#1gbe

Continuando con la serie sobre el Dell PowerEdge R730xd, en el post anterior analizamos los procesadores Intel Xeon E5-2697 v4, que aportan la potencia de cómputo de este servidor. En esta entrega vamos a centrarnos en la conectividad, revisando la tarjeta de red Dell Intel G49845-001, una solución quad port que combina 2 × 10GbE (Intel X540) con 2 × 1GbE (Intel I350).  Especificaciones…

QNAP TS-563-2G 5-Bay AMD 64bit x86-based NAS, Quad Core 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM, 2 x 1GbE, 10G-ready

The TS-563 is equipped with an energy-efficient 64-bit AMD quad-core 2.0 GHz processor with 2GB/8GB DDR3L-1600 RAM (upgradable to 16GB), SATA 6Gb/s, and two Gigabit LAN ports (expandable to either 4 x Gbe ports or 2 x Gbe + 2 x 10GbE ports) for lightning-fast multi-tasking performance with SSD cache support. The TS-563 is a powerful NAS that delivers up to 819 MB/s sequential read throughput with…

Much like in a business environment but on a smaller scale, we as home users, have an insatiable appetite for data. Our internet connection bandwidth has increased to the point where some can get speeds of 1 gigabit per second. Application sizes have increased. Some game installs reach 50 GB in size. Digital cameras allow us to snap hundreds of pictures in a single session. Not only have our data needs changed, but our networking needs have too. Homes now have multiple PCs, phones, and tablets. How can you share your data with your family? A NAS or network attached storage device could very well be the answer. A NAS not only allows you to share you data with multiple users but can also help keep your data safe. QNAP very recently introduced their newest dual bay NAS; the QNAP TS-251+. This NAS features an Intel Celeron Quad-Core 2.0 GHz CPU and supports up to 16 GB of RAM and 8 Terabyte drives. The NAS has the ability to connect to a TV or monitor and act as a media center/player or a light use PC for browsing the web.

[sc:sponsor sponsor=”QNAP” product_link=”https://www.qnap.com/i/useng/product/model.php?II=195″ product_name=”QNAP TS-251+-8G” product_price_link=”http://amzn.to/1YVoSGP” product_price=”499″ ]

Packaging

Much like other QNAP products, the TS-251+ packaging is very simple. There is a small product sticker on the front of the NAS that details the specifications and features.

  Inside, the TS-251+ is tucked away in a foam shell. The accessories are packaged away in an additional cardboard box.

Except for the hard drives, the included accessories are all you will need to get the TS-251+ up and running. The included accessories include, dual Ethernet cables, power supply, screws for SSDs and hard drives, a quick start guide, and a media center remote.

Hardware Specifications

CPU Quad-Core Intel® Celeron® 2.0GHz (burst up to 2.42GHz)

Floating Point Unit

V GPU Intel® HD Graphics Hardware-Acclerated Transcoding V Memory System memory:

TS-251+-2G: 2GB DDR3L RAM (1 x 2GB) TS-251+-8G: 8GB DDR3L RAM (2 x 4GB)

Total memory slots: 2 SODIMM Expandable up to: 8 GB

NOTE: 1. When installing two memory modules, please ensure that they are the same size and ideally use the same type of RAM for both memory slots. 2. For the information of RAM module installation and compatible NAS models, please refer to the QNAP RAM Module Installation Guide

Flash Memory 512MB Drive 2 x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s HDD or SSD; hot swappable trays

NOTE: For the HDD compatibility list, please visit https://www.qnap.com/compatibility

Expansion Unit Max. 1 (UX-800P, UX-500P) Gigabit LAN Ports 2 USB 2 x USB 3.0 (Front: 1, Rear: 1) 2 x USB 2.0 (Rear) IR Receiver Yes (QNAP RM-IR002 remote control) HDMI 1 LED Indicators Power/Status, LAN, USB, HDD1-2 Buttons Power, Reset, USB Auto Copy Alarm Buzzer System warning Form Factor Tower Dimensions (HxWxD) 168.5 x 102 x 225 mm 6.63 x 4.02 x 8.86 inch Weight (Net / Gross) 1.28 kg (2.82 lbs) / 2.32 kg (5.11 lbs) System Fan 1 x 7cm, 12V DC Kensington Security Slot 1 Power Supply External Power Adapter, 60W, 100-240V Power Consumption (W) S3 sleep: 0.57 HDD standby: 10.56 In operation (typical): 18.09 Temperature 0 – 40 °C Humidity 5~95% RH non-condensing, wet bulb: 27˚C

