The TS-809U-RP offers fast file copy operations and for real world testing we copied a 2.52GB video clip between the appliance and a Broadberry CyberServe rack server equipped with dual 2.8GHz X5560 Xeons and 12GB of DDR3 memory. Our tests returned read and write speeds for drag and drop copies of 72MB/sec and 60MB/sec respectively.
The NetBak Replicator software works well enough but businesses will find it very basic.
IP SANs are supported and the appliance can present up to eight iSCSI targets. These are easy enough to create as you enter a unique name, decide on a size in GB and add optional CHAP authentication. IP SAN performance is very good with the Iometer utility reporting a raw read throughput of 106MB/sec which is near tops for a Gigabit connection.
The Surveillance Station looks useful and on the TS-809U-RP supports four network IP cameras and offers live views, recording and motion detection services. We had no problems using Axis 213PTZ and 216FD cameras and were able to access their live feeds and use picture-in-picture and full screen display modes.
All surveillance functions are accessed via a separate web interface and we found we could even control the pan, tilt and zoom functions of the 213PTZ from it. Qnap's Surveillance Station is one of the best examples of this feature and is on a par with Synology's version. Netgear doesn't offer this in its ReadyNAS appliances and Thecus' version is grossly inferior.
The TS-809U-RP puts forward a good proposition as a business network storage appliance. Qnap's workstation backup software isn't up to much but the appliance itself delivers a good combination of storage capacity, performance plus fault tolerance and combines these with IP SAN support and effective remote replication tools.
Verdict
The TS-809U-RP has the storage capacity, performance and fault tolerance to make it a good choice for business NAS duties. Support for IP SANs and remote block level replication increase its appeal but we would recommend factoring in the costs of decent workstation backup software as the bundled utility is the weakest link.
Chassis: 2U rack CPU: 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Memory: 2GB DDR2 Storage: 8 x 3.5in. SATA hard disk hot-swap bays RAID: Software managed Array support: RAID0, 1, 5, 6, 5 + hotspare, JBOD Network: 2 x Gigabit Other ports: 4 x USB2 Power: 2 x 300W hot-plug supplies Management: Web browser Software: Qnap Finder, NetBak Replicator and Qget software bundled
