Samsung SE-208BW Optical Smart Hub as a file and optical drive server for home and office (30 mins - 1 hour)

How I use the SE-208BW Optical Smart Hub.

For some people with prior knowledge of networks and systems, the Samsung Optical Smart Hub (ODD) can be confusing.

It certainly took me a couple of hours to configure, but once I knew its limitations, I had it sussed and it is now working sweet.

I use the device in the following way - SAMBA / FTP server on wired network. There is a hard drive attached to the smarthub. PCs and tablets can access files directly.

FEATURES I SWITCH ON / OFF after all is setup

WIRELESS - OFF
DLNA - OFF
SAMBA - ON
FTP - ON
iSCSI initiator - ON
I'll explain why later.



When powered up initially, this device will act as an SSID (wireless hub) so you here's the steps that worked for me in setting up this amazing device.

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
You will need

A Wired network to the internet. This is to receive the update files.
A PC / Laptop with wireless network adapter
A PC / Laptop with a Wired network connection.
Preferably 2 PCs - one for wired and one for wireless.
A copy of colasoft mac scanner - to check the device on your LAN
To know your ip address range on the wired network and have a spare ip address that you can assign to the device.

As long as you have these it will work well.

Steps to take
Make sure you can connect and setup the wired connection.
1. Power on the smarthub and wait until the power light stays on continuously. This can take up to 3 minutes.
2. Connect the PC with wireless to the smart hub - SSID will be as mentioned on the underside of the hub.
3. Run the software from the CD, or...

If like me you don't have a CD drive attached to your PC, check your IP address using IFConfig (Linux /OSX) or IPConfig (PC)

Your IP address will be something like 192.168.208.2 and the default gateway will be 192.168.208.1
This is the address to put into the browser now.

According to the manual, it says...
1. Run a web browser and enter http://smarthub in the address box.
2. When the Optical Smart Hub log-in page opens, enter your password.
There is no password set in the factory default state. When you connect to the Optical Smart Hub for the
first time, click the Login button without a password

This is how the smarthub names / refers to the networks

LAN - the wireless network exclusive to the smarthub
WAN - the wired network

Confused? I was. But not anymore.

SE-208BW USER MANUAL
http://org.downloadcenter.samsung.com/downloadfile/ContentsFile.aspx?CDSite=UNI_LATIN_EN&CttFileID=4949622&CDCttType=UM&ModelType=N&ModelName=SE-208BW&VPath=UM/201202/20120229112036462/SE-208BW_User_Manual_Eng.pdf

Now check the wired network - plug in the network cable into your switch and then the smarthub.
On the PC that has a wired connection, type http://smarthub or use colasoft mac scanner free to scan for new network devices and get the IP address from the entry that says SMARTHUB

An example setup.

Initially I chose the following configuration changes.

Keep the wireless / LAN settings the same.
WAN - Change the IP address to be fixed.
My IP addresses are typically 192.168.1.xxx so I gave my smarthub a WAN IP address of 192.168.1.54 (which I can easily remember as I think 54 is like SH)

Check that you can login using the new WAN IP address. Make Sure by connecting from a PC that has no wireless or disconnect wireless completely from the PC.

If you got to this stage, congratulations.

FIRMWARE UPGRADE - make sure no USB drives are connected. I toasted my USB Key, but not to worry as I had a backup ;-)

As long as your LAN (WAN according to smarthub) wired network has access to the internet, you can go ahead and now upgrade firmware. Takes about 10 mins max depending on your internet speed.



Making the device run cool.
The Samsung SE-208BW Optical Smart Hub can run really hot. Here's a way to cool it down.
Once I have everything up and running I switch off Wireless completely as I run my smarthub as a wired hard drive.

I also access files on my usb hard drive using my smartphone by installing ES File explorer.

Let me know if you need any further info.

Hope this info helps.
mark@hopgood.eu

Update -

I've started looking at the firmware with a view to  getting the most of smarthub.
So far I know that there is busybox and telnet.

