Open-E Data Storage Software V6 Lite (FREE) - features

ADMINISTRATION

Regardless of the number of users connected to the storage device, Open-E license schema is a one license per DSS V6 and is priced accordingly. Whether you have 5, 500, 15,000 or more, you only pay one price for a single Data Storage Software V6 License.

The powerful and convenient Web-based GUI (Graphical User Interface) of the Open-E DSS V6 software makes remote management of the server a simple task. By using a web-browser, the server can be easily managed from anywhere in the network.

Open-E DSS V6 provides Language Packs in English, German, Chinese, Russian and Japanese to give users the ability to install and administer the system in the language of their choice.

Open-E DSS V6 is accessed and configured through a web-based, password-protected GUI over Secured Socket Layer (SSL) administration access.

The performance of the Open-E DSS V6 server can be increased by changing the settings of disk, network, file system or network using “Tuning Tools”.

The Open-E DSS V6 supports remote access of the console tool enabling management of the server from anywhere in the network. Through the console tool, an administrator monitors the status of the network and memory usage, install drivers and hardware and perform other tasks.

The Open-E DSS V6 supports three levels of administrative rights: Full Access, Maintenance and Administration.

Update downtime is reduced with the new Update System feature making it possible to reboot from the old system.

After each update copy of previously used system is kept (including configuration), so in case of any problems with new version only reboot is required minimizing the system downtime

Management of all the tasks is much easier and convenient using the unified task mechanism with scheduling for data and volume replication, backup and snapshot. Tasks are scheduled as to when to activate and may have many schedules.

You can maintain the server without using the web browser! All operations are performed by API using a secure (SSH) connection. The API includes functionalities like: - users and shares handling - iSCSI targets operations - hardware status - software update - machine reboot and shutdown

Most of the functions implemented in the Open-E software include schedule functionality, allowing in example to create backups, snapshots and run replication process at precisely determine time.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Assigning IP addresses in a network can be centrally managed and automated through using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).

The Open-E DSS V6 supports usage of two or more network cards to access separate sub-networks or to increase the bandwidth and allows administrators to select services to be enabled on a specified NIC.

Open-E DSS V6 supports network adapter teaming/bonding increasing the hardware performance and reliability. One of the supported modes is AFT (Adapter Fault Tolerance), which assures greater reliability by providing a secondary network adapter which automatically takes over if the primary network adapter fails.

To improve the data throughput and latency, the Data Storage Software V6 supports 10 GbE to increase bandwidth, improve overall performance, and reduce message latency across connections. The Open-E DSS V6 supports some 10GbE cards with TCP/IP.

Open-E DSS V6 supports InfiniBand cards that increase bandwidth, improve overall performance, and reduce message latency across connections. InfiniBand is modern, high-speed (up to 10Gbit) serial computer bus. This functionality is also known as IPoIB.

With Open-E DSS V6 you can use proxy server for Internet connections.

The Open-E DSS V6 supports the Secure Internet Protocol (IPsec). This protocol secures data transmitted across a network, preventing confidential and personal information being intercepted or modified.

The Open-E DSS V6 Supports the frame sizes (e.g. packets) larger than 1500 bytes. This function increases Ethernet networking throughput and reduces the CPU utilization of large file transfers.

Open-E DSS V6 provides a powerful tool for controlling the static routing settings. If the default routing isn't sufficient, this feature can be used to customize it. You can now specify various rules for network interfaces. This is useful when you have several network interfaces in the same subnetwork.

STORAGE MANAGEMENT

Open-E DSS V6 supports hardware iSCSI Initiators and has a software iSCSI Initiator for easily expanding the storage capacity of the NAS system. New units and logical volumes can be added by connecting an iSCSI storage system to the NAS.

The integrated software RAID 0, 1, 5 provides more flexibility and cost savings while creating Open-E DSS V6 Lite storage solutions. The Open-E Open-E DSS V6 offers highest flexibility in redundancy, performance, costs and storage volume. Email alerts are sent to the system administrator in case of issues with the RAID through the DSS software.