  Software Specifications

Operating System QTS 4.2 (embedded Linux)

File System

Internal Hard Drive: EXT4

External Hard Drive: EXT3, EXT4, NTFS, FAT32, HFS+

Supported Client OS

Windows 7 (32/64-bit), Windows 8 (32/64-bit), Windows Server 2003/2008 R2/2012/2012 R2

Apple Mac OS X

Linux & UNIX

Power Management

Wake on LAN

Internal hard drive standby mode

Scheduled power on/off

Automatic power on after power recovery

USB and network UPS support with SNMP management

System sleep mode (S3)

Supported Browsers

Microsoft Internet Explorer 10+

Mozilla Firefox 8+

Apple Safari 4+

Google Chrome

Access Right Management

Batch users creation

Import/Export users

User quota management

Local user access control for CIFS, AFP, FTP, and WebDAV

Application access control for Photo Station, Music Station, Video Station, and File Station

Subfolder permissions support for CIFS/SMB, AFP, FTP, and File Station

Multilingual Support

Chinese (Traditional & Simplified), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish

Domain Authentication Integration

Microsoft Active Directory (AD) & Domain Controller support

LDAP server, LDAP client

Domain users login via CIFS/SMB, AFP, FTP, and File Station

Storage Management

QNAP flexible Volume/LUN with thin provisioning and space reclaim

RAID 0 / 1, JBOD

Supports storage pools

Supports snapshots (4GB System RAM required)

Supports Volume/LUN snapshot (Max 256 snapshots)

Snapshot manager

Snapshot clone

Snapshot vault

Snapshot replica

Snapshot agent for Windows VSS and VMware

Online volume expansion

Online storage pool expansion

Online RAID capacity expansion and online RAID level migration

SMART data migration

Storage expansion via a QNAP UX-500P/UX-800P expansion unit

JBOD enclosure roaming

SSD read-only/read-write cache

Bad block scan and hard drive S.M.A.R.T.

Bad block recovery

RAID recovery

Bitmap support

myQNAPcloud Service

Private cloud storage and sharing

Free host name registration (DDNS)

Supports myQNAPcloud SSL certificates (DDNS)

Auto router configuration (via UPnP)

Web-based file manager with HTTPS 2048-bit encryption

CloudLink for remote access without any complicated router setup

myQNAPcloud connect for easy VPN connection (Windows VPN utility)

Networking

TCP/IP (IPv4 & IPv6: Dual Stack)

Dual Gigabit NICs with jumbo frame (failover, multi-IP settings, port trunking/NIC teaming)

Service binding based on network interfaces

Proxy server (Squid Proxy Server via App Center)

Proxy client

DHCP client, DHCP server

Protocols: CIFS/SMB, AFP (v3.3), NFS(v3), FTP, FTPS, SFTP, TFTP, HTTP(S), Telnet, SSH, iSCSI, SNMP, SMTP, and SMSC

UPnP & Bonjour Discovery

USB Wi-Fi Adapter Support

* Not all services supports IPv6.

Qsync

Syncs files across multiple devices with SSL support

Selective synchronization for only syncing specific folders

Use team folders as a file center for greater team collaboration (maximum sync tasks:32)

Shares files by links via e-mail

Policy settings for conflicting files and file type filter support

Version control: up to 64 versions.

Incremental synchronization for HDD space saving

Unified privilege management

Unified configuration management

Supports central configuration mode

Supports remote erase / restore

Supports shared folders sync

Supports Windows & Mac OS

Security

Network access protection with auto-blocking: SSH, Telnet, HTTP(S), FTP, CIFS/SMB, AFP

CIFS host access control for shared folders

FIPS 140-2 validated AES 256-bit volume-based and shared folder data encryption*

AES 256-bit external drive encryption*

Importable SSL certificates

Instant alert via E-mail, SMS, beep, and push notification service

2-step verification

* The data encryption functions may be unavailablenot available in accordance with the legislative restrictions of some countries.

