Drobo 5N User manual

Drobo 5N Getting Started Guide

Drobo 5N Getting Started Guide 2
Table of Contents
Before You Begin....................................................................................................................... 3
Product Features at a Glance...................................................................................................................3
Checking Box Contents............................................................................................................................4
Checking System Requirements ..............................................................................................................4
Operating Systems Supported .............................................................................................................5
Connectivity Interfaces Supported for the Drobo 5N............................................................................5
Checking the Hardware You Need...........................................................................................................5
Selecting Drives....................................................................................................................................5
Determining Drive Space Requirements..............................................................................................7
Using a Router or Switch with the Drobo 5N........................................................................................7
Using Power Protection........................................................................................................................8
Setting Up Your Drobo 5N ......................................................................................................... 9
Installing Drobo Dashboard......................................................................................................................9
Installing an mSATA SSD.......................................................................................................................14
Inserting the Drives.................................................................................................................................15
Connecting the Cables and Turning on Your Drobo 5N.........................................................................16
Setting the Administrator Username and Password...............................................................................17
Where to Go Next .....................................................................................................................19
Using Best Practices...............................................................................................................................19
Keeping Your Software Up to Date ........................................................................................................19
Checking for Software Updates Automatically...................................................................................20
Checking for Software Updates Now .................................................................................................21
Manually Updating Firmware from the Website .................................................................................21
Safely Shutting Down Your Drobo 5N ....................................................................................................22
Safely Shutting Down Your Drobo 5N Using Drobo Dashboard........................................................23
Safely Shutting Down Your Drobo 5N Manually.................................................................................25
Using the Online User Guide..................................................................................................................25
Using Context-Sensitive Help.................................................................................................................25
Using the Knowledge Base ....................................................................................................................26
Registering Your Drobo 5N ....................................................................................................................26
Getting Support.......................................................................................................................................29
Copyright, Safety and Limited Warranty Information .................................................................30

Drobo 5N Getting Started Guide 3
Before You Begin
Before you begin setting up your Drobo 5N, it’s a good idea to check system and hardware
requirements.
This section covers the following topics:
Product Features at a Glance
Checking Box Contents
Checking System Requirements
Checking the Hardware You Need
Copyright, Safety and Limited Warranty Information
Printing the Getting Started Guide (pdf)
Product Features at a Glance
For a quick overview of features of the Drobo 5N, refer to the following images.
Figure 1: Front of the Drobo 5N with the bezel (faceplate) removed.

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Figure 2: Back of the Drobo 5N.
Checking Box Contents
Check your product’s box to ensure it contains all the components listed below.
•Drobo 5N
•6' Ethernet cable
•6' power cord with power supply
•Quick Start Guide (printed)
•Safety and Warranty Guide
Checking System Requirements
Check to ensure your operating system and cable interface are supported with the Drobo 5N.
This section covers the following topics:
Operating Systems Supported
Connectivity Interfaces Supported for the Drobo 5N

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Operating Systems Supported
Operating Systems supported for the Drobo 5N include:
•OS X 10.7.x Lion
•OS X 10.8.x Mountain Lion
•Windows 7 (Service Pack 1 or later, 32-bit and 64-bit)
•Windows 8 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Notes:
-For best performance and interoperability, ensure you are running the latest service packs for
the appropriate Windows operating systems.
-For the most current list of supported operating systems, check the specifications for your
products online at www.drobo.com/products/index.php.
Connectivity Interfaces Supported for the Drobo 5N
Your Drobo 5N connects to a network via a router or switch using an Ethernet port. Ethernet is
the standard local area network (LAN) access method.
Gigabit Ethernet Port
Drobo 5N supports gigabit Ethernet connections (1000 Mbit/s) for optimal performance. It will,
however, auto-negotiate the highest connection speed available to your router or switch.
Checking the Hardware You Need
To use your Drobo 5N, you will need at least two hard drives. If you plan to use Dual Disk
Redundancy, which protects your data against two hard drive failures, you will need at least three
hard drives.
This section covers the following topics:
Selecting Drives
Determining Drive Space Requirements
Using a Router or Switch with the Drobo 5N
Using Power Protection
Selecting Drives
The Drobo 5N supports both standard 3.5” SATA hard disk drives (HDDs) as well as SATA solid
state drives (SSDs) for added performance. For HDDs, these drives can be from any
manufacturer and with any capacity. For SSDs, please visit our web page for compatible drive
options.
In addition, the Drobo 5N has a Drobo Accelerator Bay, which accepts an industry-standard
mSATA SSD(Solid State Drive). When the mSATA SSD is installed, Drobo’s Data-Aware Tiering
feature is enabled, accelerating performance when reading data from your Drobo device. Having

