Introduction
QNAP has updated its popular TS-659PRO+ model with a higher frequency processor based on the Intel® Atom™ 1.8GHz Dual-core, higher spec DDR3 memory, support for SATA3 and USB 3.0 standard. The QNAP TS-659PRO II now sports all the latest hardware standards that are currently available. QNAP has also broken from its tradition of no-upgrade policy to their hardware, by offering 1GB and 2GB memory modules for user upgrades to the TS-659PRO II, and to ensure warranty and compatibility QNAP advises only QNAP supplied memory modules should be purchased and deployed.
Editor's Note: click the photos below for larger images
Figure 1: TS-659 PRO II Memory Upgrade
Supplied to us by QNAP direct, the TS-659PROII is a desktop chassis with room for up to 6 hot-swap drives. This with the current capacity support for 3TB drives would allow scaling up to 18TB, a prolific amount of data storage capability that will support a full range of RAID levels ensuring you have adequate redundancy. Support for SATA 3 drives is impressive from 1TB right up to 3TB drives, in either desktop or enterprise models. If performance and quality is a major factor then consider the enterprise drives if your budget is restrictive then buy a lesser capacity enterprise model if possible. If capacity is a priority then desktop will be the next best choice the higher capacity the better. The enterprise drives do come with a 5 year warranty and the desktop variants have the equivalent of 3 years.
The QNAP TS-659PROII is a solidly built system, with all the necessary connectivity and buttons placed strategy to facilitaite ease of use and no nonsense start up. The power and one touch copy USB 3.0 buttons are located to the far left whilst the LED allows setting RAID at first boot as well as providing information about the system. All the other ports are at the back including the 2 x Gigabit LAN ports, 2 x eSATA, 4x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0 and the reset button for password and network settings to go back to default.
The TS-659PROII supplied to us came pre-loaded with WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 7200 hard disk drives, a somewhat strange choice considering the unit supports SATA3 6.0Gb/s we would have expected drives based on the new standard. The WD Black drives seem to have a decent reputation, albeit we have in most instances had terrible luck with them and try to avoid using them in redundant drive arrays. The RAID array took just over three hours to complete. We managed to complete our testing to get a result, shortly after which we received the requested 2GB memory upgrade module. Once installed and on reboot we experienced a failed disk shortly into our testing within Bay 2 and hence were not able to complete our testing with memory upgraded.
Installing drives is relatively easy and if you happen to purchase a diskless system, all the screws and trays are provided so all you need is a small screw driver and you will be up and running in no time. Setting up the RAID was a breeze, two clicks on the LED panel and we were operational with RAID 5 selected. Entering the AJAX based web console is easy and GU interface is easy to navigate with all the features clearly set out and ready to go.
The TS-659PRO II supports link aggregation, so we bundled the two Gigabit ports into a 802.3ad LACP dynamic link, which our HP ProCurve 1810G-24 Managed switch spotted and automatically created for us. Pairing our server with the TS-659PROII, we mapped separate shares to each one from the RAID array with our software reporting a cumulative raw speed of 179MB/sec. IP SAN features are good with support for thin provisioning under iSCSI, allowing you to create high capacity virtual volumes that start small and have blocks dynamically allocated as they grow in size.
Figure 4: TS-659 PRO II Dimensions
RAID Options and Capacity expansion
The QNAP TS-659PROII has an impressive compilation of RAID options as well as being able to expand on the fly for both capacity and RAID sets. Many vendors will have you believe you can add two or more drives into an existing array and expand without loss of data in the current volume, we would advise one drive at a time is the safest option, but expand it does, as it will allow RAID migration to the next level, once you go to the next level it is not possible to go back. RAID options of Single Disk, JBOD, RAID 0 / 1 / 5 / 5+Hot Spare / 6 / 6+ Hot Spare, 10, 10+Hot Spare are all offered. File system support is also sufficient using EXT3, EXT4, and a host of external file systems as well.
Editor's Note: click the photos below for larger images
Figure 5: TS-659 PRO II RAID Options
Selected Features
LCD Panel "Touch-N-Go" functionality - Allows users to select RAID option and pre-format, without having to invoke the management panel. Easy to use and after a handy two clicks, the unit’s on its way to formatting for the selected RAID level.
Figure 6: QNAP TS-659 PRO II LCD
DUAL OS Firmware - DOM architecture accommodating a DUAL Fail Safe Operating System to allow for failure without loss of functionality.
Secure Data Protection by AES 256-bit Volume-based Encryption – The unique "volume-based encryption" feature secures the server data by AES 256-bit encryption. Even if the hard drives were stolen, there is no need to fear that the confidential data would be leaked since the data can only be accessed using an authorized password.
IPv6 – The QNAP TS-x59PRO series Turbo NAS now supports IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) allowing the NAS to run in a dual-stack IP host environment running IPv4 and IPv6 simultaneously.
The management interface home page offers easy access to various support and management options. These include, Administration (control and management panel for the devices), Web File Manager (facilitating the management of on the NAS), Customer Service (access to service), QNAP Wiki and QNAP Forum (both service orientated to alleviate customer experience).