Web Administration

Movable Icons and personalized desktop

Smart toolbar and dashboard for neat system status display

Smart fan Control

Dynamic DNS (DDNS)

SNMP (v2 & v3)

Resource monitor

Network recycle bin for file deletion via CIFS/SMB, AFP, and File Station

Automatic Cleanup

File Type Filter

Comprehensive logs (events & connection)

Syslog client/server

System settings backup and restore

Restore to factory default

Mobile app: Qmanager for remote system monitoring & management

Powerful All-in-one server

File Server

File sharing across Windows, Mac, and Linux/UNIX

Windows ACL

Advanced folder permissions for CIFS/SMB, AFP, FTP

Shared folder aggregation (CIFS/SMB)

Download Station

PC-less BT, FTP/FTPS, and HTTP/HTTPS, Thunder, FlashGet and qqdl download (up to 500 Tasks)

BT download with Magnet Link and PT support

Scheduled download and bandwidth control

RSS subscription and download (broadcatching)

BT search

Proxy support for BT download

  FTP Server

FTP over SSL/TLS (Explicit)

FXP support

Passive ftp port range control

Notes Station

A handy note-taking tool for everywhere you go via your private cloud

Direct and quick backup from Evernote with re-editing availability

Supports Google Calendar

Import/Export PDF file

RSS live feed and auto update

Online quick preview of multimedia attachments

Notes encrypt/decrypt

Smart snapshot for version control

Collaborate on notes with multiple users

Provides Chrome Extension: Notes Station Clipper (Clip web page content to your notes)

File Station

Supports mounting a Cloud Drive (such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon Cloud Drive, Yandex Disk and Box)

Supports mounting remote shared folders through FTP, WebDAV or Microsoft networking (SMB/CIFS)

Supports opening documents via Office Online, Google Docs or Chrome Extension (Edit Office files in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides)

Supports ISO Mounting (Up to 256 ISO Files)

Supports thumbnail display of multimedia files

Supports sharing download links and upload links

Supports sharing to other NAS users

Drag-n-drop Files via Chrome and Firefox Browsers

Photo, music, and video preview and playback with hardware-accelerated transcoding

File Compression (ZIP or 7z)

Creation of and sending download links for sharing public files with expiration date and password protection

Supports displaying subtitles (*.SRT, UTF-8 format)

Video seeking support for video playback during on-the-fly transcoding

Supports slideshow playback in media viewer

Mobile App: Qfile for file browsing and management

HD (HybridDesk) Station 3.0

Playback videos, music, photos on TV with KODI via HDMI

Watch various online content such as YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, Shoutcast, etc.

Web browsers (Chrome, Firefox)

Supports multi-lingual keyboard, input and mouse

Supports QNAP Qremote app and the official KODI remote app

Supports user login permissions

A variety of applications are available including Skype, Plex, and more

Note: – The playback and quality of some video files may be affected by the system’s CPU and GPU decoding abilities. – Up to 7.1 channel audio passthrough is supported

Transcode Management

Transcode video files to 240p, 360p, 480p, 720p and 1080p resolution

Automatic video transcoding for watched folders

Hardware accelerated transcoding support

Embed subtitles into videos for background transcoding

Virtualization Station

Supports Virtual Machine (VM) creation to run operating systems such as Windows, Linux, Unix and Android

Supports VM import and export

Supports VM cloning

Supports VM snapshots

Supports VM backup and restore

Support three different networking modes: Isolated, External-only and Bridged

VM console can be displayed via HDMI output – QVM

HTML5-based shared remote console

Backup Station

Remote replication server (over rsync)

Real-time remote replication (RTRR) to another QNAP NAS or FTP server

Works as both RTRR server & client with bandwidth control

Real-time & scheduled backup

Backup versioning for RTRR

Snapshot support for RTRR/Rsync

Encryption, compression, file filter, and transfer rate limitation

Encrypted replication between QNAP NAS servers

Desktop backup with QNAP NetBak Replicator for Windows

Apple Time Machine backup support

Data backup to multiple external storage devices

Third party backup software support: Veeam backup & replication, Acronis True Image, Arcserve backup, emc retrospect, Symantec Backup Exec, etc.

  Signage Station

Supports dynamic content including videos, images, music, and text

Supports multi-user collaboration

Supports searching using keywords

Supports sharing by email and social network

Supports design software: iArtist Lite

Supports account authority management

Supports playback on various browsers (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari)

Supports most viewed, latest released and different categories content list

Print Server

Max number of printers: 3

Supports Internet Printing Protocol

Print job display and management

IP-based and domain name-based privilege control

  Storage Plug & Connect

Creating and mapping shared folders by QNAP Windows Qfinder

Creation of and connection to iSCSI target/LUN

Photo Station

Show photos by thumbnails, list, timeline, or folder view

Supports virtual/smart albums

Validity control for sharing albums

Tag photos with text, colors, and ratings

Slideshows with background music and different transition effects

Animated thumbnails for videos

Geotag photos and display them on Google maps

Advanced search by tags, metadata, etc

Supports uploading photos/videos to Picasa, Flickr, Weibo, YouTube

Supports face detection (with the Photo Station Extension)

