Acronis Files Connect (formerly ExtremeZ-IP), initially developed by GroupLogic, is an

Apple Filing Protocol The Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), formerly AppleTalk Filing Protocol, is a proprietary network protocol, and part of the Apple File Service (AFS), that offers file services for macOS and the classic Mac OS. In Mac OS 9 and earlier, AFP was ...

server running on Windows operating systems, which enables Mac clients to access files via the Apple Filing Protocol. On September 13, 2012, GroupLogic was acquired by

Acronis Acronis International GmbH, simply referred to as Acronis, is a Swiss technology company with its corporate headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland and global headquarters in Singapore. Acronis develops on-premises and cloud software with uniqu ...

. In 2015, ExtremeZ-IP was renamed to Access Connect and then re-branded as Acronis Files Connect in 2017. Starting with version 8.0, the Network Reshare capability allows an Acronis Files Connect server to proxy access file shares on a secondary file server or NAS device, such as

NetApp NetApp, Inc. is an American hybrid cloud data services and data management company headquartered in San Jose, California. It has ranked in the Fortune 500 from 2012–2021. Founded in 1992 with an IPO in 1995, NetApp offers cloud data service ...

Isilon Dell EMC Isilon is a scale out network-attached storage platform offered by Dell EMC for high-volume storage, backup and archiving of unstructured data. It provides a cluster-based storage array based on industry standard hardware, and is scala ...

. Acronis Files Connect also provides access to other Windows services such as printing, searching, file system archiving, distributed file system, and volume shadow service. Acronis Files Connect supports

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

clients running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, including macOS 10.15 Catalina. Acronis Files Connect requires

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

and supports Windows Server 2019, 2016, 2012 R2, 2008 (R2, 32-bit & 64-bit), Windows Storage Server, Windows Home Server, Windows 2003 Server, Windows XP, Windows XP Embedded, and Windows Powered NAS. Prior to 2015, the product was the first third-party file server to support Apple's Time Machine and to support searching of indexed content via Apple's Network Spotlight. This search is accomplished by translating and sending the query to Microsoft's

Windows Search Windows Search (also known as Instant Search) is a content index desktop search platform by Microsoft introduced in Windows Vista as a replacement for both the previous Indexing Service of Windows 2000 and the optional MSN Desktop Search for Win ...

service before passing the results back to the Mac user via a reverse process. Acronis Files Connect links Macs to Microsoft's

Distributed File System A clustered file system is a file system which is shared by being simultaneously mounted on multiple servers. There are several approaches to clustering, most of which do not employ a clustered file system (only direct attached storage fo ...

(DFS) and, with the optional ShadowConnect, to Microsoft's

Volume Shadow Copy Service Shadow Copy (also known as Volume Snapshot Service, Volume Shadow Copy Service or VSS) is a technology included in Microsoft Windows that can create backup copies or snapshots of computer files or volumes, even when they are in use. It is imple ...

(VSS) snapshots. Acronis Files Connect version 9.0 added the option to index remote volumes, which allows Mac users to Spotlight search remote volumes that don't have a local index search capabilities – including network attached storage (NAS) from EMC,

, and

, as well as

StorNext StorNext File System (SNFS), colloquially referred to as StorNext is a shared disk file system made by Quantum Corporation. StorNext enables multiple Windows, Linux and Apple workstations to access shared block storage over a Fibre Channel networ ...

SAN volumes.

Resources

Technical Documentation

External links

Acronis WebsiteGroupLogic WebsiteAFP548.com Apple Networking CommunityKrypted.com Apple Networking TutorialsMicrosoft Pinpoint solutions directory

References

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Mac Observer Interviews Group Logic CEOBusinessWeek Private Company Information: Group Logic, Inc.
Network file systems Utilities for Windows Utilities for macOS