Configuring ClarkConnect

You'll now need to log into the ClarkConnect web configuration system. ClarkConnect uses a console + surf-in user model (FreeNAS does too). What I mean by this is that when you boot up ClarkConnect from an ISO CD you need a monitor and a keyboard attached to your desktop computer. The console allows you to configure the Ethernet card for this project. Then to configure the Samba share, you need to go to another PC, and surf-in to the ClarkConnect box.

This can be disorienting if you have not built servers before. I know it was a struggle for me. I had to invoke the, "I don't get it. I'd better leave this until tomorrow" rule before I understood there were two places to configure ClarkConnect. Server folk are used to remote administration, they use KVM switches to control machines remotely. As a home user building a first server, the console+surf-in model was confusing. So again, to sum up:

• To set up the CC NAS network: Use the Anaconda installer and the character based console.

• To set up Samba share after you've installed the software and gotten the CC NAS on your network: Surf-in via another computer.

The default surf-in address for ClarkConnect is https://192.168.2.36:81. Note that the above address uses secure http. If you don't put "s" on the end of your http you won't get in. If you don't put an :81 on the end of your web address, you won't get in.

If you have the address right and you don't get in, check the console of the CC box and make sure you have a static IP address. If the IP address is correct and you still can't get in, then check how many Ethernet cards are listed in the CC console. If you have two Ethernet cards, you most likely are suffering from Ethernet card jumping.

When you have two Ethernet cards in a ClarkConnect server, the Ethernet ports "jump" between IP addresses. Even though you configure each network card with an IP address in the RedHat Anaconda set-up program, the cards still have a 50% chance of having the wrong configuration.

Ok, you are in. What do you see? Figure 1 shows the first ClarkConnect screen you will see. Login as root and use the password you set during the Anaconda installation process. If you took the time to write down your user names and passwords, this should be the bottom password on your note.

Figure 1: Initial ClarkConnect screen (click to enlarge)

After you log in, ClarkConnect shows you the networking setup by default. Figure 2 shows the default networking setup on my machine. This screen will match the data values you see on the ClarkConnect Console. You can see the IP address of the gigabit Ethernet adapter is 192.168.2.36. You can also see all the menus available in the second blue row from the top. The control menus extend to the right of Home Edition 3.2.

Figure 2: ClarkConnect Dashboard screen (click to enlarge)

Tags: DIY NAS, How To, NAS, Ubuntu,

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