The HD LEDs representing the
number of installed drives should be solid green.
The Status LED will blink red and green—which is
normal at this point, since the drives have not been
configured or initialized, but we’ll take care of
that right now.
Load the Installation CD into your
system’s CD or DVD drive. The QNAP Quick Install
Wizard should automatically launch. You’ll be
given a choice between the Pro and non-Pro
TS-409. Pick the TS-409 Pro. Next, choose
Install QNAP Finder (which can also be
installed from the Finder folder on the CD,
in case autorun didn’t launch the Quick Install
Wizard for you). Your firewall might attempt to
block QNAP Finder. If it does, instruct your
firewall to unblock it.
Pop in
the CD and select the model of our QNAP NAS.
Select
Install QNAP Finder. As of this writing,
the latest software revisions are on the CD
and QNAP's site, so you can save yourself
some download time and use the supplied CD.
Choose
your language.
Click
Next at the Welcome screen.
Click
Next again.
The
install of QNAP Finder will take less than
30 seconds.
Click
Next.
Your
firewall will most likely prompt you to
unblock QNAP Finder, so go ahead and do so.
Click
Yes to allow QNAP Finder's Quick
Setup Wizard guide you through
first-time configuration of your TS-409
Pro.
The
default password for the admin
account is admin. Naturally, you'll
want to change it to something a lot more
secure than that. We'll do so later.
The intro
to the Quick Setup Wizard outlines each of
the steps you'll take to get the TS-409
Pro NAS up and running. Look it over,
and click Next when you're ready to
proceed.
Here's
where you assign the TS-409 Pro a
name for the network. You can leave the
factory-default name or change it to
whatever suits your fancy, provided you
follow the naming guidelines under Tips.
The default name is good enough for me, so
I'm going to click Next and
move on.
Pick your
Time Zone, make any adjustments to the Date
and Time if needed. Make sure that the
"Synchronize with an Internet time server
automatically" box is checked. Then
click Next to continue.
Select
whether to obtain TCP/IP settings
automatically, or enter static settings here
and click Next.
Here's
where we initialize the drives installed in
the TS-409 Pro. You can either
configure the drives into individual single
disk volumes, or select RAID configurations.
For maximum data protection with three
or four drives installed, RAID 5 or 6 is the
way to go.
Note that
when you initialize the drives, any data on
them is destroyed. Since we're
starting out with new drives, that's not a
problem. Click OK to
continue.
Next, the
Quick Setup Wizard will flash and update the
TS-409
Pro's firmware. DON'T turn it off while
this is happening, or you'll render the NAS
inoperable and have to send it in to
QNAP for repair.
Finally,
you'll be presented with a summary of setup
operations that the QNAP Quick Setup Wizard
will perform, and an opportunity to go back
and make and last-minute changes. When
you're ready, click Next to let the
Wizard do its thing.
Once the brief installation routine
is complete, QNAP Finder will locate the TS-409
Pro on the network, and then launch another
wizard that will step you through its configuration.
Accept or change the defaults based on your
preferences and your network’s particular
requirements.
QNAP
Finder allows you to locate all QNAP NAS
devices on your network. You can connect to
and administer them, view their network and
drive configurations; restart them or shut
them down; open shares via web browser,
Windows Explorer or FTP; map drives, update
firmware, and get online help.
When you reach Step 6 for
initializing the drives, you’ll have some decisions
to make on how you want to configure your drive
volumes in the TS-409 Pro. Let’s take a look:
Initialize all hard drive(s) into
individual single disk volume(s)
This option will simply initialize
each drive as a single disk volume. When you connect
to the NAS, you’ll see each installed drive as a
separate disk volume. This configuration lacks any
data protection or redundancy. Whichever drive fails
in the group will lose any data stored on it,
Create RAID Volume from existing
hard drives
This option allows you to configure
the drives in the TS-409 Pro's RAID volume
options, and requires the installation of at least
two or more hard disks:
Initialize as a linear disk volume
Also known as Spanning, a linear disk volume combines
multiple disks into a single large disk and writes
the data sequentially across them. The only
advantage is that it can combine multiple disks of
different sizes into a single volume, whose capacity
is the sum of all the disks combined. A
linear disk configuration offers no data protection
or redundancy.