Anyone know username password.?

Resolving disk space issues for backup with LVM2

When I look to assisting clients with their near line and off-site backups, I used to come across the issue of "disk creep". This is where a disk gets full, so another disk (USB or Network Attached Storage) is purchased. Eventually you have a succession of 4 or more backup disks with no real backup.

So the approach I have started taking is to use the previous 4 disks as a backup for the new bigger disk.




The idea is that disk capacities have grown and grown because of the adoption of spintronics, we are now able to have 1TB, 2TB - 4TB disks - many times more than 7 years previously.

In this example we have a new 2TB drive, 2 x 500GB Sata drives, a 300GB PATA IDE and a 500GB Pata IDE


Here are the steps I take.

1. copy all data to new drive.
2. verify data using beyond compare
3. in this case make a joined up disk using the old disks ~1.8TB which should be enough to backup the new drive

Joining the "old" disks using LVM

Firstly I use the smallest drive to install a 6GB partition for Lubuntu 64 - a lightweight linux ditribution.
I then leave 2GB for swap and format the rest as a primary partition as ext4 (292GB)

I do this on the 300GB PATA then I format the other disks (500GB) as ext4.

My aim is to create a volume called /buv/buv1 which will be 1.8TB

buv stands for Back Up Volume - you can call it something different if you want.

I open a terminal on the Lubuntu Machine (Ctrl-Alt-T)

Second thoughts - perhaps I should have put the OS on one of the SATA drives then I could have duplicated the OS in case of failure of one device.

Making my dvd-ram writable in Debian

Firstly

apt-get install dvd+rw-tools udftools

Then I knew my dvdram drive was /dev/sr0

Then I formatted - not sure if I needed to do this

# format dvd-ram (optional)
dvd+rw-format -force=full -ssa=default /dev/sr0

then I issued

mkudffs /media/cdrom


However mine was /dev/sr0

Then I mounted

mount /dev/sr0

then I mount as per

mount /mnt/dvdram

http://www.panticz.de/node/355
http://mandrivausers.org/index.php?/topic/45839-mounting-and-formatting-dvd-ram/

While you went to lunch, did a voltage spike eat your business?

This month I've been working on backup strategies which help businesses in the following situations.

1. Loss of business critical files / data

2. loss of business critical systems

3. loss of business critical connectivity

Now imagine if your business had lost data, connection to the internet / phones and email.

Not a problem if you can get everything back and running within 30 minutes.

Big problem if you lose your business.

According to Cloud backup the following facts relate to data loss

• The average failure rate of disk and tape drives is 100% – ALL DRIVES WILL EVENTUALLY FAIL.
• Only 34% of companies test their tape backups and, of those who do, 77% have found failures.
• 60% of companies that lose their data will go out of business within 6 months of the disaster.
• Over ½ of critical corporate data resides on unprotected PC desktops and laptops
• Key causes for data loss are:
1. 78% Hardware or system malfunction
2. 11% Human error
3. 7% Software corruption or program malfunction
4. 2% Computer viruses
5. 1% Natural disasters
6. 1% Other

• Only 25% of users frequently back up their files, yet 85% of those same users say they are very concerned about losing important digital data.
• More than 22% said backing up their PCs was on their to-do list, but they seldom do it.
• 30% of companies report that they still do not have a disaster recovery program in place, and 2 out of 3 feel their data backup and disaster recovery plans have significant vulnerabilities.
• 1 in 25 notebooks are stolen, broken or destroyed each year.
• Today’s hard drives store 500 times the data stored on the drives of a decade ago. This increased capacity amplifies the impact of data loss, making mechanical precision more critical.
• You have a 30% chance of having a corrupted file within a one-year time frame.
• Tape drives fail on average at 100%; that means ALL tape drives fail at some point and do NOT offer complete protection for your data if a natural disaster, fire, or terrorist attack destroys your office and everything in it. Business owners who were hit by hurricanes like Katrina learned a hard lesson about keeping remote backups of their data.
• 93% of companies that lost their data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster, and 50% filed for bankruptcy immediately. (Source: National Archives & Records Administration in Washington.)
• 20% of small to medium businesses will suffer a major disaster causing loss of critical data every 5 years. (Source: Richmond House Group)
• This year, 40% of small to medium businesses that manage their own network and use the Internet for more than e-mail will have their network accessed by a hacker, and more than 50% won’t even know they were attacked. (Source: Gartner Group)
• About 70% of business people have experienced (or will experience) data loss due to accidental deletion, disk or system failure, viruses, fire or some other disaster (Source: Carbonite, an online backup service)
• The first reaction of employees who lose their data is to try to recover the lost data themselves by using recovery software or either restarting or unplugging their computer — steps that can make later data recovery impossible. (Source: 2005 global survey by Minneapolis-based Ontrack Data

