Tag: Mediaserver

Supported protocols

A computer or user can communicate with the CH3SNAS using a range of protocols.

Servers

• SMB/CIFS server
  This provides the basic file server functionality on the local-area network.
• FTP server
  This is mainly for allowing the files to be accessed via the Internet. Such access will normally require some configuration of the home router/gateway as general access from the outside to devices on the LAN is normally filtered by the gateway’s firewall function. A typical router (e.g. Linksys WRT54G) can be configured to direct incoming ftp requests (port 21) to the IP address of the NAS. The NAS, in turn, can be configured via the browser interface to only allow access to some directories, to request a user/password or to give only read access.
• Print server
  Technically this is part of the SMB/CIFS protocol suite. It allows the CH3SNAS to act as a print server on the local network.
• uPnP (Universal Plug-and-Play)
  This is a set of protocols which allows the CH3SNAS to be discovered as a source of multimedia (music, video, pictures) and to allow a uPnP-enabled rendering device such as a network-enabled video renderer to see and access the available media. Probably the most common current uPnP-enabled rendering devices are Windows PCs running Microsoft Media Player.
• iTunes server
  Essentially iTunes is, as a networking protocol, Apple’s proprietary counterpart to uPnP. Common iTunes rendering devices are computers running
• HTTP server (limited)
  There is a small HTTP server to generate and process the HTML forms used to configure the CH3SNAS. That configuration interface can be accessed via a web browser using a computer on the local-area network (or if desired – mind the security – from the Internet). This HTTP server process is known as “Webs” and is from GoAhead. Users interested in using an HTTP server for other uses should consider installing the Lighttpd package under fun_plug.
• DHCP server
  In case the CH3SNAS is used in a network without a DHCP server, the CH3SNAS can be configured to provided all devices with a unique IP-address. This will presumably be seldom used, but can help if you want to connect the CH3SNAS to, for example, a stand-alone laptop. The laptop sees a more or less fully functioning network without having to temporarily reconfigure the laptop to use static IP address.

Clients

• NTP client
  The CH3SNAS can use the Network Time Protocol to get the current time from NTP servers on the internet.
• DHCP client
  Although the CH3SNAS can be bound to a fixed IP address, it can also get its IP address from a local DHCP server.
• E-mail client
  The CH3SNAS can be configured to automatically send e-mail to its administrator to notify about certain events.
• FTP client
  The CH3SNAS can be configured to automatically download files at scheduled times from an FTP server.
• HTTP client
  The CH3SNAS can be configured to automatically download files at scheduled times from an HTTP server.

Client/server

• Telnet (requires fun_plug)
  The CH3SNAS contains support for establishing telnet sessions, whereby a remote user can login to the machine via an unsecure connection.
• SSH (requires fun_plug)
  SSH is a modern successor to telnet. SSH fixes security problems in telnet by encrypting traffic between both machines.

Available firmware and upgrades

Conceptronic regularly provides updates of the firmware (embedded software, or if you like: operating system and servers) inside the CH3SNAS. These are available for download at Conceptronic.net. Test versions (betas and “release candidates”) are also made available for a more technical audience.

You may want to see our overview on all versions to see the new features and if any major issues have been reported. There is also a guide on upgrading the firmware available here

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