File Sharing Elements; Volume Shadow Copy Service Overview; Using Storage Elements - HP ProLiant ML310 G3 Administration Manual

File sharing elements

The storage server supports several file sharing protocols, including Distributed File System (DFS), Network
File System (NFS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Microsoft Server
Message Block (SMB). On each folder or logical storage element, different file sharing protocols can be
enabled using specific network names for access across a network to a variety of clients. Permissions can
then be granted to those shares based on users or groups of users in each of the file sharing protocols.

Volume Shadow Copy Service overview

The Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) provides an infrastructure for creating point-in-time snapshots
(shadow copies) of volumes. VSS supports 64 shadow copies per volume.
Shadow Copies of Shared Folders resides within this infrastructure, and helps alleviate data loss by
creating shadow copies of files or folders that are stored on network file shares at pre-determined time
intervals. In essence, a shadow copy is a previous version of the file or folder at a specific point in time.
By using shadow copies, a storage server can maintain a set of previous versions of all files on the
selected volumes. End users access the file or folder by using a separate client add-on program, which
enables them to view the file in Windows Explorer.
Shadow copies should not replace the current backup, archive, or business recovery system, but they
can help to simplify restore procedures. For example, shadow copies cannot protect against data loss
due to media failures; however, recovering data from shadow copies can reduce the number of times
needed to restore data from tape.

Using storage elements

The last step in creating the element is determining its drive letter or mount point and formatting the
element. Each element created can exist as a drive letter, assuming one is available and/or as mount
points off of an existing folder or drive letter. Either method is supported.
Formats consist of NTFS, FAT32, and FAT. All three types can be used on the storage server. However,
VSS can only use volumes that are NTFS formatted. Also, quota management is possible only on NTFS.
36 Storage management overview