What is the SSDS - eHD Net System ? What are its advantages ?

SSDS means Storage Service Delivery System which have been delivered from Storage Area Network (SAN) technology. Traditionally, LAN clients always suffer from problems dealing with system manageability, data loss due to hardware failures and virus infections. However, with Fine Appliance's eHD Net System, through the use of the eDC protocol, the OS and applications of the eDisk client systems are better safeguarded against data loss and provides much improved manageability. By using the eHD server and eDisk clients, significant cost savings can be realized from the increase in manageability, speed of installation of new applications and speed by which clients can be restored to working order.

What kind of technology does the SSDS - eHD Net System use ?

The SSDS - eHD Net System from Fine Appliance uses the proprietary eDC protocol to transmit / receive hard drive block data on the network for provisioning the operating system and applications to the clients. This allows the eDisk to be better managed centrally.

What operating systems does the SSDS - eHD Net System support ?

The SSDS - eHD Net System uses eDisk I & II clients. eDisk I clients supports Windows 95/98/98 SE/ME Operating Systems. eDisk II supports MS-DOS/Windows 95/98/98SE/NT/2000/XP, Linux/Unix & OS/2. However, through the use of Fine Appliance's technology, it should also be able to support ANY future operating systems.

Can the SSDS - eHD Net System work in the present network environment ?

The SSDS - eHD Net System should be able to work in most network environments which uses the Fast Ethernet protocol.

Is the SSDS - eHD Net System compatible with the any software out in the market ?

For software which has licensing protection, you might need to refer to the manufacturer of the software and install accordingly the appropriate licenses into the Base Image.

To have the optimal performance, if eDisk client Operating System is Windows 98, the recommended number of clients is 30 - 40 and if eDisk client Operating Systems are Windows 2000/XP/Linux, the recommended number of clients is 20 - 25.

Can more than one eHD adapter card be installed into a single eHD server ?

Currently we do not support more than one eHD adapter card in the eHD server. However, we might support this feature in the future.

Can I use a 10BaseT hub to connect to the eDisk clients ?

Yes, you can. However, to have a reasonable level of performance, we would recommend that a 100BaseT Switch be deployed on the network instead.

How can the eHD Net System server be backed up ?

It would depend on the type of interface to the hard drives used by the eHD. If the IDE controller interface is used, you can use the backup and restore functionality provided in our software. A hardware RAID-1/5 controller solution can also be used to provide data availability and backup.

If my eDisk client has no hard drive storage ? How can I store my data ?

As the SSDS system centrally manages your clients Operating System and Application availability. To best realize its capabilities, client user data should be stored in an external storage device through a connection of the USB Storage, COM, Network Attached Storage (NAS) or LPT ports.

Can I boot from my local hard drive if I have a local drive on my eDisk client ?

Yes, you will be able to boot from your local hard drive by pressing on the <Home> button on the keyboard during the eDisk boot up screen.

I have an eDisk client with faulty hardware and unable to start up the system. How may I retrieve any data of this eDisk client from the eHD server ?

(5) Restart the eHD to make sure that the new MAC addresses are permanently stored correctly on the eHD

Why do I keep having a Fine Appliance Logo followed by a “Search eHD” message whenever I power on my eDisk client ?

Please follow the following procedures:

(1) Kindly check if the eHD server is running in the eHD Manager mode

(2) Check if the network switch is powered on

(3) Check for any network cabling problems

(4) Check if there is a restriction set on the number of concurrent logons into the eHD Manager system.

(5) Is this particular eDisk client restricted from logging into the eDisk server either because the eHD server has been set to a “To Reject Logons” mode or the “Deny Unknown Clients” setting has been enabled or that the “Card Status” of this particular eDisk client has been set to disable.

Why is my eDisk client unable to log into the internet ?

Please follow the following procedures:

(1) Please kindly check that the TCP/IP settings are working correctly on your eDisk client and that the client is able to connect to the router. If so, please check the router.

(2) Please verify that the Internet connection through the IP Sharing/Switch/Router is working

(3) Verify that the ISP's connection is working properly

(4) Check if the eDisk client has an IP address conflict with another machine on the network. This could cause the eDisk client to be unable to access the network.

Why am I unable to go into the eHD Manager interface when I turn on my eHD server ?

(1) Kindly check the DOS version which which has been used during the FreeDOS upgrade process. If Windows ME Boot Disk was used, please perform the Free DOS update again after creating a Windows Boot Disk according to Appendix D.

(2) Please kindly check the BIOS settings of the eHD server whether it is set to boot from LAN or Network. Or that the On Board NIC has been enabled, if so, please disable the On Board NIC. You might have to perform a BIOS upgrade in order to address this problem.

(3) Check if there is any problems with the eHD adapter. If so, please change the eHD server card and rename the Faxxxxxx.TXT MAC address table file to that of the new eHD server card.

Why can't I see any new applications and data which has been installed into the client once I restart the system ?

Check the eHD Net System software on the eHD server to check if the Auto Goback feature has been enabled.

Why can't I use any of the F5/F9/F12 options set at my eDisk client in the eDisk client's boot menu ?

You will not be able to use any of the features like PRESET, Goback or Update Authorization when the features for them are set to OFF.

Why have all the configuration details and customized settings at my eDisk client updated through the Update feature have disappeared ?

Another reason is that the Image on the eHD has been re-installed or hidden thus causing the clients to re-register into the eHD as though for the first time.

Why do I get a “Load eHD Code Error” when I try to install the eHD Net System software on my eHD server ?

