Dell PowerVault 750N User manual

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Dell™ PowerVault™ 75 x N NAS Appliances
Using Your Appliance for the
First Time

Notes, Notices, and Cautions
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer.
NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you
how to avoid the problem.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury,
or death.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2001 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner without the written permission of Dell Computer Corporation is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text:
Dell , the DELL logo, PowerVault , and Dell OpenManage are trademarks of Dell Computer
Corporation;
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation; Microsoft , Windows , and Windows NT are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation;
UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and
other countries. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming
the marks and names or their products. Dell Computer Corporation disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks
and trade names other than its own.
October 2001 P/N 9K283 Rev. A00

Using Your Appliance for the First Time 1-1
This document provides guidelines for installing and configuring your Dell™ PowerVault™
NAS appliance the first time you use it.
The PowerVault 750N is a NAS appliance that is either a tower or rackmount platform, and
the PowerVault 755N is a NAS appliance that is a rackmount platform.
The systems are "headless" systems that are managed through the onboard Ethernet
connection; they operate without a keyboard, monitor, or mouse. (While you can connect
these peripherals to an appliance, you generally do not need them unless you are
troubleshooting the appliance.) The systems are normally managed and monitored through
a Web-based user interface, the PowerVault NAS Manager, that runs from a browser on
another system on the network.
To complete your NAS appliance installation and configuration, you need to follow and
complete the instructions for each of the following three phases:
• Phase one: Setting up your hardware
• Phase two: Configuring the initial network settings
• Phase three: Using the NAS appliance
Phase One: Setting Up Your Hardware
1Remove the NAS appliance from the shipping box.
2If your NAS appliance is a rackmount platform, install it in your rack following the
instructions in the Rack Installation Guide that came with your NAS appliance or rack.
If your NAS appliance is a tower platform, place it in or near its final location.
3Cable any external devices to the back of the system using the cables that came with
or are attached to those external devices.
(Normally, you do not need to connect a keyboard, mouse, or monitor to the
appliance.) For more cabling information, see the User's Guide that came with the
appliance.

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When connecting external devices to the back panel of your system, use the following
guidelines:
• Check the documentation that accompanied the device for specific installation
and configuration instructions. For example, most devices must be attached to a
particular port or connector to operate properly. In addition, it is usually necessary
to install device drivers before the device can operate. Device drivers are normally
included with your operating system software, or with the device itself.
• Always attach external devices while your system is turned off. Unless
documentation for the device specifies otherwise, power on the external device
before powering on the system again. (If the system does not seem to recognize
the device, try turning on the system before turning on the device.)
For information about enabling, disabling, or configuring I/O ports and connectors,
see "Using the System Setup Program" in the User's Guide that came with the NAS
appliance.
• If you have external storage systems, connect them to the NAS appliance using
SCSI cables and the SCSI controller card connectors installed in the PCI slots.
For more information, see the documentation that came with your storage
systems.
4Cable the NAS appliance to your Ethernet network.
Connect the PowerVault 750N NAS appliance to your Ethernet network using an
Ethernet cable and the integrated Intel®10/100 NIC connector on the back of the
NAS appliance.
Connect the PowerVault 755N NAS appliance to your Ethernet network using an
Ethernet cable and one of the following connectors on the back of the NAS appliance:
• Integrated Intel 10/100 NIC
• Integrated 64-bit/66 MHz PCI 10/100/1000 Ethernet controller
For more cabling information, see the User’s Guide that came with the appliance.
5Install the AC power cables between the power supplies on the back of the system and
the electrical outlets.
For more information, see the User's Guide that came with the appliance.

Using Your Appliance for the First Time 1-3
Phase Two: Configuring the Initial Network
Settings
After you turn on the NAS appliance and it completes the boot process, you can perform
the basic network configuration on your NAS appliance. There are several methods
available for configuring the network settings on your system, depending on your network
environment and your personal preferences.
For complete configuration process instructions, see the "Introduction" section of the
System Administrator's Guide that came with the appliance.
Using DHCP and Keeping all Default Settings
Use this option if your NAS appliance is installed on a network that has a DHCP server and
you want to keep the default settings and use the default system name.
• If DHCP is installed on your network, your system automatically configures the
network settings.
• The default system name is assigned as "Dellxxxxxxx", where xxxxxxx is the system’s
service tag number.
• The default administrator password is powervault.
Using DHCP and Your Settings
Use this option if your NAS appliance is installed on a network that has a DHCP server and
you want to use your settings instead of the default settings. You can configure your settings
by using the Dell OpenManage™ Kick-Start utility. For more information, see "Using the
Kick-Start Utility to Configure Your NAS Appliance."
Configuring Your NAS Appliance Without DHCP on Your Network
Use this option if you do not have DHCP installed on your network. You can configure your
NAS appliance by using the Kick-Start utility or by using a serial connection.
Using the Kick-Start Utility to Configure Your NAS Appliance
The Kick-Start utility has an embedded DHCP server that allows you to auto-detect and
configure your network settings even if your network does not have a DHCP server. The
Kick-Start utility provides the following three different methods for configuring your
system:

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• Remotely over an IP network — You can use a client system on the same network to
create your system configuration, and then configure your NAS appliance remotely.
• Using a diskette — You can use a client system to create your NAS appliance
configuration, and then create a diskette containing that configuration. Your NAS
appliance will be configured automatically when the diskette is inserted into the
diskette drive on your appliance.
• Locally using a keyboard, mouse, and monitor — If a keyboard, mouse, and monitor
are attached to your NAS appliance, you can configure the appliance using the local
Kick-Start utility on your appliance's hard drive.
For complete instructions for each of these three processes, see the "Introduction" section
of the System Administrator's Guide that came with the appliance.
A brief overview is provided in Table 1-1.
COMMENT

