All LaCie NAS feature an easy-to-use browser-based administration tool, called the Dashboard, that will allow you to manage users, groups, shares, and the other product features.
There are two ways to access the Dashboard, using the LaCie Network Assistant and using a browser.
If a user has forgotten his/her password, it can be recovered if an SMTP server has been assigned (see Dashboard - Network) and an email address has been input for that user on the Users page.
The welcome page contains links to helpful documents from the LaCie website, the ability to change details for the currently logged in user, and a list of the different pages that make up the Dashboard.
To restart or put the NAS into deep sleep mode, click this button, then choose between Restart and Deep Sleep Mode. Note that Deep Sleep Mode must be enabled or this option will not be available (see Dashboard - Eco Management).
The Dashboard is made up of a central area surrounded by widgets, or small boxes that represent the different pages that make up the Dashboard. The widget displays a summary of the information contained in the page. For full information, navigate to the page itself.
To create a new user, click the Add User button, then fill out the required fields.
User data is organized in a table.
To delete a user, click the gray X on the far right of the user's row. Confirm in the dialogue window.
Shares—network folders—comprise the storage capacity of your LaCie NAS. Out of the box, it has two shares, Share and Public, and USBShare (d2/2big only) or iSCSIShare (5big only) is created automatically when storage is allocated to it using the Dashboard. The Shares page in the Dashboard allows the administrator to assign quotas and access rights to users and groups, and to toggle share-level service activation.
Share data is organized in a table.
Click the configuration icon in the right-hand column and select either Manage User Access or Manage Group Access, then click the Edit button. In the left-hand column of the resulting window, the users or groups without access to the share are listed. Select the group or user to be granted access, then click the right arrow either to the Read + write access cell or to the Read only access cell. To withdraw access, select a user or group in the Read + Write access cell or the Read only access and click the right arrow.
Select Grant read access to Guest and System Users to give read-only access to the share to non-users.
To delete a share, click the gray X on the far right of the share's row. Confirm in the dialogue window. Note that deleting a share deletes all files on the share as well as any backup jobs involving that share.
The LaCie NAS Dashboard features a torrent server that will allow you to download torrent files. For more information on torrents, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_protocol
Below the list of downloads are several settings.
This page allows you to activate or deactivate services on your device on a global or default level. There are three levels of service activation – global, default, and share. The global level overrides the other levels. If a service is activated at the global level, a green light will be listed in the Running column. When the light is green, the service will be activated by default when a new share is created. The share level overrides the default level but not the global level. To activate a service at the share level, see Dashboard - Shares).
Click the box in the service's row to activate or deactivate the service for all shares.
Click the Options icon to:
The following table describes the available services.
Service | Description | Active by Default |
---|---|---|
SMB | Allows file and print sharing between computers running Windows or Unix. | Yes |
AFP | Enables file services for Mac OS X. | Yes |
NFS | Allows a client computer to access files over the network. | No |
FTP | Standard network protocol used to copy files from one host to another over a TCP-based network. | No |
SFTP | SSH File Transfer Protocol. | No |
Multimedia | Multimedia services allow you to stream media files from your NAS to UPnP-enabled players (such as cell phones, computers, and game consoles). See Advanced Accessibility Features for details. | No |
Time Machine™ | Allows Time Machine to back up a Mac onto your LaCie NAS' share. | No |
This page shows you information about disk usage and will allow you to reformat your disk(s).
When you click the top FORMAT button, ALL data on the disk(s) (including on USBShare or iSCSIShare) will be erased and the disk(s) will be formatted. Data on any USB or eSATA hard drive connected to the expansion ports will not be affected.
To reformat:
Details specific to the d2/2big:
On this page, you have the ability to allocate storage to USBShare. See Connect to a Computer via USB for details on connecting your LaCie NAS to a computer via USB. To change the storage allocated to USBShare, click the capacity in the USBShare row, then drag the slider (maximum is 500GB). Once you click on the slider, you can use the left or right keys on your keyboard to fine tune. When you're done, click Apply.
On this page, you have the ability to allocate storage to iSCSIShare. See Configure iSCSI for details. To change the storage allocated to iSCSI, click the capacity in the iSCSIShare row, then drag the slider (maximum is 2TB). Once you click on the slider, you can use the left or right keys on your keyboard to fine tune. When you're done, click Apply.
