Cobalt Qube3: A Compact Server

The deceptively small Qube that can astound you with its snazzy looks, comes in Standard, Professional, and Business editions. Besides a small difference in their configurations, the Professional edition supports Web caching, and the Business edition has Web caching plus RAID level 1. The Business edition claims to support up to 150 users.

Design

The Qube comes pre-configured with a Web-, DHCP-, FTP-, e-mail-, DNS- and a Telnet- server, plus a Web-based e-mail client. That’s a lot of functionality packed in a compact design. You can use it as a gateway for your organization to access the Internet, create and mange your own e-mail system, share files across the network, or even launch your own website.

Installation is quick–just connect the primary network interface of the Qube 3 to your LAN with an Ethernet cable and power it on. If there’s a DHCP server on your network, then the Qube configures itself with the network settings received from it. If not, an auto-configuration option is available. It acts as a DHCP server in this case. A third option is where you configure all network settings manually.

Performance

After the initial set up, the Qube works with Netscape Navigator 4.7, Internet Explorer 5 or later versions. You can also manage it using Telnet. You can create users and groups, enable your e-mail servers, file services for sharing files across your network, Web caching, and also create a mailing list. By default every user and a group is assigned a unique e-mail ID and a default Web page. The e-mail ID is of the form: username>@.>. So if the host name of the Qube is say ‘cobalt’ and domain name is ‘testneelima’ then the e-mail ID of user ‘neelima’ would be.

Other functions that you can configure include DNS, DHCP, and Telnet servers. A basic IP-packet-filtering-firewall controls the flow of information between the Qube and your network. You can configure the firewall by defining rules. You can also check the status of all running applications using the activity monitor.

The Qube also comes with a Web-based mail client called Webmail that can be used to send and receive e-mail. It works using a Web browser or any POP3 or IMAP compliant e-mail client. To test its e-mail capabilities we tried sending e-mail using Webmail and Outlook Express and it worked perfectly well. You can also address e-mail to a group or mailing list.

The Qube can also be used as a file server. Here every user gets a login ID and password and a home directory, which he can see by default, plus the directories for which he has the requisite permissions. The server we got took around 2 min 13 sec to start up. To check its stability, we switched off the server while it was running. Though it took almost double the time–5 min 28 sec–to start up again, we didn’t notice any malfunctioning.

The Qube also supports multiple languages. It automatically detects your browser settings and displays the text in the language used by your browser. It also has a free PCI slot, a SCSI connector, a serial and a USB port for connecting additional devices. There is also a security lock hole at the back.

Overall, it’s easy to set up, doesn’t require much administration, and comes with a one-year warranty.

Neelima Vaid