Buffalo LinkStation Pro User Manual
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Buffalo LinkStation Pro User Manual

Shared network storage
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User Manual
LinkStation Pro
Shared Network Storage
www.buffalotech.com
v1.5

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Summary of Contents for Buffalo LinkStation Pro

  • Page 1 User Manual LinkStation Pro Shared Network Storage www.buffalotech.com v1.5...
  • Page 2 Introduction Congratulations on your new LinkStation Pro! This user manual is intended to assist you in configuring it. Because we’re constantly updating our product, the images and text in this manual may vary slightly from the images and text displayed by your LinkStation. These changes are minor and should not affect the ease of setup adversely.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents Initial Setup ...4 Install Software ...8 Accessing LinkStation Data from a PC... 12 Accessing LinkStation Data from a Mac ... 13 LinkStation Layout ... 17 Advanced Settings ... 19 Network Settings ... 23 Domain and AD Settings ... 24 Disk Management ...

  • Page 4: Initial Setup

    Connecting your LinkStation Begin by plugging your power cable and Ethernet cable into the back of the LinkStation as shown.
  • Page 5 Plug the power cord into a 120 volt wall socket or surge protecter. Plug the other end of the Ethernet cable into a hub, router, or switch in your network. Connect your Cables...
  • Page 6 Powering up Press the power button on the front panel. LEDs will blink as your LinkStation boots up. After your LinkStation has completed booting up, check the LINK/ACT LED on the front of the LinkStation. If it’s lit, then your LinkStation is connected properly, and you can go on to page 8.
  • Page 7 Ethernet cable is securely plugged in at both ends, and • the Ethernet cable is not damaged. Verify this by trying a different Ethernet cable. If problems persist, you may contact Buffalo Technology’s technical support. See pages 55 and 56 for technical support contact information. Setup Notes...

  • Page 8: Install Software

    Installing Software Insert the LinkNavigator CD into your PC’s CD-ROM drive. Setup should automatically launch. If it does not, manually launch setup.exe by pressing Start and selecting the Run... option. When the Run dialog opens, type d:\setup.exe (where d is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive). Press OK to continue.
  • Page 9 LinkNavigator Setup Press the Begin Installation button to begin. Click on Connect this PC to LinkStation (the green, lower button). Click Next to step through the installation.
  • Page 10 LinkNavigator Setup Continue pressing Next to step through the installation. When installation is complete, you may close the installation window.
  • Page 11 LinkNavigator Setup is Complete! Two new icons will be on your desktop: Shortcut for LinkStation and Buffalo NAS Navigator. Clicking Shortcut for LinkStation takes you directly to the folders on your LinkStation. Share is the main folder that you can put files and folders in.

  • Page 12: Accessing Linkstation Data From A Pc

    Accessing LinkStation Data from your PC Congratulations! You’ve completed basic setup. For more LinkStation configuration options, turn to Advanced Settings, beginning on page 19. To Access LinkStation Data from a PC: Your LinkStation uses “shares” (folders) to hold data. A share called “share” is already configured on your LinkStation, and you can create additional shares on page 29.

  • Page 13: Accessing Linkstation Data From A Mac

    If your Mac does not automatically detect your LinkStation’s Share folder and put it on your desktop, you will need to add the LinkStation to the Mac’s server list. Begin by clicking Go, and then choose Connect to Server. Accessing LinkStation Data from a Mac In the Server Address field, enter your LinkStation’s IP address in the form smb:// ipaddress (where “ipaddress”...
  • Page 14 Select Guest and click on Connect. Note: If you have configured share permissions on your LinkStation, select Registered User and enter your Registered User credentials. Select the volume that you want to mount, such as share or share-mac, from the list of folders on the LinkStation. The share will open.
  • Page 15 Accessing LinkStation Data from a Mac If you don’t know your LinkStation’s IP address, there are several ways to get it. One simple method is to use the Buffalo NAS Client Utility (included on your CD) to find your LinkStation(s). Just click on the tab for your LinkStation and you’ll be able to read its IP address.

