LOOQS MeeBox MB201, User Manual

Page 1: ...LOOQS MeeBox Router MB201 User Guide ...

Page 2: ...requency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to tr...

Page 3: ...ur MeeBox s Network Settings 16 Step 5 Check Internet Connectivity 17 Adding user accounts 18 Part 3 Using Your MeeBox 19 Using your MeeBox as a UPnP media server 20 Copying files into the media folder 20 Managing the media server 21 Understanding scan options 22 Enabling disabling the media server 23 Using your MeeBox as an iTunes server 25 Enabling the iTunes server 25 Copying music to your MeeB...

Page 4: ...Topics 43 Accessing your MeeBox remotely 44 Setting up Dynamic DNS 44 Using the web file browser 44 Accessing files on your MeeBox remotely using FTP 45 Accessing files on your MeeBox remotely using Secure FTP 47 Setting up a website 49 Uploading website files to the server 49 Editing web server configuration files 50 Forwarding incoming connections 51 Introduction to port forwarding 51 Choosing a...

Page 5: ...ices 63 Viewing storage reports 63 Using the disk utility 63 Managing a RAID array 64 Updating your MeeBox s software 66 Accessing your MeeBox s command line interface 68 Executing commands with elevated privileges 69 Product Registration 70 Warranty 71 Copyright 74 Licensing 75 ...

Page 6: ...ulations on acquiring your MeeBox Router the most versatile media server in the world Before you begin using your new MeeBox please read the following pages to familiarize yourself with important facts about the product Part 1 ...

Page 7: ...our sides Do not place the server where it could be exposed to high temperature or direct sunlight Do not put wet or heavy objects on top of the server Do not install or leave the server its power cable or LAN cables in areas of heavy foot traffic Do not install the server in areas of high humidity bathrooms and areas exposed to rain or splashing water Keep the server out of reach of infants and y...

Page 8: ...rt 4 x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports 802 11 b g Wi Fi Expansion ports 2 x USB 2 0 support drives printers memory card readers External drive support FAT32 NTFS XFS ext2 ext3 Internet services HTTP WebDAV FTP SFTP Telnet SSH POP SMTP Samba OpenVPN Dimensions 40mm x 435mm x 210mm HWD Weight 2 5kg lbs with 1 HDD Power Adapter input 90 200V AC 50 60 Hz Adapter output 12V DC 3A Max power consumption 24W C...

Page 9: ...User Guide LOOQS MeeBox Router What s in the Box MeeBox media server AC adapter power cord Ethernet cable mounting screws for second internal drive except two drive models Setup CD User Guide Quick Start Guide ...

Page 10: ... second to turn your MeeBox off Wireless LAN Status Indicator Lights up when there is activity on the wireless network HDD Activity Indicator Blinks when the internal hard drive is being accessed USB Status Indicator Lights up when a USB device is attached Internet Status Indicator Lights up when your MeeBox has a valid WAN connection ...

Page 11: ...ed clients here Factory Reset Button Using a thin object such as a straigtened paper clip push this to reset all settings to factory defaults USB 2 0 Ports Connect external USB drives memory card readers and or a USB printer here DC Input Plug the external power supply in here Antenna Mount Screw your MeeBox s antenna in here ...

Page 12: ...eeBox please substitute the hostname MeeBox local The table below gives Macintosh equivalents for Windows addresses and hostnames referred to in this user guide Windows Mac OS X http meebox http meebox local http meebox 8090 http meebox local 8090 MeeBox for FTP or SFTP MeeBox local MeeBox for Telnet or SSH MeeBox local Note The local suffix is not necessary when accessing your MeeBox through SMB ...

Page 13: ...Setting Up Your MeeBox Setting up your MeeBox is easy The following pages will get you up and running in a jiffy Part 2 ...

Page 14: ...ght click the Local Area Connection icon and then click Properties 3 On the General tab find the box labeled This connection uses the following items and scroll down the list until you see Internet Protocol TCP IP Double click Internet Protocol TCP IP 4 Make sure the options Obtain an IP address automatically and Obtain DNS server address automatically are selected see Figure 1 and then click OK 5...

Page 15: ...modem s Ethernet port and the other end into the WAN port on the back of your MeeBox see Figure 3 3 Connect your MeeBox s AC adaptor to the power port on your MeeBox and plug the adaptor into an electrical outlet 4 Turn your modem on Wait until the modem s Internet light is steady before continuing 5 Turn your MeeBox on by pressing the power button on the front Figure 3 ...