Open-E DSS V6 software boasts a means for creating a RAID when a Hard Disk Drives (HDD) is missing or broken.

Open-E DSS V6 software includes S.M.A.R.T support for detecting and reporting the status of the Hard Disk Drives (HDD) anticipated on failures. Email alerts are sent to the system administrator in case of HDD problems through Open-E DSS V6 software.

The Open-E solution can Support most hardware ATA / SATA / SCSI RAID controllers of: 3ware, Adaptec, Areca, Buslogic, Dell, HP Smart Array, ICP Vortex, Intel, LSI Logic, Marvell, Promise, Symbios/LSILogic, Tekram

For higher bandwidth, bettter latency and performance, the Open-E DSS V6 version Supports Fibre Channel HBAs (Host Bus Adapter) from Emulex and Qlogic. Fibre Channel is the standard connection type for connecting high speed storage devices, like the Open-E DSS, to computers in SAN.

Open-E product is excellent choice for building enterprise network based on FibreChannel Targets with Qlogic HBAs.

Open-E DSS V6 supports volumes with capacity greater than 16TB.

Open-E DSS V6 supports multiple snapshots per logical volumes. Snapshot is an immediate point-in-time image of the logical volume. The snapshot images can be used for both consistent and temporary backup, while users still have uninterrupted and complete access to the LV. Files can be recovered from previous snapshots should a file be accidentally deleted or modified.

Logical volume groups allow storage administrators to create logical storage pools that span multiple physical disk drives. With its support of multiple logical volume groups, the Open-E DSS V6 makes it easier to meet the changing needs of users and applications while making the maximum use of available physical disk space.

Online logical volume expansion allows administrators to change the size of storage volumes as needed without having to restart the application, recreate the volume, and backup and restore data to the volume.

A hardware RAID controllers’ expansion capability supports the increase of size of existing units without removing data.

Open-E DSS V6 uses SNMP for monitoring data throughput, Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Random Access Memory (RAM) usage to name a few.

Open-E DSS provides a dedicated built-in administration panel for LSI RAID cards. The following cards are supported: MegaRAID SAS 1078 MegaRAID SAS 1078DE MegaRAID SAS 2108 [Liberator] MegaRAID SAS 9240 MegaRAID SAS Verde ZCR MegaRAID SAS 2208 [Thunderbolt]

Automatic Session Reassignment makes group renaming, removal, and WWN assignment work without interrupting (blocking) other sessions. This functionality makes the iSCSI and Fibre Channel services work smoothly while their configuration is being modified.

Open-E DSS V6 supports Adaptec MaxIQ SSD cache kit which enables the server to store frequently used data on a fast SSD drive. This powerful caching solution can make the storage operate up to 8 times faster than the HDD-only solution. It can be used with any Adaptec Series 5Z, 5 or 2 Storage Controller. All you have to do is to get the Adaptec MaxIQ SSD cache Kit and use its SSD drive with your Storage Controller. Then DSS will automatically use it.

STORAGE MANAGEMENT / REPLICATIONS

Synchronous replication guarantees zero data loss. Write is not considered complete until acknowledgement by both local and remote storage. Most applications wait for a write transaction to complete before proceeding with further work, hence overall performance decreases considerably. Therefore, it is recommended using this option only for LAN.

Synchronous replication is used to replicate data between nodes of iSCSI failover. As used in the LAN ensures zero data loss and good performance.

Open-E DSS V6 provides fault tolerance via synchronous NAS Volume Replication for NFS shares. Once configured, all data written to the primary server is mirrored to a secondary server. In the event the primary server fails, Open-E DSS V6 automatically switches operation to the secondary server. NFS locks are also reassigned on the secondary server after primary server fails. This functionality requires the purchase of a feature pack.