Wow, what a list. Anyway this months project has been to make the system work in the following scenarios.

1. Our local server goes down / blows up - we want access immediately.


2. Our building is unavailable - we want to carry on working.

Our approach is to have local and offsite resiliance. This means that if your building is offsite, workers can carry on by purchasing a PC or using a home PC and connecting via the internet.

How do we achieve this?

Here's the technologies we implement.

• Peer to peer synchronisation
• Virtualisation
• Cloud storage
• Cloud services
• Offsite email backup or server
• Offsite automated backup

All the work we do doesn't impact your day to day running of your business and we always make sure both old and new systems run alongside each other so that you can test your new ultra resilient business.

To book a consultation in confidence out of business hours, contact mark@hopgood.eu and a number to call and we can talk about your requirements.


Source
http://www.cloudbackup.uk.com/support/data-loss-statistics/

How to host a free unlimited website with no restrictions for free...

If you are a developer and want to get a website up and running quickly for testing,

there are a couple of options.

If you match any of these

1. You already have unlimited broadband to your building - home or office

2. You have a PC which you are prepared to run 24/7

Then you can host a website.

As a developer I like to set up a testing website for each new customer so that they can see what's possible before they go ahead with their main system. Perhaps you would like to avoid costs or restrictions imposed by your current host.

Here's a step by step way of getting your website up and running today.

1. choose an address. At iNumberz.com you can secure your name, i.e.

http://iNumberz.com/host/youraddress

one of my development websites is 

http://iNumberz.com/host/blue

2. Register your address by visiting the following address with your chosen details

http://iNumberz.com/host/update.php?iNumberz=[youraddress]&passphrase=[yourpassphrase]

e.g. 

http://inumberz.com/host/update.php?iNumberz=test&passphrase=test

Change [youraddress]  to your chosen website name such as IndiaRocks

Your passphrase is a secret only known to you. Make it as long as possible.

If you are not sure how to generate a long passphrase, use the excellent password tool at

http://hopgood.eu/password

Make sure you remember your address and passphrase - it's not currently possible to change at a later date.

3. Test your new website by visiting the following address

http://inumberz.com/host/[youraddress]

e.g.

http://iNumberz.com/host/test/

Any questions, please join the forum.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/freeserverhosting

Using raspberry pi to host a website

If you are a raspberry pi fan, did you know that you can host a website using your raspberry pi.

Using iNumberz host facility you can host a

If you have a raspberry pi and an internet connection, here are the steps.


1. Setup your raspberry pi using raspbian ( debian version for raspberry pi )

2. Make sure apache web server and ssh server are installed

3. Choose an iNumberz host, e.g. http://iNumberz.com/host/yourname

4. email mark@iNumberz.com to get yourname registered as an iNumberz host

5. Open port 80 and port 22 on your broadband firewall / router

6. Direct your friends to your new website...

http://iNumberz.com/host/yourname

working example of a website hosted from home using raspberry pi / debian

http://iNumberz.com/host/blue

Open Source Business - hosting a website using iNumberz and saving on hosting costs

!y

This is a test link

http://iNumberz.com/host/y