Page 16: ...ur MeeBox open a browser window In the address bar type http meebox 8090 and press Enter 2 Log in with username admin and password meebox You will be prompted to change the admin password After doing so click Network in the menu on the left side of the page see Figure 4 3 Change the network settings as necessary and then click Save In most cases you can leave the WAN mode set to Dynamic IP your Me...

Page 17: ...er which is connected to your MeeBox can connect to the Internet Try visiting a Web site in your browser If you cannot access the Web you may need to change your MeeBox s network settings To do so open your web browser go to http meebox 8090 log in as admin with password meebox click MeeBox Settings and click Network on the menu ...

Page 18: ...k Users see Figure 5 3 Under Add Edit User enter a username a password and optionally a description in the provided fields 4 If you want to limit how much internal disk space the user can occupy select Enable disk quota and enter the limit in MB 5 Click Save 6 Repeat steps 3 6 for each user you want to create Later if you wish you can create shared folders called shares and decide which users can ...

Page 19: ...Using Your MeeBox Your MeeBox offers a wealth of functionality This chapter will help you get the most out of the product Part 3 ...

Page 20: ...ectly in the media folder or in other subfolders of the media folder that you create the media server will recognize and serve them without problems If you wish you can rename the subfolders as desired or even delete them However please do not rename or delete the media folder itself The media server checks for new files in the media folder and its subfolders every five minutes by default You can ...

Page 21: ...ng scanned by the media server add or remove scanned folders change the scanning interval and more Listing found media files Media files that have been found by the media server are listed when you click Database The media server automatically organizes media files into virtual folders named Audio Photos and Video Along with the physical folders monitored by the server these are shown in the folde...

Page 22: ...o longer want to be scanned 4 Click the button Changing a folder s scan interval 1 Click Database 2 Click the plus sign to the left of the icon labeled Folders 3 Select the folder whose scan interval you want to change 4 Click the button 5 Set the Scan interval as desired The selected folder will be immediately re scanned Understanding scan options These are the options available when you click th...

Page 23: ... selected any hidden files or subfolders i e those whose names begin with a dot will be included in the scan Scan interval The number of seconds between rescans A value less than 180 three minutes is not recommended as the system performance of your MeeBox may be adversely affected Enabling disabling the media server Your MeeBox s UPnP media server is enabled by default The media server should hav...

Page 24: ...Page 24 User Guide LOOQS MeeBox Router To re enable the media server repeat the steps above but select the check box under Enable UPnP media server ...

Page 25: ...eeBox Settings 2 In the menu click Features 3 Select the check box under Enable iTunes server and click Save see Figure 8 Copying music to your MeeBox The iTunes server looks for audio files in the folder meebox public media audio on Mac OS use the path smb meebox public media audio for FTP or SFTP use the path mnt ide3 public audio The server scans this folder for new audio files every 60 seconds...

Page 26: ...g users groups and shares Out of the box your MeeBox comes with one private folder admin owned by the server administrator and one shared folder public You can create more shared folders on the Shared Folders page of the admin interface To create a new private folder simply create a new user account On a Windows PC you can view all available shares on your MeeBox by doing the following 1 On the St...

Page 27: ...re_name or smb ip_address share_name where ip_address is your MeeBox s WAN IP address required if accessing the server through an external router and share_name is the name of the shared or private folder you want to access You will be prompted to enter a username and password unless you have previously instructed the operating system to remember your password In Mac OS X you can enter the network...

Page 28: ...Network Places icon on your desktop open Windows Explorer and click Tools Map Network Drive 2 Select the drive letter you wish to use enter the network address of the desired share and click Finish For an example see Figure 10 3 You will be prompted to enter a username and password You can enter those of any user who is authorized to access the share To avoid having to re enter a username and pass...

Page 29: ...y connected If a USB drive has more than one partition only the first partition will be available as a shared folder To access a connected USB drive use the network address meebox usb1 or usb2 Please note that it may take a few seconds after you connect a drive before it is accessible You can also map a drive letter to the USB drive as you would to any other share Using a USB memory card reader Yo...

Page 30: ...ed the server will only recognize one of the cards Note When you are finished using a memory card always disconnect physically unplug the card reader from your MeeBox before attempting to access another card If you replace the card without disconnecting the reader the new card will not be recognized The old memory card will still appear to be available at the same network address even though it is...

Page 31: ...uter just as you would for a printer that was directly attached to your computer You do not need to install a driver on your MeeBox Before adding a shared printer please make sure either that its driver has already been installed on your computer or that you have the driver ready on CD ROM or other media Different ways to add a shared printer to your computer In Windows XP there are two ways to ad...

