Guardian OS units

[Phoenix32]

Originally Posted by Mad-Cat

Well im a ccna so i do know switching ~ i can include scrren shoot and switch configs if u dont belive me...

I did not say anything even near that I didn't believe you, so calm yourself. I simply gave you items to check that you DID NOT specify you had checked. And, even the very best experts make mistakes and/or forget little things sometimes.


Yes, setting of the ports duplex and speed is in the GUI.

[jfarrar42]

I currently have a 4400. No drives and no sleds. I would like to get some sleds to put drives in but have not seen any available yet in my searching. I can access the unit via the Serial Port, but I dont know the BIOS password to look around in there and since I have no drives it just stops with a fatal error due to the absence of a bootable drive. I assume that the connector on the backplane is proprietary to the 4400 units? Searching using the DASN1...... numbers provide little info other than the relationship of the 4400 with the IBM NAS 100. I prefer the Linux base of the 4400 over the Windows base in the IBM units. My main interest was hardware compatability for sourcing some sleds. Any help in getting my unit up and running would be greatly appreciated.

[bitor]

Hello jfarrar42 , without sleds and the GuardianOS there is not much you can do. These sleds are hard to come by. So keep looking. In general, nobody should ever buy Guardian units without sleds because of this reason. You cannot do anything with this unit until you get sleds and the GuardianOS. The back com1 port will not do you any good without the sleds AND the GuardianOS together.
You can buy the GuardianOS at overlandstorage. Contact them to find out how much it will cost before you go on. The Snap4400 is EOL , so they will not have sleds to buy.

bitor

Originally Posted by jfarrar42

I currently have a 4400. No drives and no sleds. I would like to get some sleds to put drives in but have not seen any available yet in my searching. I can access the unit via the Serial Port, but I dont know the BIOS password to look around in there and since I have no drives it just stops with a fatal error due to the absence of a bootable drive. I assume that the connector on the backplane is proprietary to the 4400 units? Searching using the DASN1...... numbers provide little info other than the relationship of the 4400 with the IBM NAS 100. I prefer the Linux base of the 4400 over the Windows base in the IBM units. My main interest was hardware compatability for sourcing some sleds. Any help in getting my unit up and running would be greatly appreciated.

[jfarrar42]

Bitor,
Thanks for the quick response. I have actually found the sleds for the unit, so that part is taken care of, now I only need to get the GuardianOS handled. I assume that the unit does not respond with anything meaningful w/o some sort of OS. I had seen that the OS was only on the hard drive in 2 of the units that were made, of which the 4400 was not that type. In other words the 4400 had the OS in the Flash, but I guess that info was based on SnapOS and was not inclusive of the GuardianOS? I have tried on several occasions to register my units on Overlands website only to have the page after the submit fail with a .net database error. I guess a phone call will take care of that, but I hope they dont charge me for the initial call, since I could not do it on the website??? I dont want to be premature, but I may be able to aquire some more sleds if there are others interested, I just need to confirm that I can actually get any.

[bitor]

jfarrar42

If you have found the sleds then you are half way there. You are correct about the unit not responding with anything meaningful without the GOS. The GOS is stored on the hard drive and is stored on all four hard drives if one should fail. Some information is stored in flash, but not the GOS. As far as I know, the main GOS on all GOS units are stored on the hard drive. The flash is basically for recover mode and holding setting concerning your GOS configurations & etc.

bitor

[jfarrar42]

Great info, I will call Overland and see what the options are and will keep you posted. Thanks, John

[NicolasC]

Hello,
I have a Snap Server 4500 but I can't access to the download page for GuardianOS 5.2.056 at support Overlandstorage. Does someone could send me or give me a link for the download? Thank you.

[Max8]

Hi Nicolas,

GOS is not available for free, but it is inexpensive... you will need to buy a 12 month services for your 4500;
OVRSWM1ES4000 for approximately $120

Register yourself on the overland support portal then when logged in, register your SnapServer, if it does not work send an email with your details and the serial number of your Snap4500 to; warranty@overlandstorage.com and they will fix it for you…

Once registered successfully log into your portal select your Snap4500, click the “manage products” button, select your snap4500 then from the list on the right “renew warranty” button.

You should be able to generate a quote and pay for the service with a credit card.

[blue68f100]

The last I heard is that will not sell it to you unless you have your equipment re-certified. With is an additional $300 besides the fact you will need to send it to Overland.

I hope that have changed all of this for home users but probably not.

[Max8]

The most they have asked for from is a syswrapper to show the unit has no current issues but if you say you just want the os update... never heard of sending a unit back for re-cirtification, from australia it would be a $600 round trip!

It would be good to get your feedback Nic to see what the process is...

[Phoenix32]

It was more expensive than that the last time I did it (last spring).

[NicolasC]

Thank you for these informations

[kafuqua]

I have 2. A 14000 and I recently purchased a 520.

