Sharing The Goods
Mirra touts its ability to share files over the Internet, and comes through on the promise. You can select from the same folders you chose to back up from your LAN-attached PCs and make them available online. (Note that online users can download, edit, and upload the document if they have proper permissions, but Mirra doesn't push the most recent versions of files to them the way it does for users on the LAN.) Mirra sets up a connection from the Mirra on your LAN to users on the Internet. It does this by connecting through the www.mirra.com Web service, free to registered Mirra users.
|
Quick Facts: Mirra Personal Server |
| Price: 80GB for $399, 120GB for $499, 250GB for $749 |
| PC System Requirements: Windows XP Home or Professional, Windows 2000 Pro, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows 2003 Server Pentium III or better processor
256MB RAM |
| Network Requirements: High-speed Internet connection Router or hub (wired or 802.11 WiFi) with available wired Ethernet port |
| More Info: www.mirra.com |
Mirra lets you identify the people you want to share folders with by e-mail address. I selected a folder of photographs and chose "New Share," browsed for the folder I wanted to share, then typed in the e-mail address of the person I wanted to allow access to the folder. The Mirra sent an e-mail announcement to the recipient, who could either log into her existing Mirra account or create a new free account.
When the user logs in, she has live access to the shared folder. Users can upload and download files to and from the shared folders based on the permissions assigned to them when the folders were set up to be shared. I found there was plenty of granular control over which users had which permissions as long as you're content with sharing folders rather than individual files.
Security is controlled by email address and password, and redirected through the Mirra Web service, so there is no direct connection to your Mirra. This seems to provide decent security; even if one user's password is hacked, only the files that user has access to are vulnerable. And even if they are deleted, Mirra keeps backups that can be restored on demand. For added security, the data stream between the Mirra server, the Mirra Web service, and the Internet user is protected by 128-bit SSL encryption.
What I Like About You
The Mirra server is easy to set up, and the client software takes barely any CPU cycles, even during the initial backup process. Setting up shares and permissions is simple. Web access is quick and responsive, but Mirra's Web access page devotes more space to advertising Mirra than I would like. The combination of features Mirra delivers makes a compelling case for the product. Synchronizing Outlook on multiple PCs may just be enough justification to install your own Mirra.
Bob Friday, Chief AI Officer for Juniper Networks, explains how the advanced technology is transforming operations.
Contact center leaders from 8x8, Awaken Intelligence, and 360insight discuss the importance of agent experience.
AI may force enterprises to rewire parts of their data centers so they are fully optimized to run such workloads. The question is do you use Ethernet or InfiniBand?