Page 32: ... check box labelled Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer See Figure 11 Click Next 5 Select Create a new port In the drop down menu select Standard TCP IP Port see Figure 12 Click Next The Add Standard TCP IP Printer Port Wizard opens Click Next 6 In the Printer name or IP address box enter MeeBox see Figure 13 Click Next 7 Under Device Type select Custom and click Next 8 Click...

Page 33: ...the computer select the printer manufacturer and model click OK and skip to Step 10 8 Click Have Disk The Install From Disk dialog box opens 9 Click Browse Locate the folder containing the appropriate printer driver and click Open Click OK A third Add Printer Wizard dialog box opens 10 Select the correct printer and then click OK 11 If a Software License Agreement dialog box appears click Yes 12 C...

Page 34: ...or deny access to a specific shared folder to several users at the same time For example your MeeBox has ten users five adults and five children You want adults but not children to be able to access a shared folder If you did not create groups you would have to add each adult to the access list for that share taking care not to add any of the children By creating two groups in advance Adults and C...

Page 35: ...ist box and then click Group Memberships 2 To add the user to a group or groups select the group s in the Not a member of list box and click Add 3 To remove the user from a group or groups select the group s in the Member of list box and click Remove 4 When you are finished click Save To edit or delete a user account 1 Select the user in the Users list box 2 Edit the account settings as needed and...

Page 36: ...e user s in the Members list box and click Remove 4 When you are finished click Save To delete a group Select the group in the Groups list box and click Delete Group Creating modifying and deleting shared folders To create modify or delete a shared folder open your MeeBox s admin interface http meebox 8090 and click Management Users Groups Shared Folders see Figure 18 To create a shared folder Ent...

Page 37: ... select the user s or group s in the Allowed list box and click Remove 5 When you are finished click Save To delete a shared folder Select the share in the Shared folders list box and click Delete Share Note When you delete a shared folder using the admin interface the folder is not actually deleted on the hard disk You can access or delete such orphan folders using FTP or SFTP For more informatio...

Page 38: ...n torrents to the btdownload folder at network address meebox public btdownload Please note that as soon as you start downloading a torrent the client program creates all the files contained in the torrent at their final sizes thus you cannot tell by looking at the size of a file in the btdownload folder whether it has finished downloading Note The BitTorrent client stores torrent files files that...

Page 39: ... below the torrent name To remove a torrent Click the Delete button below the torrent name When you delete a torrent the client program does not actually delete the torrent contents or the torrent file on your MeeBox s hard drive although it does delete the runtime file If you are finished with a torrent you can safely delete the torrent file in meebox public manually Note RRC bv does not encourag...

Page 40: ...llery you must first log in to the application Click the Login link at the top of the window and log in as admin with default password MeeBox You can change the password aferwards To add photos click Edit Album Additional documentation for Gallery is provided on the product s home page at http gallery menalto com Note Gallery will not work if your MeeBox s built in web server is disabled To enable...

Page 41: ...web URL Your base web URL is simply your MeeBox s public IP address or domain name preceded by the characters http that is the web address of your MeeBox For example if your public IP address is 208 67 219 137 your base URL would be http 208 67 219 137 Then to access WordPress for example the correct URL would be http 208 67 219 137 wordpress Most of these applications require you to log in to add...

Page 42: ... that require it admin is also the administrator Instructions for working with these applications are beyond the scope of this user s guide You are encouraged to explore the apps on your own and to visit their respective home pages on the Internet for more information about them ...

Page 43: ...Advanced Topics Part 4 ...

Page 44: ...ic accounts are free To set up Dynamic DNS updating 1 In your web browser go to http meebox 8090 and click MeeBox Settings 2 Click Advanced Settings 3 On the menu click Network and then click Dynamic DNS see Figure 20 4 Under DDNS updater click Enable 5 Enter your DynDNS com username password and hostname 6 Click Save Using the web file browser Your MeeBox comes with a web based file manager calle...

Page 45: ... MeeBox s built in FTP server The FTP service is disabled by default you need to enable it before you can access your MeeBox through FTP Enabling the FTP service 1 In your web browser go to http meebox 8090 log in and click MeeBox Settings 2 Click Advanced Settings 3 In the menu click Apps Services then click File Server 4 Under FTP Server Setting select the Enable check box 5 Click Save In your F...

Page 46: ...P private folders other than your own are hidden There is one more difference when you use FTP you can see certain folders in ide3 that are not visible when you use Windows networking The most important of these is htdocs which is the folder that contains all the web pages used by your MeeBox s built in web server See Setting up a website below Below is a representation of the default directory st...

