Exablox OneSystem User manual

Understanding OneBlox Appliance and OneSystem
Cloud-based Management Service
TM
User Guide
Version 0.9
TM

Copyright
© 2013 Exablox, Inc.
Legal
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERY OF EXABLOX, INC., AND THE INFORMATION HEREIN
IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” EXABLOX, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES WITH
RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT.
Revision Control
Document Number OB_UG-01, Version 0.9, February 27, 2013 7:49 pm
How to Reach Us
Exablox, Inc.
1156 Sonora Court
Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA
408-773-8477
855.EXABLOX (855.392.256)

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Chapter 1 Quick Start ............................................................................ 5
Chapter 2 About This Document .......................................................... 7
2.1 - Audience...............................................................................................................8
2.2 - Document Contents ...............................................................................................8
2.3 - Attention Boxes .....................................................................................................8
2.4 - Important Terms ...................................................................................................9
Chapter 3 Specfications ...................................................................... 11
3.1 - OneBlox Appliance Dimensions .............................................................................12
3.2 - OneBlox Appliance Specifications ..........................................................................13
Chapter 4 Concepts ............................................................................. 15
4.1 - Overview.............................................................................................................16
4.2 - Storage Management ...........................................................................................16
4.2.1 - How to Access Information on OneBlox ........................................................16
4.2.2 - Protecting the Informaton on OneBlox..........................................................16
4.2.3 - How to Increase the Storage Capacity ..........................................................17
4.2.4 - Space Savings ............................................................................................17
4.2.5 - Hardware Retirement ..................................................................................17
4.3 - Security ..............................................................................................................17
4.4 - Storage Capacity..................................................................................................18
4.4.1 - Raw Storage Capacity .................................................................................18
4.4.2 - Usable Storage Capacity ..............................................................................18
4.5 - Data Transfer Rate ..............................................................................................18
4.6 - Continuous Data Protection ..................................................................................18
4.7 - Data Deletion ......................................................................................................18
4.8 - Shares and Permissions........................................................................................18
4.9 - Active Directory ...................................................................................................19
4.10 - Drive Management.............................................................................................19
Contents

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C ONTENTS
User Guide
Chapter 5 Common Tasks................................................................... 21
5.1 - How do I Manage OneBlox—Creating a OneSystem Account and Login....................22
5.2 - Associating your OneBlox with OneSystem—Pairing Your OneBlox...........................24
5.3 - Who has Access to the Information on OneBlox—Adding, Removing, or Editing Users' Ac-
cess to Storage28
5.4 - Setting Up Active Directory ...................................................................................32
5.5 - How to give Groups of Users access to OneBlox—Adding and Editing Groups (Users)34
5.6 - How do I Limit what Storage Shares Users have Access to—Adding Shares..............36
5.7 - Viewing Snapshots...............................................................................................37
5.8 - How do I Add and Replace Storage—Installing and Removing Drives.......................38
5.8.1 - Installing Drives..........................................................................................38
5.8.2 - Removing Drives.........................................................................................39
Task Index.................................................................................................... 41
Index ............................................................................................................ 43

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CHAPTER 1
Quick Start
This Quick Start information was also shipped with your device. It is repeated here for your
convenience.
What’s in the Box
Quick Start Guide
1
OneBlox Appliance
Connect the Power and Network Cables
•
Connect the power cord to the rear of OneBlox and plug the other end into
a standard 120/220 VAC grounded outlet.
•
Connect the Ethernet cable to one of the ports on the rear of the OneBlox.
You may add additional Ethernet cables to improve the network
redundancy. Please also ensure the network has internet access.
2
3
Insert Disk Drives
•
From the top, open the front door and gently push three to eight 3.5" drives
completely into any available drive bay. The label should be facing up and
the pin connectors facing the rear of OneBlox.
•
The mechanical disk drives do
not need to be from the same
manufacturer or have identical
capacities.
Power Up
•
Turn on the OneBlox power switch (located near the power cord on the
back panel) to begin using OneBlox. The startup time should be less than
5 minutes.
•
Once powered on, you will see the center green LED illuminate on the
front panel and the Exablox logo on LCD screen.
4
Ready to Use
•
Congratulations you’re ready to access your storage! You may begin
immediately using the public storage share accessible on your network
directly from Windows, Mac, or Linux clients. The share on your network
will be the same name as the OneBlox (which can be seen on the LCD).
•
If you’d like to manage your OneBlox, including adding or removing users,
groups, and shares, please visit OneSystem at:
https://onesystem.exablox.com
•
If you have any questions or problems,
contact us at [email protected]
5
Power Cord Ethernet Cable

