[PLUG] Review: Thecus N8800+ iSCSI NAS (Linux)

[Lee Marzke <lee@marzke.net>]

I'm in the process of replacing a Linksys ReadyNAS NV+ with the
Thecus N8800 2U rackmount NAS.    In addition to being more expandable
the Thecus supports iSCSI for my ESX Vsphere environment.  It also
runs on Linux on an Intel Celeron M CPU,  and it is quite easy to get root
access.

The n8800+  supports ZFS(fuse)  but that seems to be a marketing
ploy.  It's slow, and only really usable for a NAS file share over CIFS. I'm
using XFS on top of RAID 1 or 5.    The N8800+ uses Linux MD and LVM
modules.

I'm still testing, but fairly happy with the unit overall
so far.   There are a few design decisions that really make
you wonder ( like a rsync deamon that can only talk to other
N8800 units )  Luckily this is correctable with a pre-built rsync
module add-on package.

If your in an environment where other non-Linux admins need to
be able to admin the storage this is a nice low cost solution.   It's got
an Ajax enabled GUI,  and you can still get root prompt in an
emergency.   With low end boxes like this - being able to fall back
to Linux debugging is nice.

I've posted a review of the N8800+ and description of using rsync
and ESX  below:

http://plug.4aero.com/Members/lmarzke/thecus/

Lee

--
"Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of iqlusion..."  - Kryptos

Lee Marzke,  lee@marzke.net   http://marzke.net/lee/
IT Consultant, VMware, VCenter, SAN storage, infrastructure, SW CM
+1 484-961-0369  voice         +1 484-348-2230 fax





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