Netgear Brings Broadwell-DE to COTS NAS Units with New 10G ReadyNAS Lineup

Netgear’s ReadyNAS lineup was updated towards the end of last year with some units based on the Annapurna Labs ARM-based SoCs. This year, Netgear is targeting SMBs, creative professionals and SMEs with a new set of desktop and rackmount units based on high-end Intel SoCs and CPUs. All of the new units run ReadyNAS OS 6 – the first COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) NAS operating system to come with support for the btrfs file system.

At IFA 2016, Netgear is launching two new desktop models and two new rackmounts. All of the models, except for one of the rackmounts, come with native 10G capabilities. This goes well with the host of affordable 10G switches that Netgear has launched over the last couple of years. The desktop models are the most interesting from a platform viewpoint – the ReadyNAS 526X uses the Intel Pentium D-1508 2C/4T processor that comes under the Xeon-D 1500 lineup, and the ReadyNAS 626X uses the Intel Xeon D-1521 4C/8T processor. To our knowledge, these are the first COTS NAS units to use these Broadwell-DE (Xeon-D 1500) SoCs. The two units join the ReadyNAS 300 series units as part of Netgear’s x86 ReadyNAS lineup. The important specifications of the two new units and how they compare with the other x86 units are provided below.

On the rackmount side, Netgear has opted for the Skylake Xeons. The new units have 12 bays and come with quad 1G LAN ports. All of them have two mini-SAS ports for storage expansion. The ReadyNAS 3312 doesn’t have any 10G ports, while the ReadyNAS 4312 has two. The 4312S has two optical SFP+ 10G interfaces, while the 4312X has two 10GBase-T ports.

The only disappointing aspect is that the rackmount units don’t come with support for SAS drives.

In terms of software features, the btrfs implementation allows Netgear to enable seamless snapshotting capabilities and also offer bitrot protection. There are some value additions in the form of ReadyDR (disaster recovery) that allows block-level backup to / restore from another ReadyNAS unit in the LAN. Netgear also has the ReadyCLOUD service for seamless VPN access and private cloud capabilities.

All the NAS models are available today. The diskless desktop versions come in at $1400 and $1800 for the RN526X and RN626X respectively. The diskless rackmounts are priced at $3000 (RN3312), $4200 (RN4312S) and $4400 (RN4312X).

Netgear’s decision to go with the Xeon-D SoC lineup has enabled them to create more efficient units (in terms of hardware) compared to the competition. The ReadyNAS OS 6 features are also in the process of getting tuned with customer feedback. Most important business requirements are already implemented, but competitors have a huge advantage, thanks to third-party apps. Features such as native virtualization (host OS capabilities) and containers (Docker) support enable the competitors’ units to fully utilize all the available CPU cycles (once the core requirements related to file serving are met). The same can’t be said of Netgear’s current version of the ReadyNAS OS. However, for SMBs / SMEs with well-defined requirements / workloads, the new 10G-enabled ReadyNAS units definitely merit consideration, thanks to a combination of attractive pricing and possible reseller-dependent deals involving bundled 10G switches.

QNAP Expands Thunderbolt NAS / DAS Lineup with TVS-x82T Series

QNAP recently held a product launch event in San Jose. The main announcement was the follow-up to their TVS-871T released late last year. The first generation Thunderbolt NAS came with eight 3.5″ drive slots, 16GB of RAM, two Thunderbolt 2 ports and two 10GBASE-T ports. Despite being priced at $2800 (Haswell Core i5 configuration) and $3200 (Haswell Core i7 configuration), QNAP noted that it was popular enough to expand the lineup with more models. The popularity stems from the fact that creative professionals dealing with multimedia content often deal with Thunderbolt DAS units for fast access to data. However, those DAS units are typically not amenable to shared workflows. This is where a NAS / DAS combination like the TVS-871T has been able to make an impact. Thunderbolt networking support means that multiple PCs can access the NAS / DAS at high speed, while the network links can be used by other non-performance sensitive clients to access the data.

The new TVS-x82T series comes in three different varieties, the TVS-682T, TVS-882T and TVS-1282T. They have 4, 6 and 8 3.5″ drive bays respectively. The 4- and 6-bay units have two additional 2.5″ drive slots, while the 8-bay unit has four additional 2.5″ drive slots. The 6- and 8-bay units have LCD screens in the front panel. As the slide below shows, the models come with three HDMI ports (2x HDMI 1.4 + 1x HDMI 2.0), and have two M.2 SSD slots on the motherboard. The TVS-1282T also has a spare PCIe 3.0 x8 slot that can be used to add a 10 GbE / 40 GbE card or NVMe SSD or a USB 3.1 Gen 2 card or even a discrete GPU (that can be used as a passthrough device for a VM running on the TVS-1282T).

QNAP was also heavily promoting their Qtier automatic data tiering technology which helps in improving performance while also enabling archive functionality within the same NAS by using another storage pool. Thunderbolt expansion units (5-bay and 8-bay) are also available.

More information on the TVS-x82T models can be found on QNAP’s product page here.

