Openfiler 2.1 review
DownloadOpenfiler is a intuitive, powerful browser-based network storage software distribution
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Openfiler is a intuitive, powerful browser-based network storage software distribution. Openfiler delivers file-based Network Attached Storage and block-based Storage Area Networking in a single framework.
Openfiler sits atop of CentOS Linux (which is derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor). It is distributed as a stand-alone Linux distribution. The entire software stack interfaces with third-party software that is all open source.
File-based networking protocols supported by Openfiler include: NFS, SMB/CIFS, HTTP/WebDAV and FTP. Network directories supported by Openfiler include NIS, LDAP (with support for SMB/CIFS encrypted passwords), Active Directory (in native and mixed modes) and Hesiod. Authentication protocols include Kerberos 5.
Openfiler includes support for volume-based partitioning, iSCSI (target and initiator), scheduled snapshots, resource quota, and a single unified interface for share management which makes allocating shares for various network file-system protocols a breeze.
Here are some key features of "Openfiler":
Powerful block storage virtualization
Full iSCSI target support, with support for virtual iSCSI targets for optimal division of storage
Extensive volume and physical storage management support
Support for large block devices
Full software RAID management support
Support for multiple volume groups for optimal storage allocation
Online volume size and overlying filesystem expansion
Point-in-time snapshots support with scheduling
Volume usage reporting
Synchronous / asynchronous volume migration & replication (manual setup necessary currently)
iSCSI initiator (manual setup necessary currently)
Extensive share management features
Support for multiple shares per volume
Multi-level share directory tree
Multi-group based access control on a per-share basis
Multi-host/network based access control on a per-share basis
Per-share service activation (NFS, SMB/CIFS, HTTP/WebDAV, FTP with read/write controls)
Support for auto-created SMB home directories
Support for SMB/CIFS "shadow copy" feature for snapshot volumes
Support for public/guest shares
Accounts management
Authentication using Pluggable Authentication Modules, configured from the web-interface
NIS, LDAP, Hesiod, Active Directory (native and mixed modes), NT4 domain controller
Guest/public account support
Quota / resource allocation
Per-volume group-quota management for space and files
Per-volume user-quota management for space and files
Per-volume guest-quota management for space and files
User and group templates support for quota allocation
Other features
UPS management support
Built-in SSH client Java applet
Full industry-standard protocol suite
CIFS/SMB support for Microsoft Windows-based clients
NFSv3 support for all UNIX clients with support for ACL protocol extensions
NFSv4 support (testing)
FTP support
WebDAV and HTTP 1.1 support
Linux distribution back-end for any other customizations
Open source provides you the power to modify and deploy software if you want to do so
What's New in This Release:
Updated to kernel 2.6.17. iSCSI CHAP authentication has been added.
OpenLDAP, Bacula, rsnapshot, and open-iscsi tools have been added.
Hardware support has been added.
ATA-Over-Ethernet support (initiator) has been added.
SUpport for JFS, XFS, and Reiserfs has been added.
Openfiler 2.1 keywords