  • Page 16: Linkstation Expansion

    LinkStation Expansion LinkStation Pro has two USB 2.0 ports on the rear. These ports can be used for adding external USB Hard Drives. LinkStation will share connected USB storage devices, allowing everyone on the network to use them. Up to two external USB hard drives may be added to LinkStation Pro. To connect a USB hard drive to your LinkStation, simply plug it into one of the USB ports.

  • Page 17: Linkstation Layout

    LinkStation Layout Power Button – Press and release the Power Button to turn the LinkStation on. Hold it down for three seconds to turn the LinkStation off. Link/Act LED – The Link/Act LED glows green when the LinkStation is connectied to a network. It blinks when the LinkStation is sending or receiving data.
  • Page 18 LinkStation Layout Init button – The red Init button allows you to return your LinkStation to factory defaults. 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet Port – Use this port to connect your LinkStation to a switch, a router, or another computer. The port is autosensing, so either a conventional Ethernet cable or a crossover Ethernet cable may be used.

  • Page 19: Advanced Settings

    Advanced Settings The Configuration GUI The Configuration GUI may be accessed at any time by typing the IP address of your LinkStation into the URL bar of a browser running on a computer connected to the same network as the LinkStation. This works perfectly with OS X, Linux, and other non-Windows PCs.
  • Page 20 This login prompt will appear. Enter admin for the user name. Until you change it, the password for the admin account will be password. Press the OK button when finished. Advanced Settings User name: admin Password: password See page 35 to change your password. If this login prompt does not appear, your DHCP server may not be functioning correctly.
  • Page 21 Advanced Settings - Home Welcome to Advanced Settings, the configuration GUI for the LinkStation! Bookmark this page in your browser so it can be easily accessed for future configuration changes. If the LinkStation’s IP Address changes, you will need to recreate the link. You can also get here by typing http:// LinkStation_Name into a Web browser, where LinkStation_Name is the name of your LinkStation (page 22).
  • Page 22 Advanced Settings Basic You may modify your LinkStation’s hostname and description under Hostname Setup. A friendly, easy-to-remember name (e.g. “LinkStation”) is recommended. Make sure that the date and time are correct in Date and Time Setup. To synchronize time settings with those in your computer, press Use Local Time.

  • Page 23: Network Settings

    Advanced Settings Network (IP Address Properties) In most networks, LinkStation will get its IP Address automatically from a DHCP server. You may disable DHCP here. If DHCP is disabled and an IP Address is not set manually, it will default to 1.168.11.150. The LinkStation’s IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway Address, and DNS Server address may all be entered manually under IP Address...

  • Page 24: Domain And Ad Settings

    Network (Workgroup/Domain) LinkStation Pro with Windows NT Domain and Active Directory Servers. The LinkStation Pro participates as a member device in the NT Domain and Active Directory networks, allowing the LinkStation to use Users and Groups that reside on the Domain or Active Directory System. If Active Directory is used, then the LinkStation will automatically receive update information from the domain controller(s).

  • Page 25: Disk Management

    Advanced Settings Disk Management (Drive Properties) This page shows the properties for the main drive in your LinkStation Pro. If you have any USB hard drives plugged into the linkstation, their properties will appear here as well.
  • Page 26 Advanced Settings Disk Management (USB hard drives) From here you can see your USB hard drives’ setup information. If the hard drives’ information isn’t displayed properly, try restarting your USB hard drives and then restarting your LinkStation. Some USB hard drives must be reformatted from within LinkStation before they can be assigned shares.
  • Page 27 Advanced Settings Disk Management (Disk Check) Disk check checks any of your hard drives for errors. To use disk check, select the disk that you want to check from the target pulldown and click Select Target.
  • Page 28 Advanced Settings Disk Management (Disk Format) To format a hard drive or array, select it from the Target Disk drop box. Choose the file system desired from the File System dropbox (internal drives can only be formatted with XFS). Note that FAT32 has a 2 gigabyte single file size limit.