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an mSATA SSD installed leaves all drive bays available for high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs)
so that you can get both high-capacity and accelerated performance out of your Drobo device.
Using only SSDs in the main drive bays of your Drobo 5N provides the fastest performance when
reading and writing data to and from your Drobo device.
In summary, here are the recommended number and type of drives you can use with your
Drobo 5N. Note that you need at least two drives in the drive bays to ensure your data is
protected in the event of drive failure.
•2 to 5 HDD(Hard Disk Drive)s in the main drive bays - enables you to maximize capacity
•2 to 5 HDDs in the main drive bays plus an mSATA SSD installed - enables you to
maximize capacity and accelerate read performance
•2 to 5 SSD(Solid State Drive)s in the main drive bays with no mSATA SSD - enables you
to maximize read and write performance
For a performance comparison of these options, see the following illustration.
Important Notes:
-If an incompatible SSD is inserted into the Drobo device, the drive light will blink red,
indicating the need to replace that drive. Please refer to our web page on compatible drive
options.for more information.
-The mSATA SSD is not part of the disk pack of your Drobo 5N, allowing you to leave it
installed even if you transfer drives from the drive bays to another Drobo device, for example.
-When Data-Aware Tiering is enabled, an icon displays in Drobo Dashboard, the software
companion to your Drobo device.
-The Drobo 5N is not compatible with IDE(Integrated Drive Electronics), SCSI(Small
Computer System Interface), PATA(Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment) or
SAS(Serial Attached SCSI) drives.
Warning! Any pre-existing data on the drives will be erased when inserted into the Drobo 5N.

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Determining Drive Space Requirements
In order to protect your data from hard drive failure, your Drobo 5N requires more space than
what you will use for your data, sometimes as much as double or more the amount of space.
The best way to determine how much usable, protected storage space you will have available for
your data, based on the number and capacity of your drives, is to use our Capacity Calculator at
www.drobo.com/calculator.
A shortcut to estimating the capacity available for your data is to omit the largest drive and then
add the capacity of the remaining drives. If you plan to use Dual Disk Redundancy, omit the
largest two drives. For example:
Single Disk (Default) Redundancy
Dual Disk Redundancy
Notes:
-Actual capacity is often less than what is shown in the examples above due to the different
systems used for rating capacity. This has nothing to do with Drobo devices.
-Know that all Drobo devices enable you to easily increase storage capacity at any time by
simply inserting additional drives or replacing smaller drives with larger ones.
Using a Router or Switch with the Drobo 5N
You will be plugging your Drobo 5N into a router or switch that must already be configured to
work with your network. Your router or switch must have at least one Ethernet port open and
available.
Your router or switch must also support DHCP. If it does not, you will need to directly connect
your Drobo 5N to one of your computer’s Ethernet ports for the initial setup.
Tip: To check for DHCP support, refer to the documentation for your router or switch. You may
also choose to proceed with installation and check for DHCP support only if you experience a
problem.
For optimal performance, it’s best if your router or switch supports gigabit Ethernet connections
(1000 Mbit/s). Your Drobo 5N, however, will auto-negotiate the highest connection speed
available to your router or switch.

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Using Power Protection
We recommend using the following power protection with your Drobo device:
•An uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which protects against sudden losses in power
•A power surge protector to protect against power surges

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Setting Up Your Drobo 5N
Once you have unpacked your Drobo 5N from its box and ensured you meet all system and
hardware requirements, it is time to set up your Drobo device for use. This can be done in just
four easy steps!
1. Install Drobo Dashboard.
2. Install an mSATA SSD (optional).
2. Insert the drives.
3. Connect the cables and turn on the power.
4. Set the administrator username and password.
Installing Drobo Dashboard
Drobo Dashboard is the software companion to your Drobo 5N, enabling you to easily set up and
manage your Drobo device. Immediately following installation, you can choose to set Drobo
Dashboard to automatically install version updates, which we highly recommend.
Drobo software and firmware updates can also be installed from
www.drobo.com/support/updates.
Note: You need to have administrator rights on the computer on which you install Drobo
Dashboard, and also have access to the Internet.
1. Navigate to www.drobo.com/start and click on the latest Drobo Dashboard for your Drobo
product to run and install it.
Note: The first time you install Drobo Dashboard, you will be asked to select a language from
the drop-down list. Please do this.
The Drobo Dashboard Installer (or Installation Wizard) opens, preparing to install.

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On a Mac, this screen appears as follows.
In Windows, this screen appears as follows.