare server, or click any browser menus or buttons while the disk pool is being created. 9 On the Create Disk Pool Result page, click Continue to Disk Management to view information on the new disk pool or click Create Share to create a share in the pool.
CHANGING THE ENCRYPTION PASSWORD 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 In Disk Pool Mappings, click the Change Encryption S f button next to the pool whose encryption password you want to change.
3 From the Encrypted Pool Name list, choose the pool whose encryption password you want to change. 4 In Encrypt Pool, select Enable Pool Encryption. 5 In New Password, enter the new encryption password. In Confirm Password, re-enter the password to verify it was entered correctly. Passwords should be at least eight characters long and may contain any combination of alphanumeric characters (A-Z and 1-9) and special characters such as &, $, and >. Spaces are not allowed. 6 Click Change Encryption .
DISABLING POOL ENCRYPTION 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. 2 In Disk Pool Mappings, click the Change Encryption S f button next to the pool whose encryption password you want to change.
3 From the Encrypted Pool Name list, choose the pool you want to modify. 4 In Encrypt Pool, make sure Enable Pool Encryption is selected. 5 In New Password, delete the encryption password, making sure the text box is empty. In Confirm Password, delete the encryption password, making sure the text box is empty. 6 Click Change Encryption .
MOUNTING ENCRYPTED POOLS The password(s) for any encrypted pools must be re-entered after resetting, rebooting or power cycling SimpleShare. If the passwords are not re-entered after one of these events the pools and any shares within the pools will not be visible over the network. 1 In the Disk Management menu, click Basic. The Status column under the Disk Pool Mappings controls shows “Unavailable” for any encrypted pool that has not been unlocked by entering the encryption password as described below.
3 In Encrypted Pool Names, enter the password for the encrypted pool. 4 Click Mount Pools. If an incorrect password was supplied SimpleShare will provide a notification that it was unable to mount the pools and list which pools had an incorrect password supplied. If multiple encrypted pools were listed in the Encrypted Pool Names controls only those that had passwords will be listed in the error notification. Encrypted pools that valid passwords were supplied for will be unlocked.
NETWORK MANAGEMENT DHCP CLIENT NETWORK SETUP DHCP client is the default IP addressing protocol set on SimpleShare. In this mode, SimpleShare receives its IP address and subnet mask, along with other networking configuration information, from the DHCP server on the network. Since most home gateways and routers use the DHCP protocol to assign IP addresses to the computers and other devices on the network, this is the easiest way to manage IP addressing. 1 Click the Networking menu.
DHCP SERVER NETWORK SETUP The DHCP Server IP addressing option allows you to configure SimpleShare as the DHCP server on the network. In this mode, computers and other network devices are automatically provided IP addresses and other network configuration information by SimpleShare. Configuring SimpleShare as the network DHCP server may make it necessary to set some network and DHCP parameters, manually. Only choose the DHCP Server option if you are an experienced network administrator.
1 Click the Networking menu. 2 Select DHCP Server from the LAN Protocol list. 3 In LAN IP Address, enter a static IP address for SimpleShare. Make sure the IP address you specify is on the same LAN segment as the computer running SimpleShare Administrator.
STATIC IP NETWORK SETUP The Static LAN protocol option allows you to assign a fixed IP address to SimpleShare. Choosing this option provides considerable flexibility, however, keep in mind that every computer on the network connecting to SimpleShare must also have be configured with a static (fixed) IP address. To set the IP address for SimpleShare statically, complete the following steps: 1 Click the Networking menu. 2 From the LAN Protocol list, choose Static.
PRINTER MANAGEMENT To set up network a USB, you must enable first enable print server services on SimpleShare, and then install the printer driver on each networked computer accessing the printer through SimpleShare. ENABLING THE PRINT SERVER 1 Make sure your USB printer is connected to SimpleShare and powered On. For instructions on installing a printer, see “Connecting a USB Printer” on page 10. 2 Click the Printers menu.
5 In the confirmation dialog, click OK . 6 In the Administration menu, click Basic. 7 Click Reboot to restart SimpleShare and apply your changes.
DISABLING THE PRINT SERVER 1 Click the Printers menu. 4 In the warning dialog, click OK . 2 Select No Printer Pool from the Printer Pool Name list. 3 Click Apply . 5 In the confirmation dialog, click Managing SimpleShare Printer OK .
INSTALLING PRINTER DRIVERS ON WINDOWS COMPUTERS 1 In the Address line of your browser, enter \\ to open the SimpleShare root directory (where is the network name of your SimpleShare server). 2 Right-click on the printer icon, and then click Connect to start the Add Printer Wizard.
3 If you are running Windows XP, the Connect to Printer dialog appears. Click OK to start the Add Printer Wizard. 4 Select the manufacturer and model of your printer from those listed or if you have the printer installation disk, click Have Disk and follow the onscreen instructions. 5 Click OK .
SPECIFICATIONS Network Standards IEEE 802.3 100 BASE-TX; IEEE 802.3u 10 BASE-T (RJ-45 network interface) File System Support NFS, SMB/CIFS USB Standards USB 2.0/1.
PRODUCT SUPPORT SIMPLETECH TECHNICAL SUPPORT The SimpleTech Technical Support center provides customer support Monday through Friday from 6:30 am until 5:30 pm Pacific Standard Time, for the duration of the warranty period on this product. Customers can contact SimpleTech Technical Support through our Web site, by email or by phone. Technical Support Phone Line: 1-800-945-3444 or 949-476-1180 Technical Support Email Address: support@simpletech.com Online Chat with Technical Support: www.simpletech.
CERTIFICATION AND WARRANTY FCC COMPLIANCE This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause interference to radio communications.
LIMITED WARRANTY SimpleTech Inc. SimpleShare home office servers (Product) are warranted against defects in material and workmanship, and will operated in substantial conformance with their respective specifications under normal use and service for a period of TBD (TBD) years from the date of shipment. SimpleShare software (firmware and utilities) is warranted against media defects for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of shipment.
