Nirvanix CloudNAS - User Manual for Windows
Contents
1. CloudNAS runs as a service which MS Windows security implementation blocks from accessing mapped network drives http support microsoft com kb 180362 The default cache settings will use 25 of the available space on the designated partition These settings can be changed to a different percentage or to a specific amount designated in MBs megabytes Information on changing these settings can be found in the Cache amp Buffer section of Custom Configuration The cache also holds directory information to enable faster data access and improve performance If you are using more than one CloudNAS to access the same storage repository it is possible for the cache to become out of sync This increases the risk of collisions if one CloudNAS is overwriting a file as another is still updating it The same problem may be seen if accessing the same repository through any other interface other than the CloudNAS There are A an nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows SZ configuration changes that can be made to minimize this risk however they do create some tradeoffs on performance Please contact the Nirvanix support team for more information Configuration options related to buffer amp cache are further detailed in Section 5 5 5 3 Encryption As an added security feature the Nirvanix CloudNAS supports the encryption of data for storage on the SDN This feature uses industry standard AES and supports up to 256 bit keys that are user ge2. in minutes CloudNAS waits to remove a specified directory from cache and eventually retrieve from the Nirvanix Web Services Directories and cache expiration are displayed in a comma and double slash delimited format Example To specify a cache expiration for SDN folder childl foo of 5 minutes and SDN folder child2 bar of 6 minutes you would specify the following Cache DirectoryExpiration Mins childl foo 5 child2 bar 6 Other Setting Storage MaxReported GB Default Value 102400 Definition The maximum reported size of the CloudNAS volume This can be viewed using the df command Example Storage MaxReported GB 102400 Setting UploadMonitor MaxCompletedUploadsHistory Default Value 50 Definition This is the maximum number of completed uploads displayed with the most recently completed displayed first The minimum value is 1 and the maximum value is 200 Example UploadMonitor MaxCompletedUploadsHistory 50 Setting UploadMonitor AutoRefreshSeconds Default Value 5 Definition This is the number of seconds between automatic refreshes of the monitoring application The minimum value is 1 Example UploadMonitor AutoRefreshSeconds 5 18
3. CloudNAS User Manual for Windows SZ 8 Troubleshooting The following information may be helpful in diagnosing and resolving common problems Some items may touch multiple categories but will only appear under the category that is most appropriate 8 1 Activation CloudNAS will not start Check the network connection and make sure you are able to connect the Nirvanix domains outlined under System Requirements Cannot ping required Nirvanix domains Please check the firewall settings for the machine hosting CloudNAS and for the network connecting it to the internet You may need to update the firewall settings to allow access to the specified domains and ports defined under System Requirements 8 2 Performance Slow uploads to the SDN Often this is caused by network connection problems or server configurations High CPU utilization CloudNAS was created for installation on a dedicated server and to transfer data to the Nirvanix SDN as fast as possible Because transferring of data requires use of the CPU high bandwidth connections are likely to see higher CPU utilization Use of the encryption feature will further increase CPU load 8 3 File Access Copying files to CloudNAS fails The Nirvanix SDN does not allow the use of certain characters in the file path To avoid any conflicts when running asynchronously CloudNAS filters for and rejects any invalid paths It will reject paths with leading or trailing spaces in the file or folde