Please check if the hard drive has been partitioned based on the requirements set forth in the user manual? If the partitioning is done incorrectly, causing the Heap space to be insufficient, the eHD will not be able to load. If the hard drive has been incorrectly partitioned, a partition resizing tool may be used to non-destructively repartition the hard drive to the requirements set forth. As a rule, the Base Image should never exceed 33% of the total drive capacity.

What standards does the eHD card comply with ?

The eHD card complies to existing FCC, CE electrical standards. It is a 32bit PCI card for 100Mbit, and 64bit PCI card for 1000Mbit network connections. Please consider the suitable eHD card for your needs.

What are important details to look out for while setting up the Base Image in the eHD ?

The storage used by the eHD for the eDisk clients will be proportional to the number of clients on the eHD. Therefore, if there are large number of clients storing data into the eHD, it would cause the performance of the system to slow down significantly.

After the eHD Net System software has been installed on the eHD, using the “Setup from eDisk” function for installing the Operating System (ie. Windows 2000/XP) installation, when the installation prompts whether to retain the Partition Size/File System Format, please select “Yes” to continue the installation. After the installation of the eHD and restarting the eHD system; however, the prompt “eHD Net System Not Install Yet” appears, eHD would not be able to startup, and the system seems to boot up from the Base Image, how can the issue be resolved ?

(2) When prompted whether to Partition/File System Format, please select “No” to prevent this problem from occurring again.

eDisk clients does not have sufficient space to install any new software or store any data !

(4) Use the “Setup from eDisk” mode to setup the additional software and settings in the Base Image, thus allowing all the eDisk clients to share the software and data without additional disk storage.

How may the user setup new software for the eDisk clients ?

(2) Go back to the Base Image of the current eDisk client by selecting a MIS Preset. Proceed to boot up the eDisk client to make sure that it starts up without any problems. If it boots ok, proceed to install the new software and then go to the MIS functions and use the “Share Image” function to share a new Image for all other eDisk clients to use.

The eHD has been improperly shutdown, would it cause any damage on the data stored ?

Although the machine is able to recover from any loss of power or system hanging. It is however recommended to have an UPS attached to the eHD to increase its reliability.

After the eDisk has the display card, sound card and other drivers installed. Upon restarting the machine, the drivers do not seem to work. How do I fix the problem ?

This abnormal behavior is most likely due to incorrect hardware settings. Please kindly check the hardware if it is functioning properly or if the resources are allocated properly to it.

How would a new eDisk client be normally be registered into the eHD ?

(2) The total number of clients on the eHD might have been exceeded as the eHD has been set to be less than 60 clients. To address this, you will have to uninstall and re-install the eHD Net System software. However, you will lose all Heap data when you perform this action.

Why would creating a new Image using the Share Image function at the eDisk client seem to only work on the original eDisk client ?

This is probably due to the incorrect sequence for the invoking of the “Share Image” function. The “Share Image” function should only be performed when the required software to be shared has been installed for the information to be shared as a new Image to the other eDisk clients.

After the initial install, all the eDisk clients seems to perform normally, however, after a some time, the speed of the eDisk clients seems to slow down significantly !

(4) Take note of what has been changed since the initial install, perhaps some network or I/O intensive application (ie. Teach-Student system or Game Menu) is using up most of the bandwidth causing the eDisk clients to slow down substantially.

On an eDisk client which has a used up 3GB in its Operating System Image, when there is a requirement for installing an application of 1.5GB, after the installation, the system restarts with a blue screen. What is the cause of this problem and its solution ?

This is probably due to the fact that the eDisk client Heap on the system is full. The cause of the Heap being full is that there had been too many data changes which requires to be stored on the eHD. It is therefore recommended that for any large files which are subject to much change to be stored either on a local physical drive or across the network on a file server or Network Attached Storage (NAS) to prevent this problem from occurring again.

After eDisk clients are setup, it is shown that there is not sufficient storage available for the installation of new applications. How can new applications be installed ?

In order to address this issue, do the following. Uninstall applications which are not in use to free up more space. If necessary, you will have to change the size of the Base Image to accommodate the additional applications. However, note that all data will be destroyed when resizing the Base Image, therefore, make a backup of all the necessary data files before performing this operation.

After a “Setup from eDisk” operation, it is noticed that there is very little available disk space left. This causes the eDisk clients to operate very slowly. How can this problem be solved ?

In order to address this issue, do the following. Uninstall applications which are not in use to free up more space. If necessary, you will have to change the size of the Base Image to accommodate the additional applications. However, note that all data will be destroyed when resizing the Base Image, therefore, make a backup of all the necessary data files before performing this operation.

Why does all the eDisk clients start up with IP address conflicts the first time after installation ?

(2) Put the \FINEAC\TOOLS\IP2.EXE application in the C drive's AUTOEXEC.BAT file as described in Appendix E.

Why does all the eDisk clients start up with Computer Name conflicts the first time after installation ?

(2) Put the \FINEAC\TOOLS\IP2.EXE application in the C drive's AUTOEXEC.BAT file as described in Appendix E.

Why does the message “File allocation table bad, drive C %1” appear sometimes when the system is being started or restarted ?

(3) Check if the eDisk client has a floppy drive. If there is no floppy drive, please set the FDC controller to “Disable” and Drive A type to “none” in the BIOS. If there isn’t a setting to disable the FDC controller in the BIOS, please install a floppy drive into the client.

Why does the message “Missing Operating System” appears when the eDisk II client starts up ?

(2) If the other eDisk II clients does not have the same issue, this is probably due to a defect in the eDisk II card. Please return the card to the supplier or manufacturer for a replacement.

Why does the eDisk II client immediately show the “Missing Operating System” message without the Fine Appliance logo screen ?

This is probably due to a defect in the NIC chip of the eDisk II card. Please return the card to the supplier or manufacturer for a replacement.