A new Dashboard came out three days ago, but nobody is talking about it. Anyone try it yet?
Not much has changed.
Question - Is it still necessary to uninstall the Drobo Dashboard on the Mac prior to installing an update. Especially with a "minor update (i.e. 2.8.x updating to 2.8.(x+1), I have installed without uninstalling to go from 2.8.3 to 2.8.4, and all seems okay. I’m wondering what the “official” word is, however, as there is some inconvenience involved - for example, having to reconfigure the Drobo Dashboard Alerts Email Server account, especially if you have an account with 2-factor authentication.
hi sboydman, can i check if the reconfiguring of alert settings only happens when software in uninstalled, and then reinstalled (or does that seem to need reconfiguring after any extra upgrade/install of dashboard?)
ideally, upgrading dashboard should remember existing settings (from a wishful thinking design point of view) but i guess if uninstalling means removing all residue of a program, then it might be a bit more understandable if it also removes any email settings.
if things are working ok for you the way that you did it, i guess all is good? 
RE: Dashboard Version 2.8.4
Thanks for the reply, Paul. I’ve looked into the upgrading issue further, and this is my experience.
I just performed an upgrade from Drobo Dashboard 2.8.3 to 2.8.4 without uninstalling on macOS 10.11.6 El Capitan - this is on an iMac (24inch, mid 2007), which is ineligible for upgrading to macOS 10.12 Sierra. The Drobo Dashboard failed to find my Drobo 5N, even though the macOS Firewall permissions were set to “Allow incoming connections” for both “DDService64d” and and “Drobo Dashboard”. A reboot did not improve the situation - my Drobo 5N was not showing up.
I then uninstalled the Drobo Dashboard 2.8.4 and then reinstalled and rebooted my iMac. My Drobo 5N was now immediately detected by the Drobo Dashboard. The only setting that was not preserved was in the Dashboard Preferences section - the “Email Settings” for Drobo Dashboard Email Alerts was blank - this seems to happen after any reinstall of the Dashboard. I’ve always wondered about this Dashboard setting, since it seems to duplicate the “Alerts…” selection when you click on “Drobo Settings…” (those settings are preserved, by the way). I guess one set of alerts is handled entirely by the Drobo device, and the other is handled by the computer’s Dashboard app, but that always seemed strange to me. Even so, I reenter the Dashboard Alerts information after every reinstall anyway.
I guess I answered my own question. Follow these steps for a successful Drobo Dashboard update on macOS:
- Download Drobo Dashboard update file
- Open it, then click “Uninstall”
- After uninstall completes, click “Install” - no reboot required for this step
- Reboot Mac
- If Mac Firewall is turned on (in System Preferences, click Security & Privacy), verify that incoming connections for “DDService64d” and “Drobo Dashboard” are allowed in “Firewall Options…”
- Launch Drobo Dashboard. If any issues with discovery of your Drobo, try rebooting one more time.
thanks sboydman for the detailed info, and its good that you were able to confirm what steps to take.
the different alerts could be just for what appears on the screen, to be able to be different to what info is sent by email but i still use an older dashboard version so will recheck and post back
hmm i had a look on my dashboard v2.5.3 but cant seem to see any duplicate entries/areas
Yes I’ve upgraded, but wish I hadn’t as my Time Machine volume on my 5D has been renamed to “Drobo”; the Drobo Dashboard fails when I try to rename it to its former name; and our MacBooks now won’t connect to the Time Machine volume. Very frustrating.
Anybody any ideas?
Thanks in anticipation.
In the macOS version of Drobo Dashboard, if you click the “Drobo Settings…” entry, there are 4 choices in the popup box: “General”, “Network”, “Admin”, and “Alerts”. Selecting the “Alerts” choice presents a large dialog box which contains controls for Enabling and Disabling Alerts from “this Drobo”, selecting the level of the email alerts, and configuring the SMTP Server and User Account Authentication for the Server.
The above is in addition to the Email Settings available within the “Dashboard Preferences” Section of the Drobo Dashboard.
This is the duplication to which I was referring. Maybe one of these areas is missing from the Windows version of the Drobo Dashboard.[hr]
Regarding the section for Drobo Apps, I’ve noticed that with the new Folder Format, there seems to be a problem with the new Folder-based Apps listing. I have installed “Resilio Sync”, the updated app that is replacing “BitTorrent Sync”. It is not yet in the “DroboApp” area, but is available for download from the Resilio Sync NAS downloads area.
It, like other 3rd party apps, can be installed manually by copying the tar file into the hidden DroboApps Share. However, once installed, and following a reboot of the Drobo device, no entry is present in the Drobo Dashboard’s “Drobo Apps” section. It seems that there should be a Folder for “3rd Party Apps” or such that are not already included in the Drobo Dashboard installation. The app is functional by opening the proper address in a browser, but cannot be “Started”, “Stopped”, “Configured”, or “Uninstalled” from within the Drobo Dashboard, as no entry for "Resilio Sync "appears in any folder within the “Drobo Apps” area.
It was probably an inadvertent omission when the app listing format was changed from the previous simple list to the current Folder arrangement. I’m sure that correcting this is simple, and will appear shortly in the next Dashboard update.
ah yes it could be different for windows and mac,
maybe there is a button to click to show the original/details mode again?
or to possibly right click on an icon (with or without one of the usual special option keys, such as control, or shift or alt) to see any more options become available?
Well, Paul, I got around to checking the Windows version of the Drobo Desktop version 2.8.4, and it is virtually identical to the macOS version. So yes, there are 2 areas for email SMTP server account settings, and notification levels - the first in the Drobo Settings area, and the second in the Dashboard area. The Drobo Settings Alerts area information and account settings are preserved through Dashboard updates, presumably because they are stored on the Drobo itself, whereas the email settings in the Dashboard Preferences area have to be reentered after a Dashboard update, presumably because they are removed when the old Dashboard version is uninstalled prior to installing the Dashboard update. Still not certain why the alerts are repeated, but that is how the settings seem to behave.
Thanks for your interest, Paul.
ah well done for being able to compare the windows version sboydman
i created a new ticket in the feature request area for you here:
http://www.drobospace.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=147257
(please feel free to update / add anything there too in case i misunderstood anything, and hopefully it can be taken into consideration by the devs in future)
Thank you so much, Paul