Initialize as RAID-0 striping disk
volume
“Stripes” two or more disks together
into a single volume for maximum disk capacity and
speed. The drawback—no redundancy. Lose one drive in
a RAID 0 array and you’ll lose all of your
data.
Initialize as RAID-1 mirroring
disk volume
Requires two disks. Protects your
data by automatically “mirroring” the first drive
onto the second drive in the array. If one of the
drives fails, all of your data is safely tucked away
on the other. You lose some disk performance and
take a hit in storage capacity due to the mirroring
process. With RAID 1, volume size is equal to
one—not both disks in the array.
Initialize as RAID-5 disk volume
Provides redundancy for data
protection with better disk performance and capacity
than RAID 1. Requires a minimum of three disks. RAID
5 stripes data across three or more disks while
maintaining parity information on one of the disks.
If a single disk in a RAID 5 array fails, your data
is still available. Disk performance is degraded and
the array is no longer redundant until the failed
drive is replaced. A second disk failure will cause
data loss. The capacity of a RAID 5 volume is the
smallest disk in the RAID set multiplied by one
less than the number of disks in the RAID set. If
there are four 750GB disks in a RAID 5
configuration for example, the capacity of the RAID
volume will equal three of the 750GB disks
combined.
Initialize as RAID-6 disk volume
Provides superior redundancy for data
protection with better disk performance and capacity
than RAID 1, but somewhat slower performance and
less disk capacity than RAID 5. Requires a minimum
of four disks. RAID 6 adds an additional disk for
parity (hence the additional hit on disk
performance) and can survive the failure of two
drives as opposed to the single drive failure of
RAID 5. The capacity of a RAID 6 volume is the
smallest disk in the RAID set multiplied by two
less than the number of disks in the RAID set. Using
our previous four 750GB disks as an example, the
capacity of the RAID volume will equal two
750GB disks combined.
If you’re just starting out with one
drive now for the TS-409 Pro and are planning
to add more later, the only option you’ll be
presented with is to initialize and use that drive.
Fortunately, QNAP’s RAID Expansion feature makes
adding a single drive into the multiple-drive RAID
array of your choice,a snap (which we’ll see
later). If you’re going with a multi-drive RAID
config, your life will be a lot simpler if you
follow one rule: make sure the model and capacity
of all the drives in your array are identical.
First, you’ll avoid any potential compatibility
issues when mixing different brand and model drives
in a single RAID array. Second, by using drives of
the same capacity, you’ll avoid losing capacity in
your array. If you configure four drives in a RAID 5
array, and three of the drives are 500GB and one is
320GB—guess what? The total capacity of your RAID 5
volume will equal three
320GB drives!
The QNAP TS-409 Pro's
browser-based administration utility, Server
Administration, is cleanly
designed, fast and easy to use. You can
initiate standard and SSL logins, and
launch the Web File Manager or Server from
the TS-409 Administration Entry Page
shown in the
first screenshot. Once you've logged into
the Administrative Home Page, tasks are
broken down into eight categories. You can
access the main page of each category by
clicking either the icon or category title,
and specific sub-categories by clicking on
the appropriate hyperlink. As you can see
here, Quick Configuration allows you
to modify some or all of the settings during
the initial set-up of the TS-409
(I've changed the admin password). A
few of those are repeated under System
Settings. But you can also configure the
SMTP settings for sending E-Mail
alerts, as well as view a basic summary
of the TS-409 Pro's System Settings.
You can always jump Back to the
previous page, Home page, bring up
context-sensitive Help and Logout
of the interface by clicking on the
appropriate icon in the upper right-hand
corner.
The only instance where you’d want to
break that rule, is if you were going to create
dual RAID 0 or 1 arrays—or a combination RAID 0
and RAID 1 array in the TS-409 Pro using two
pairs of matched drives. Each pair
would be different capacities—two 500GB and two
750GB, for example (and possibly, but not
necessarily from different vendors).
