Related Manuals for PowerNAS Business Mini
Summary of Contents for PowerNAS Business Mini
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Page 2: Parts List
Welcome to the Business Mini Quick Start Guide. Here you’ll find everything you need to get started and to configure your device for use within your network. The Business Mini is designed to be easy to setup with just a few mouse clicks using the Microsoft Windows 2012 Server familiar interface. -
Page 3: Installing Hard Drives
Installing Hard Drives If you ordered a Business Mini with hard drives, they will already be installed in the drive trays. Insert them into the drive bays, with the tray numbered ‘0’ at the bottom, followed by 1, 2, and 3 at the top. Drive numbering is for your convenience only and has no bearing on the operation of your Business Mini. - Page 4 Back Panel Layout and LED Indicators...
- Page 5 Boot into Windows The device will boot up and you’ll see some text messages on the display as the operating system loads. When the system has finished booting (it will take longer than usual for the initial boot up while it sets things up), you will be presented with the quick setup wizard for Windows 2012 Figure 1: Windows Initial Setup Screen The first screen will be pre-populated and show United Kingdom.
- Page 6 Figure 2: Enter Product Key You must enter the Windows Product Key. This will be found at the bottom of your Business Mini product. You can skip this step, but you must enter this key within 3 days otherwise Windows will not function properly and...
- Page 7 Figure 3: Accept Windows Licence Once you’ve entered your licence key you will be presented with the Licence terms. Please read these and click on I accept once read and understood.
- Page 8 Figure 4: Enter Password Enter a secure password for your local administrator account. We suggest a password that contains a combination of numbers and letters and click on Finish.
- Page 9 Figure 5: All done Once you have enter your password in the step before the system will run through the setup process. Once the system has completed the initial setup you will be presented with the login screen. Please press Ctrl+Alt+Delete combination to enter your password.
- Page 10 Figure 6: Desktop access Your system is now ready to use and setup to your requirements. Please follow our Storage Spaces guide below for more information on how to set this feature up.
- Page 11 Setup Windows Storage Spaces Windows Storage Spaces is how you setup data protection on your installed hard drives. This is a superb feature of Windows 2012 R2. Storage Spaces is similar to traditional RAID protection, but is more flexible and allows easy configuration and expansion using the familiar Windows GUI interface.
- Page 12 Figure 2: Storage Pools When you click on File and Storage Services this will launch the Storage Pools by default. If you have not configured any pools this will show a single Primordial pool. To setup a new storage pool – Right click on the Primordial pool and select New Storage Pool…...
- Page 13 Figure 3: New Storage Pool Wizard The New Storage Pool Wizard will launch. Click Next to proceed.
- Page 14 Enter a Name for the storage pool. Optionally enter a description to help identify the pool. Click Next.
- Page 15 This screen will show the available disks that you can assign to your storage pool. In our example we have installed 3x 4TB SATA hard drives in the chassis. The Bus will show SAS, but this will remain the same for both SAS or SATA connected hard drives.
- Page 16 Parity mode storage pool. For disk mirroring (typically known as RAID 1 Mirror) requires 2 drives. For a Parity mode storage pool (typically known as RAID 5/6) you will need 3 or more drives. If you need guidance please contact PowerNAS support.
- Page 17 This confirmation screen shows the summary of the new storage pool. If you are happy with what is shown, click on Create.
- Page 18 Once you’ve clicked on Create this will run through the New Storage Pool setup process. This should only take a few seconds, but may be longer depending on how many disks you have installed and chosen for your new storage pool. When it has completed it’s operations click on Close.
- Page 19 This should now show the screen above, with your newly created storage pool. Note that the Primordial pool will no longer be showing.
- Page 20 Right click on the new storage pool and select New Virtual Disk.
- Page 21 The New Virtual Disk Wizard will launch. Click on Next…...
- Page 22 The storage pool you have selected will show – Click on Next…...
- Page 23 Enter a Name for the new virtual disk – In our example we have called this Demo Virtual Disk. Enter a optional description if required. Click on Next…...
- Page 24 This screen allows you to select the Storage Layout. As mentioned a little earlier, this will show the available types of storage options available. A quick summary on these would be; 1. Simple This spans your data across multiple drives. This is not recommended for a production/office environment.
- Page 25 Provisioning Type – Two options are available for all Storage Disks. 1. Thin This allows a virtual disk to be created at a size much larger than your actual physical storage. The advantage of this is that you can provision storage much larger than you have at the moment, and then add more hard drives as your requirements grow –...
- Page 26 Specify the amount of space in the storage pool. It will show the free space – You can therefore specify a size or allow the wizard to use the maximum size available.
- Page 27 You’re now at the final setup stage. On this screen it will show the virtual disk information and a summary of what you have setup. Click on Create.
- Page 28 The system will now setup the virtual disks. This may take several minutes depending on the number of drives on your virtual disk configuration and the type of storage layout you have chosen. Click on Close when completed.
- Page 29 Once you have clicked on Close on the virtual disk setup wizard, the New Volume Wizard will immediately appear. This will allow you to format the disk to the file system you need. Click on Next.
- Page 30 This will show the summary of the disk. Click on Next.
- Page 31 We suggest leaving the default of volume size as shown – However you can change the value if required to allow for multiple partitions. In our example we have left this on the suggested size. Click on Next.
- Page 32 Select a drive letter. We suggest using the drive letter that is shown. Click Next.
- Page 33 Select the File System and enter a Volume Label. We would suggest leaving this on NTFS. Enter a name for the Volume – We have left this on the default New Volume name – You can easily change this at any point should you want to.
- Page 34 It will take a few moments to format your new virtual disk. Once complete it will show this screen. Click Close.
- Page 35 Now load My Computer. You will see your new virtual disk as an available storage location. Sharing your New Volume Sharing your new storage volume on your network, for users to connect to couldn’t be simpler. Within My Computer, right click on the new volume. Select Share With and select Advanced Sharing.
- Page 36 Click on Advanced Sharing.
- Page 37 In the popup window, tick Share this folder. Click on Permissions. By default this will show Everyone. In our example we have not configured any users. Click on Full Control in the list of options and click on OK to the Windows. You’re done –...
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