Page 47: ...eBox by enabling its SSH service The service is disabled by default Enabling the SSH service 1 In your web browser go to http meebox 8090 log in and click MeeBox Settings 2 Click Advanced Settings 3 In the menu click Apps Services then click Service Control 4 Next to SSH SFTP select the Enable check box 5 Click Save Note When you connect to your MeeBox through SSH SFTP for the first time you may b...

Page 48: ...storage space is located under the folder mnt which is the mount point for all storage devices Here you will find subdirectories ide3 ide4 and so on For a discussion of how user storage space is organized see Folders accessible through FTP above ...

Page 49: ...plication is best suited for a particular kind of website WordPress is best for blogs phpBB for forums MediaWiki for collaborative websites and Gallery for online photo albums and image galleries For more information on using these applications see Using other preinstalled web applications above Uploading website files to the server The other option is to upload HTML or PHP files that you have cre...

Page 50: ... If you plan to host your own website on your MeeBox you will most likely delete the default index php and replace it with your own index page file named index php index htm or index html That way when a visitor goes to http public_ip_address they will see your own home page not the default one Alternatively you can leave the default index file in place and store your website files in a subfolder ...

Page 51: ... they are not in response to an outgoing request One example involves the popular peer to peer file sharing application eMule For eMule to work best other computers peers on the eMule network must be able to connect to your computer running eMule although your computer does not initiate communications with them Blocking these incoming connections causes both download and upload speeds in eMule to ...

Page 52: ... ports are forwarded not to one fixed IP address but to any local computer that makes an outgoing connection through a designated trigger port or ports When the router detects an outgoing connection through a trigger port it temporarily forwards connections on the designated incoming ports to the computer that made the outgoing connection Since there is no need to specify which IP address will rec...

Page 53: ... the local computer to which you want to forward the incoming connections The IP address must be within your MeeBox s LAN subnet 4 Select the communications protocol s to which the rule applies TCP and or UDP If you are not sure which protocol to choose select both 5 In the Private port s field enter the port s on which the designated computer will listen for incoming connections 6 In the Public p...

Page 54: ... for Note After you add a rule you cannot change its name 3 Next to Trigger protocol select the communications protocol s that will be used by outgoing trigger connections for this rule If you are not sure which protocol will be used select both 4 In the Trigger port s field enter the port s to which the outgoing trigger connections will be addressed 5 Next to Inbound protocol select the communica...

Page 55: ...rm as necessary and then click Save Changes Note You cannot change the name of an existing rule To disable a port triggering rule 1 In the Existing Rules table click the Edit button for the rule you want to edit 2 Clear the Enabled check box and click Save Changes To delete a port triggering rule In the Existing Rules table click the Delete button for the rule you want to delete ...

Page 56: ... the free Windows software please visit www openvpn net and click the Open Source Project tab For Mac OS X Tunnelblick is a free implementation of OpenVPN with a graphical user interface Enabling OpenVPN and generating client keys OpenVPN on your MeeBox is disabled by default To enable it do the following 1 In your web browser go to http meebox 8090 log in and click MeeBox Settings 2 Click Advance...

Page 57: ...ur web browser The next step is to install these client files on your computer Installing the client certificate and key on your computer If you have not already installed OpenVPN on your computer please do so before continuing 1 On your computer locate the file clientcert zip that was downloaded from your MeeBox when you generated the client certificate 2 Extract the contents of the ZIP file You ...

Page 58: ...k in your Applications folder 2 Click the Tunnelblick icon on your menu bar and select Connect client Once you have established the VPN connection you can access your MeeBox as if your computer were physically connected to the MeeBox s local network In addition you can access shared resources if any exist on the other computers that are on the MeeBox s local network Note The first time you turn on...

Page 59: ... be accessible in the same way as before you created the array Note All existing data on BOTH drives will be DELETED if you create a RAID 0 array In a RAID 1 array You can use the second drive as a mirror of the first using RAID 1 In this arrangement the system keeps the contents of the two drives always the same If one drive fails your data is still available on the other drive Choosing RAID 1 cr...

Page 60: ...ng holes on the bottom plate carefully screw the drive sled screws into the chassis holes You must continue pressing the drive against the chassis with one hand until two screws are in place 11 Once the drive has been firmly secured to the MeeBox chassis replace the top cover and its retaining screws reconnect all cables and cords and turn your MeeBox on Verifying and formatting the second hard dr...

Page 61: ...he same time period and the failure of one drive of a striped array will result in the loss of potentially all your data If you use RAID 0 it s a good idea to always keep a complete backup of your data on another device such as a USB drive RAID 1 mirroring creates a single volume with the same capacity as the smaller of the two drives It mirrors all the data of one drive on the other drive making ...

