A home
file server is, in theory, a great convenience. In reality, setting up, configuring and running a home file server to link multiple personal computers has been a great pain in the neck. Now, manufacturers are putting out dedicated home file servers, but they can be confusing and complicated. You can build one - I promise you won't enjoy building a
file server.
We wanted all our music, videos data, pictures, backups and other types of files on one computer so anyone in the house could access them without having to store duplicate and triplicate copies. Like this: I make a photograph and store it on my laptop. My daughter wants to send it to her friend. If we aren't sharing folders within a Windows home network, we have to figure out who has the file, then put the picture on a disk. Then port it over, name it, file it and then use it.
Even worse when we're talking home business - files have to be moved, shared, edited, and reedited. A
home file server is a great home technology idea. If it's easy to set up. If users can configure it easily. If it's lean and quiet rather than bulky and buzzy.
A few weeks ago, CyberPower of California jumped into the home technology market with a dedicated home file server called Windows Home Server 100. They claim the product is a high-performance energy saver that makes storage easy and fast.
- It's got Intel inside with 2 gig of DDR memory.
- The server has a 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM hard drive - for those who just got bowled over by the string of numbers, that's a pretty nice hard drive. I'd say it's more storage than you'd ever need, but the way programs expand, who knows? Geeks will tell you you need a terabyte - you can add it for $50.
- The operating system is MS Windows 2003 Home Server - so you needn't learn another system.
- Home Server 100 can automatically backup your computers each evening, a nice plus.
- It appears Home Server is remotely accessible so you can grab home files when you're at work or school. Also nice.
Source: examiner.com
Even though
small businesses don't have the budget or the sheer volume of files that some of the larger enterprises do, you still have to protect the data. Smaller shops have their own issues to overcome that are just as difficult and just as important as the big guys.
Most notably, many small businesses will have only one server for file storage. The major issue with this strategy is that all your eggs are in one basket, and you rely on that same basket to serve all of your other office needs. Therefore, it becomes even more important to properly protect this
file server from a possible disaster. Since the bandwidth and hardware required for most off-site replication systems is out of the question here, your choices are limited, but there are options available for you.
RAIDMost servers now come with RAID systems already available with whatever disks you get when the server is built. In addition, you can set up very simple RAID systems via Windows and many other common operating systems. By using mirroring via RAID, you can create another copy of the data that can be used for the purposes of disaster recovery (DR) operations, and do so at a low price point. The main drawbacks are that you'll have to configure and manage the RAID systems, and RAID doesn't protect against virus attacks or other real-time damage.
Backup systemsTo protect yourself from virus attacks and other threats, you'll want to develop an effective backup strategy. While you can use the NTBackup systems that come with Windows and the backup tools that come with other OSs, you may wish to invest in a third-party backup system. These offer a large number of additional features, especially for scheduling and dealing with open files that NTBackup simply doesn't offer.
You'll also need some form of removable media. For very small shops, this can be a DVD burner, but for most others, this will mean a tape drive of some type. Also remember that you should be removing the tapes from the physical location of the tape device on a regular basis, so that the loss of your office space doesn't destroy the backups too. It is wise to perform full backups on a weekly basis—on a day and time each week when there are the fewest users on the server—and incremental backups nightly. This gives you the ability to recover from data-loss outages.
For midsize offices, you may want to consider local replication. Many replication tools work great in a LAN environment, and also offer many-to-one capabilities. This means that you can keep a copy of all the data on the servers that you have replicated to a single server. That DR server may even be a small network-attached storage device (NAS), which can be economically more feasible for these purposes. Much like RAID, these systems tend to be real-time by default, so you'd either have to utilize backup tape to provide point-in-time copies, or use a third-party snapshot tool for that purpose. These tools often come standard with the NAS devices (yet another reason to investigate that avenue), but keep in mind that snapshots to the same physical location don't get your data off-site.
Source: http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-5750072.html
In a continuing bid to capture some of the tape-backup market, Microsoft on Wednesday released a beta version of the upgrade to its file-and-application server recovery software, which includes support for a wider range of the company's server products.