With Open-E DSS V6 you are able to keep your data synchronized between servers on the LAN.

With Open-E DSS V6 you are able to keep your data synchronized over long distances.

Open-E DSS V6 features fast initial volume synchronization for volume replication.

The volume replication tuning feature gives you the ability to improve the speed of the replication process on your hardware.

MONITORING

Open-E DSS V6 monitors hardware status such as temperature, voltage and fan speed provided by the motherboard's sensors.

SNMP is a shortcut of Simple Network Management Protocol. Protocol allowing you to observe Servers performance remotely using encrypted transmission (v3) or non-encrypted one (v2).

Open-E DSS V6 can be configured to send email alerts to the system administrator in case of problems with the server.

The Open-E log file is an effective instrument in analyzing and solving technical issues.

HARDWARE SUPPORT

Open-E DSS V6 supports up to 32 CPUs to increase the I/O throughput for heavy duty data requirements.

A UPS eliminates the effects of a temporary power outage and provides a safe shutdown, without loss of data, in case of power failure. The UPS device can be connected by Communications Port (COM-port) or Universal Serial Bus (USB) to the server. Open-E DSS V6 is capable of using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) interface for communication with other SNMP-enabled servers (e.g. Open-E DSS) for a smooth server shutdown in the event of a power failure. The server with the UPS sends a power failure signal through the network to other servers (in slave mode) and will shut down all servers in the network.

Open-E DSS V6 supports Crystalfontz CFA631 and pyramid LCD displays.

SPECIFIC NAS FUNCTIONALITY

Open-E DSS V6 provides fault tolerance via synchronous NAS Volume Replication for NFS shares. Once configured, all data written to the primary server is mirrored to a secondary server. In the event the primary server fails, Open-E DSS V6 automatically switches operation to the secondary server. NFS locks are also reassigned on the secondary server after primary server fails. This functionality requires the purchase of a feature pack.

Open-E DSS V6 supports ADS (Windows Active Directory), PDC (Primary Domain Controller), LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) and ADS & NIS (Network Information Service) User-/Group ID Synchronization to leverage information about users, groups, systems and other resources stored in the Active Directory. The support of Access Control List (ACL) ensures that access rights of users are automatically taken over from the Domain. Open-E DSS V6 supports Windows 2008 as a Domain Controller. If you use Active Directory Services from Windows 2008, Open-E DSS V6 will be able to connect and make use of it.

The NIS directory service protocol enables the distribution of system configuration data such as user and host names between computers on a computer network. Open-E DSS V6 supports NIS for easier and consistent access of information stored on any other Open-E DSS V6 server using NIS.

The Open-E DSS V6 supports external LDAP enabling administrators to configure and manage multiple DSS V6 systems from one single point (either an Open-E software with a LDAP database or any other LDAP server).

Open-E DSS V6 supports Windows Active Directory (AD), Primary Domain Controller (PDC), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and AD & NIS User-/Group ID synchronization to leverage information about users, groups, systems and other resources stored in the Active Directory. The support of Access Control List (ACL) ensures that access rights of users are automatically taken over from the Domain.

Journaling support makes the file system more reliable and allows easier, faster recovery from unexpected shutdowns.

Administrators can control users with large disk requirements by assigning a dedicated share or by restricting their individual usage through individual user quotas or to assign a quota to a group to which the user belongs.

Open-E DSS V6 has an integrated Antivirus software tool for scanning shares on viruses at predefined points in time. The Virus Definition Database can be updated and is stored on the NAS device.

SUPPORTED NETWORK CLIENTS

Open-E DSS V6 supports the file based protocols CIFS (Common Internet File System)/SMB (Server Message Block), NFS (Network File System), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), FTPS and Apple Talk enabling Windows, Linux, Unix and MacIntosh clients to share data on the same NAS server.

