1.0 Small Versus Large Filr Deployments

Novell Filr can be deployed in the following ways:

As a Small Deployment: A single, multi-purpose Filr appliance
As a Large Deployment: At least three separate, single-purpose appliances (Filr, Filrsearch, and MySQL)

Either deployment type works for the exercises in this guide, but production environments require large deployments, and many production workloads require clustered Filr appliances.

Your First Hands-on Task: Choose a Deployment Type

Using the information in this section, choose a deployment type for the hands-on exercises that matches your goals for learning about Filr.

For example, if you only have a casual interest in learning about Filr and want to invest the minimum time and effort required, a small deployment is the best fit. On the other hand, if you think you might want to deploy Filr inside your organization, and you want to investigate what that will require, you should probably consider a large deployment.

Comparison of Deployment Types: The following table summarizes the main differences between small and large Filr deployments.

Small Deployment	Large Deployment
Does not support production environments	Supports production environments
Maximum capacity is 300 active users 2,500 folders 50,000 files	Supports more than 300 active users 2,500 folders 50,000 files
Cannot be upgraded to a large deployment, and cannot grow by leveraging shared, external storage	If shared storage is configured as part of the initial configuration, a large deployment can grow to include multiple, clustered Filr appliances. IMPORTANT:Shared storage is not covered in this guide, but a link to that documentation is provided.
Requires downloading two files: the Filr appliance and the Hands-on_Filr-windows.zip file	Requires downloading four files: the Filr, Filrsearch, and MySQL appliances, and the Hands-on_Filr-windows.zip file
Offers a streamlined, quick installation and configuration	Requires a more involved installation and configuration
Uses only one IP address	Requires three IP addresses
Cannot access an existing MySQL database (all functionality is contained within the single appliance)	Can use an existing MySQL database in place of the MySQL appliance provided with Filr

Both Types Are Covered in This Guide: Where different procedures are required, section titles begin with Small Deployment or Large Deployment.

Most of the sections apply to both deployment types.

Continue with Section 2.0, Hands-on System Requirements.