EtherShare G8 User manual (Version 7.0.0)  
 

8 EtherShare client applications

8.1 HELIOS Permissions

The HELIOS Permissions tool allows changing the server file and folder permissions in the Finder of a connected Mac workstation. This omits the need to do it directly on the server via command line.

Users with administrative rights can also change owner and groups for files and folders and their permissions. Creating “Drop Folders” and recursive permissions changes are also supported (see pop-up menu in Fig. 8.2).

Note:

Since it handles UNIX permissions, the HELIOS Permissions tool only works with UNIX-based servers. It supports files and folders in HELIOS volumes. When editing local files you will receive an error message (“Some items were skipped”).

8.1.1 Features

Regular users

Apart from their own files, users cannot change owner or groups of a file or folder, or their permissions. This is only possible for “root” or members of the “SysAdm” group.

However, users can change the group membership of a file or folder they own to any group they are member of.

“root” and members of the “SysAdm” group

In addition to the owner and mode settings, “root” and members of the “SysAdm” group can also change the group membership of a file or folder to any existing group.

8.1.2 Installation

hsymInstruction

Mount the “HELIOS Applications” volume and open “MacOS > EtherShare Tools”.

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Open the “HELIOS Permissions” folder, double-click the “HELIOS Permissions.pkg” package file and follow the instructions for installation.

The HELIOS Permissions tool (“HELIOS Permissions.service”) gets installed in “/Library/Services”.

8.1.3 Usage

Inspect and change permissions
hsymInstruction

To inspect the permissions of a server file right-click on the name and select Services > HELIOS Permissions.

A window displays the permissions for the owner and the group as well as for everyone (see Fig. 8.1). Changes become active immediately.

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Select the desired permissions from the corresponding pop-up menu.

Change owner or group
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To change the owner of a file or folder type the new owner name into the text field.

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Press the TAB or RETURN key to apply the changes.

HELIOS Permissions

Fig. 8.1: HELIOS Permissions

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To change the group of a file or folder select the group name from the pop-up menu.

If it is a folder, the window contains the additional ICON menu (see Fig. 8.2).

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Choose Apply Drop Folder permissions if you wish to make the selected folder a “drop folder”. A drop folder merely allows moving or copying items into it but does not provide read or write permissions (except for the owner of the drop folder).

Instead of using the Apply Drop Folder permissions option, you can assign drop folder permissions for “Group” or “Everyone” individually by selecting Write only (Drop Box) from the pop-up menu.

Additional
options for folders

Fig. 8.2: Additional options for folders

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Select Apply to enclosed items... if you wish to apply the folder privileges to all files and subfolders within this folder (see Fig. 8.3).

If the selected folder contains many objects, this can take quite some time.

Note:

You must be allowed to make changes on a folder. Otherwise the ICON menu is not available in the permissions window.

Apply permissions to enclosed items

Fig. 8.3: Apply permissions to enclosed items

8.2 HELIOS TCP Printer driver

The HELIOS TCP Printer driver is described in 6.3 “HELIOS TCP Printer”.

8.3 HELIOS Admin application

The HELIOS Admin application is described in 3 “HELIOS Admin”.

8.4 The HELIOS Meta plug-in

The “HELIOS Meta” plug-in allows OS X users to add and edit file comments for files and folders residing on mounted HELIOS volumes. These comments work cross-platform, i.e. they can also be added and edited:

OS By HELIOS Meta plug-in By operating system
Mac OS 9 hsymCheckMark
OS X hsymCheckMark

Table 8.1: OS and file comments management

8.4.1 Installation

hsymInstruction

Mount the “HELIOS Applications” volume and open “MacOS > EtherShare Tools”.

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Open the “HELIOS Meta” folder, double-click the “HELIOS Meta.pkg” package file and follow the instructions in the installation menu.

The plug-in is installed as “HELIOS Meta.service” in “/Library/​Services”.

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Log out from OS X and log in again.

The “HELIOS Meta” plug-in is now ready to use.

8.4.2 Adding, viewing, and editing file comments from within OS X

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To add a file comment to a file or folder, right-click on the file or folder name and select the Edit comment or Services > Edit comment item from the pop-up menu.

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In the “HELIOS Meta” window highlight the file or folder that you wish to add a comment to, make a double-click in the “Comment” column (Fig. 8.4) and enter your comment. Then click with the mouse outside the editable field, e.g. on the file name, and close the dialog window. In the same way, existing comments can be edited.

File comment in OS X

Fig. 8.4: File comment in OS X

8.4.3 Adding, viewing, and editing file comments from within Mac OS 9

hsymInstruction

In the Mac OS 9 Finder highlight the desired file or folder and open “File > Get Info > General Information” to edit the comment.

8.5 HELIOS LanTest

HELIOS LanTest is a tool for testing and measuring the performance of file system and print system services. It offers detailed evaluations for file and record locking on file server volumes, as well as for many typical file system operations. LanTest results can be used to find bottlenecks, for troubleshooting, or just for maintenance purposes.

Mac Finder copy block size

The Mac automatically increases the Finder copy read/write block size up to several megabytes, until there is no additional performance gain, and continues with the most stable performance. This is a dynamic process. HELIOS LanTest uses a static block size during the entire test depending on the selected network speed, e.g. for Gigabit networks it uses 128 kByte buffers (see Table 8.2). The HELIOS LanTest approach is more realistic because no application uses a dynamic adjustment and there is no API doing so automatically. Another reason is that HELIOS LanTest should measure the network performance and the server latency and doing super large block sizes would not include the server latency. Network and server may be capable to offer additional performance when multiple threads are reading/writing in parallel and when super large blocks are being used. However, this is not realistic because it causes drawdowns on slower network connections and limited network switch buffering as well as limited socket I/O buffers on the server and client.

Network Block size Test file
Slow networks, e.g. Standard Ethernet/DSL 32 kBytes 3 MB
Fast networks, e.g. Fast Ethernet 64 kBytes 30 MB
Very fast networks, e.g. Gigabit Ethernet 128 kBytes 300 MB
Enterprise networks, e.g. 10 Gigabit Ethernet 1024 kBytes 3000 MB
Backbone networks, e.g. 40 Gigabit Ethernet 4096 kBytes 12000 MB

Table 8.2: Block sizes used in HELIOS LanTest

HELIOS LanTest dialog

Fig. 8.5: HELIOS LanTest dialog

The HELIOS LanTest tool is available in the “HELIOS Applications” volume in MacOS > EtherShare Tools > HELIOS LanTest.

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Double click “HELIOS LanTest.dmg” and copy the “HELIOS LanTest.app” to your Mac.

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Start HELIOS LanTest (Fig. 8.5). From the File menu select Choose Test Volume... and click the Choose button.

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Next, click on the Network pop-up menu, and select the network type you are connected to (Fig. 8.6). Depending on the network specified in this window, LanTest determines the test load, i.e. the size of test files that are processed at a time.

This makes sense because Fast Ethernet (100 Mbit/s) networks have a higher data throughput than the standard Ethernet (10 Mbit/s). Gigabit Ethernet reaches a data throughput of up to 1 Gbit/s (1000 Mbit/s), 10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 10 Gbit/s (10000 Mbit/s), and 40 Gigabit Ethernet up to 40 Gbit/s (40000 Mbit/s).

Other settings dialog

Fig. 8.6: Other settings dialog

8.6 HELIOS Spotlight search

Spotlight searches range from simple queries to complex combinations of attributes. Search options may include Boolean logic (and/or/not), quoted phrases, keywords and values, and range support. For details refer to the HELIOS Index Server user manual.


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HELIOS Manuals September 10, 2020