User manual QUANTUM STORAGECARE GUARDIAN TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER

[. . . ] Specifications subject to change without notice. 2 StorageCare Guardian System Introduction This document describes the architecture, functions and operation of the Quantum StorageCare Guardian System. It is intended to help you understand how StorageCare Guardian operates within your environment and how it meets your technical requirements. It is also intended to address questions about key issues such as communication through firewalls, security, scalability and other technical and environmental obstacles to successfully achieving remote support. StorageCare Guardian System Overview The StorageCare Guardian System comprises a suite of software products that link Quantum to devices and enable remote service, monitoring and administration. [. . . ] Dynamic, Remote Configuration StorageCare Guardian is easily configured via a unique template mechanism. Templates created in StorageCare Guardian applications describe how each class of device is handled by the system, and contain information such as device ID, data and alarm types, schedules, files for uploading and processing, user interfaces and service or consumables parameters. Templates are used each time a device registers, reports data, and users log in, ensuring easy configuration of large numbers of products. The StorageCare Guardian System provides a secure download facility for automated distribution of software drivers, projects, feature upgrades or other files to distributed devices. Devices can either check periodically for an upgrade, or the command to upgrade can be included as a message for the affected devices. The upgrade process is fault-tolerant, ensuring that devices are not left in an intermediate state. Open to Standards Based on industry standards that make it a safe choice and give it the widest possible market reach, StorageCare Guardian employs widely supported, firewall-compatible Internet protocols and standards such as TCP/IP, HTTP and SMTP to communicate over the Internet. Web-architected browser interfaces are based on industry standard Java and HTML. The StorageCare Guardian Enterprise server is built on powerful and portable J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) application server technology and standard relational database solutions. Graphics, data interchange and file formats at the device, browser, and enterprise levels are based on XML. XML has enjoyed widespread adoption because of its simplicity, portability and self-describing nature. StorageCare Guardian supports interactions through XML-based standards such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), a standard for encoding remote API calls in XML that can be transferred through HTTP. As an open platform, StorageCare Guardian can connect directly to the device's APIs or, alternatively, can utilize standard data protocols such as OPC (OLE for Process Control) or SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). Use of standards makes StorageCare Guardian very portable at both the embedded and enterprise levels. StorageCare Guardian Agents can be hosted on a variety of embedded operating systems such as Windows (NT, 2000, CE), Linux and ThreadX as well as a number of popular CPUs including x86, ARM, SH3, SH4, MIPS and PowerPC. The StorageCare Guardian Enterprise server supports popular server platforms including Windows NT, XP, 2000 and Solaris. StorageCare Guardian Architecture StorageCare Guardian is based on a distributed architecture with software intelligence at all levels. At the device level, StorageCare Guardian Agents are designed specifically to exchange data between the Enterprise server and devices. Agents can be designed into the current software of the machine or retrofitted to an existing machine through a "black box" add-on approach. StorageCare Guardian Agents communicate with the device and process the information received. This prevents having to send all of the information across the Internet for processing, reducing the amount of 4 StorageCare Guardian System communication bandwidth required and allowing the system to operate even if the Internet connection is not available. The StorageCare Guardian Enterprise server provides the central clearinghouse and processing center for all of the information flowing through the system. [. . . ] The StorageCare Guardian Agent includes the functionality and XML processing needed to perform two-way FirewallFriendly communication between groups of local devices the Quantum Enterprise server. A single StorageCare Guardian Agent supports multiple device types and communication protocols, aggregating device data into a single XML information flow to the StorageCare Guardian Enterprise server. The agent communicates to devices using serial or network communication protocols to access valuable device information. For more information, visit quantum. com United States of America Quantum Corporation 141 Innovation Drive Irvine, CA 92612 U. S. A. phone 949. 856. 7800 fax 949. 856. 7799 European Headquarters Quantum Corporation 3 Bracknell Beeches Old Bracknell Lane West Bracknell Berkshire RG12 7BW United Kingdom phone +44 1344 353500 fax +44 1344 353510 Asia Pacific Quantum Storage Singapore Pte Ltd 9 Temasek Blvd. [. . . ]