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CHAPTER 2
About This Document
Audience................................................................................................................... 8
Document Contents ................................................................................................... 8
Attention Boxes ......................................................................................................... 8
Important Terms ....................................................................................................... 9

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C HAPTER 2 : About This Document User Guide
2.1 - Audience
This document is written for administrators of OneBlox and the OneSystem Cloud-based
management service. It describes concepts, workflows, and tasks for administering OneBlox on a
network via OneSystem.
2.2 - Document Contents
This document contains the following information:
• Chapter 1, “Quick Start” on page 5
• Chapter 2, “About This Document” on page 7 (this chapter)
• Chapter 3, “Specfications” on page 11
• Chapter 4, “Concepts” on page 15
• Chapter 5, “Common Tasks” on page 21
• “Task Index” on page 41
• “Index” on page 43
2.3 - Attention Boxes
Warning: Bodily injury may result if instructions are not followed properly.
Caution: Equipment damage may result if instructions are not followed properly.
Important: Information that should be followed exactly as written.
Tip: Helpful information for understanding concepts or performing tasks more easily.
Task: Set of steps.

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2.4 - Important Terms
Microsoft Active Directory Active Directory (AD) provides a central location for network administration and secu-
rity. Servers that run Active Directory are called domain controllers. An AD domain
controller authenticates and authorizes all users and computers in a Windows domain
type network-assigning and enforcing security policies for all computers and installing
or updating software. For example, when a user logs into a computer that is part of a
Windows domain, AD checks the submitted password and determines whether the
user is a system administrator or normal user. OneSystem enables administrators to
authenticate against an AD domain. See “Active Directory” on page 19.
Active Connections Number of active users connected to the OneBlox ring at a given time
CIFS/SMB The Common Internet File System (CIFS) is the standard communication protocol
servers and clients use to access files on OneBlox. One section of the Server Messag-
ing Block (SMB) protocol specifically deals with access to file systems, such that cli-
ents may make requests to a file server over the network.
Component Health Reflects health of a ring (comprised of one or more nodes) with regards to compo-
nents such as disks, ethernet cable, power, and so on.
Continuous Data Protection
(CDP)
An advanced technique to protect every file that is written to OneBlox. See “Continu-
ous Data Protection” on page 18.
Data Health Reflects the health of the data with regards to the number of copies of data available
in the ring(s). If the number of copies is less than the desired protection level (e.g., 3
copies) or the data is being rebuilt or rebalanced, the data health will indicate the
appropriate status.
Encryption All data and information stored in OneBlox is protected with an AES 256 algorithm,
which requires a unique key to be able to be read. This prevents a disk drive from
being removed and read on another device other than OneBlox.
Deduplication This is a method by which identical user data (or portions of identical data) is
detected and stored only once. See “Space Savings” on page 17.
Group A collection of user(s) can be assigned and organized into a collection of individuals to
make policy actions easier (e.g., group A has access to storage share A on the net-
work).
OneSystem
TM
100% Cloud-based data management service used to manage OneBlox.
Node A single OneBlox appliance.
OneBlox
TM
A physical storage hardware appliance to store and retrieve information.
Protected Capacity The total amount of storage that is configured and available to applications and users
within a ring. The raw storage capacity will be greater than the amount of protected
capacity. Protected capacity is analogous to usable capacity.
Protection Level The number of replicated copies of information within a ring or mesh providing a way
to recover information in the event of disk drive or node failure.
Ring Multiple interconnected OneBlox nodes (up to 6 nodes) in a local area network that
present a single file system to applications and users.
Share The CIFS/SMB method of providing access to the file system. A file system can con-
tain any number of shares. A share can be thought of as a partition of the file storage
area with three levels of access: 'Anyone,' 'All Registered', and 'Restricted'. See “How
do I Limit what Storage Shares Users have Access to—Adding Shares” on page 36.
Snapshots Snapshots of data are taken continuously and can be viewed by date or by most
recent. See “Viewing Snapshots” on page 37.
User Individual(s) with access to the network and consequently access to the public share
on OneBlox. The individual(s) can also be given different permissions and privileges to
access additional shares on OneBlox.