Using Your Appliance for the First Time 1-5
Table 1-1. Kick-Start Configuration Overview
Step 1 Step 2
Use this guide and the
Resource CD included with
your system.
Record the following information:
NIC 0: IP Address
NIC 0: Subnet Mask
NIC 0: Gateway
NIC 1: IP Address
NIC 1: Subnet Mask
NIC 1: Gateway
Host Name
DNS Server
Administrator/Root Password
User/Password (if any)
_ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _
_ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _
_ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _
_ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _
_ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _
_ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ _
_____________________
_____________________
_____________________
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Step 3
Perform one of the following methods of configuration:
Remote IP Network Remote Diskette Local
Appliance does not have a
monitor and keyboard attached
but is connected to an IP
network.
Appliance does not have a
monitor and keyboard attached
and is not connected to an IP
network.
Appliance has a monitor and
keyboard attached.
aGo to a workstation on your
network, insert the
Resource CD, and run
Remote Kick-Start.
bEnter information collected
in step 2 and save the
configuration.
cSelect a NAS appliance,
select the configuration,
and then click Apply.
dStart the NAS Manager in a
browser from a remote
workstation using the
address:
https://myappliance:1279,
where myappliance is your
system name.
aGo to a workstation on your
network, insert a diskette,
and then insert the
Resource CD.
bRun Remote Kick-Start to
copy the configuration
settings to the diskette.
cEnter the information
collected in step 2 and save
the configuration to the
diskette.
dInsert the diskette into the
appliance diskette drive.
eStart the NAS Manager in a
browser from a remote
workstation using the
address:
https://myappliance:1279,
where myappliance is your
system name.
aPower on the NAS
appliance.
The Kick-Start utility
appears.
bFollow the screen
instructions and enter data
you collected in step 2.
When you finish, the
system restarts.
cStart the NAS Manager in a
browser from a remote
workstation using the
address:
https://myappliance:1279,
where myappliance is your
system name.

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Using a Serial Connection
Use this method only if you want to access the NAS Manager without using DHCP or the
Kick-Start utility. Your NAS appliance is configured to provide an IP connection through
the serial port.
To configure your system using the serial port, you must connect a client system to serial
port 1 on the NAS appliance, configure the client system to allow the use of the
communications cable between two systems, and use the Web browser on the client system
to access the NAS Manager. Next, use the NAS Manager to configure your system and
network information.
For complete instructions about configuring your system with the serial connection, see the
"Introduction" section of the System Administrator's Guide that came with the appliance.
Phase Three: Using the NAS Appliance
At this point in the process, you should be able to begin using your NAS appliance with its
default configuration and begin configuring it for use in your specific environment. You
might need to add shares, perform system administration, and configure your storage.
Using the Default Share
To help you get up and running quickly, your NAS appliance provides a default share. You
can use this share immediately, and then create additional shares for specific purposes as
you need them. Because the share does not have any restricted permissions (by default), it is
open to all users of the system. The default share is configured to support both Windows®
(CIFS) and UNIX®(NFS). For both Windows and UNIX, the share name is Share, and it is
located at E:\Share. For information about managing your shares, see the "NAS Manager"
section in the System Administrator's Guide that came with the appliance.
Performing System Administration
To add users and groups, join a domain, add shares, or perform other administrative tasks,
connect to the NAS Manager. For detailed information, see the "Introduction" and "NAS
Manager" sections in the System Administrator’s Guide that came with the appliance.
Connect to the NAS appliance from your client system by entering the system name of the
NAS appliance in the Microsoft®Internet Explorer 5.0 or later (or for Red Hat Linux only,
use Netscape Navigator 6.1 or later) Web browser.

Using Your Appliance for the First Time 1-7
NOTE: Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 may be used only with Windows NT®4.0 with
Service Pack 4 or later. All other browsers are not supported.
To log on to the NAS Manager, you must enter the administrator user name and password.
The default administrator user name is administrator and the default password is
powervault. If you change the user name or password, use the changed information when
you log on. To change the user name and password, click Set Administrator Password in the
Welcome window.
The NAS Manager is served on port 1279 and is accessed by the URL,
https://<systemname | system_ipaddress>:1279, where systemname is the
DELL<service_tag>. Port 1279 uses secured socket layers (SSL) to encrypt data going to
and coming from the NAS appliance to provide some data security.
NOTICE: Although port 1278 can be used, it uses plain text authentication, which can
be a significant security risk. Therefore, using port 1278 is not recommended, except
for Macintosh clients.
NOTICE: Macintosh clients must connect to the appliance using port 1278, instead of
1279. Because port 1278 uses plain text authentication, using it can be a significant
security risk. To connect to the appliance, enter http://<systemname>:1278. (For
Macintosh clients, be sure to use http, not https, and 1278, not 1279.)
Performing Advanced Disk Management and Configuring External Storage
Your appliance’s internal hard drives are preconfigured with a RAID 1 volume for the
operating system and a RAID 5 volume for data storage. If you want to change the default
data volume format or configure external storage arrays, use the Disks tab on the NAS
Manager primary menu. For advanced storage system configuration, use the Dell
OpenManage Array Manager. For detailed information, see the "NAS Manager" and
"Advanced Disk and Volume Management Using Array Manager" sections in the System
Administrator's Guide that came with the appliance.

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