4. Restarting CloudNAS will reset the upload performance metric Nirvanix CloudNAS Upload Monitor Pending Completed Uploads 29 Data Uploaded 117 848 360 Bytes Upload Performance 133 77 Kilobytes Second Completed File Upload Details up to 50 files shown Remote Path archive source files AVI from Cannon 15second Cannon archive QMOBILE DivX 30second 15ps_12896_DivX archive QMOBILE DivX 15second 15fps_12896_DivX archive PSP M4V00002 THM Jarchive PSP M4 Jarchive PSP M4 archive PSP M4V00001 MP4 archive MPEGII no audio eror 30second 30fps_640x4 archive MPEGII no audio eror 15second 30fps_640x4 archive MPEGI no audio error 30second Cannon_mpeg C Auto Refresh Bytes Uploaded 25 727 098 750 160 381 708 4 303 2 239 417 3 699 1 154 612 7 559 168 3 913 728 4 476 328 Upload Time seconds n 154 645 8 813 5 469 0 328 35 969 0 438 15 078 113 891 63 204 80 673 v 5 2 Buffer amp Cache The Nirvanix CloudNAS is configured to run with caching enabled when initially installed The default cache directory on a standard Windows installation is C Documents and Settings All Users Application Data Nirvanix The Nirvanix CloudNAS cache directory location can be changed with the optional Cache BasePath config setting which may be edited manually or using the configuration interface IMPORTANT Windows CloudNAS requires locally attached drives for cache
5. bleshooting nsesukneskgueeekukekekkEEKREREKKEKAKEEEKRENEKKEEREEEEEKREEKEKEKRKEKKEEEREREKR ERKENNEN 17 EN We e GE 17 8 22 tere 17 8 3 PANS ACCESS hronna a aana eaa da aaa aaa i aniani 17 8 4 Mounting KREIEN Eed 17 Appendix Advanced Contftguraton annman 18 A an nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows See 1 Overview Nirvanix CloudNAS for Windows provides local file system access to a Nirvanix Storage Account This creates a seamless secure Cloud Storage target for many backup applications 2 System Requirements Server class hardware with minimum 2 GHz processor 2 GB RAM Cache Enabled default The greater of four times the largest single set of files that will be copied to CloudNAS at the same time or a minimum of 200 GB Note Cache must be enabled for use of CloudNAS encryption Cache Disabled 100 GB free disk space recommended Windows Server 2008 32 bit Windows Server 2003 32 bit Windows XP 32 bit NET Framework 3 5 SP1 High speed internet connection amp Ports 80 HTTP and 443 HTTPS must be open and accessible for the domains listed below These settings may need to be applied to corporate firewalls and or proxies o services nirvanix com o nodeX nirvanix com xX is a numeric designation of the nodes in the Nirvanix SDN currently covering 1 though 5 o Any Virtual URLs that have been set up for your account in the Nirvanix SDN E nirvanix CloudNAS Us
6. ceeded when writing to the buffer all files attempting to write will fail Example UpdateService BufferLimit MB 25 Setting Cache Persistence MB Default Value The UpdateService BufferLimit MB value Definition The maximum amount of read cache storage in megabytes that is persisted Anything beyond that will be removed from cache with the least recently accessed files removed first Example Cache Persistence MB 1000 13 A an nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows See 6 Modules and Functional Descriptions 6 1 Upload Buffer amp Read Cache CloudNAS performs reads and writes on local disk to greatly increase performance It utilizes both an upload buffer and a read cache The upload buffer is file data that has been written locally and is pending upload to the SDN The read cache is SDN file data that is accessible locally for read operations All application write requests to CloudNAS are written to the upload buffer and can be read immediately as read cache After an application writes and closes a file the file is queued for upload to the SDN as a background task The upload queue may contain many files You can use Upload Monitor to see an instant snapshot of this The UpdateService BufferLimit MB configuration sets the total maximum size of all file data that can be queued for upload If this limit is reached any application create file requests will succeed but write requests will
7. ed to restart the service or remount the drive Misspelling settings or values and incorrect case usage will cause the setting to be quietly ignored The same is true if extra characters are included in the configuration setting line Configuration settings are placed into the cloudnas conf file in the installation directory which is commonly C Program Files Nirvanix Nirvanix CloudNAS etc Each setting is a separate line with the format setting value Example of settings as they appear in cloudnas conf i0og File Enable true iog Level Warning Below is a formatted list of configuration values and their meanings Encryption Setting Encryption Enable Default Value false Definition Enables encryption when true If cache is disabled the encryption process fails upon configuration and the CloudNAS will exit with an error message Example Encryption Enable false Setting Encryption Key Path Default Value etc encryption key Definition The path containing the key for encryption purposes May be a relative or absolute path Example Encryption Key Path etc encryption key Setting Encryption InitialVector Path Default Value etc encryption iv Definition The path containing the seed value for the encryption algorithm Example Encryption InitialVector Path etc encryption iv Web Services Setting Nirvanix WS SecureFileTransfer Default Value false Definition Forces a