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CHAPTER 3
Specfications
OneBlox Appliance Dimensions ................................................................................. 12
OneBlox Appliance Specifications .............................................................................. 13

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C HAPTER 3 : Specfications User Guide
3.1 - OneBlox Appliance Dimensions
Figure 3-1: OneBlox Appliance Dimensions
3.71
18.75
14.94
All measurements in inches
Front
Top
Rear
LCD Screen
LED Lights
Ethernet Ports Power
USB

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3.2 - OneBlox Appliance Specifications
Table 3-1: OneBlox Appliance Specifications
Power 120VAC (90-140VAC), grounded
Thermal Rating 500 Btu/hr, 150W (typical)
Weight (empty, no disks) 23 lb. (10 kg)
Space Requirements 18.75" w x 3.7" h x 15" d inches (unit can fit in 19" rack or on table top)
2 Rack Units
Hard Drive Bays 8 drive slots, hot swappable
Hard Drive Types 3.5" SATA
3.5" SAS
3.5" SSD (with 2.5"-3.5" adapter)
Max. Raw Capacity 32 TB (8 disks rated at 4 TB each)
Nonvolatile Memory 4GB
Operating Temperature and
Elevation
10° C to 40° C (50° F to 104° F); at </= 3,000 m (at </= 10,000') elevation
Relativity Humidity 20% to 80% relative humidity, noncondensing (28° C wet bulb temperature)
Non-operating Temperature
and Relativity Humidity
-40° C to 65° C (-40° F to 149° F); 10% to 95% relative humidity, noncondens-
ing, in original container
Operating Acoustic Noise 56.5 dBA sound pressure (LpA) @ normal operating conditions (at 22°C and at
sea level)
Cooling Adjusted fan cooled
File Service and Other Protocol
Support
SMB
Onboard GbE Ports 4
Onboard USB Ports 2
LCD Screen 3" TFT
LED Lights 3 lights on front panel for system status (left, middle, and right), 8 drive status
lights

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CHAPTER 4
Concepts
Overview ................................................................................................................ 16
Storage Management............................................................................................... 16
Security .................................................................................................................. 17
Storage Capacity ..................................................................................................... 18
Continuous Data Protection ...................................................................................... 18
Data Deletion .......................................................................................................... 18
Shares and Permissions............................................................................................ 18
Active Directory ....................................................................................................... 19