  • Page 29: Shared Folders

    Advanced Settings Shared Folders To begin setting up shares on your LinkStation, select Shared Folders from the left side menu, and then click the Add button under Shared Folders Setup. To delete a share or shares, check the checkbox next to the shares you’d like to delete, and press the Delete button.
  • Page 30 Adding a new Shared Folder on is accessed from a modern OS through smb, these limitations will not apply. Remote Backup Password will set a password on this share for other LinkStations who want to use it as a remote backup target. This password will not affect users attempting to access the share;...
  • Page 31 Advanced Settings Shared Folders (Access restrictions) To use Access Restrictions for a share, select Enable. Highlight groups or users in the All Groups/ Users column and use the left-pointing arrow buttons (located just to the left of each box) to move individual groups or users from the All Groups/Users column to the Read Only box (if you want to give them read access only) or all...
  • Page 32 Advanced Settings Shared Folders (Service Setup) To allow FTP Access to LinkStation, choose Enable for FTP Server. To enable legacy AppleTalk support, choose Enable for AppleTalk Protocol. FTP Server Info: Enabling the FTP Server will allow users to connect to shares via FTP protocol. Their username and password is used for their login credentials, and they will only have access to shares that have read-only or writeable access to on the LinkStation.

  • Page 33: Groups

    Group Management Add a name and a description to the Add New Group fields. Put checks next to each Member User that you want to be part of the group. Click Apply when your group is set up the way you want it. Active Directory and Domain Groups are not shown here but are available under Share Management.

  • Page 34: Users

    Mac OS 8 and OS 9 users’s passwords should be 9 characters or less. A Domain User List will be displayed if the LinkStation Pro is a member of a Domain or Active Directory environment. Advanced Settings LinkStation is preconfigured with two users, admin and guest, out of the box.
  • Page 35 User Management (changing passwords) Enter the desired new password in both boxes and click Apply. Advanced Settings To change an account’s password, click on the name of the account under User Settings. Note: if a user name and password are used to log into a user’s windows computer or domain, the same user name and password should be used when creating the user’s account on the LinkStation, or...

  • Page 36: Troubleshooting Multiple Shares

    The error occurs when connecting to at least one secure, restricted share. Due to a constraint in Microsoft Windows, only one set of login credentials can access or map drive letters for a network resource such as the LinkStation. As such, only one username and password can be used while mapping drives to a PC.
  • Page 37 Mapping Multiple Shares If only unrestricted shares are being mapped, then it’s not necessary to set a username and password for shares. Multiple mapped drives to unrestricted shares can exist without a username or password as long as no restricted, secure shares are mapped. If an unrestricted share and a restricted share are both being mapper or accessed, use the restricted username and password for the unrestricted share login by using the Connect using a different user name option.
  • Page 38 Advanced Settings Disk Backup To create a backup job, click on a Job Number. The Edit Backup Job dialog will appear.
  • Page 39 Advanced Settings Disk Backup (Edit Backup Job) A Backup Job can run regularly on a daily or weekly schedule, or immediately by appropriate choices in the Backup Job Schedule field. Date and Time for the backup may be entered, and Encryption and Compression enabled or Enable Overwrite Backup to have disabled.
  • Page 40 Advanced Settings Disk Backup (LinkStation List) The LinkStation list shows other LinkStations in your network that you can configure network backups to. Press Refresh to get a list of LinkStations on your network.

  • Page 41: Backups

    Advanced Settings Disk Backup (Add LinkStation) To add a remote LinkStation to your network, enter its numerical IP Address in the Remote LinkStation IP Address field and click the Add to List button. For remote LinkStation backups, make sure both firewalls are configured to allow traffic in and out of their networks. Note: Disk Backups between two LinkStations use port 8873 for encrypted backups and port 873 for backups with no encryption.

