QNAP TS-451+ SOHO NAS Review
by Ganesh T S on October 29, 2015 8:00 AM ESTMulti-Client CIFS Performance for Professional Workloads
NAS units used in SMBs / SMEs need to provide good performance under heavy load from multiple clients. The SPEC SFS 2014 benchmark uses real-life workloads (just like Intel NASPT), but makes it easier for users to understand the benchmark results. This is achieved by using the concept of business metrics. Given a particular NAS unit, how many concurrently accessed databases can reside in it? How many IP cameras or video streams can be simultaneously recorded? To determine this metric, each load point is associated with a target required op rate. If the NAS under test doesn't meet that op rate, it is deemed as an 'invalid run'. SPEC requires all published benchmarks to follow certain strict rules - such as presented results having no invalid runs for at least 10 load points. Unfortunately, small-scale NAS systems with 7200 RPM drives can't meet these requirements, Hence, we can't officially publish SPEC SFS 2014 benchmark results for the evaluation of the QNAP TS-451+.
Using a popular filer benchmarking program, we did play back multi-client real-world professional workload access traces on the NAS using up to 10 Windows 7 VMs. However, failing to meet the required op rate criteria at a particular load point made us stop the testing a couple of load points down the road. The QNAP TS-451+ with four 7200 RPM hard drives in RAID-5 can support recording of 10 or more video streams, 5 or less databases, 4 or less software builds and 2 or less virtual desktops.
Database Operations
The Database Operations workload seems to get / doesn't seem to get acceptable performance for up to 5 clients.The detailed metrics from our trace playback are available here
Software Builds
The Software Builds workload seems to get / doesn't seem to get acceptable performance for up to 4 clients.The detailed metrics from our trace playback are available here
Video Recording
The Video Recording workload seems to get / doesn't seem to get acceptable performance for up to 10 clients.The detailed metrics from our trace playback are available here
Virtual Desktops
The Virtual Desktops workload seems to get / doesn't seem to get acceptable performance for up to 2 clients.The detailed metrics from our trace playback are available here
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Brianbeastsu - Thursday, November 26, 2015 - link
This has been available since the most recent firmware upgrade.....sync to most cloud services like google drive etc.....not 100% on one drive but I'm guessing unless Microsoft doest have an api for it you can do it with qnapShambles31 - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
I know this review didn't go into QTS much but I thought I'd ask a related question. Is there any way for QTS 4.2 to support shadow copy, or previous versions in windows? I picked up the 2 bay model for my parents hoping to use it as a backup for them. I wanted to use snapshots and shadow copy. I've got snapshots running but can't seem to get it to support shadow copies on networked files. Surely a NAS would support this?Minion4Hire - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
I think network file VSS support was only just introduced with Windows Server 2012 R2. Otherwise you only have local volume support. But you should be able to get it working if you can connect it as an iSCSI LUN.kgardas - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Does it support ECC RAM? IMHO a must have for such NAS...DanNeely - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Not at this pricepoint/market segment. The J1900 doesn't support it. You need to step up from prosumer to small/medium enterprise level hardware for ECC. QNAP apparently doesn't offer ECC in anything below an 8bay model.mcveigh - Thursday, October 29, 2015 - link
Any comments on the remote? How was it's build quality?Kutark - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
Can someone explain to me why basic NAS like this are $650. It makes no sense. You could easily build a box that would have far more processing power, with an awesome raid controller, for less than this. Only advantage i can see would be size?milkod2001 - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
It is expensive because it's ready go to solution. You throw HDDs into that, spend 30 minutes with setup /install and that's it. You also have option to contact customer support if something goes wrong.Your own solution might be much better / cheaper but it requires knowledge / experience to put together hardware parts, install NAS OS and make it all work. There is no customer support, you are on your own.
Kutark - Friday, October 30, 2015 - link
That definitely makes sense. I always forget about the customer support angle because i don't even remember the last time i had to do customer support for any piece of hardware ever. Not trying to toot my own horn, but thats part of the fun of being a hardware enthusiast.Chloiber - Saturday, October 31, 2015 - link
You also pay for the software. I own a Synology DS415+ and use it (apart from the usual NAS stuff) for a OpenVPN Server, Docker with Jenkins, Download Station and have mobile apps available. A quite good backup software is already included and you have set that stuff up (well, apart from a robust, secure OpenVPN, which takes a bit longer) in a matter of minutes. Relatively sophisticated security / logging mechanisms are also included. I don't even want to imagine how long that stuff would take me with a self built NAS. I rather spend 100-200$ more and have a very good and versatile NAS than spend weeks fiddling around with linux.If you are up for it, go for it. For me, it was a no-brainer.