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C HAPTER 4 : Concepts User Guide
4.1 - Overview
This chapter provides conceptual information about the OneBlox Appliance.
4.2 - Storage Management
4.2.1 - How to Access Information on OneBlox
When connecting OneBlox to the network, a Public share is accessible to anyone on the network.
Any information stored in the public share can be accessed and modified by individuals on the
network.
Administrators, through OneSystem, can define permissions for different users to have different
levels of access (read only vs. read/write) to different shares on the network. Administrators can
add/remove shares, groups and/or users through their OneSystem account. If companies are
using Microsoft Active Directory, OneSystem can be integrated with Active Directory and utilize the
existing access control permission a company is using.
To access OneBlox, it can be done over the local area network (LAN) and seen through Windows
Explorer, Mac Finder, or Linux. It appears as a drive or share to the users and applications.
4.2.2 - Protecting the Informaton on OneBlox
OneBlox's file system, SmashFS-Smart Hashing File System, protects all information stored in a
number of ways. SmashFS protects against data deletion/corruption, drive removal, drive failures,
node failures, and ring failures.
SmashFS takes continuous snapshots of information being stored in OneBlox. In doing so, each
user has access to previous versions of the files stored in OneBlox, even up to the last second.
Users can access the snapshot directory through Windows Explorer or Mac Finder and recover
exactly the needed file themselves without requiring the assistance of an administrator. The
continuous protection provides the ability to go back to the last file written to OneBlox (which
could be the last second), as well as further back in time: the last minute, hour, day, week, month,
or year(s).
SmashFS protects against drive failures by creating three replicated copies of every file written to
OneBlox. By creating three copies, any two drives can fail and users will still have access to the
information. SmashFS doesn't use a legacy RAID protection scheme, so administrators don't need
to be concerned with volumes, storage LUNs, drive types, or drive capacities. SmashFS manages
this complexity for the administrator.
When a single node is used, SmashFS creates three replicated copies of the information on the
single node. When multiple nodes are used, SmashFS, intelligently, load balances and distributes
the copies of information across multiple nodes. When two nodes are used in a ring, an entire
node can fail and users will still have access to the information. When three or more nodes are
used in a ring, two nodes can fail and users will still have access to the information. A node failure
may be a result of a hardware failure (e.g., network, memory, power supply). In each case the
information is protected.
If your company is concerned about a site failure, a ring (up to 6 interconnected OneBlox) may be
replicated to another ring over local or wide-area distances in a mesh. This level of protection bi-
directionally replicates the information across the two rings. In the event of one site going offline,
the other site has additional copies of the information and users can access the information from
the alternate ring. This is a supported feature that will be available in a future release of OneBlox
and OneSystem.

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In addition to SmashFS creating three replicated copies of all information stored in OneBlox, it also
encrypts the information. SmashFS uses an AES 256 algorithm to encrypt the information on all
drives in each node to protect against a drive being removed and accessed via another system
other than OneBlox.
4.2.3 - How to Increase the Storage Capacity
OneBlox provides the ability to dynamically grow the size of the ring in a number of ways.
Individual drives can be added to a single node if there are available drive bays. Alternatively, an
existing drive in OneBlox can be removed and replaced with a larger capacity drive.
In addition to drive growth, additional nodes can be added. This is a similar process to the first
node addition, but simpler. Refer to Chapter 1, “Quick Start” on page 5 for node installation. If the
node is added to the same LAN as an existing node, it will dynamically join the existing node(s)
and the single file system accessible by applications and users now have access to the capacity of
the new node without any configuration changes.
4.2.4 - Space Savings
SmashFS efficiently stores information in OneBlox. Every file written to OneBlox is deduplicated
and compressed. Every file, and every portion of a file that is written is compared to files already
stored on OneBlox. If the same file (or portion) is already stored a duplicate is not written to
OneBlox. This dramatically improves the amount of usable capacity available to applications and
users.
In addition to the information being deduplicated and compressed, the snapshots are also
deduplicated resulting in further increases in usable capacity.
4.2.5 - Hardware Retirement
• When the useful life of the hardware has been reached, companies can retire either the drives
or the nodes.
• Drives can simply be removed from OneBlox and recycled according to drive manufacturer
guidelines. The information on the drives is encrypted, so extraneous secure wipe and secure
erase measures are not required.
• Check the data health in OneSystem before proactively removing a drive.
• If a node is to be retired, it can be dynamically removed from a ring and recycled in an
appropriate manor. The drives from the node can be removed and used in another node or
recycled as well.
• Please dispose of all computer hardware properly and in an environmentally friendly manor.
4.3 - Security
All data stored in OneBlox is encrypted with an AES 256 encryption algorithm. This is not a tunable
feature and enabled by default. All drives in all nodes in all rings are encrypted.