SUPPORTED NETWORK FILE PROTOCOLS

Open-E DSS V6 supports the file based protocols CIFS (Common Internet File System)/SMB, NFS (Network File System), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), FTPS, SFTP and Apple Talk enabling Windows, Linux, Unix and Macintosh clients to share data on the same server.

SPECIFIC iSCSI FUNCTIONALITY

Open-E DSS V6 allows to set up range of IP addresses which have the access to targets.

In Open-E DSS V6, CHAP users can be assigned to a specific iSCSI target. CHAP is an authentication schema, managed by user name and password, to validate the identity of users to manage the access rights of users to targets.

The Open-E DSS V6 allows set multiple connections to one target increasing performance and reliability.

Open-E DSS V6 provides fault tolerance via iSCSI Volume Replication. Data is copied in real time to the primary server and every change is immediately mirrored to a secondary server and in the event of a failure of the primary server Open-E DSS V6 automatically switches operations to the secondary server.

SCSI-3 Persistent Reservation Supports multiple nodes accessing iSCSI Target device at the same time. It is responsible for blocking access to device while the other node is accessing it. This functionality is necessary in a Windows 2008 failover clustering environmant using iSCSI shared-storage.

The Open-E DSS V6 allows management of all connections to the iSCSI target, making possible to reject unwanted sessions

BACKUP UTILITY

Through Open-E DSS V6, a local HDD or a USB drive can be defined as a Dynamic Unit and acts like a normal tape drive which can backup the NAS server and be removed without shutting down the server.

The Open-E DSS V6 includes integrated backup utilty, allowing users to profit form high functionality backup features including: task mechanism with schedules, virtual tapes, tape library Support - without any additional costs.

Configure tape drive emulation on share or Dynamic Volume (e.g. dynamically attached hard drive) backup for tape drives is the same as backup on virtual tapes.

Automate backups with use of tape drive libraries. Set schedule for tapes to be rewritten for new backup.

Open-E DSS V6 WORM technology enables data to be permanently written to disk in read only format ensuring that data can be read any number of times but cannot be erased or modified.

Open-E DSS V6 implementation of the NDMP open standard protocol is used to control backup and recovery data streams between primary storage (data server) and secondary storage (tape server) in heterogeneous network environments. Support for NDMP includes reading data from disk and producing an NDMP data stream (backup) and reading of an NDMP data stream and writing it to disk (restore).
Open-E\'s NDMP implementation is supported by the following backup utilities:
Symantec NetBackup, EMC Legato Networker, NDMP Client and Computer Associates Brightstor.

Open-E DSS V6 backup agents help administrators to back up NAS servers with backup software from Veritas, Dantz, CA BrightStor ARCserve. Using the backup agents, you can administer complete data protection for all data stored on the server. This improves data transfer and provides network security, task monitoring, real-time directory browsing, and cross-platform backup support. Other backup software can do the backup and restore over supported file protocols.

OTHER

Open-E DSS V6 is an installable version and can be installed hard drive or pen drive module providing for increased flexibility and simplified access.

The first time Open-E DSS V6 starts the Setup Wizard assists you with the language, network and time settings.

New, improved help system allows browsing and searching through all help files, making administration of Open-E DSS V6 even simpler.

Open-E DSS V6 allows saving the system configuration and restore if it required even on different Open-E server increasing the reliability and simplifying the management.

Displays information about current connections to the Open-E DSS V6 system.

Open-E DSS V6 includes Remote Support which enables our Support Service to access the machine remotely. In many cases this can help speed problem resolution. For security reasons this function can only be initiated by you manually.

Overall storage capacity supported by default by the Open-E products. This value can be increased with additional License Keys.

License Key enabling additional Storage Capacity with additional 4, 8, 16 or 32 TB depending on used License Key. The storage limit is turned off when 48TB of licensed capacity is reached. You can buy any of the Open-E DSS V6 versions and purchase additional storage license keys. When you reach 48TB, the limit is removed and you can use as much storage space as the product supports.