Q: Does a connection represent a single PC connecting to an edge filer?
A: Normally, yes, with this PC possibly connecting to multiple shares on the edge filer.
Q: When can a single PC generate more than one connection?
A: One case is multiple users logged in to the same PC, each one accessing the edge filer. This can happen on a PC used by multiple users, or an application running as a privileged user on the PC. Also, opening multiple connections for the same user on the same IP but on different ports (as a Citrix server might do) will also create multiple connections. A less common case is access to the same edge filer via both IP and name, for example, opening two Windows Explorer windows, one towards, for example, mygateway.ctera.com, and the other towards 192.168.10.12, with both reaching the same device.
Q: What is a session?
A: A session is created for each share browsed on the edge filer.
Q: I received error messages such as CIFS connection has almost reached its limit or SMB connection dropped. What does this mean?
A: These error messages are due to nearing or exceeding the maximum number of connections for the edge filer.
Q: Can I review the currently active sessions on my edge filer?
A: Yes. The edge filer user interface shows active sessions, in the Configuration tab under Main > Activity in the navigation pane.
Q: Is the maximum number of users specified in the edge filer datasheets the same as the connection limit?
A: No. The premise is that not all users are connected and reading from the edge filer or writing to the edge filer at the same time.