Supports PDF to image conversion (with the Photo Station Extension)

Share slideshows links to social websites or by email

Supports Facebook friends login

Backup/Restore album configuration

iSCSI (IP SAN)

iSCSI target with multi-LUNs per target (Up to 256 targets/LUNs combined)

Supports LUN mapping & masking

Online LUN capacity expansion

iSCSI LUN backup, one-time snapshot, and restoration

iSCSI connection and management by QNAP Windows Qfinder

Virtual disk drive (via iSCSI initiator)

Stack chaining master

Max No. of virtual disk drives: 8

Music Station

Play or share music via web browser*

Automatic classification via Media Library

Supports streaming music to multiple devices.

Supports changing album covers via Google search or uploading photos.

Internet radio (MP3)

Up to 8 music alarms

Mobile app: Qmusic for music streaming and management

* DRM-protected content is not supported.

Surveillance Station

Supports over 3,000 IP cameras

Includes 2 free camera licenses, up to 40 camera channels via additional license purchase

Instant playback to check recent events

Online editing to edit cameras during live view

Visual aid by e-map

Playback and speed control using the shuttle bar

Video preview on playback timeline

Intelligent video analytics (IVA) for advanced video searching

Surveillance client for Mac

Mobile surveillance app: Vmobile (iOS and Android)

Mobile recording app: Vcam (iOS and Android)

iTunes Server

Audio and video sharing for Windows & Mac iTunes

VPN Server

Secure remote access: PPTP、L2TP/IPsec & OpenVPN VPN services

Max number of clients: 30

Video Station

Show photos by thumbnails, list, timeline, or folder view

Supports virtual/smart collections

Validity control for sharing collections

Tag videos with text, color, and ratings

Animated thumbnails for videos

Share video links to social websites or through email

Sort videos automatically into defined classifications

Display movie information from IMDB

Display movie posters from IMDB or user upload

Supports displaying subtitles (*.SRT,*.ASS, *.SSA)

Supports searching for subtitles online

Supports importing subtitles

Supports Facebook friends login

Supports custom video classification

Supports multi-zone video display

Video seeking support for video playback during on-the-fly transcoding

Mobile app: Qvideo for online video browsing and management

VPN Client

Supported VPN protocols: PPTP & OpenVPN services

PPTP Authentication: PAP, CHAP, MS-CHAP, MS-CHAPv2

PPTP Encryption: None, AES 40/128 bit, AES 256 bit

OpenVPN Encryption: None, AES 40/128 bit, AES 256 bit

Transmission package monitor

OpenVPN port control

OpenVPN link compression

Cloud Backup Station

Amazon S3

Amazon Glacier

WebDAV-based cloud storage

Microsoft Azure

OpenStack

DLNA Server

Supports DLNA/UPnP TVs and players such as PlayStation 3/4 and Xbox 360/One

Supported audio formats: AIFF, APE, DSD (DSF, DFF), FLAC, M4A, M4A Apple Lossless (ALAC), MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WAV (PCM, LPCM), WMA, WMA PRO, WMA VBR*

Support CUE indexing file for APE, FLAC audio format.

Video and Audio On-the-fly Transcoding

*DRM-protected content is not supported.

AirPlay & Chromecast

Streams videos, photos and music from NAS to Apple TV via Qfile or QAirPlay&Chromecast

Streams videos, photos and music from NAS to TV with Chromecast via Qfile , Qvideo or QAirPlay&Chromecast

Q’center (NAS CMS)

Multiple NAS monitoring

Utilization history reports

Unified configuration management

Visual display reports

Monitor NAS behind NAT router with Q’center Assistant

Virtual appliances supported for Hyper-V and VMware

App Center

Over 100 official and community software add-ons

Designs and specifications are subject to change without notice.

  [section_title title=A Closer Look at the QNAP TS-251+]

A Closer Look at the QNAP TS-251+

The QNAP TS-251+ is a dual bay NAS and has a considerably smaller footprint than its 4 & 5 bay cousins. The NAS measures 168.5(H) x 102(W) x 225(D) mm (6.63(H) x 4.02(W) x 8.86(D) inch) and weighs in at about 5 lbs without the drives. The drive trays are removed by pulling up on the locking handle and sliding them out. These trays do not feature any type of key and lock assembly to prevent the drives from being removed.