8. er Manual for Windows See 3 Product Activation To use CloudNAS your Nirvanix Account must be enabled to allow application activation and ensure proper update notifications If your account is not CloudNAS enabled or if you are not sure contact Nirvanix support to confirm the status of your account If the version of Nirvanix CloudNAS that you are running has an update the technical contact for your account will receive a notification On occasion Nirvanix may issue mandatory updates for CloudNAS A an nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows See 4 Installation Instructions The installation of Nirvanix CloudNAS requires a few steps that will allow you to get started quickly and easily To complete the installation please have the following information on hand a Account username b Account password c Application Name d Application Key 4 1 Installation To install the Nirvanix CloudNAS you should execute the following steps 1 Download the installer and save it to your desktop or other easily accessible location on the target computer or accessible LAN 2 Run the installer and provide the requested information to complete the configuration process 4 2 Mount Unmount To mount the Nirvanix CloudNAS you should execute the following steps 1 Run the Windows Services console and start the CloudNAS service To unmount the Nirvanix CloudNAS you should execute the following steps 1 Run the Windows Services cons
9. ically run the installation upgrade process based on the day time setting configured for the CloudNAS instance Only one notification is sent per available update regardless of the number of CloudNAS instances running under that account Nirvanix classifies new releases into two groups 1 Recommended Critical 2 Mandatory Virtually all updates will fall into the first group and will cover simple patches as well as incremental version and functionality releases These are handled as part of the normal update process The second group is reserved for situations where a specific version of CloudNAS is found to cause data inconsistencies or undue impacts to the SDN In this situation deployed instances of that version will no longer be able to synchronize with the SDN and the installation must be updated to restore normal CloudNAS operations Automatic updates must be configured to run on a specific day of the week at a set time This is to allow administrators to set the installation to coincide with recurring maintenance windows that are already in use Configuration options related to automatic software updates can be found in Section 5 5 10 es nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows See 5 5 Custom Configuration The configuration file has a number of different values that will let you change the overall behavior of Nirvanix CloudNAS and allow specific settings to be changed Each time you change the configuration you will ne
10. ing are known issues for this release e File Folder modifications made outside of a specific CloudNAS instance will not be immediately reflected in that instance This is the result of caching optimizations that improve CloudNAS performance Modifying data directly from the Nirvanix API or from other clients including other CloudNAS instances may create inconsistencies and cause problems for CloudNAS as well as applications using it to access the SDN e Data that is encrypted using Nirvanix CloudNAS can only be decrypted using Nirvanix CloudNAS e When encryption is enabled and a file or folder is copied or moved from one directory in the CloudNAS to another in the same mounted drive Windows will display the following message The file filename cannot be copied or moved without losing its encryption You can choose to ignore this error and continue or cancel This message is the result of an error in the assumptions that Windows makes when interacting with the driver used by CloudNAS The file will in fact remain encrypted and the message can be ignored e Corruption may occur if the CloudNAS cache is deleted while the CloudNAS is running or while the Update Monitor shows any pending commands e File Locking is not supported e When attempting to a move a file to a folder already containing a different file with that same name you will not be prompted with an overwrite warning The file will be moved successfully and replace the previ