Page 62: ...can return to the RAID management page to monitor the progress of the second phase The entire process can take up to an hour or more depending on the size of the drives Please do not use or turn off your MeeBox during this time When the system has finished creating the RAID array you will be able to access the combined volume in the same way you accessed the original single drive volume Network sh...

Page 63: ...rts do this 1 In your web browser go to http meebox 8090 log in and click MeeBox Settings 2 Click Advanced Settings then click Management and then under Storage click Reports You can view disk usage by volume or by user Select the desired view using the drop down menu above the disk usage table The disk usage table refers to volumes by their system names dev hdc refers to the primary internal hard...

Page 64: ... external drive Unmounting removes the shared folder corresponding to the drive making the drive unavailable for use You must unmount an external drive before formatting it Managing a RAID array Replacing a failed drive of a RAID 1 array If one drive of a RAID 1 array fails your MeeBox will signal the failure by blinking its power button indicator in alternating colors If this happens you should f...

Page 65: ... colors You can check the progress of this operation by returning to the RAID Settings page of the admin interface Tearing down a RAID array If you wish to stop using a RAID array for example if you wish to use only one internal drive or to use each internal drive as an independent volume do the following 1 In your web browser go to http meebox 8090 log in and click MeeBox Settings 2 Click Advance...

Page 66: ...loaded and double click the file 4 Click Start Firmware Upgrade A confirmation dialog box appears Click OK to proceed When you click OK your browser will upload the firmware package to your MeeBox and then the server will install the firmware update Uploading takes several seconds during which time there will be no feedback except for the page loading indicator of your browser Please do not naviga...

Page 67: ...lick OK to proceed When you click OK your browser will upload the disk image to your MeeBox and then the server will install the disk image Uploading takes several minutes during which time there will be no feedback except for the page loading indicator of your browser Please do not navigate away from the current page or the file upload will be interrupted and you will have to start over Once the ...

Page 68: ...CLI Telnet and SSH both provide the same functionality However SSH is more secure because it encrypts the communications between the server and the client including the username and password you use to log in to the CLI Telnet sends all data in clear text The enhanced security makes SSH a better choice when you must access the CLI remotely across the Internet or whenever security is a concern Enab...

Page 69: ...he Password prompt enter the user s password The password will not be shown 5 At the MeeBox prompt enter commands as needed 6 When you are finished enter exit to close the CLI Figure 27 shows a typical CLI session in which admin has logged in determined the current directory pwd changed to the root directory cd and listed its contents in long format ll Executing commands with elevated privileges C...

Page 70: ...nd services Your input would be much appreciated How to register your MeeBox 1 Visit our corporate website at www LOOQS com 2 Click on the Product Registration link 3 Fill out the product registration form online and submit Product registration is a good way to ensure you receive timely news about updates to MeeBox and technical support If desired registered customers will receive news about new p...

Page 71: ... made for repairs carried out by non LOOQS dealers and any such repair work and damage to the products caused by such repair work will not be covered by this warranty 4 In case the product will be used in a country other than the country it was designed and developed for this might result in the need for change in the technical and or safety regulations effective for that other country Such change...

Page 72: ... WARRANTY AND LIABILITLY LOOQS provides a limited warranty for its Products only to the initial person or entity that originally purchased the Product from LOOQS or its authorized distributor or retailer LOOQS warrants that every hardware portion of the Products will be free from physical defects in material and workmanship within warranty period or the Product will be repaired or replaced as dete...

Page 73: ...RANTEE THAT ALL DATA STORED ON LOOQS PRODUCTS IS ALWAYS SECURE WITHOUT ANY RISKS OF DATA LOSS LOOQS REMINDS YOU TO BACK UP THE DATA PERIODICALLY UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL LOOQS BE LIABLE IN ANY WAY TO THE USER FOR DAMAGES INCLUDING ANY SAVINGS LOST PROFITS OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE LOOQS PRODUCTS OR RESULTING LOSS OF DATA FROM SUC...

Page 74: ...an expressed permission from RRC BV in a form of a document LOOQS and MeeBox are trademarks or registered trademarks of RRC BV Microsoft Windows 98 Windows ME Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows Vista are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation Other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners One gigabyte or GB equals one billion bytes when referring to hard drive cap...

Page 75: ...st systems terrestrial satellite cable and or other distribution channels streaming applications via Internet intranets and or other networks other content distribution systems pay audio or audio on demand applications and the like or on physical media compact discs digital versatile discs semiconductor chips hard drives memory cards and the like An independent license for such use is required ...

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