Quick start

This guide takes you from the first ISO boot to your first usable file share, in a few steps. Allow about 20 minutes. For per-platform details and full requirements, see the installation guide; for daily use, the administration guide.

What you need#

• A virtual machine or server: 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM minimum (4 vCPU / 8 GB recommended).
• Two disks: one for the OS (≥ 16 GB) and at least one separate data disk (≥ 10 GB) for the storage pool.
• The Caelum ISO image, downloaded from the portal.
• A DHCP network at boot (a static IP is set afterwards).

Step 1 — Install the system (ISO wizard)#

1. Create the VM for your hypervisor (see the installation guide for the exact settings for VMware, Proxmox, Hyper-V, KVM).
2. Mount the Caelum ISO as a CD/DVD drive and boot from it.
3. Follow the text wizard: it selects the OS disk and writes the system. Allow about 3 minutes.
4. When done, the VM reboots and shows its IP address in the console.

Step 2 — Initial configuration (web wizard)#

1. From a browser, open https://<appliance-ip>/setup.
2. Accept the browser warning (the certificate is self-signed by default).
3. Fill in, in order:
   • the administrator account (login + password);
   • the network (static IP in CIDR, gateway, DNS — or keep DHCP);
   • the storage pool (select the data disk(s); the ZFS pool is created);
   • optionally the Active Directory domain;
   • the telemetry choice.

At the end of the wizard, the appliance is operational.

Step 3 — Create your first share#

1. Log in to the interface (https://<ip>), Volumes menu.
2. Create a volume: give it a name (per project or per team), a quota, and optionally a snapshot policy and a default cloud destination.
3. In the volume, add a share: choose the protocols (SMB and/or NFS), the read-only option if needed, and the access rights (local or domain users/groups).
4. Confirm. The share is served immediately.

Step 4 — Access it from a workstation#

• Windows (SMB): in File Explorer, open the share path and authenticate (domain or local account).
• Linux/Unix: mount the share over SMB (CIFS) or via the NFS export.

# Windows — paste into the File Explorer address bar
\\<appliance-ip>\<share-name>

# Linux — SMB (CIFS) mount
sudo mount -t cifs //<appliance-ip>/<share-name> /mnt/caelum \
  -o username=<user>

# Linux — NFS mount
sudo mount -t nfs <appliance-ip>:/<nfs-export> /mnt/caelum

You can now drop files in. That is your first Caelum share.

Next steps (optional)#

Once the share is in place, you can gradually enable the rest:

• Find the appliance on the network — no action required: Caelum appears on its own in the Windows "Network" view and in the macOS Finder (WS-Discovery / mDNS discovery is active by default).
• Previous Versions (Windows) — enable them with a single checkbox on a volume or a share: scheduled snapshots and Windows exposure are provisioned at once. See the administration guide.
• Snapshots & replication — schedule ZFS snapshots and replicate to a second site. See the administration guide.
• Cloud archiving (S3) — declare a cloud destination then an archive policy to archive cold files while keeping transparent access. See the "archive cold data" use case.
• Migrate from an existing NAS — use the migration assistant to copy data and rights. See the "migrate" use case.
• Disaster recovery (DR) — replicate to a remote site. See the "DR" use case.
• License — the trial starts automatically (30 days); apply a license in the License tab when you are ready. See the FAQ.