| AIC XN 100 WSS Storage Server |
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Testing the Product
Once we had plugged in the network and power cables we had to check the DHCP Server to determine which IP Address the device obtained. Remote Desktop to that IP with the default user name and password worked just fine. IIS is not turned on by default, at least not on our test server. This being the case you cannot manage the server via a web browser. As TechwareLabs planned to implement this to a client in a test environment, we did not configure too much on the device at first, just a thorough inspection. The WSS Server has three network connections two of which are gigabit Ethernet. This allows for built-in fail over and load balancing. The front LCD provides administrators with some basic information about the system and allows for simple configuration changes.
One important note is that the power supply fan on this model is louder than expected. When we agreed to do this review we had planned on loaning this unit to a client without a dedicated server room. After hearing the fan, we had to change which client would be testing this unit. Small businesses where the servers and networking equipment sit next to an employee’s desk could not use this model. Instead we decided to take it to a law firm client with a server room with closing and locking door. We plugged the unit into their network, setup a shared folder and mapped everyone to it. After a little testing to make sure all was good we told them to have fun with it and that we would pick it up in a few weeks.
A few weeks later we returned to check on things. We found most of the employees were using it to stream music and hold files and such. This is what we expected as it might not be staying in their environment and should not have any important documents on it for that reason alone. We copied their files to their Small Business Server and then began some testing of our own. We installed Symantec Backup Exec 10d client on the WSS Server and ran a backup from Backup Exec Console on the Small Business Server to LTO-2 tape drive which worked like a charm. With two USB ports, it could also be backed up to External USB hard drive to be taken offsite in case the client / user didn’t want to buy expensive tape drives.
Our feedback from the users was very positive, stating that the device was both handy as external storage, for file sharing, and also very fast compared to their "normal" shared drives on the server.
(Click on the pictures for larger images)
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