It is interesting to note that the Thunderbolt ports are v2 and enabled by an add-on card. One of our chief complaints is the usage of Thunderbolt 2 instead of Thunderbolt 3 (which can also act as a USB 3.1 Gen 2 host / client as needed). QNAP mentioned that Thunderbolt 3 add-on cards are definitely in the pipeline, but, most current Thunderbolt users are in the Apple ecosystem. Thunderbolt 2 is the best technology currently available in those setups, and QNAP is pitching the TVS-x82T to that market currently.

QNAP also had live demonstrations of the TDS-16489U (for hyperconvergence with a 2P Xeon platform that enables the application server and storage server to be one unit) and the ES1640dc dual-controller ZFS NAS.

We have already looked at both these products in detail as part of our 2016 CES coverage.

The new information presented at the San Jose event included availability details (mid-June for all products) and pricing for the enterprise NAS units (starting at $7700 for the TDS-16489U and $9700 for the ES1640dc).

One of the striking slides that we saw as part of the ES1640dc presentation was the competitor landscape / target market for the unit.

It is great to see QNAP move up to the next level and compete with the big guys such as QSAN, EMC and NetApp in the enterprise space. As the above slide shows, the hardware configuration is very good compared to the competition and I am pretty sure the pricing is more than competitive. However, in the enterprise space, the main challenge is support requirements. Enterprise customers require service contracts that keep any hardware-related downtime to the absolute possible minimum, and the software needs to be stable and production-ready. Quality Assurance steps also need to be more stringent compared to the typical requirements in the SMB market that QNAP has been serving so far. I will be closely tracking how QNAP’s aspirations in the enterprise space pan out in the long run.

In other news, QNAP also launched the TS-831X, an ARM-based NAS with the Annapurna Labs AL314 SoC. It comes with dual 10G SFP+ ports. If that sounds familiar, the configuration is similar to the Synology DS2015xs that we reviewed last year. While the DS2015xs uses the 1.7 GHz AL-514, the TS-831X uses the 1.4 GHz AL-314 SoC. Both of them use a quad-core Cortex-A15 as the host CPU. QNAP’s MSRP for the TS-831X will be $799, a lot lower than the current street price of $1400 for the Synology DS2015xs.

Best NASes: Q1 2016

Network-attached storage vendors do not usually follow a regular yearly cadence in updating their offerings. Releases for different market segments are spread throughout the year. That said, thanks to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in January, the first quarter of the calendar year provides glimpses into what vendors have in store for the foreseeable future. Some of the announced products are either available for shipment right away or get into the market later in the quarter. Today, we will take a look at the various options currently available in the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) network-attached storage (NAS) market space.

The COTS NAS market can’t be simply delineated based on price and performance. As a rule of thumb, one can say that the price of a NAS increases with the number of bays in it. However, even within the same number of bays, we get NAS units spanning a wide price range. Any consumer in the market for a NAS needs to consider the following aspects before deciding upon the budget:

• Amount of storage needed (number of bays)
• Intended use-case
  • Business-oriented or home / multimedia-focused
  • Expected number of simultaneous clients
  • Downtime tolerance
  • Required processing power (both file-serving and apps)
• Value of invested time (in the case where there is a toss-up between the COTS and DIY routes)
• Mobile and native NAS applications ecosystem

We have evaluated a large number of NAS units (with different bay-counts) over the last several years. The lineups mentioned below (in alphabetical order) are the ones that we are comfortable recommending for purchase after putting a few of their members through long-term testing. Compared to previous years, we have removed the LenovoEMC i- and p- series, as well as the Seagate NAS and NAS Pro units, as they no longer seem to be available for purchase and no new products have been announced in the last year (even though their support forums are still active with official replies).

1. Asustor Storage Units
2. Buffalo LinkStation and TeraStation Series
3. Netgear ReadyNAS Series
4. QNAP Turbo NAS Units
5. Synology DiskStation and RackStation Series
6. Western Digital Consumer Series
7. ZyXEL Network Storage Units

In this guide, we present suitable options for 2-,4- and 8-bay NAS units targeting the home consumer / SOHO market. One important aspect here is that we are not going to talk about the high-end SMB market or the multitude of offerings that come with Windows Storage Server or some similar flavor. Only products based on custom OSes are being considered in this guide.

Option 1 (2-bay): Western Digital My Cloud EX 2 Ultra [ Diskless: $160, 2x2TB: $350 ]

Most units sold in the 2-bay market are purchased by the average consumer who wants to back up photos and videos taken with mobile devices. A performance powerhouse is rarely needed in this market segment. While the user experience with the mobile app(s) is vital, the presence of apps on the NAS itself is just an icing on the cake.

Western Digital revamped their 2-bay product line last month with the My Cloud EX2 Ultra. Compared to the previously recommended My Cloud Mirror Gen 2, this is a slightly more powerful offering with double the RAM (1GB DDR3). Models start at $160 for the diskless version and go up to $900 when bundled with two WD Red 8TB helium drives.