  The status indicators are located on the left front side of the NAS.

Just below the status indicators, are the power, copy, and a single USB 3.0 port.

On the back of the NAS there is a 120mm fan, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, a single HDMI port, two USB 2.0 ports and a USB 3.0 port.

The TS-251+ is designed to be a media center and with that QNAP has included a remote control. The remote gives you the ability to interact with the NAS and navigate the applications and menus without a keyboard and mouse if you decide to use it as a media center.

  The motherboard is easy to access and both memory slots are easy to access without having to remove the motherboard. To access the motherboard, two screws on the back of the case and slide the two halves of the case apart. The Intel CPU on the motherboard is passively cooled and relies on the fan at the back of the case for airflow. Two SO-DIMM slots surround the motherboard. 8 GB of DDR3-1600 was included with our review sample. Take note, the RAM is DDR3L which has a lower voltage than standard DDR3.

  Networking is controlled by two Intel i210AT networking chips. These provide 10/100/1000 mbps connectivity. The i210AT chips also support advanced networking protocols such as 802.1q (VLAN), Wake-On-LAN (WOL) and jumbo frames.

  The Fintek F71869AD is the super I/O controller for the TS-251+ and is responsible for the hardware monitoring of the NAS.

  The disk-on-module (DOM) is flash based and is used to house the operating system of the TS-251+. The DOM module plugs directly into a SATA port on the motherboard. .

  The drive trays support both 3.5″ and 2.5″ drives. To install the drive, use the included screws to secure to the drive under the tray. The 2.5″ drive mounts are marked on the underside of the tray.

  [section_title title=QNAP QTS 4.2 Smart Start]

QNAP QTS 4.2 Smart Start

QNAP’s software is the same across all devices capable of running QTS 4.2. This page and the next are similar for the QNAP TS-251+ and the QNAP TS-563 that was recently reviewed.

After installing the drives and plugging in the network and power cables, give the power button a tap and the NAS will power up. By default the TS-251+ is set to get an address automatically. Once you have the address you can open a web browser and type in the IP address in the address bar.

The first page of the initial set up is the Welcome Screen. This screen will will ask you how you would like to set up the TS-251+. If you choose home use, the NAS will enable applications such as music station, video station and photo station; these applications typically do not make sense running in a business environment. The business use option only enables services that are used for business such as Windows networking services, NFS, etc. However, the previously mentioned applications can still be installed in the App Center.

  Next up, you’ll want to set the NAS device name and the administrator password.

The date and time are set on the next screen. You can also choose to synchronize the date and time with a network time protocol (NTP) server.

The next screen in the Startup Wizard is setting up the network address. You can choose to set up a static IP address or set the NAS to get an IP address automatically from your DHCP server. In the Services screen, you’ll turn on or off what networking services you will run on the TS-251. Windows, MAC, and Linux file sharing services are available. You can also turn on or off some applications such as Photo Station, Music Station and the iTunes server.

On the next screen is where you get to decide what type of RAID array you would like to run as well as what kind of volume you’d like to use. For most home users a Static Volume is going to work just fine. After you’ve chosen the volume type, then you’ll choose the RAID array configuration. Depending on the number of disks installed and the number of disks selected, the options are Single, JOBD (Just a bunch of disks), RAID 0, or RAID 1.

  If you’ve never set up a RAID array before or are just curious to and want to learn more, the learn more link displays a brief page on what each of the setting means.

The last page of the Startup Wizard confirms your settings. If you’d like to make changes just click on the back button. Changes are not applied until you click the Finish button.

  After clicking the apply button, the NAS will apply the changes you made during the Smart Start session. A page with an indicator bar will tell you how far along the NAS is in the process of applying the settings.

  [section_title title=QNAP QTS 4.2 User Interface]

NAP QTS 4.2 User Interface

The QNAP QTS 4.2 operating system in my opinion is very easy to navigate. There are a lot of options in the interface and I will only be covering a basic set.

The Smart Start configuration wizard is not mandatory and can be skipped and you can go directly to the user interface of the TS-563. When you first launch the UI, you will be presented with a log in screen. The default username and password is admin/admin.

  After logging in, you will be taken to the desktop. The desktop is very similar to a Windows or Linux based interface. Icons can be placed on the desktop as shortcuts to the applications and configuration items you most commonly use. Menus, notifications and performance information are available on the top bar of the screen.