11. licable when SoftwareUpdate Policy is set to NotifyDownloadUpdate and the update is Recommended The format is as follows and is not case sensitive Daily time i e Daily 14 30 Weekly day time i e Weekly Tuesday 22 10 Example SoftwareUpdate Policy UpdateSchedule Daily 14 30 12 a nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows SEZ Buffer amp Cache Setting Cache LocalDisk Enable Default Value true Definition When true this setting uses a read write cache located on the local machine at C Documents and Settings All Users Application Data Nirvanix This setting allows for random writes along with increased performance A false value will read and write directly with the cloud Example Cache LocalDisk Enable true Setting Cache BasePath Default Value C Documents and Settings All Users Application Data Nirvanix Definition This is the base path containing read cache and upload buffer files Pending SDN operations are also stored here Do NOT change this setting without ensuring you have no pending operations or uploads This can be verified with the Upload Monitor Example Cache BasePath C Documents and Settings All Users Application Data Nirvanix Setting UpdateService BufferLimit MB Default Value 25 Definition The buffer limit can be set in megabytes example 100 or aS a percentage example 25 available of the designated partition capacity If this limit is ex
12. ll calls to use an encrypted SSL connection over HTTP when true If false only authentication calls use an encrypted SSL connection Example Nirvanix WS SecureFileTransfer false 11 D Re nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows See Logging Setting Log File Enable Default Value true Definition When true the file system will log to files located in Log File Dir Example Log File Enable true Setting Log File Dir Default Value log Definition The directory that holds log files By default it will be placed relative to your installation directory Example Log File Dir log Setting Log Level Default Value Info Definition The level of logging verbosity Valid values are Error Warning and Info Example Log Level Info Software Updates Setting SoftwareUpdate DownloadDirectory Default Value The current working directory of the CloudNAS installation Definition The local path to where new software versions are automatically downloaded Example SoftwareUpdate DownloadDirectory C Path to CloudNAS Setting SoftwareUpdate Policy Default Value NotifyDownload Definition The policy to use when applying a software update Valid values are Notify NotifyDownload or NotifyDownloadUpdate Example SoftwareUpdate Policy NotifyDownload Setting SoftwareUpdate Policy UpdateSchedule Default Value null Definition This is required and only app
13. nerated This is separate from and can be used in addition to an optional encrypted Secure Sockets Layer SSL connection which secures the transfer of data from the CloudNAS to the SDN To enable encryption you will need to create the following settings in the cloudnas conf file Please see the Custom Configuration section 5 5 of this manual for additional details e Encryption Enable True e Encryption Key Path etc encryption key or you can designate an alternate location e Encryption nitialVector Path etc encryption iv or you can designate an alternate location IMPORTANT Nirvanix cannot help decrypt data Please store encryption keys chunk sizes and initial vector information in a safe place and manage it appropriately IMPORTANT When using CloudNAS encryption the software encrypts and stores files in fixed size chunks for efficient access As a result data encrypted using CloudNAS can only be decrypted with an installation using the same chunk size encryption key and initial vector Other methods of accessing data on the SDN will not be able to decrypt data Some additional information to know about the Nirvanix CloudNAS encryption feature e Changing the encryption keys in CloudNAS does not update the encryption of data already transferred to the SDN You must download and decrypt the data using the old keys and then re upload and encrypt it again if you would like the keys to be the same e Encryption is onl