After you’ve decided on your disk
configuration and answer a few more setup questions,
QNAP Finder will present you all the configuration
options you’ve selected for the TS-409 Pro.
Look them over. If there’s something you want to
change, now’s the time to click the <Back>
button to do so. Otherwise, click <Next>.
QNAP Finder will apply your chosen network settings;
initialize and format your drives and configure them
as specified and create the default system share
folders. Lastly it will apply the firmware update
from the image file copied to your local hard drive.
For the review, I accepted all the defaults. Since
my DSL router is also a DHCP server, I allowed it to
assign all the IP address settings and chose to
configure the four ST3500630AS Seagate drives into a
RAID 5 array. Disk preparation is the most
time-consuming portion of the initial set-up of the
TS-409 Pro. The amount of time it takes to prep and
configure the drives will vary based on the number
and capacity of drives installed, so be prepared to
take a long break. It took the TS-409 Pro
a little over 4 hours to initialize, format,
configure and re-sync the RAID 5 array on the four
500GB Seagate drives.
TCP/IP
Configuration under Network Settings
may look familiar by now, but it's also where
you can enable Jumbo Frame support
for improved network throughput
performance—provided all of your
network hardware meets the prerequisites.
Microsoft Networking is where you set
parameters for the Windows PCs on your
network. Active Directory, Windows Domain
services and WINS server support are
included with the TS-409 Pro
for business and enterprise use.
If there
are Macs on your network, you'll need to
enable the Apple Talk File Service
here.
The
QNAP TS-409 Pro Turbo Station NAS also
has support for any Linux boxes on your
network.
Next up,
is
the Web File Manager, which can be
accessed either through this link or the
TS-409 Pro's entry page.
Web
File Manager provides basic file and folder
management functionality for the TS-409
Pro...
...allowing
you to upload and download files to and from
the TS-409 Pro, create, delete, copy
and move files and folders, and so on.
The one
weakness is its inability to select a
range of files by using the <Shift>
or <Ctrl> key along with the
mouse—requiring tedious file-by-file
clicking to get the job done.
If you
need to make any changes to the TS-409
Pro's FTP settings, here's where you get
it done.
Multimedia Station is where the
necessary settings for turning the TS-409
Pro into a media server for your home
entertainment center and game consoles, are
enabled.
QNAP Finder allows you to
locate all supported QNAP storage devices on your
network, displaying the Name, IP Address, Version
(firmware), Server Type (model),
and MAC Address (the device’s unique,
hard-coded network address) when the device is
selected. You can also perform basic administrative
tasks. You can connect to it via FTP, web browser or
Windows File Explorer. Shut it down or reboot it.
Map drives to shares, change its server name and IP
address configuration from DHCP to fixed, and pull
up basic info on its configuration. You can also
launch the TS-409 Pro's built-in web-based administration
utility, QNAP Server
Administration, where you can really get into its inner
workings to take full advantage of its features.
QNAP Server
Administrationfor the TS-409 Pro,
will start in Microsoft's Internet Explorer
browser, even if
you have another browser configured as the default.
Interestingly enough, this is by design on QNAP’s
part. In fact, there are several references in the
User Manual that Internet Explorer 6.0 or
higher is the “preferred” browser for accessing QNAP Server
Administration under Windows, while Mozilla
Firefox is the preferred browser for accessing it on
a Mac (no mention of which browser Linux
users should use). Using Firefox for Server
Administration under Windows is no big thing, though.
Just type the following in Firefox’s address bar (or
copy-and-paste it from IE’s address bar) and save it
under Favorites:
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8080
where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx=the TS-409 Pro’s IP
Address
Note that QNAP Finder will always
launch Server Administrationin Internet
Explorer.
The
Multimedia Station page.
TwonkyMedia Server is also included. Very
cool!
The QNAP TS-409 Pro
Turbo Station NAS can also be configured
as an iTunes server, so all the
computers in your house can access and enjoy
your iTunes collection from a centralized
location.
The
TS-409 Pro can also serve as a
Download Station...
...supporting automatic HTTP, FTP and
Bit Torrent downloads.