  If you are like me, you’ll want to know what the hardware on the TS-251+ is doing. How hot is the CPU, what’s the fan speed, network bandwidth information is all available by clicking on the gauge icon at the top right of the screen. Each of the areas can be placed on the desktop by simply clicking and dragging the title of the box such as hardware. If you were to drag the hardware section onto the desktop, you’d see the graphical representation that you see in this menu but only for that section. The same applies to system health, resource monitoring, hdd health, and storage.

  Background tasks is the icon that looks like papers in an inbox on the top bar. Backup status is the circular icon with a hard drive in the middle, and the error and information logs is the icon with the lower case “i” in the center.

The menu is the three horizontal bars located at the upper left of the interface. Click on this brings down the menu with all the areas needed to manage the NAS.

  The control panel is the first item on the list. The control panel is where you will manage all the available configuration settings on the NAS. It is broken down in to four major groups: System Settings, Privilege Settings, Network Services and Applications.

The System Settings sub-menu is where you can configure items such as network IP addressing, system security, backups, power management, and firmware updates. The storage manager application can also be launched from this menu.

Granting users permissions to shared folder, or adding them to groups is done in the Privilege Settings sub-menu.  You can also set disk quotas for the users in this area too. For those users that have a Windows Active Directory domain, you can add the NAS to the domain. This allows you to assign domain accounts vs local NAS accounts permissions to the shared folders on the NAS. The TS-251+ can act as a domain controller in addition to being added to your Windows Domain.

  The networking services sub-menu allows you to configure the services that will run on the network. You can enable Windows, MAC, and Linux networking shares. FTP, Telnet/SSH, SNMP and network discovery and enabled and configured here as well. Typically on a shared folder on the network, when a file is deleted, it is gone. It is not stored in the recycle bin on a Windows PC or server. The network recycle bin on the TS-251+ stores deleted items for shared folders when it is enabled. This functions the same way that your recycle bin does on your PC and, just like your PC it will have to be emptied occasionally as it takes up space.

  The applications sub-menu is where you will manage the applications that are already installed on the NAS. You cannot install additional applications from this location. By default there are a few applications that come with the TS-251+ and others are installed during the initial configuration, depending on the options you choose.

  Going back to the menu, you’ll see the App Center option. This is where you can install and update applications from QNAP’s “app store”. There are a lot of applications that are free however, some require to you purchase additional licenses to enable or expand on certain features. A manual install option is available for those linux guru’s that want to install applications that are not available from QNAP.

myQNAPcloud allows you to grant access to the NAS from any where in the world. There is an option to automatically provision certain routers. Once the configuration has been completed, you’ll need to establish a connection to CloudLink. There are options to set up Dynamic DNS so that your users do not have to try and remember an IP address but just remember a URL such as http://mycloud.modders-inc.com. On top of the NAS is a serial number that will grant access to the myQNAPcloud service.

  Finally, we will tackle the Storage manager menu. Storage manager is where you can monitor and configure items related to the installed hard drives, configured volumes, and the RAID array. The overview page gives you a very quick glance at the storage system. It will let you know if you have any failed disks, volumes or storage pools. Utilization will show how much space each of the shared folders is using.

  The disks menu will give you more detailed information on each of the physical hard drives installed in the NAS. You can also run SMART tests on each disk to verify their health as well as monitoring temperatures on each disk. The information provided here can be used to determine if your drives are in danger of failing.

  The storage space menu is where all the RAID and volume configuration is done. There are a lot of options here and you can tweak and tune as much as you’d like. From here you can create a storage pool.  Think of a storage pools as a container for your physical hard drives. A pool can only have one RAID type but you can have multiple storage pools. For example, storage pool 2 may contain disks 1 & 2 and is a RAID 0 array and storage pool 2 contains disk 3 & 4 and is a RAID 1 array with disk 5 as a hot spare. This gives you two storage pools with two types of RAID arrays. Thick and Thin volumes be created in storage pools. However, the TS251+ only supports RAID types 1 & 0.

A single Static volume will allocate 100% of the available space for the selected drives. It can be a little confusing determining which type of volume you’d like to use. QNAP’s help is an outstanding resource.

The Storage Manager also allows more advanced features such as Cache Acceleration.

