NAS doesn't work for my needs--Long Post---

[paulsb01]

First let me say I'm an un educated DIYer. Our network is all of 5 people max. My current NAS is a home brewed PC with three drives and gigE hardeward throughout the office.

We all share MS Word files that are on Drive C of the server. We Mapping drive letters on our PCs for each of the server drives. The PC Server also hosts the office printers. So far all is working fine. (*I've put the office fiiles on other Server drives with no change in performance)

The Server: Dell E 351 with Dual Core Athelon, 3 MB Ram, Three hard rives.The server is stuck using Windows Vista Home Ed.

NetDrive G has JPG/Video Masters
NetDrive H has JPG/Video processed files.
NETDrive C has the office MSword files, PDFs, etc. This is also the OS drive for the server. *I used one of the other drive with no improvement.

The killer process:

From my desktop PC I will read a group of files on Net drive G and process them back to net drive H.

When this happens, the users of any other files on the network will sometime drop out or bog down or sometimes a complete freeze of the server will happen requiring a reboot.

I've bought and returned: Readynas NV+, BlackArmor 440 and Readynas Ultra. None of them allow me to set up one drive individually at a time. All of them only allow a MASS VOLUME and then I make shares.

But you can't really specify the location of the share or the true linear size of the share on only one drive.
I've tried tests with them all and "they can't read and write" to one drive at the same time.

I've spoken to many customer service reps at the above and they all say their systems are not designed to be set up as individual drives.

I understand this.

So no my question goes to building a better PC Based unit.

Perhaps one of my dual core dormant units running XP will be used.

Is there a simple External Enclosure that will house FOUR individual drives? (no raid settings) Could I then connect these to FOUR separate Sata Ports and an aftermarket SATA card? Is this a viable way to go?

Please keep in mind RAID options, while good, are not a priority for me. A simple USB External Drive can be set for after hours back up.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Please ask questions here or e-mail me. paul@donnagrosssmancasting.com

Thanks,

Paul

 

[claykin]

I saw your post on the Readynas forum. http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=45678&hilit=flex+raid

Did you try Flex Raid mode on the Ultra?

That said, your problem description here and on the Readynas forum leaves me confused. The Readynas is fully capable of reading and writing simultaneously to the same share (or volume). I'm not really sure of the problem you were experiencing. Are you using some custom application(s) for your business? Seems like there may be a limitation elsewhere.

That said, I would NEVER use Win Vista Home as a server OS. That said, have you run Windows Update on your Vista "Server" to make sure its fully patched? Can you check and confirm that it is running Service Pack 2? FYI, just because Windows Updates say no updates are available does not mean Service Pack 2 is installed. Vista needs to pass a pre qual test before Win Updates will even offer SP2. If your machine fails, you'll never see it.

Do START > then right click on COMPUTER and select PROPERTIES. See if Service Pack 2 is listed.

Separately, I think it may be wise for you to seriously consider professional IT assistance. An onsite visit from a professional may enlighten you.

 

[paulsb01]

thanks for the reply..

Yes it is running SP2. Its really accidental and evolution that set this PC up as the office server. It was not by design and its has worked well for 2 years with exception to the daily stall as I've described.

I learned that the ULTRA will not set up in Flex Raid. The software "Raidar" or the unit, only allows Raid 0,1,2, 5,6 and perhaps 9.

I've done set ups in most, regardless of the Raid, it will only set up ONE VOLUME. You can set up as many shares as you like, but can never specify the size of a share.

A a test process that use will take 20 seconds on the PC server will take up to 40 seconds on the Ultra. Nothing under 30.

I also did a test with a few hundred files being processed as I normally would; stills and video.. the Ultra crashed and went off line.

I'm resigned to the fact that my PC method is best, but I will look at an IT tech option in the days ahead. Fortunately time is on my side, this is not a rush project.

Sometimes as they say.. if it isn't broke, don't fix it is true.

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[thiggins]

Hi Paul,

Both QNAP and Synology NASes allow individual drives to be set as volumes.

Sounds like you are transcoding video files. Can you set the transcoder to read the file from the network share, process it locally, then write it back to the other network share as a batch process?

 

[paulsb01]

Hi Paul,

Both QNAP and Synology NASes allow individual drives to be set as volumes.

Sounds like you are transcoding video files. Can you set the transcoder to read the file from the network share, process it locally, then write it back to the other network share as a batch process?

I originally did this years ago before I built the PC Server, the down side is it increases my processing time, so there is no advantage.