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4.4 - Storage Capacity
4.4.1 - Raw Storage Capacity
Raw Storage Capacity is the total capacity installed in a node(s). The raw capacity does not
account for any data protection and will be more than the usable capacity available to applications
and users.
4.4.2 - Usable Storage Capacity
Usable Storage Capacity is the amount of storage (or capacity) that is available applications and/or
users when data protection is taken into account. In a node, or ring, the usable capacity is
typically 33% the raw capacity. As SmashFS creates three replicas of the information, the usable
capacity is reduced. With data deduplication and compression, the utilization of the storage
capacity is typically increased, since only one copy of every file is stored on OneBlox.
4.5 - Data Transfer Rate
Each node has four (4) Gigabit Ethernet ports available to the network. The theoretical transfer
rate is 4Gb/sec.
4.6 - Continuous Data Protection
• Continuous Data Protection (CDP) is enabled by default and is not a feature that can be
managed or modified.
• Continuous Data Protection is an advanced technique to protect every file that is written to
OneBlox. As each file is written, a space optimized snapshot is taken, which is immediately
available for recovery if necessary.
• The snapshots leverage Deduplication to decrease the amount of storage capacity used when
saving copies of files. You can access Snapshots by clicking the Snapshots folder on the network
share, and selecting to view the recoverable files by date or by the most recent. The date view
is presented in a tree-like hierarchy, sorted by date then by time. The recent file view is
presented in a flat structure of the most recent snapshots with a timestamp.
• Once the file is found that is needed to be recovered, simply drag and drop that file to a directory
on the local client or in a share on OneBlox.
• To view a snapshot, see “Viewing Snapshots” on page 37.
4.7 - Data Deletion
Deleting data (e.g., a folder) does not actually delete all versions of the information. Because of
Snapshots and Continuous Data Protection, a copy is always stored. For example, a user might
delete a file or folder thinking the information is deleted. The Snapshot feature means that copies
of all files are saved, therefore deleting the file does not actually delete it.
4.8 - Shares and Permissions
Shares are a way to access information stored on OneBlox over the network. When OneBlox is
initially installed, a Public share is automatically available on the network (the default share name

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is name of the OneBlox appliance-which can be found on the LCD) and provides read/write access
to OneBlox for all users on the network. Additional shares can be created through OneSystem and
shares can have different access permissions associated with each share.
Shares can be added and assigned the following permissions:
• Public — Anyone on the local area network will have read/write access (no username or
password required).
• All Registered — Every registered user with OneSystem has access to the share (username and
password required). If OneSystem is integrated with Active Directory, every user in Active
Directory will have access to the share (username and password required). In the user and
group permission settings read only or read/write access can be assigned to the share.
• Restricted — Only selected users and/or groups have access to the share (username and
password required). In the user and group permission settings read only or read/write access
can be assigned to the share.
For information on how to add shares, see “How do I Limit what Storage Shares Users have Access
to—Adding Shares” on page 36.
For information on how to add users or groups, see “How to give Groups of Users access to
OneBlox—Adding and Editing Groups (Users)” on page 34.
4.9 - Active Directory
If your company uses Microsoft Active Directory to manage user accounts, OneSystem can
integrate with Active Directory. In doing so, OneSystem honors the user access control lists in
Active Directory and enforces those for OneBlox access.
For information, see “Setting Up Active Directory” on page 32.
4.10 - Drive Management
Important: All drives placed into the OneBlox appliance will be reformatted, therefore if you are
reusing an existing drive for use in OneBlox, back it up first before installation in OneBlox. You will
not be able to retrieve the data on the drive once it is inserted into OneBlox.
For more information, see “How do I Add and Replace Storage—Installing and Removing Drives”
on page 38.

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