Introduction to Global Administration

CTERA Portal is a scalable cloud service delivery platform that you install at your own data center or in a cloud environment and use to create, deliver and manage cloud storage applications, including a Global File System, file access via stubbing/caching, backup, and mobile collaboration. CTERA Portal is compatible with cloud storage infrastructure from multiple vendors, including EMC, Scality, IBM COS, HPE, and cloud storage providers such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM Cloud.

CTERA Portal facilitates access to cloud storage services; handles data protection and file sync & share services; used for provisioning and monitoring global file services. This is the beating heart of the system and is the component that will run in the customer’s Datacenter or VPC. The portal ensures data consistency, maintains version history, and facilitates file sharing among users, regardless of their access method. Both global source-based deduplication and data compression are used to ensure that only incremental data changes are transferred for storage in the cloud, and that data blocks are stored only once. This dramatically reduces storage capacity needs and overall network traffic.

A CTERA Portal installation comprises a cluster of one or more VMs (servers). Each server can host any combination of the following services:

• Main database. Only one server can host the main database. The server that hosts the main database is called the primary server.
• Application service. This service accepts connections and handles requests from Web and CTTP clients.
• Database replication server. A passive database service set to replicate an active database server. During server installation, you can turn on the replication service and select the database server from which to replicate.
• Document preview server. This service is in charge of processing document preview requests. It is mandatory to launch a dedicated document preview server. The document preview service supports high availability. You can install one or more servers, in order to ensure uninterrupted document preview generation and redundancy in the event of a server failure.

CTERA Portal enables you to create one or more tenants, called Virtual Portals. These virtual portals, team and reseller portals, are accessed by end-users and management staff via web-based interfaces. CTERA Edge Filers and endpoint CTERA Agents are centrally managed from CTERA Portal using a single web-based console. Template-based management, centralized monitoring, customized alerting and remote software and firmware upgrade capabilities make it easy to manage gateways of various types and sizes as well as individual endpoints – up to hundreds of thousands of connected devices – with no need for on-site IT presence in remote locations.

Both team portals and reseller portals can be defined within a single CTERA Portal installation. The global administrator manages the creation and default settings for both team and reseller portals.

Team portal

This type of portal is designed for the needs of a company or team with multiple members, and as such does not include support for reseller-oriented features. The users in the portal are the team members.

Team portals are managed by team administrators, who are team members with the Administrator role. For information on managing team portals, see the CTERA Team Portal Administration Guide.

All users in the team portal share, by default, a single folder group, enabling cooperative deduplication between all members of the group. Furthermore, when the cloud drive feature is used, each user receives, by default, one personal folder, and can create multiple additional personal folders. Users can share personal folders. Each user also receives access to a projects folder that is visible to all the users in the portal. Users can create projects to collaborate with other team members.

When multiple team portals are created, the CTERA Portal global administrator can assign each team portal to a different organizational unit within the company or team. Each organizational unit can sign in to their own virtual portal and manage their settings. In contrast, the CTERA Portal owner can access and manage the contents of any team portal, as well as manage global settings across all virtual portals.

Reseller portal

Designed for the needs of a reseller, this type of portal includes support for reseller-oriented features such as add-ons, plans, vouchers, and self-registration. The end users in the portal are the reseller's subscribers.
Reseller portals are managed by staff administrators.

By default, each user uses a private folder group, enabling cooperative deduplication between all devices owned by the user. Furthermore, when the cloud drive feature is used, each user receives a private cloud drive that is not accessible to other users.

When multiple reseller portals are created, you can provide each portal to a different reseller, as part of a multi-tenant or hierarchical business model. Each reseller can sign in to their own virtual portal, manage their subscribers, and define subscription plans, branding, and pricing models. In contrast, the CTERA Portal owner can access and manage the contents of any reseller portal, as well as manage global settings across all virtual portals.