StorCenter ix12-300r Troubleshooting By Erik Collett 04.12.10

StorCenter ix12-300rTroubleshooting

By Erik Collett04.12.10

Iomega Confidential 2

Lifeline Device SoftwareIntroduction

• The Lifeline Software is the operating system of the ix-Series

Lifeline is the Device Software that includes the Linux kernel and all of the utilities that form the core of our ix-Series NAS devices. The Lifeline Device Software is placed onto a small partition on each hard drive of the ix-Series device.

• Lifeline is an evolving platform

With each update of the Lifeline Device Software, additional features are added that support all levels of users. We will have training notifications and sessions for each update that will contain both the scripts and information you need to know about the device.

• Making the StorCenter ix12-300r easier to support

Because this software has released on previous devices, we are aware of some of the questions that Agents will receive. Because of this, we can make the support process for this product both effective and satisfying for our customers.


StorCenter ix12-300rBest Practices

• Defining the Best Practices to the Customer

These are the optimal situations that the ix-Series devices should be used in.

– Home/Small Office to Medium Office Usage• ix2-200 – Up to 25 users (Small Office/Home Office)• ix4-200d - Up to 50 users (Small Office/Medium Office)• ix4-200r – Up to 50 users (Medium Office)• Ix12-300r – up to 250 users (Medium Office)

– Use as a backup destination for multiple computers in a home or office environment

– For use as an application storage server (VMWare, Exchange, SQL Database storage server)

– It can easy handle many users streaming audio and video media

– Can attach to ADS Domains to integrate into business environments


• The StorCenter ix12-300r is the latest model of high end Network Attached Storage devices.

• It has “hot swap”, user-replaceable drives.• The StorCenter ix12-300r has a high performance CPU that

drives all of the applicatios that drive this unit.

• The device has a single power button, 1xUSB in Front, 4xUSB in rear, 4xGb Ethernet and 1xSerial Port

StorCenter ix12-300rQuick Facts


StorCenter ix12-300rTroubleshooting > LED Status Indicators

LED Status Indicators:

Primary LED States:– Solid Blue: StorCenter is healthy.

– Flashing Blue: At power up: Device is booting.

– Solid Amber: System has an alert indicating a warning or failure

– Blink Lights Feature: Will flash the Primary LED to let you know which device you are connected to.


StorCenter ix12-300rTroubleshooting > LED Status Indicators

LED Status Indicators:

Drive Indicators: There are two lights in each drive. The top most indicator shows power and failure states and the bottom shows only hard drive activity.

Power Indicators:– Solid Blue: The drive is working correctly and working

properly.

– Flashing Blue: The drive is working correctly and is in the process of rebuilding.

– Solid Red: The drive is not working correctly and has halted. Drive should be replaced.

Activity Indicators:–Flashing White: The drive is currently active.

–LED is Unlit: The drive is currently not active.


StorCenter ix12-300rTroubleshooting > Understanding the Issue

• When the device is not properly configured for its role…

… it may cause unnecessary slowdowns or may cause the device to lock up unnecessarily.

– As with other network devices, any streaming media may suffer during large file transfers that will saturate the network connection. The higher end devices will be more capable at this than low level devices.

– Performance may vary depending on which services are turned on. For instance, Indexing is only useful for those who wish to use the Search functionality through the Web UI.

– Tasks that require repurposing disks, creating iSCSI drives or rebuilding/repairing RAIDs will take a considerable amount of time. Customer should always be aware of the time it takes and that it will slow down the device during this time.


StorCenter ix12-300rTroubleshooting > Taking Notes about the Customer’s Environment

• When you run into these situations, always take notes for the Agents who will be handling the case after you.

… though you may not necessarily be able to solve these situations, you can take down notes that will be essential to making sense of the issue that the customer is experiencing.

• A few example questions for performance and device errors:– Has the device been working before you experienced the issue?– Can you connect to the Web User Interface?

• If so, what System Status Alerts are shown on the Dashboard?• Can you review the condition of the drives?

– Has there been a change in the hardware, network or software used with this device?

– What are you using this device for?• How many users normally connect to the device at a time?• Are you normally transferring batches of small files or large files?

– How is it connected to the network?• Are you using a Switch or a Hub?• Do you have a gigabit capable network infrastructure?

– Do you receive any errors from the device?


Discovering the StorCenter ix12-300rTable of Contents

Table of Contents:

• Information that applies to all ix-Series Devices

– Explanation of Discovery

– Manual Discovery Processes


Discovering the StorCenter ix12-300rTroubleshooting > Manual Discovery > Windows

If Storage Manager does not find the device:

Make sure that the computer is on the

same network Workgroup as the deviceand Windows Button + R and executecmd then execute the command net view

-- OR --

If you are not sure of the device’s workgroupor your computer is configured to its ownworkgroup execute net view /domain:workgroup

This will scan the network for any devices joinedto the Workgroup WORKGROUP which is thedefault setting for all Iomega devices.


Discovering the StorCenter ix12-300r Troubleshooting > Manual Discovery > Windows

If you see the device in the list of net view devices, perform the following steps to access the Web user interface:

If you have not named the device, it may show up as storage-###### or iomega-###### (where the number signs are randomly generated numbers.)

You can then run cmd and from the DOS Prompt or terminal window, type ping <devicename> and it will resolve the device’s IP Address


Discovering the StorCenter ix12-300r Troubleshooting > Manual Discovery > Windows

If the device cannot be discovered after using the Storage Manager Discovery software:

You can directly connect the ix12-300r to the computer via the Ethernet port and follow the previous steps both using either:

Use the Storage Manager for the ix-Series Devices after the device has successfully been directly connected to a computer.

-- or –

Manually using the net view /domain:workgroup function from the command line. This should allow you to discover the device. Make sure that the domain workgroup is replaced by the actual name of the workgroup or domain that the device has been configured for.

When the device is discovered, use the IP Address or Device Name in a web browser to access the interface.


Discovering the StorCenter ix12-300r Troubleshooting > Manual Discovery > Macintosh/Linux

To find the StorCenter ix12-300r on your network using Macintosh or Linux :

NOTE: The client computer must be on the same subnet or network segment as the Iomega device.

•Launch the Terminal application located in the Utilities folder.•Enter the command findsmb and hit enter. This may take a moment to run.•The findsmb tool will return a list of all the devices it finds on your network. Locate the Iomega device on the list.

NOTE: The default name for your Iomega device may be Storage, Iomega-######, or storage-######. If you have changed the name of your Iomega device, look for that name on the list.


Discovering the StorCenter ix12-300r Troubleshooting > Manual Discovery > Connecting to the Web UI

After you have the Name or the IP Address of the device, you can access it via any Web Browser:

– If the device is using Remote Access, it will automatically redirect if using http:// (unsecured web access) or https:// (secured web access)

– If the device is not using Remote Access, use http:// (unsecured web access)

– You can use the Device Name, IP Address or Domain Name (when using Remote Access through TZO.)

• Using the name:

• Using the IP Address:

Documents

StorCenter ix12-300r Troubleshooting By Erik Collett 04.12.10