Cisco Storage Technology Helps Makes Small Business IT Easier

by P. J. Connolly

Cisco’s NSS 300 Series devices present an attractive alternative to the larger-ticket solutions that have been the norm for multiterabyte data storage.

The NSS 300 Series storage devices have as a standard feature dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, four USB ports and two eSATA interfaces; the VGA port is only used during device recovery.

The features of the NSS 300 series are easily accessed through the browser-based management interface.

The NSS 300 Series of devices includes a set of applications that take advantage of the networking and storage features of the device family.

It’s almost child’s play to configure the NSS 300 Series as network storage for other clients, or to set up fundamental network management and presentation services.

This pane of the management interface gives a one-stop view of key network services that the NSS 300 Series devices can provide.

It’s possible to fine-tune the thresholds that activate the fan of the NSS 324 for exceptional CPU or disk conditions.

This management pane monitors the physical disks in an NSS 300 Series enclosure, and allows the scanning of individual disks when an error is suspected.

Shops that use SNMP management tools will appreciate the ability to remotely monitor the NSS 300 Series for informational, warning or error conditions.

The NSS 300 Series can be set up to act as a central repository for USB devices, or to burn a master image at the touch of a button.

It’s easy to set up the NSS 300 Series to back itself up to another device connected through the eSATA or USB ports on the rear of the device.

The one-touch USB copy function of the NSS 300 Series is accessed through a button at the lower left of the device; the power on/off button won’t force a shutdown if accidentally pressed.