[sicko666]

Hell i have a Snap 18000 and a sexy looking 16 bay array ,had it over a year, and still cant get the bloody thing to work! Or rather talk to my 2 other "pc" servers with M$ on them.....
I wish i never wasted my money on the dam thing, its not supported any more, even if it was it would cost the earth every year it seems to install a working OS.Really i am not surprised Snap has had so many different owning companies i feel like i have paid good money for a dead horse!
Bah.....i bet a lot of you will now say how great Snap is, and maybe it is, but all i wanted was a good data server for home use to store TB's of animation and i thought this Snap sounded ideal and couldnt believe my luck when i got the array off of Ebay ( i am a poor person (declared bankrupt this year!) who just needed a decent storage library to save my hobbies creations.Little did i know i would have been better off buying thousands of dvds instead!

Er...sorry about my rant but its just so dam frustrating!

[kearmith]

I have, actualy, 2 SNAP 520 and one more on the way

4x 250 gb (1 tb) GOS 4.4
4x 250 gb (1tb) GOS 5.2 (on the way)
4x 500 gb (2 tb) GOS 4.1

I have ordered an extra Snap 520 on EBAY as beta test.

Because we have upgrade our domain and DHCP controler last summer and we have got some issue with Windows server 2008 R2

Also, I have ordered an 1 years services entliment with overland to install the last GOS on all SNAP (this is why I have buy a beta test). I hope it will work fine with thenew domain controler.

In the same time I will try to upgrade 2 of them at 8tb and kep the tird one for spare parts

We are running the 2 first snap for the last 6 six years and until server 2008 R2, we never got a problem with them. Espacialy if I compare with IBM, we are running. There are realy low cost of maintenance (compare wwith the IBM)

Sorry for my bad english

[sicko666]

We are running the 2 first snap for the last 6 six years and until server 2008 R2, we never got a problem with them. Espacialy if I compare with IBM, we are running. There are realy low cost of maintenance (compare wwith the IBM)

Sorry for my bad english

Thats the problem though ( for me anyway ), i purchased windows server 2003 second hand for "non commercial use" so it was a one off payment.It seems Snap demands a yearly payment! The other two servers i have are pc windows based and they work and run just fine, but they are sca scsi based so their capacity is so small they dont even get used these days. I did hope the Sata array ( £150 ) and then the ( £500+ ) 18000 server to use the array would answer my data storage problems......Little did i know there would be a EXTRA YEARLY fee on top, which i cant afford to pay, and i couldnt even if i had the money too as 18000 is not even supported anymore! Its not like i can even sell the things on as most people havent even heard of a Snap system ( i hadnt! )... What i wasted on these i could have used for a couple of sata nas boxes at least they would work.

Ps as for not speaking english, well i understood you perfectly, and i thank you for replying because its been over a year of me having this "junk" sitting in my bedroom and you have been the first person to reply to ANY of my desperate cries for help all over the net! Thank you kearmith

PPS do you have any experience dealing with a 18000 server?
I only ask because it turns on, boots DOS (or what ever it boots) and then just displays a screen saying that the keyboard can not access the system directly.I cleared the IP settings and any passwords via the motherboard ,and tried remote access using my windows pc's using a snap app and it discovers and displays all the information about the Snap but i still cant access the system remotely. I do not know why, or even how to fix it...I have never been blocked from accessing a pc system directly before as with windows you could always bypass a screwed up OS by using Dos but with Snap....

Lol it just sits there mocking me......

Systems that work:
Pc server 2003 Unknown make.
Pc server 2003 Compaq.
2 x 14 drive bay sca scsi arrays.
4 UPS systems, 2 with additional battery backups.
5 workstation windows pcs ( 4 very very old ) ( newest one 5years old! ).
That lot works, its the snap & snap array which i have problem with!!!!!

[blue68f100]

GOS when it boots it locks out the keyboard and mouse. You must access it via IPaddress or by servername. Download the Admin manual from Overland it will help you understand how they function.

[SaFeHeX]

Originally Posted by sicko666

I only ask because it turns on, boots DOS (or what ever it boots) and then just displays a screen saying that the keyboard can not access the system directly.I cleared the IP settings and any passwords via the motherboard ,and tried remote access using my windows pc's using a snap app and it discovers and displays all the information about the Snap but i still cant access the system remotely. I do not know why, or even how to fix it...I have never been blocked from accessing a pc system directly before as with windows you could always bypass a screwed up OS by using Dos but with Snap....

It sounds like your Snap is fully operational but you are just having problems accessing it.

When the "DOS" style screen shows to say the keyboard has been locked out, wait for a good couple of minutes after that for it to properly finish booting, before you try to access it via your browser.

I don't have an 18000 myself but i beleive they must be fairly similar in operation to the Snaps that i do have.

When i first got my own, i had similar problems accessing them as you describe BUT it was my own fault and lack of knowledge that was the problem.

One of the major problems i found in trying to access my first snap was that my firewall was blocking any access attempts without me realising.

Part of the confusion was like you describe, the snap application on a PC could find the snap server and all looked good and normal as you would expect but using the IP address in a browser to try and log into the snap failed.

I actually gave up with mine for a while too and it just sat there for a rainy day. That rainy day came when i was tinkering with some other servers i had and i thought i would give some more time to the snap and finally try and get it to do something other than power up.