The product, System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2006 version 2, builds upon a previous version of DPM released last year that marked the company's first move into the data-protection software market.
Version 2 employs a patent-pending technology that constantly monitors data changes and can recover the data with zero loss, Microsoft said. During recovery, the new version can also draw data from tape, a new capability, as well as from disks, Microsoft said.
DPM version 2 now supports
Microsoft's Exchange Server, SQL Server and Office SharePoint Portal Server, plus the already-supported Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 servers.
DPM is a candidate to replace low-end tape products with centralized disk-to-disk backup, the research analyst company Gartner wrote in a November 2005 report.
Gartner wrote that Microsoft is expected to make gains in the field because of the wide use of
Windows file servers and typically low use of file-protection software among small- to medium-size businesses.
Download from here
Source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/09/27/HNmsfileserverbackup_1.html?BACKUP%20AND%20RECOVERY
Following are the steps to install a
File Server on windows server 2003:-
1) First step you Open the start menu and then click administrator and after that configure the server.
2) After that click next
3) Again next.
4) Then click file server in the server role box and then click next, on the file server disk quotas page configure any quotas you need to disk space usage on the server and then click Next. after that on the file server indexing service page you need to click indexing configuration that appropriate for you server and then click Next.
5) And choose the next and after it finish.
6) The share folder wizard starts and then clicks.
7) Click the Browse items and then OK.
8) And then Next.
9) You can type the share name for the folder that you want to share , and then click OK.
10) Click Next.
11) Click the one of the basic permission for the folder, after that finish.
How to Manually Install a File Server on windows server 2003:-1) Click start and then click windows explorer.
2) That you want to share, Right click the folder and then click sharing and security.
3) Click the share this folder .and then accept default name for the share.
4) configure the number of users who can connect and you configure permission for this folder, after that Ok.
5) Windows explorer windows to indicate that the folder is beginning shared.
PS1126 for HP Output Devices Offers Protection of Investment With Integrated Future Technologies.
The German network specialist SEH has integrated future technologies into its new PS1126 interface card for HP printers with EIO port. PS1126 is the first print server worldwide to attach these HP output devices to gigabit fibre optic networks (1000BaseSX). Both gigabit and fibre optic technology are future technologies offering faster data transfer and more available bandwidth for large volume print jobs. In addition, fibre optic networks are eavesdropping-secure. PS1126 is IPv6-ready, equipped with ThinPrint technology for bandwidth optimization and control and ThinPrint SSL encryption, and comes with an unmatched security package. The new model is available as of now for 495 Euro.
New IT technologies are often bandwidth-hungry. Print jobs with intensive use of graphic elements and colour also quickly grow into large volume files. Gigabit and fibre optic technologies play an increasingly important role for network design as both provide for greater bandwidth. The new PS1126 print server enables users to connect printers directly to gigabit fibre optic cabling. In this way network printing benefits from fast and eavesdropping secure data transmission, eliminating the need for special media converters, which also often cause failures.
Future Technologies for Network Printing
The SEH PS1126 print server comes with even more features which offer protection of investment. While being fully functional with the currently still prevalent network protocol IPv4, the print server is IPv6-enabled, allowing for a planned migration to this protocol which is spreading out more and more so printers, too, can be attached to IPv6 networks. The latest ThinPrint .print client is integrated for utilising PS1126 in environments with innovative ThinPrint .print software, e.g. desktop virtualisation or server-based computing, providing efficient bandwidth control and optimisation for network printing.
As all SEH print servers, PS1126 comes with a powerful security package as well as regular soft- and firmware updates, free tech support, and a warranty of up to five years.
Source: http://pressemitteilung.ws/node/149523
Users often have trouble setting up hardware in Linux they simply aren’t used to the way things are done in Linux. Setting up hardware is relatively simple (once you know where the tools are.) And setting up a printer is one of those jobs made very easy by modern Linux administration tools. One of those tools is the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS). Once installed, CUPS is an amazingly simple tool to use and administer.
