Introduction:

The D5000 supports both NAS and iSCSI storage protocols, with many users preferring NAS for its ability to allow multiple users to collaborate on and access the same files. This Knowledge Base article guides you through the steps to create a NAS share on the D5000.

Prerequisites:

To proceed, the D5000 should either be unconfigured or have enough free disk or pool space available to create a new NAS Share.

Terminology:

The D5000 uses terminology that may differ from other Promise VTrak subsystems. Key terms used in this process are explained below:

- Pool: A RAID-configured group of disks.
- Volume: An iSCSI logical volume created within a pool. Volumes cannot be used for NAS but can coexist with NAS Shares in the same pool.
- NAS:Network Attached Storage.
- NAS Share:A NAS-specific logical volume created within a pool. NAS Shares are not compatible with iSCSI but can coexist with iSCSI Volumes in the same pool.
- NAS User:NAS requires user accounts, which can be local or managed through Active Directory, Open Directory (OD), or LDAP.
- NAS Protocols:Supported protocols include CIFS/SMB, NFS, and FTP.
- Drive Bound:Pool performance is impacted by the number and type of disks (e.g., SSD is faster than SAS, which is faster than SATA), the RAID level (e.g., RAID0 is faster than RAID5), and the number of Volumes/NAS Shares within the pool. Increased NAS Shares and Volumes in a pool can reduce performance.

Creating a Pool:

1. Log in to WebPAM as an administrator (default password: password).
2. From the Pool tab on the left, select Create New Pool.
3. Name the pool, select the media type, and choose the drives by clicking on them in the image (selected drives turn blue and will be added to the "Selected Drives" list).
4. Select the desired RAID level and stripe size (64k stripe size is recommended), then click Submit.

Note: RAID 0 pools are created quickly, while other RAID levels (e.g., RAID5) require synchronization to write parity data, which can take considerable time for larger drives. The pool will be usable immediately, but redundancy will only be achieved once synchronization completes.

5. You will now see a new pool listed, with synchronization in progress if applicable.

Creating a NAS Share:

1. Click the NAS Share tab on the left.
2. Select Create a New NAS Share and follow the prompts to configure the NAS share settings as needed.