14. ole and stop the CloudNAS service 4 3 Accessing Your Mounted File System After installation is successfully completed your mounted files are accessible at the drive letter you choose For example F account name The drive letter itself will be labeled accountName appName es nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows SZ 4 4 Uninstallation After uninstalling the Nirvanix CloudNAS any files uploaded to the SDN will remain on the SDN If you need to delete or copy files already on the SDN this should be completed prior to uninstalling the CloudNAS If you do not you may need to reinstall the CloudNAS to do so To uninstall the Nirvanix CloudNAS you should execute the following steps 1 Run Uninstall exe from the nirvanix installed folder i e C Program Files Nirvanix Nirvanix CloudNAS Note The cache will be left on the system and must be deleted manually See Buffer amp Cache in the Configuration section for the cache location geen nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows See 5 Configuration The Information here will help you configure and use your Nirvanix CloudNAS 5 1 Upload Monitor If the Nirvanix CloudNAS is running with caching enabled the status of file uploads may be tracked using the Upload Monitor Simply confirm that CloudNAS is mounted and accessible and then launch the Upload Monitor from the Start menu or by going to the directory in which the CloudNAS was ins
15. ous file e Applications that use Truncate or Set File Length are not supported when in direct mode e The Nirvanix SDN is not case sensitive This means you may not rename a file to new name where only the case differs e g change SomeFile to somefile e Many file systems support and allow for file paths longer than the SDN supported 512 In cases where this occurs in the CloudNAS you may receive an error e Certain file systems and programs do not allow you to use a file folder with name of length 256 characters You may experience issues if you exceed their respective limits 15 A an nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows SZ Following is one example o Many Windows programs will restrict the whole file path not just the filename to the MAX_PATH variable of 256 chars See the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article for more details http support microsoft com kb 177665 e NTFS Alternate streams are not supported e All file are opened with a ReadWrite access mode and a ReadWrite sharing mode regardless of what is requested e Sharing a mapped drive has been found problematic and causes errors for many applications It is recommended to use UNC paths for accessing Windows CloudNAS installations across a network e When sharing a drive to other machines and the service is restarted the shared connection will return an error unless it is reconnected or remapped 16 A an nirvanix
16. r name or with any of the following characters lt gt 8 4 Mounting Unmounting Cannot mount drive or share Verify that your account and activation credentials are correct To do so launch the Nirvanix CloudNAS Configuration application and re enter your information Application cannot access or gives errors when accessing shared CloudNAS drive Sharing a mapped CloudNAS instance has been found to be problematic When accessing across the network UNC paths are the recommended option 17 as nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows SEZ Appendix I Advanced Configuration These settings are not normally required Please contact Nirvanix if you intend to use any of them Cache amp Buffer Setting UpdateService PartLength MB Default Value 10 Definition The segment of file dedicated each upload segment File segments will be uploaded sequentially to the upload buffer Example UpdateService PartLength MB 10 Setting Cache DirectoryStale Mins Default Value 10080 Minimum Value 4 Definition The time in minutes CloudNAS waits to remove a directory from cache and eventually retrieve from the Nirvanix Web Services Th default value is equivalent to 7 days The lower this value the more often directory information is refreshed from the Nirvanix SDN Example Cache DirectoryStale Mins 10080 Setting Cache DirectoryExpiration Mins Default Value none Minimum Value 4 Definition The time
17. return back a failure code All pending SDN operations are saved to local hard disk This is to provide protection in case the machine crashes powers off or you stop CloudNAS before it is able to process all of your operations The next time CloudNAS starts all pending and partially completed SDN operations will resume As you read a file from the SDN the file data is stored locally in the read cache This allows follow up reads to be done at local disk speed The configuration option Cache Persistence MB sets the size of the cache When the cache is full files that have been completely uploaded to the SDN may be removed Files are removed based on last accessed time with older files getting flushed first Files in the upload buffer are not affected by this setting 6 2 Cache Disabled and Write Operations In this mode your application may read from any offset within a file when reading However file writes must be sequential and an error will occur on any file seeking activity during a write If the application you are using to move data into the CloudNAS requires non sequential read and write you will need to enable the cache 6 3 Logging If enabled all logging is done to several files within your log folder The default location for the log folder is the installation directory It should be viewable by any log viewer or text editor 14 A an nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows S 7 Known Issues The follow