Getting and installing The easiest way to install CUPS is to fire up your package manager (such as Adept, Synaptic, Yumex, etc), do a search for CUPS, click it, and install it. Or, if you’re more comfortable with the command line, you can run apt-get install cups or yum install cups.
Once installed, you will want to run the CUPS daemon with the command
/etc/rc.d/init.d/cupsys start
Or
/etc/init.d/cupsys start
Once it is started, you are ready to go.
Configuring your printer
CUPS is managed through a Web browser. So open up Firefox and point it to http://localhost:631 and you will find yourself on the CUPS main page (Figure A) on your system. And no, you do not have to have Apache installed for this to work.
Figure A
It’s not exactly pretty, but from this page you can manage every aspect of your printer.
Now the first thing you want to do (after you have plugged in your printer and fired it up) is to click on the Add Printer button (from the front page of the CUPS Web tool). The first Add Printer dialogue (Figure B) is simple: Name, Location, and Description.
Figure B
You can not use a space, “/”, or “#” symbol in the Name field.
These fields are exactly as you would expect them to be. These are not taken from a driver or from the machines’ firm (or hard) ware. So fill out these fields and then click Continue.
The next step is to select a device to associate with the printer you are adding. This is where you actually select your printer (or printer type) from a list. As you can see, in Figure C my Samsung ML1710 was detected by the CUPS system.
Figure C
There are two instances of my Samsung ML1710. I will select the second because it was recognized as a USB printer.
The next step selects the PPD file for the device. A PPD file is the Postscript Printer Device file that describes the fonts, paper sizes, resolutions, etc that the printer can handle. As you can see, in Figure D, my ML1710 has a few entries (most of which are duplicates for some reason).
I will select the foomatic entry because foomatic entries tend to be the most reliable of the PPD files. Now, if your device does not have a listed PPD file, fear not. You most likely can find a PPD file from either the included drivers, from device’ manufacturer Web site, or from an online search. If you find one just upload it with the help of the browse button in the dialog shown in Figure C.
Once you have selected your PPD file click Add Printer at which point you will be prompted for a username and password. On an Ubuntu system I was able to get by with using my regular username and password. In some instances you may have to use the root user and password.
Once you have added the printer you will be redirected to the configuration page for that printer. The configuration page is broken up into five sections: General, Adjustment, Miscellaneous, Banners, and Policies. Each section has its own configuration options.
Adjustment These options will depend upon the type of printer you have added. Since I have added a laser printer I get options that relate to saving toner. These are crucial if you do a lot of printing and don’t want to be replacing expensive toner every month.
Miscellaneous This section holds all of the options that don’t belong in any other section. Here you can actually correct for high altitude and other options as they relate to your printer.
Figure F
Altitude correction only gives you options for high or low altitude. There should be an option for “No correction”.
Banners
The Banners section allows you to select from six different starting and ending banners. These banners are: Classified, Confidential, Secret, Standard, Topsecret, or Unclassified. Or you can select None. These banners will be automatically added to the top and bottom (respectively) of every page printed.
“None” is the default (and toner saving) option.
Policies
The policies section is a bit more complex. Policies refer to configuring a printer such that a user would have to provide a password in order to use the printer or allowing use from only specified printers. The only configuration option available is to select a policy from the drop down. Of course you would have to create a policy (which is beyond the scope of this article) first. But if you have created policies, you can choose them from the list and apply them to the configured printer.
Figure H
As you can see there are two default policies available for this printer: Error Policy and Operating Policy.
Checking your printer Once you have the printer added, the first thing you will want to do is check to make sure it is printing properly. To do this click on the Printers tab and you will see the newly added printer listed.
Figure I
Here you can start, stop, reject and move jobs, set as default, and a number of other options.
If this is the only printer you have added it will be set as the default. If this is a second (or third) printer you will have the option as setting this printer up as the default. To do that, click Set As Default button.
Now, let’s print a test page for this printer. Click the Print Test Page button and a test page should be immediately sent to your printer. You will get a quick banner page claiming a test page has been sent and then you will be redirected to the printer page.
If your test page prints successfully, congratulations, you have added a printer to a Linux-based computer.
Source: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=222