I did find further instructions on the Readynas Ultra thanks to CLAYKIN, these were not on my CD. And even Tech Support dfid no know how to find the reset button.. they said there was none.

These instructions (the user manual) included how to do a reset and allow Xraid configurations. Hopefully, this will work.

If not, I can try a Qnap or Synology next. The beauty of DIY and not being under the gun is I can try all of this and learn as I go thanks to help from people like you and the forums in general.

More to come.
Thanks,
Paul

 

[claykin]

Which version of firmware is on your Ultra? The crash is what concerns me. Have you reported it to the forum? The engineers will usually ask to see your Ultra logs so they can diagnose.

I have seen a few cases where people reverted back to 4.2.12 due to some issues. Netgear has a beta 4.1.14 floating around now that appears to fix the few hanging reports, but it hasn't been formally published.

 

[paulsb01]

Minor progress

I was able to reset and get into X-Raid2 mode.
I kept only 1 drive in the unit, reset, waited the 10 minutes, etc.
The one drive now its volume C was then "Shared" with a single share.

I then wanted to add another volume and install 1 more drive.

The unit saw the drive and automatically made it a redundant drive. The software does not have an "add volume" tab.

 

[teknojnky]

you seem to be very confused regarding the ultra, hopefully this will clarify...



there are 2 modes, x-raid2, and FLEX-RAID

x-raid2 is the single volume, multiple shares

FLEX-RAID is the one that supports multiple volumes. (but can not expand)

in order to get to FLEX-RAID, you must factory default and connect with RAIDAR (the java monitor program), it is NOT the same thing as RAIDIATOR (the web based admin configuration).

when you factory default/reset, connect with RAIDAR and choose setup then you can choose FLEX-RAID

you will never get separate volumes unless you install the raidar utility to configure the nas to flex-raid.


download raidar @ http://www.readynas.com/?cat=41

or check your installation CD

 

[paulsb01]

sorry I've tried this many times...

There is no facility for a 2nd volume "d" in flexraid.

Tech Support said and I'm on hold with them that only RAID 1 will allow for more than 1 volume.

But as you can see from the linked JPG there is no button in their software for ADD VOLUME. http://www.donnagrossmancasting.com/vol.jpg

 

[paulsb01]

ReadyNas Tech Support is replicating the issue..

overnight in Manilla to see if what they are telling me is really possible to do in the first place.

 

[claykin]

The Readynas Ultra 4 will allow FlexRAID with multiple RAID 0/1 volumes but it will not do JBOD which I believe is what you are looking for.

With an Ultra 4 you can have 2 x RAID 1 volumes and with an Ultra 6 you can have 3 x RAID 1 volumes.

If you are OK with 2 x RAID 1 volumes on your Ultra 4, insert all 4 disks then do a factory reset and use RAIDar to reset to Flex RAID.

If you need JBOD support then look elsewhere. I believe Tim said that Synology and QNAP offer JBOD.

Also you mentioned before that your simultaneous read/write is not performing well on the Ultra 4. Could be a few things, including the disks you chose (are they on the compatibility list and are they high performance), settings in RAIDIATOR (firmware). Also you *may* benefit from a Business class Readynas that will allow NIC teaming/bonding. Maybe consider the Pro Business.

Finally, like I said in a previous post, I believe you *may* be short changing yourself by not further exploring the concept of shares. Without fully understanding your needs I cannot comment further.

 

[thiggins]

If you need JBOD support then look elsewhere. I believe Tim said that Synology and QNAP offer JBOD.

They do also support JBOD. But that is the concatenation of multiple drives into one.
"Basic" mode is one volume per drive. Different thing.

 

[paulsb01]

Credit to Ready Nas Tech....

Still no progress although I've spent considerable time on the phone with them. The latest Level 2 tech talked me through making and SSH port in our router so the ReadyNas engineer can look directly at my unit in order to see what's wrong....More to come, I'm sure.

 

[paulsb01]

It works!!

Netgear thought that the system needed the drives to finish synching in order to make volume d.

They were correct.

Raid 1:
Volume C: 2 drives, one a mirror of the other. One share
Volume D: 2 drives, one a mirror of the other. One share

Now the testing begins.

 

[claykin]

They do also support JBOD. But that is the concatenation of multiple drives into one.
"Basic" mode is one volume per drive. Different thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-RAID_drive_architectures

JBOD used out of context or Wikipedia is out of context?