Qnap: Thunderbolt 2 NAS, Virtual JBOD Solution, QPulse Remote Server Management Solution

At CeBIT 2016, Qnap Systems, Inc. unleashed full-throttle NAS innovations, including the Thunderbolt 2 NAS, versatile and compact M.2 SSD NASbook, the Enterprise ZFS NAS with dual active controllers, and multiple game-changing features including network-defined Virtual JBOD, QPulse unified remote server management, Linux Station, Hybrid Backup Sync, and more.

TVS-1282 NAS front and rear
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The company also teamed up with Seagate Technology plc and Western Digital Corporation at CeBIT 2016 to showcase joint solutions of firm’ NAS with a range of HDDs.

TVS-1282 NAS architecture
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TVS-x82T Thunderbolt 2 NAS
The TVS-x82T Thunderbolt 2 NAS is powered by the latest Intel 6^th generation Core processor and features an enhanced hardware design that improves computing power and system performance. The TVS-x82T series not only features Thunderbolt 2 technology but also has dual 10GbE ports giving greater flexibility to deliver performance. Additional advanced hardware includes built-in SATA M.2 SSD, dedicated 2.5-inch SSD trays, compartmentalized smart cooling, tool-less HDD trays, three HDMI ports (including one HDMI 2.0), and more.

“The TVS-x82T’s hardware is extraordinary and fully realizes tiered storage and rerouted networks for various applications with greater efficiency,” said David Tsao, product manager, Qnap. “It’s more powerful, multi-functional and reliable, providing a complete business-ready storage solution to build a reliable private cloud.“

Besides offering DAS/NAS/iSCSI SAN triple solution, the TVS-x82T series is capable of playing 4K, 60fps videos, and is a perfect match for Thunderbolt-equipped Mac users for 4K workflows, file storage and high-speed sharing.

TBS-453A M.2 SSD NASbook front and rear

TBS-453A M.2 SSD NASbook
Powered by an Celeron N3150 quad-core processor and up to 8GB RAM, the TBS-453A provides full-fledged NAS functions with RAID protection, but also can act as a switch and share network access with multiple clients. It supports up to four M.2 SSDs, features dual HDMI output and 4K H.264 video display and transcoding abilities, and supports HDMI-enabled desktop OS such as Ubuntu. The compact chassis of the NASbook provides portability allowing users to take it wherever they go.

ZFS-enabled ES1640dc NAS front and rear

Enterprise ZFS NAS with active-active dual controllers
Company’s supercharged ZFS-enabled ES1640dc with its dual-controllers is targeted for mission-critical business applications that demand high reliability and HA. With Xeon E5 processors, dual active controllers, ZFS, HPE Helion compatibility and fully supporting virtualization environments, the ES1640dc delivers ‘real business-class’ cloud computing storage.

Architecture
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The ES1640dc features the brand-new QES OS that allows almost limitless snapshots, block-level data deduplication, and thin provisioning with reclaim, assisting businesses in building the cost-efficient VDI platform and storage for critical data.

Hardware architecture
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Virtual JBOD for maximizing sharing economy
In addition to using physical JBOD, storage of a firm’s NAS can be expanded with multiple NAS devices by using the VJBOD (Virtual JBOD) method. VJBOD allows users to mount iSCSI LUNs from up to eight NAS units to a host NAS as virtual disks, and they can further create virtual Storage Pools and use them as local disks for shares, applications, and even creating another LUN.

“VJBOD introduces an economical way to utilize unused NAS storage,” said Ripple Wu, product manager, Qnap. “It provides users with an additional flexible storage expansion solution, and makes ‘Software-defined storage’ accessible to businesses to maximize utilization of available storage for demanding needs on file storage, backup, and more.“

QPulse: Centralized remote server management solution
QPulse is firm’s centralized remote server management solution designed for IT teams in every industry which relies heavily on computing devices such as servers, PCs, embedded PCs, and thin clients. It provides a single-point solution to discover, map, monitor and manage all of the critical computing devices on the network. QPulse provides customizable dashboards to simplify server management, increases visibility for the health status of mission-critical servers, maps discovered devices in a graphic topology diagram, and provides a remote KVM solution (supported for IPMI devices from Super Micro Computer, Inc. and IEI Technology Corp.) for IPMI and KVM recording/playback. Non-IPMI compatible devices are also supported.

Q’center: centrally monitor and manage multiple company’s NAS
Compared to QPulse, Q’center is a light-weight solution that allows home or business users to monitor and manage one or multiple firm’ NAS from a host NAS, server, or even a laptop with the Q’center app or virtual appliance. It becomes convenient to centrally analyze storage space usage, monitor hardware and disk health, customize system settings and firmware, and deploy apps to one or more NAS units.

Linux Station
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Linux Station for accessing open-source Linux platform
Linux Station provides QTS users with a convenient platform to install the Ubuntu OS and services, and turns a firm’s NAS as a gateway for IoT solutions to other smart devices. The Ubuntu desktop can be output on an HDMI display connected to the company’s NAS, allowing users to access the popular open-source Linux platform to freely install and develop more apps. As a private cloud combining storage and IoT applications, firm’s NAS with Linux Station fosters a complete IoT experience for unlimited potential.

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Hybrid Backup Sync simplifies multifunctional backup and recovery plans
To enhance the efficiency of backup, file synchronization and DR, firm’s Hybrid Backup Sync consolidates backup, restoration and synchronization into a single app for easily transferring data to local, remote and cloud storage as a comprehensive backup and DR solution. Users can experience an easier way to arrange backup tasks, and enjoy efficient management with multi-version backup, flexible job scheduling, smart data reduction, and more features.

The availability of TVS-x82T series, TBS-453A, ES1640dc, VJBOD, QPulse and Hybrid Backup Sync will be announced separately.