The first thing i suggest is completely disable your firewall (i was running zone alarm) before attempting to connect. It's essential that NetBios can get full access, particularly while you figure things out.

Also like i said above, make sure that the Snap has fully finished booting. It's not uncommon for it to be a good 5 minutes or so depending on the model, the drive capacities etc, and how much "repair" the system may have to make to any corrupted filing system from hard shutdowns and the like.

I suspect your snap is probably fine, the fact that you are getting to the keyboard lockout screen is a good sign that it is booting with GOS and it's not completely dead. Give it a good few minutes after that before trying any browser access.

Make sure you know the exact IP address it's using and make sure you are using the correct subnet mask. The Snap IP address must be suitable and compatible with the rest of your network connections and PC's along with a suitable subnet.
IIRC i think i had to use it's IP address in the browser as it wouldn't let me in with it's SNAPxxxxxx name. If the subnet is wrong or the IP address in not compatible with the rest of your network then you're fighting a loosing battle before you start.

I am no expert on all this BUT i do feel your frustration as i've been there myself at first.

Be patient and perservere, try to tackle everything step by step and rule out as many things as possible. My biggest problem, i suspect was the firewall issue. I was convinced the firwall wasn't causing a problem but i was so wrong.

Everything else on my network i could get working but not the snap. It was quite bizzare and frustrating.

I got there in the end, maybe by pure fluke i don't know but don't give up on it. They really are very good units if you can just get past the teething troubles and the learning curve.

As i'm no expert, i'm sure there are many good folk here who can give you much better advice than i have and who may be able to help you with suggestions down the line as you try different things.

My own Snaps are not running at the moment, because i'm in the process of re-arranging my network setup and various other things when i get time but they do work and are fully useable when i actually switch them on. I'm glad i didn't give up on them and i hope you give it another good try too.

Goodluck and ask the good folk here for help as you go, after reading the manual and trying various things.

[sicko666]

SaFeHeX it sounds like you had Exactly the same problem as i have now, thank you so very,very, much for posting its a relief to know others had similiar problems and it wasnt just me!!!
I will try ALL what you have suggested might be the cause of my problems, and the solutions this wee!!!! Hopefully i will have a working Snap server by the end of it, ( lol i will not get too excited yet though, lol just incase! but i am quite confident you are right as it does sound absolutely identical in every single way!
Thank you SaFeHeX you may have ended months of absolute hair pulling!

[SaFeHeX]

Originally Posted by sicko666

Thank you SaFeHeX you may have ended months of absolute hair pulling!

No problem mate, I just hope disabling your firewall will help you gain access.

For reference i was using windoze XP Pro and browser was firefox.

You may need to find out how to reset all the passwords to default etc to be able to actually log in properly BUT regardless of what the passwords are set to at the moment you should atleast be able to get the snap homepage/login page up to verify that it's there and potentially accessable.

I read you reset everything using the jumper links inside the unit. This may not be all that's needed to reset the GOS passwords and IP settings but i'm fairly sure there is a procedure posted on here somewhere for doing the appropriate resets. (I just can't remember what the procedure is off the top of my head or where i read it)

Rather than clutter up this thread with your particular problem i'll keep an eye on the 18000 thread that you have posted in and see how you get on in there.

Goodluck man.

[kearmith]

Originally Posted by kearmith

4x 250 gb (1 tb) GOS 4.4
4x 250 gb (1tb) GOS 5.2 (on the way)
4x 500 gb (2 tb) GOS 4.1

UPDATE

We are running two SNAP 520 with an internal 8tb

There also working well with Windows server 2008 R2

IT's a really great thing to get the last GOS version (6.5.023) form OEVRLAND

If your running with a minimum of serious a room server, you have to get it.

Right now we are running two IBM X3250 as domain controler and DHCP server in redundancy. We are also running two SNAP 520 8tb internal in redundancy as archive. We are still using an old libray tape back uk off 200gb

The cost of the UPGRADE of our entire server room was under 10 000$ (IBM server, drive for Snap, Licences) where quiet for a couple of year at really low cost!

[kafuqua]

I have 3 520 Snap Servers. One, I use all the time, it is never shutdown. The second is something of a backup, but also used occasionally. The 3rd I recently purchased and have been working to get it up and running, is it came without hard drives.

[kearmith]

Originally Posted by sicko666

It seems Snap demands a yearly payment! The other two servers i have are pc windows based and they work and run just fine, but they are sca scsi based so their capacity is so small they dont even get used these days. I did hope the Sata array ( £150 ) and then the ( £500+ ) 18000 server to use the array would answer my data storage problems......!!!!!

Sorry for this so long delay in the anwser,

About upgrading to GOS 6.5.023 (probalby earlier now) You need to pay only one year of support. You gain acces to update in this time. And this what youd need. The snap doesn't work "online" and the license you paid for is permanent

[dnsplus]

anyone put drives bigger than 2TB in the GuardianOS units ?

I'd like to get 16 - 24 TB out of 1U

[KB3NZQ]

I have a Pair of 18000 with 30SA expanders all drives are 250GB looking to upgrade but funds are a issue. Both are running GuardianOS 5.2.067