The following events will trigger an email notification if an email address has been provided in the User page:
Event Identifier | Description | Recipient |
---|---|---|
Capacity | When the total available capacity is less than 90% | Admin |
Quota event | When capacity reaches 90% of the amount set by the quota | Admin |
Download | When a download has completed or when a download error has occurred | Admin |
Backup | When a backup begins, ends, is cancelled, or fails | Admin |
Fan | When the fan stops and restarts (2big/5big only) | Admin |
Temperature | The product has remained at maximum temperature for at least one minute | Admin |
Password recovery | A user has recovered his/her password | Admin or user, depending on who made the request |
If you wish, your LaCie NAS will automatically check if an operating system update is available from the update server, and will install it for you. See Update Product Operating System for details.
The Logs section will list important events, such as RAID change results and warnings.
To purge the listings from this list, click the trash icon.
Assigning users to groups gives you powerful tools to manage large numbers of users and their privileges. They allow administrators to change access rights to entire groups rather than individually.
From this page, administrators can: create, modify, delete, and add users to groups.
Group data is organized in a table.
To delete a user, click the gray X on the far right of the user's row. Confirm in the dialogue window. Note that deleting a group will not affect user data.
Your LaCie NAS features a robust backup and restore system. It allows you to back up files:
The Backup & Restore Wizard will help you set up backup jobs. In the case of DAS backups, the system even saves versions of backups, so you can restore earlier versions of files.
Local backup will let you use an external hard drive connected to your NAS as a backup source or destination. It will also allow you to back up a share on your NAS onto another share on the same NAS.
Remote backup will let you back up your NAS onto another NAS, whether it be on the local network or through the Internet. Note that the system will not store multiple iterations of the same backup, so a new backup will replace the existing one.
When a remote backup is performed, a share called Network Backup will be created on the target NAS which will contain the backed up files. This share will be not be password-protected by default.
Your NAS can be used by another NAS, whether it's on the same network or is remote, as a target for backup. This function must be activated before it will function. A non-LaCie NAS must be rsync compatible. To activate the service:
Jobs you have created will be listed in the table on the Backup page. This table will display useful information about the job and allows you to manage the jobs. Click the configuration icon in the far-right column for options. You can get detailed information on a job, start it, delete it, or enable/disable it.
If you disable a scheduled job, it will not run until it is enabled.
This page provides you with information on devices connected to one of the LaCie NAS' USB or eSATA expansion ports.
Your LaCie NAS features a printer server. To activate it, click the Activate the printer server check box. Then power on the printer and connect it to the NAS via a USB expansion port on the rear of your LaCie NAS. Once connected, the printer will be listed on the Dashboard - External Ports page, and the printer will become available throughout your network. Correct printer drivers must be installed on the host computer.
Connect an external hard drive to the LaCie NAS via either USB or eSATA, and it will be listed on this page. Once connected, it will behave similarly to the local shares on your LaCie NAS. It will be listed on the Dashboard - Shares page and can be accessed using your operating system's file system (Explorer Window for Windows users, and Finder for Mac users). However, external hard drives are always fully public on the network, quotas cannot be assigned to them, and their names cannot be changed.
Click the Multimedia Indexation box if you wish your DLNA devices to be able to access files on the external USB or eSATA hard drive connected to the LaCie NAS. Note that the Multimedia service must be activated on the Dashboard - General Settings page.
To avoid damaging your external hard drive's file system, click the EJECT button before disconnecting it from your LaCie NAS.
Choose between Configure using DHCP and Configure manually. If your network is DHCP-enabled, as are most consumer networks, the LaCie NAS will automatically be assigned an IP address and other values. As a result, most users will see that the table has been filled in with values. If you select Configure Manually, you will be able to modify the table values to conform to your non-DHCP-managed network.
Your LaCie NAS can be configured to connect to a proxy server. First activate the feature by clicking the Enable proxy box, then fill in the proxy server address, port, and optional authentication information and click APPLY.
To permit your LaCie NAS to send alert emails to users, configure the SMTP settings in this section. Verify that the alert system works by clicking the Send a verification email box, inputting an email address, then clicking the APPLY button.
This section displays features made available to the 5big Network 2 when it is connected to the network via two Ethernet cables. In the first two boxes, information about LAN1 and LAN2 are displayed.
In the third box, labelled Bonding, you can select how the 5big will use the dual LAN connection. Choose from:
See Manage RAID.
The Dashboard features an interactive file browser that allows you to manage and transfer files via HTTP. Access the File Browser by clicking its icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Dashboard.
The File Browser allows you to transfer, copy, and delete files, as well as view photos in thumbnails and even stream multimedia content such as mp3 or view photos. It is thus a convenient way to interact with files stored on your external hard drives through the network, whether the connection be through the local network or through the internet (see Remote Access). Also, since the File Browser permits faster file transfers than drag-and-drop (SMB), it is most effective for transferring large files.
The File Browser is composed of four parts:
You can view photos full-sized as well as stream certain types of music and text files. Select the file, then: