Re: [cobalt-users] Gateway's Cube [LONG]

[Malcolm McLeary <mim@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Rick,

On 1/4/00 3:31 AM, Rick Probst <rp@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Has anyone looked at Gateway's new Linux appliance?  Don't let the color
>throw you off. It looks very "Qubish"...........

I had a Gateway Micro Server for a week and its a great product, but I 
never had any doubts as I've already been sold on the Cobalt Qube concept.

What are the differences and where does it need more work (IMHO) ...

On power up the unit will try for a DHCP address, but will default to 
192.168.100.1 if it can't get one.  The Qube2 needs the owner to enter 
address details manually.  This means a Qube2 owner needs to know about 
TCP/IP just to get it going.

Gateway provides a companion CD which is really for clients not the 
server.  They assume that the Windows clients are not setup and it has a 
"Wizard" to install Windows networking, OE 5.0 and IE 5.0.  It finally 
launches IE with the url;

     <http://microserver.local/.cobalt/wizard/intro.html>

so the Micro Server can be configured.  This process should address most 
of the initial problems I've heard some Qube2 owners have had.

The GUI generally maintains the Cobalt colour scheme ... just the names 
and icons have changed.  ;-)

There is a minor interface change with an additional button for 
configuring email, but the funtionality is simply available via a 
different "path" on a Qube2.

Telnet is not a access option, but can be enabled via "maintenance mode" 
for 1 hour at a time via the LCD.  Supporting telnet as "maintenance 
mode" not only increases security but it will also discourage most owners 
from tampering.

Groups can't have quotas > 10000 which is a minor issue with the home 
group as it had by default the free space on the 20Gb disk.  Hence I 
couldn't add users to that group until I reduced the allocated quota.

The built-in modem works great, although I'd like some feedback on 
connection speed and I like Tx and Rx LEDs just to confirm activity ... 
external modems have some advantages.  Mind you I've had problems with 
external modems and Qube2s so I've played it safe and installed WebRamps, 
Sonic Bandits, etc to do the internet connection thing.

File Sharing ... appears to be as per the Qube2.

It has the "change user quota - corrupt SMB password" bug.  :-(

It doesn't have the "Netatalk file modification time" bug.  :-)

Backup ... well its the same as the Qube2 and hence the built-in backup 
process can't be used realistically.  As you know there are two basic 
options ... manual and scheduled.  In both cases you have the same 
options; everything, server configuration, user and group files, user by 
selection, or group by selection.  

The options initially seem ok for an "as required" manual backup, but 
backups cannot be done manually in the long term ... it has to be 
automated else it doesn't get done.  The problem with the scheduled 
backup is that you can only schedule 1 backup ... so to protect your data 
the ONLY choice is "everything" with some timeframe for changes.  Backup 
files (*.qub) are uniquely named by the system so whoever is doing the 
backup must manage where the files are stored as the Micro Server will 
not automatically replace the previous backup file.

Data size is a real problem ... what the built-in process does is tar up 
the selection, compress it, then transfer it somewhere either via the web 
brower if done manually or via the selected method if scheduled.  In all 
but trivial backups, the web browser will timeout before the backup file 
is ready for transfer (i.e. it will fail).  Since you need to have 
sufficient free disk space on the Micro Server to hold the backup before 
it is transferred you can NEVER use the available disk space for data ... 
it must remain at least half empty (i.e. a 10Gb disk has only 5Gb of 
usable space, a 20Gb disk has only 10Gb of usable space).  I've also 
heard (and experienced) that there is a 2Gb limit on the .qub files so 
"full" backups generally fail anyway once a system holds a reasonable 
amount of data.

Legato ... never used it with a Qube2, never considered its use due to 
cost.  IMHO it is unlikely to be the solution of choice for the Micro 
Server market.

Using standard Windows backup software to "protect" the SMB shares is the 
only option left.  I have never got ARCserve or Backup Exec to work with 
SMB shares and lurking on the SAMBA List indicates that I'm not alone.  
Apparently some have got it to work, but it required some  not so obvious 
changes to smb.conf ... I am not prepared to tamper that much.

Retrospect Backup for Windows works great, but only for the group shares. 
 Personal (home) shares can be done if you know a user password.  The 
work around requies /home/users to be setup as an SMB share with admin as 
the ONLY user.

Restore ... this is what really counts when it comes to backup.  I don't 
like the built-in solution at all ... it is far to inflexible and far to 
easy to replace things which don't need to be replaced (i.e. it can 
easily make the situation worse).  I have used the built-in capability to 
create backup files, to restore I use other desktop tools to open up the 
backup file and extract the required file, then put it back where it 
needs to go manually.  I have not found a Windows solution to do this ... 
I use Unstuffit for MacOS ... it can deal with gzip and tar after the 
Cobalt header info has been removed.

Mailing Lists ... appear to be the same, it still has the "reply-to" 
address hardwired to the "list" ... I'd prefer replies to go to the 
originator or provide a check box so lists can be set up as the owner 
wants.  You have to change config files or tamper with a perl script to 
fix this.

Firewall ... haven't really had a chance to try it out.  It would appear 
to be still missing port mapping.  I generally don't have a problem 
because I put a WebRamp, Sonic Bandit, etc in front of a Qube2 and these 
devices support port mapping.  What the current situation assumes is that 
the Micro Server is the ONLY device to be accessed from the internet ... 
what if you had an NT box running FileMaker Pro and you wanted the Web 
Companion to be visible from the internet?  Port mapping really is 
essential if you are using NAT.

SNMP ... same as a Qube2 and totally useless without some documentation 
on what can be monitored.  How hard would it be to document the MIB 
(Management Information Base) ... someone had to write the SNMP Agent, so 
someone must know what can be monitored.

Web Caching Server ... this is new, but there is next to no detailed 
information on what it does.

Service Status ... as with the Qube2, the only service which provides any 
feedback more detailed than "yes its running" is the Web Service.  It 
would be nice if Samba and Netatalk could list the currently connected 
users, Email could display what is in the queue and alike, DHCP could 
list client details, and the Web cache could display some statistics to 
justify its value.

The manual is thicker and a more detailed, but still of little use when 
the system sends admin one of those bizzare little email messages.  It is 
still in the category of "if you know what you are doing, you don't need 
the manual ... if you don't know what you are doing the manual is of 
little help".

IMHO its a black Qube2 with some nice "fixes", new features, a built-in 
modem and a bigger disk.

The only remaining question is support ... Cobalt were very responsive 
back in Nov/Dec 98, but time to respond has increased dramatically and 
the quality of answers has reduced significantly (like getting blood from 
a stone sometimes!).  Cobalt and the Cobalt-Users list seems to focus on 
the RaQ series of hardware ... Qube owners appear to be ignored or 
treated as 2nd class owners.  It is also possible that RaQ owners are 
more adventurous and hence have more problems.

A Tech Support guy at Cobalt recently wrote to me when I questioned the 
fact that the Qube2 Netatalk bug is not present in the Gateway Micro 
Server ... 

>the Gateway Microserver is a totally different product than the Qube 2, 
>and there was no "fix" for the Gateway Microserver, that is the default 
>install, and to reiterate any software that is on the Gateway Microserver, is
>not easily transfered to a Qube 2, many things are handled differently in 
>the UI and in the underlying software.

I don't think its all that different to a Qube 2, but I prefer Cobalt 
Blue to Black.  Is colour important ... just ask an iMac or iBook owner.  
;-)

Cheers,  Malcolm

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