Cache Acceleration allows the NAS to determine what data is used the most. It will then use the fastest disks to store a copy of the data and synchronize it back to the main storage disks. Typically you’ll want to have fast storage such as SSDs available. A typical set up may look like 2 SSDs configured in RAID 0 and 3 mechanical drives configured for RAID 5. With Cache Acceleration turned on, over time the NAS will see what data is accessed the most and move a copy to the SSDs. While there is very little improvement on transfer speeds (a single SSD can transfer more data than ate a 1 gb network link) the access times can be dramatically reduced. In the default configuration, the QNAP TS-251+ only supports two drives however, QNAP does sell expansion cabinets that can be added to this NAS to allow more drives and different RAID arrays. With 2 drives and both RAID arrays taking up two disks, SSD caching is impossible. Setting up a Single Drive and using SSD Caching is possible but you lose the functionality of RAID. There are a few trade-offs.

  [section_title title=Testing Methodology]

Testing Methodology

System Configuration Case Cooler Master Cosmos II SE CPU Intel i7 4770K Motherboard MSI Z97m Gaming Ram 2 GB G.Skill F3-12800CL9q DDR3-1600 GPU MSI GTX 970 OC Hard Drives Samsung 840 EVO 256gb SSD Western Digital black 500 gb 7200 RPM HDD Power Supply NXZT Hale v2 1000 Watt power supply

4 Seagate 4 TB NAS 5900 RPM drives were installed and used in the NAS tests.

A dual port Intel network card was installed in the test system.

The QNAP TS-251+ in all RAID arrays used a Single Static Volume.

The TS-251+ was tested solo as I do not have other dual bay devices to test against.

Network Layout

For all tests the NAS was configured to use the a single network interface. One CAT 6 cable was connected to the Cisco 2960 from the NAS and one CAT 6 cable was connected to the workstation from the switch. Testing was done on the PC with only 1 network card active; the Killer network card and the corresponding software were disabled for the testing.  The switch was cleared of any configuration and left in a unconfigured state. Jumbo frames was not enabled and no changes to the network interfaces was made.

Software

All testing is done based off of a single client accessing the NAS. We are currently working on a multi-client testing solution. Stay tuned.

To test NAS Performance I used The Intel NAS Performance toolkit and Atto Storage benchmark.

The Intel NAS Performance toolkit simulates various tasks for storage devices such as video streaming, copying files and folders to and from the NAS as well as creatingcontent directly on the NAS. To limit caching, a 2GB G.Skill memory module was used in all tests. All options in the Performance toolkit were left that the defaults. The NAS performance test is free to download. You can pick up a copy for yourself here.

All tests were run a total of three times then averaged to get the final result.

RAID 0 and RAID 1 were tested.

Tests were run after all the RAID arrays were fully synchronized

  RAID Information

Images courtesy of Wikipedia

  JOBD or Just a Bunch Of Disks is exactly what the name describes. The hard drives have no actual raid functionality and are spanned at random data is written at random.

RAID 0 is a stripe set and data is written across the disks evenly. The advantage of RAID 0 is speed and increased capacity. With RAID 0 there is no redundancy and data loss is very possible.

RAID 1 is a mirrored set and data is mirrored from one drive to another. The advantage of RAID 1 is data redundancy as each piece of data is written to both disks. The disadvantage of RAID 1 is write speed is decreased as compared to RAID 0 due to the write operation is performed on both disks. RAID 1 capacity is that of the smallest disk.

RAID 10 combines the 1st two raid levels and is a mirror of a stripe set. This allows for better speed of a RAID 0 array but the data integrity of a RAID 1 array.

RAID 5 is a stripe set with parity. RAID 5 requires at least 3 disks. Data is striped across each disk, and each disk has a parity block. RAID 5 allows the loss of one drive without losing data. The advantage to RAID 5 is read speeds increase as the number of drives increase but the disadvantage is write speeds are slower as the number of drives is increased. There is overhead with RAID 5 as the parity bit needs to be calculated and with software RAID 5 there is more of a performance hit.

RAID 6 expands on RAID 5 by adding an additional parity block to the array that is distributed across all the disks. Since there are two parity blocks in the array more overhead is used with a RAID 6 array.

For a full breakdown of RAID levels, take a look at the Wikipedia article here.

RAID configurations are a highly debated topic. RAID has been around for a very long time. Hard drives have changed, but the technology behind RAID really hasn’t. So what may have been considered ideal a few years ago may not be ideal today. If you are solely relying on multiple hard drives as a safety measure to prevent data loss, you are in for a disaster. Ideally you will use a mutli-drive array for an increase in speed and lower access times and have a backup of your data elsewhere. I have seen arrays with hot spares that had multiple drives fail and the data was gone.

