| Article Index |
|---|
| LaCie 2big network Review |
| Specifications |
| External Appearance |
| Basic Functionality |
| Advanced Functionality |
| Performance |
| Is The LaCie 2big for me? |
| Conclusion |
| All Pages |
The LaCie 2big ticks all the boxes for basic NAS functionality.
You get your Windows clients, your OSX clients and your BSD and Linux clients all talking to the same data. Security is handled well with both user and group security available, and the LaCie can also hook into a Microsoft Active Directory environment if you don't want to re-create all your users and groups.
All the administration is carried out using a standard (script-enabled) web browser. Console access (telnet and Secure SHell) are both disabled, so unless the web browser interface supports what you want to do, you're out of luck.
The overall look of the LaCie's web interface is washed out - all the colours are subtle and pastel is the order of the day.
The interface is extremely simple, too - there are just 8 primary options (three of which are for the primary function of the NAS - Users, Groups and Shares). I have the default Users and Groups defined because the NAS is joined to the Active Directory, and I've defined two new shares for Music and Movies.
The small blue dot on the right of each share shows that it is operating normally; the colouring matches the lights for the disks and the NAS itself.
Adding or changing a user is simple - only the username is required (the password can be blanked out by clearing the password checkbox). The Shares tab and the Member of tab allow the administrator to make the new user a member of a group or grant immediate access to a share with a few additional clicks.
Adding or changing a group is even simpler. Again, the Shares tab makes an appearance so that the new group can access a share with two additional clicks.
Adding or changing a share however does not continue the theme - a small amount of information to create or edit, but no access to the two related functions (in this case, granting access to users and groups).
The UI flows very well for common tasks (adding or changing users and groups), with the administrator able to work in the method that makes most sense for the task at hand. A new user can be granted access to a number of shares or placed in a number of groups. It is a small oversight that the Share functionality does not work the same way.
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