  • Page 42: Maintenance Settings

    Maintenance (Notification) * SMTP server must be an open type server. Currently, there’s no provision for entering a username or password. Advanced Settings If your LinkStation is remotely managed, you may choose to receive nightly status reports and be notified of any disk events by email. To set this up, enable Mail Notification and enter the IP Address of your SMTP server* in the SMTP Server Address field.
  • Page 43 Advanced Settings Maintenance (Alert Settings) Alerts can be configured on the LinkStation to make audible noises when a problem is detected. Along with the audible noise, alert emails will be sent out if Mail Notification was properly configured. Please select the features you would like to receive an audible sound alert from and then press the Apply button.
  • Page 44 Advanced Settings Maintenance (Status LED Settings) Adjust the brightness of the LEDs on your LinkStation’s front panel here. Press Apply to update the settings.
  • Page 45 Advanced Settings Maintenance (Shutdown) From the Shutdown page, press Apply to shutdown LinkStation. This has the same function as holding down the power button on the front of LinkStation, but may be done remotely. Turning on the LinkStation after a shutdown requires a physical button push on the front of LinkStation. The Restart Now button simply reboots the LinkStation, bringing it back to functionality after about 120 seconds.
  • Page 46 Advanced Settings Maintenance (Initialization) Initialization is a reset procedure that restores all settings back to the default, out of box, configuration. All configuration, users, groups, and backup jobs are lost, but actual data and shares on the hard are NOT lost. If you want all data to be erased, reformat the drive.

  • Page 47: System Status

    System Status (System Information) This page shows you the System Information for your LinkStation. Firmware updates are occasionally available from www.buffalotech.com for the LinkStation Pro. These must be executed from a Windows PC on the same network. Your router, switch, or hub...
  • Page 48 Advanced Settings System Status (USB Details) This page shows you details on USB hard drives and UPSs plugged into your LinkStation. In this example, no USB hard drives are plugged in to the LinkStation.
  • Page 49 Advanced Settings System Status (Drive Properties) This page shows you the properties of all hard drives in and attached to your LinkStation.
  • Page 50 Advanced Settings System Status (Network Information) This page shows you the System Information for your network connection.

  • Page 51: Client Utility

    LinkStation Client Utility This is the Buffalo NAS Client Utility. Installed on your PC, it allows you to access each of the LinkStations (and TeraStations) on your network. Click Refresh List to get tabs for each of your LinkStations. Each tab shows the Host Name, Workgroup, IP Address, and Subnet Mask of the associated LinkStation, as well as...

  • Page 52: Ip Address Setup

    LinkStation Client Utility IP Address Setup Here, you may enter your IP Address and Subnet Mask manually, or enable your LinkStation to acquire them automatically from a DHCP server. You’ll need the administrator password to use this screen. Press OK when you’re done.

  • Page 53: Troubleshooting

    Troubleshooting Disk Errors If LinkStation encounters a disk error, it will be reported in the LinkStation status on the top of any of the Web-Based configuration screens. Run a Disk Scan in the event of this error. If that doesn’t work, try a reformat. Reformatting the drive will delete all of the data on it so try to backup any data you can before beginning.

  • Page 54: Technical Specifications

    LAN Standards: Transmission Types: Access Media: Media Interface: USB Standard: USB Connector: Data Transmission Speed: Electric Current: Power Consumption: Dimensions: Weight: Operating Environment: Technical Specifications IEEE 802.3u; IEEE 802.3ab; IEEE 802.3 1000BASE-T: 8B1Q4, PAM5; 100BASE-TX: 4B5B MLT-3; 10BASE-T Manchester Coding CSMA/CD RJ-45 USB 2.0...

  • Page 55: Technical Support (Usa)

    Buffalo Technology offers toll-free technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for this product. Customers in the United States and Canada can obtain technical support using the following information: Web: www.buffalotech.com E-mail: info@buffalotech.com Telephone: (866)-75-610 (USA & Canada only; see page 56 for European tech support) FCC Warning This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules.

  • Page 56: Technical Support (Europe)

    Technical Support (Europe) Buffalo Technology (Europe), Inc. 176 Buckingham Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 4RD United Kingdom GENERAL INQUIRIES Email: sales@buffalo-technology.com TECHNICAL SUPPORT Technical Support in Europe is available between the hours of 9am-6pm (GMT) Monday to Thursday and 9am-4:30pm (GMT) Friday for this product. Customers in Europe can obtain Technical Support using the following information: E-mail: helpdesk@buffalo-technology.ie | Web: www.buffalo-technology.com...

  • Page 57: Gpl Information

    Within the envelope containing the self addressed padded CD shipping envelope, please include a bank draft or money order for $20 (USD) (Made out to: Buffalo Technology) to cover our handling fee, postage and CD preparation. The CD-R should have the name of the product and revision number clearly written on the actual CD-R (not on the insert).

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