Editor's Note: click the photos below for larger images
We will take a quick tour of the administration aspect of the TS-x59 series. After the initial login the main page reveals a host of features and navigational advantages that are not just unique to QNAP but most impressive for any users to work with.
System Administration – This section facilitates housekeeping as well as making sure the nuts and bolts are all in place and well greased. In this section you can utilize power management functionality including shutting down and rebooting, setup email notifications, do firmware upgrade, monitor system logs, setup backup options and interrogate the network settings, all in all total maintenance and housekeeping all carried out from a single section.
Figure 9: QNAP System Administration
The other functionality related features include, Disk Management (all to do with disk including RAID and Volume Management), Access Rights Management (setting up and editing of Users and their groups as well maintaining share folders), Network Services ( Allowing the control to setup and edit all network related services and compatibility), Applications (The added QNAP services, needed to setup a Multimedia and/or a download station no problem easy to do, support for iTunes as well as third party modules are supported via a QPKG plug-ins. Need to setup a surveillance station? Easy! Follow the steps and it’s done!) Backup (this is one of the most important features and QNAP has not failed, external drive support, as we as USB one touch copy, and availability of remote replication wizard driven setup, and for MAC users Time Machine support as well), External Device (support for third party external devices such as USB drives, USB based UPS and printers), System Status (provides vital system information as well resource monitoring to ensure optimum usage of the system). These and many other features will provide many users with what they need and most probably more services they had not thought of. QNAP software is not an afterthought; it’s a strategic and planned set of features that have matured over the years, by maintaining a constant change policy to allow for the integration of user needs.
Enhanced Back Up
QNAP has added a few special extras in the most overlooked area of data backup. Many manufacturers totally fail to capitalize or even realize the most important area of any NAS server is often the inbuilt data backup software features. The backup solution commences with a cloud-based backup offering via (Amazon S3), and for MAC users a radical change to a user friendly method of providing a solution for Apple Time Machine support, as well as a unique encrypted remote replication, third party software backup, one-touch-copy backup and QNAP exclusive Windows-based utility NetBak Replicator. These allow users to choose and implement any backup modes to ensure redundancy of their data is created.
Editor's Note: click the photos below for larger images
Performance
We were expecting an increase in performance parallel to ratio of increase in price from the preceding model we had reviewed at WhichNAS before. We expreinced an unfortunate hard disk failure in bay 2 during our first test cycle and had to get the drives replaced. Once replaced the overall test process completed. We also carried out a second set of tests once we received the requested 2GB memory module. We have also reported the differential between 1GB and 3GB installed (See our final performance tables).
Test Environment
QNAP TS-659PROII 6 x 750GB drives (changed to in-house 1TB Seagate Enterprise drives)
Firmware Revision: Version: 3.4.3
RAID LEVEL TESTED: RAID 5
Network
HP ProCurve 1810G-24 Managed Switch
Test Method
We use a Real-World testing utility as well as a realistic Drag & Drop procedure as depicted in everyday normal operations.
Our tests are carried out with a combination of reads and writes, we do not separate the two, both are combined to produce an overall result that depicts the actual performance of the device tested.
This category is one of the most demanding from a file size perspective as the smallest size file is 2GB and the largest being 1TB.
A combination of demanding Video, Audio and Images files are combined to make this the most challenging category of them all.
The Office category is mainly for business users who may compare the typically used business applications, consisting of spreadsheets, databases, Word, PowerPoint, Visio, and email management. We have also combined Photoshop based images that are used to cut and paste within a document to make up a 30 page mailer as well as Visio templates used for presentation within a PowerPoint file that exceeds 15GB file size.
Our Third category is a combination of files from the previous two categories to initiate copying, backing up, deleting all content and then restoring from a backup made within the RAID array.
| Thecus TS-659PROII Read/Write Comparative Performance | |
| Video/Audio/Images | 95.63 |
| Office Productivity | 70.48 |
| Copy, Backup and Restore | 78.41 |
Figure 10: MB/s Read/Write Performance Test Results
| Thecus TS-659PROII – 1GB Memory vs 3GB (2GB MEMORY UPGRADE) | |
| MB/s Overall - 1GB | 81.50 |
| MB/s Overall - 3GB | 83.14 |
Figure 11: Overall Read/Write Test Performance
Overall Conclusion
The QNAP TS-659-PROII is well rounded and performs well. The warranty offering of 1-year and a somewhat prohibitive price point does push it out of contention for an award. Value for money is an important factor in times of economic hardship, we are all looking for a deal, and why not indeed. The supplied unit had 750GB drives that showed lack of attention to detail, really 1TB has been the norm for some time now and so that and the drive fault let down QNAP in this instance, we would like to reiterate QNAP does provide excellent NAS solutions and this could just be a one-off, but we needed to report it as it was. After all, this was a systems sent to us for review purposes.
We found a Street price of $2395.00 for the QNAP TS-659 PRO II 12TB populated with Seagate Constellation ES 2TB Enterprise drives, whilst the QNAP TS-659 PRO II diskless was $1279.00 with no drives.