18. talled The upload monitor has two tabs The first tab will display the number files uploading remote Nirvanix path of each file uploading the bytes remaining to upload and the number of pending commands Nirvanix CloudNAS Upload Monitor Pending Completed Pending Total Operations 92 File Uploads 35 File Data 184 60 Megabytes Pending Files Details up to 100 files shown Auto Refresh Refresh Remote Path File Size Bytes To Upload d DVD_NTSC no audio 15second NTSC_mpeg2video mpg 14 221 312 14 221 312 DVD_NTSC no audio 30second NTSC_mpeg2video mpg 30 412 800 30 412 800 PHONE 15second 768br_480x320_mpeg4 mp4 1 757 991 1 757 991 IPHONE 15second 768br_480x320_xvid mp4 1 702 803 1 702 803 PHONE 30second 768br_480x320_mpeg4 mp4 3 392 587 3 392 587 IPHONE 30second 768br_480x320_xvid mp4 3 324 625 3 324 625 POD 15second 512vbr_320x240_xvid mp4 1 127 308 1 127 308 POD 30second 512vbr_320x240_xvid mp4 2 203 195 2 203 199 MOBILE DivX 15second 30fps_320k240_DivX divx 1 197 904 1 197 904 MOBILE DivX 30second 30fps_320x240_DivX divx 2 325 184 2 325 184 2008 2010 I 7 A an nirvanix SES CloudNAS User Manual for Windows The second tab displays completed uploads showing the remote Nirvanix path file size upload time in seconds per file along with basic upload performance for the files transferred to the SDN since the CloudNAS installation was started
19. y supported if the CloudNAS buffer cache is enabled Enabling encryption automatically overrides file buffer cache settings enabling buffer caching as well e Data corruption will occur if you attempt to modify or edit CloudNAS encrypted data using CloudNAS with cache disabled A an nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows SZ e Enabling encryption may negatively affect upload performance e The Key file must be 16 bytes 128 bits 24 bytes 192 bits or 32 bytes 256 bits e The Initial Vector file must be 16 bytes 128 bits e Use of encryption is not compatible with SDN features such as search transcode and image manipulation e The encryption process is applied to the data stream on the local machine as it is uploaded to the SDN Data in the Nirvanix CloudNAS cache on the local machine is not encrypted 5 4 Automatic Software Updates CloudNAS periodically checks with the Nirvanix SDN to see if there is a new version available and has the ability to update itself to the latest recommended release This is a configurable setting and has the following options 1 Notify Notify the account technical contact of an available update 2 NotifyDownload Default setting Notify the account technical contact of an available update and download the update so that an administrator can run it manually 3 NotifyDownloadUpdate Notify the account technical contact of an available update download the update and automat
20. zs nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual For Windows Version 2 2 0 Neither this document nor any part of it may be copied or reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Nirvanix Inc The information contained in this document is subject to change or revision without prior notice Copyright 2008 2010 Nirvanix Inc All rights reserved E nirvanix CloudNAS User Manual for Windows See Table of Contents Dis e TE 3 2 System Requirements csiccccicrscsact conceited catocdetnetentndeesnsintantcetancesesinineneniacesrnenaieateniadencesaencetene 3 3 Product Activation ssssssssssssissiiissinsiirssinsiiun nnu un nnu isn nia aain n a aiai niiair iiini 4 4 Installation Instructions E 5 AA MPVS Ve AON E 5 4 2 Mount AER EE EE 5 4 3 Accessing Your Mounted File System ccccceeeeeeeeee eee eeeeeeneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeeeeee 5 e GE Na EE e 9 EE 6 5 e e DT E 7 5 1 Upload Monitor TT 7 5 2 BUTS e 8 99 ENV OUION EE 9 5 4 Automatic Software Updates cccccccccccccccccccceeceecececeeeeeeeeceeceseceseseseseseeseeseeeseneneess 10 5 5 Custom Configuration EE 11 6 Modules and Functional Descriptions ccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeeees 14 6 1 Upload Buffer amp Read Ber 14 6 2 Cache Disabled and Write Operations ccccccccccccccceceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeess 14 6 3 NEO ele e E 14 Ta WENO E 15 8 Trou
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