Do yourself a favor and read up on the different types of RAID arrays and plan accordingly. Personally, I use a RAID 10 array with an automated backup to the cloud. I feel with that setup, I’ve done what I can to keep my data safe.

  [section_title title=Intel NAS Performance Toolkit Results]

Intel NAS Performance Toolkit Results

I have combined the RAID 0 & RAID 1 tests in order to give a side by side comparison. As we get more dual bay NAS in for review, the chart will be updated to compare each NAS at their respective RAID configurations.

  [section_title title=Conclusion]

Conclusion

In my opinion, it is interesting to see the progression of NAS devices over the past few years, especially when it comes to the devices that are designed to be placed in the home. The media center applications that can be installed on the QNAP TS-251+ are powerful and well polished. I did not have any issues using the features while hooked up to my television. The included remote is a major bonus as it allows control over 90% of the applications that are installed with HybridDesk Station desktop environment. The HybridDesk station must be installed in order to use the NAS as a media center directly attached to your television. The HybridDesk station also includes other applications such as Chrome, Facebook, and LibreOffice. Attaching a USB keyboard and mouse to the NAS allows you to used it as a low power desktop PC that is good for browsing the web, checking email, etc.

  Network media features work well too. Enabling UPNP allows devices to discover the device and play media files. In my case, I have the Arris Media Gateway provided by my cable company. In the menu option there is a sub-menu for media centers. The gateway can access all the media and music on the device. It is pretty convenient for the non-technical people that live in my house as they don’t have to switch TV inputs. Accessing the media center files on my gateway is very similar to accessing shows that have been recorded on the DVR. While playing videos from the NAS through the gateway the TS-251+ was transcoding videos on the fly. CPU utilization never went above 45% and most of the time utilization averaged about 20% during a 4 hour binge watching session and CPU temperature stayed well below 120° F. Playback quality was excellent with little or no artifacts while playing the Sintel (mkv)1080p test file.

The media center features are a nice option to have but don’t have to be used. The TS-251+ can be used as a simple storage device without additional software and features. The TS-251+ has built in user management for creating users and giving them access to files and folders. The NAS can also be joined to a Windows Active Directory domain and domain users and groups can be added to files and folders. The NAS can also be configured to act as a domain controller to handle authentication requests.

Performance wise, the TS-251+ is on par with the larger 5 bay NAS in simple file and folder copy operations. The heavier workload performance suffers due to the amount of disks available in the array. The gigabit network has reached a point where the hard drives can saturate a single gigabit link. During some of the copy operations, I saw network utilization reach 95%. Fret not, as this type of utilization is not constant. Most of the time network utilization was around 20-30%. During media center streaming, network utilization averaged 30% and I was able to still copy from a PC to the NAS with no hiccups in playback or diminished playback quality. With two network adapters available, more network capacity can be utilized but will require a managed switch to enable both network adapters to load balance. 8 port managed switches can be purchased for around $150. Enabling the dual network adapters does not double the bandwidth to a single host, it load balances hosts between the links.

The ability to use RAID in the home is a nice feature and it can help prevent data loss by having redundant drives. In the case of the TS-251+ that would be RAID 1 which mirrors data from one drive to the other. However, RAID is not a backup strategy nor should you rely on it to keep your data protected. If your data is important to you, you should set up some form of backup. Backup. backup, backup. Especially if you choose to use RAID 0 on the TS-251+. If you lose one drive with RAID 0, your data is gone. All is not lost however, as there are multiple backup options. You can choose to use the USB ports to backup to an external drive or you can download one of the applications that will back your data up to the cloud.

The QNAP TS-251+ is an impressive little NAS. The device has the ability to do a lot, and do it well. In my opinion, the media/desktop features are the most impressive features of this NAS. One person can be in the living room watching show on the NAS connected to the TV and using the included remote at the same time as other users can stream media from the NAS to their PCs and at the same time other users can use the file services. The TS-251+ is aimed at the higher end of the home use market. Our sample shipped with 8 gigabytes of RAM. The 8 gigbyte version will run you $499 with out drives.  As of this writing, the TS-251+ can support 8 TB drives giving the maximum unformatted capacity (RAID 0) of 16 TB. While the TS-251+ is not the cheapest dual bay NAS on the market, in my opinion it is one of the more capable.

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QNAP TVS-863-US 8-Bay AMD x86-based NAS, Quad Core 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, 2 x 1GbE, 10G-ready (TVS-863-US)

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