Western Digital has also been enhancing various core features such as backup and sync capabilities in the My Cloud OS. Integrated Docker capabilities in the My Cloud OS point to the possibility of multiple easily-integrated third-party apps in the future. Western Digital is obviously a big vendor with end-user support appropriate even for non-tech savvy folks. Coupled with the plug-and-play experience, this makes it an ideal purchase for anyone who is looking to get started with network attached storage and needs basic data protection.

Option 2 (2-bay): Synology DS216+ [ Diskless: $300 ]

Power users wanting to experiment with btrfs and needing a more full-featured COTS NAS OS need to look no further than Synology’s DSM 6.0. btrfs is available only on x86-based NAS models. The most economical Synology NAS for users wanting to evaluate btrfs for their needs is the Synology DS216+, based on the Intel Braswell platform.

The DS216+ is not going to break any benchmark records, as it is held back by the single GbE LAN port. However, the capabilities of DSM 6.0 and the powerful x86 platform, as well as the pricing make the Synology DS216+ an interesting product to consider.

Option 3 (4-bay): ZyXEL NAS540 [ Diskless: $220 ]

The ZyXEL NAS540 came in for review last year, and is still under evaluation. But, we like the unit enough to be able to recommend it as an alternative to the popular LenovoEMC ix4-300d (now that LenovoEMC is no longer selling that model). The main attraction here is the price – $220 for four bays is approximately the same as what the ix4-300d used to cost when it was in the market. However, the NAS540 has double the RAM (1GB DDR3) of the ix4-300d. It also supports hot-swapping of the drives, unlike the ix4-300d.

The NAS540 is a PowerPC-based unit (Freescale/NXP FS1024 (M86203G12) C2K dual-core @ 1.2 GHz). It comes with dual GbE LAN ports, a USB 3.0 port as well as a SD card slot. ZyXEL has equipped the NAS with enough features (mobile apps, remote access etc.) to make it deliver very good value for money. Obviously, one shouldn’t expect the finesse and capabilities of OSes from the likes of Synology and QNAP, but, again, the price more than makes up for the missing features and sporadic firmware updates.

A couple of days back, Synology announced the Marvell ARMADA 385-based DS416slim (with support exclusively for 2.5″ drives). While it is definitely an interesting product (particularly for power users requiring a small, power-efficient storage box for home-based virtualization labs), the average storage-hungry consumer is better off with a traditional 4-bay unit.

Option 4 (4-bay): QNAP TS-453A [ Diskless / 4GB RAM: $599 ]

The first quarter of the year hasn’t seen too many updates on the 4-bay front (particularly talking about x86-based models). QNAP did launch their Braswell-based units at CES. In our previous guide, we had recommended the QNAP TS-453 Pro. The Braswell version is a worthy update that we will continue to recommend for the same reasons. The TS-453A comes with four GbE LAN ports – ideal for dedicating to virtual machines running on the NAS.

We wouldn’t suggest running intensive VMs on the Intel Celeron N3150-based TS-453 Pro, but the platform is powerful enough to run Ubuntu VMs and the like for, say, acting as a home automation controller. QNAP’s QTS is very rich in features (both mobile apps and the NAS apps ecosystem), and is perfect for power users.

Option 5 (8-bay): QNAP TVS-871-i7-16G [ Diskless / 16GB RAM: $2199 ]

Our 8-bay recommendation is retained from our previous guide. The TVS-871-i7-16G is a no-holds barred NAS sporting a Core i7-4790S Haswell processor. With 16 GB of RAM and a minimum of 4x 1GbE ports (additional 2x 10G also possible with the spare PCIe expansion slot), this NAS is ideal for running multiple intensive VMs. The 4C/8T Core i7 CPU ensures that there is enough processing power for the VMs and plenty to spare for the NAS functionality as well as apps running on the NAS itself.

The TVS-x71 units are meant for the high-end SMB market, but, in our evaluation of a TVS-871T-i7-16G unit over the last several months (review is coming out soon), we can say that it is positively drool-worthy for the high-end power users with cash to burn. The Pentium-based model comes in at $1350, while the Core i3-based one is at $1377.

For a more moderately priced 8-bay system on the COTS side, one could opt for models such as the Synology DS1815+ [ $961 , Review ] or the QNAP TS-853A [ $999 ]. Obviously, going the DIY route with, say, an ASRock Rack C2750D4I board and a U-NAS NSC-800 chassis [ Review ] might make for an interesting build, but the price difference is not that big (approx. $845 vs. approx. $1000) when build time and software management aspects are considered.

Honorable Mentions:

Option 6 (4-bay): Netgear ReadyNAS RN214 [ Diskless: $500 ]

On the 4-bay side, Netgear’s ReadyNAS RN214 with an updated quad-core Annapurna Labs SoC and btrfs support is an interesting option. Coupled with the newly introduced Netgear Nighthawk X8 R8500 tri-band 4×4 802.11ac router and the promise of plug-and-play link aggregation support, it presents a compelling solution for consumers in the market for a router as well as a NAS.