Disappointed with lack of knowledge of support #25012209

StephenB wrote:
BaJohn wrote: shoemoney wrote: .....thats why the frontview web interface wouldn't work.... Don't bother with frontview for the RN516, just give the NAS a permanent IP and use that for access... Bad advice. You need access to the admin web ui.

I am looking at the Admin Web Page UI with "Netgear ReadyNAS Admin Page" at the top and tabs of 'System', 'Shares','iSCSI','Accounts' etc.
That was brought up by using the local name of the NAS box on my PC.
I must be missing something here, but willing to learn. Please explain where I am going wrong?

BaJohn wrote:
...I am looking at the Admin Web Page UI with "Netgear ReadyNAS Admin Page" at the top and tabs of 'System', 'Shares','iSCSI','Accounts' etc.

Then you are using Frontview. But the OP couldn't access it at all, and you told him it wasn't necessary. I expect you were thinking about ReadyCloud - which isn't necessary.

Though Frontview is really the OS4 name (the OS5 manual calls it "dashboard" and the OS6 manual calls it "local admin page").

On the mechanics of launching it from windows explorer - if you click on a storage device "network" pane, then windows will launch the browser - which puts you into the admin page. If you click on a "computer" device it opens up windows explorer, and shows you the share list. If you click on a DLNA device, then windows will launch the media player. My NAS are listed as all three (in the right pane when I click on "network").

StephenB wrote:

BaJohn wrote: ...I am looking at the Admin Web Page UI with "Netgear ReadyNAS Admin Page" at the top and tabs of 'System', 'Shares','iSCSI','Accounts' etc. Then you are using Frontview. But the OP couldn't access it at all, and you told him it wasn't necessary. I expect you were thinking about ReadyCloud - which isn't necessary. Though Frontview is really the OS4 name (the OS5 manual calls it "dashboard" and the OS6 manual calls it "local admin page"). On the mechanics of launching it from windows explorer - if you click on a storage device "network" pane, then windows will launch the browser - which puts you into the admin page. If you click on a "computer" device it opens up windows explorer, and shows you the share list. If you click on a DLNA device, then windows will launch the media player. My NAS are listed as all three (in the right pane when I click on "network").

The way people in the forum talk about Frontview, it is as though it is a separate program, similar to Raidiator, maybe local on their front end device, whereas in reality it is the Admin web page, on the back end. Since I started using ReadyNAS with the OS6 I have not been exposed to the term Frontview, and in my mind anything to do with the NAS is 'back'. Perhaps the Netgear team should denigrate the use of the term Frontview, as ambiguous. It is the Admin web page, so why not say so.
On the question of launching from a windows PC, I just type 'XNAS' in the internet explorer window, as that has been setup in my 'hosts' file. I tend to use 'windows explorer' for most things on the PC, and 'internet explorer' for internet type things not on the PC. Just the way my mind works. Also it enables me to use the term 'XNAS' in my backup routines without having to worry about IP addresses.
On your point about using 'Network', this is interesting. I always see the NAS in the 'storage' devices, intermittently in the 'media devices' (comes and goes), and I have never seen the shares in the 'computer' device.

BaJohn wrote:
Perhaps the Netgear team should denigrate the use of the term Frontview, as ambiguous. It is the Admin web page, so why not say so.

Well, that is what they are doing in the OS6 manual - "local admin page". I've been trying to shift to "web admin page" since OS6 but my fingers are very used to typing frontview at this point. Anyway, the OP called it that, so I stuck with it.

BaJohn wrote:
I just type 'XNAS' in the internet explorer window, as that has been setup in my 'hosts' file.

You shouldn't actually need a hosts file anymore, its an obsolete concept that predates DNS. The NAS name should be discovered w/o it on most networks. Though some other devices don't let you set the names - I guess it could be useful for that.

BaJohn wrote:
On your point about using 'Network', this is interesting. I always see the NAS in the 'storage' devices, intermittently in the 'media devices' (comes and goes), and I have never seen the shares in the 'computer' device.

Devices do tend to come and go on the windows list. Yesterday I saw all NAS in all three categories. Today Computer is missing, but the other two are there. I gave up trying to figure out exactly how windows decides to classify devices a long time ago.

StephenB wrote:

BaJohn wrote: On your point about using 'Network', this is interesting. I always see the NAS in the 'storage' devices, intermittently in the 'media devices' (comes and goes), and I have never seen the shares in the 'computer' device. Devices do tend to come and go on the windows list. Yesterday I saw all NAS in all three categories. Today Computer is missing, but the other two are there. I gave up trying to figure out exactly how windows decides to classify devices a long time ago.

So I am not the only one. I was leaving this 'quirk' till later, but knowing you can't fix it suggests I shouldn't bother either.
Perhaps others can comment on this minor irritation. There could be simple answer out there.