The QNAP TS-409 Pro
Turbo Station NAS
is the first in its class to offer a
built-in Web Server...
...which
allows you to publish your own website to
the Internet.
The
DDNS (Dynamic DNS) service allows users
from the Internet to connect to the servers
on your local network using a domain name
rather than an IP address—another QNAP
exclusive for a SOHO NAS!
And if
that wasn't enough, there's also MySQL
Server and PHP support too!
If for
some reason you need to change the System
Port configuration of the TS-409 Pro,
here's where you do it.
QNAP’s entry page for Server
Administration looks more like the home page of a
regular web site that the typical home page for
administering a NAS appliance. The bright, cheerful hi-tech motif is designed to ease new
and novice users into the process of configuring and
administering the TS-409 Pro. From the entry
page, you can login under the admin account
and change the default password of admin to
something more secure—a good first task. You can
also perform a more secure SSL (Secure Socket
Layer) log-in. Ironically, SSL logins are broken
in Internet Explorer 7, but work in Firefox. For a
touch of individuality, you can also customize the
entry page with your own logo. In addition to the
direct links to the Web File Manager and
Web Server services, you can customize the page
to display additional services.
Once you’ve logged in, you’ll be
taken to the home page of Server Administration,
which has a more “strictly-business” look with its
blue and gray color scheme. Completely
hyperlink-based, the design is well organized,
simple and straightforward. As a result, you’ll find
that Server Administration’s pages load a bit more
quickly than those of other NAS appliances which
utilize animated menus, windows and more graphical
designs. The server name of the TS-409 Pro
appears in the upper left-hand corner. Back,
Home, Show Help and Logout icons are in
the upper right-hand corner. Show Help always brings
up context-sensitive online help based on the
current task being performed. However, the online
help lacks the ability to perform topic and
keyword-based searches. Unfortunately, the “For
detailed instructions, please click here” link
doesn’t work either—in Internet Explorer 7 or
Firefox.
You'll
find the TS-409 Pro's LAN settings
at-a-glance under View Network Settings.
SATA, USB
drives and printers are configured under
Device Configuration. The SATA Disk
page here is where you can view the status
of all SATA drives installed in the
TS-409 Pro, scan and mark bad sectors,
format them, create volumes, and change
their configuration.
QNAP's
RAID Management Tool for the TS-409
Pro allows you to upgrade the NAS to
larger hard drives later on...
... and
expanding the RAID volume while leaving
existing data intact. Though the process can
take quite awhile, it's a real time-saver in
the long run.
The
TS-409 Pro supports external USB hard
drives for backup and data transfer.
Up to
three USB printers can be plugged into the
TS-409 Pro and shared over the
network.
User
Management is where you perform User and
Group creation and maintenance tasks on the
TS-409 Pro. Shown here, is the
User's page. Settings are changed by
clicking the icon or related hyperlink.
The
User Groups page where operations
similar to those under the previous Users
page, can be performed.
To keep
disk space usage under control, group and
individual Disk Quotas on the
TS-409 Pro can be established here (the
value must be greater than 0 and cannot
exceed 2,000,000).
All
shared folders on the TS-409 Pro are
configured under Network Share
Management. Note that Public,
Qdownload, Qmedia, Qusb and Qweb
are special system shared that cannot
be modified. In the event that they become
damaged or corrupted, the Restore
option can be used to re-create them.
There are eight task categories on
Server Administration’s home page:
● Quick Setup
● System Settings
● Network Settings
● Device Configuration
● User Management
● Network Share Management
● System Tools
● System Logs
Related tasks are hyperlinked beneath
each one. The home page of each category can be
accessed either by clicking on its title or the icon
next to it. You can access related tasks either by
clicking on them, or on the Outlook-style sidebar on
the category home page. Either way, the task you
choose will appear on the category home page’s task
pane. The dark red navigation bar that was blank on
the home page, now displays icons representing the
eight task categories. Hovering your mouse over an
icon will display a descriptive label of that
category, provided you’re using Internet Explorer
(it doesn’t work in Firefox—at least not on the main
page). Click the icon, and
you’ll be taken to that category home page and its
tasks.
