Databases & Data Storage

Every major operating system is supported with SMB/CIFS (Windows file shares), NFS (Unix file shares) and AFP (Apple File Shares) as well as FTP, iSCSI (block sharing), WebDAV and other methods of sharing data over the network are available. iSCSI also supports VMware VAAI, Microsoft ODX and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2012 R2 Clustering.

Every aspect of the NAS system can be managed from a Web User Interface. Volume creation, or the setting of permissions on individual shares or performing software updates, can be done without missing a critical step or encountering a silent failure. Many services have advanced configuration options available from the Web User Interface that is available in advanced menus.

ZFS is designed for data integrity from top to bottom. RAID-Z, the software RAID that is part of ZFS, offers single parity protection like RAID 5, but without the “write hole” vulnerability thanks to the copy-on-write architecture of ZFS. The additional levels RAID-Z2 and RAID-Z3 offer double and triple parity protection, respectively. A software mirror option is also available. The NAS Volumes screen lists each possible parity arrangement based on the number of disks you select when creating a new volume. Every ZFS file system is also verified with checksums from top to bottom to ensure data integrity.

Thanks to ZFS, snapshots of the entire file system can be made and saved at any time. As long as a snapshot exists, administrators can access files as they were when the snapshot was made. Snapshots can be made on a one-off basis or scheduled as a cron job from the web interface. At any time, the entire file system can be rolled back to the most recent snapshot. Older snapshots can be cloned and accessed to recover data from that version of the file system.

ZFS Snapshots are more than just local backups – they can be used to create remote backups as well. Replicating snapshots of the file system to a remote ZFS file system creates a complete duplicate there. Furthermore, additional snapshots of the same file system can be sent incrementally, reducing the size of each backup to the changes that were made between snapshots. In case of catastrophic damage to a local ZFS file system (such as disk failure in excess of parity protection or irrecoverable log device failure), any backed-up snapshot can be sent to a new ZFS file system, recovering all data up to that backup.

Our NAS offer encryption on ZFS volumes! A full-volume encryption option is available during volume creation, providing industry standard AES-XTS encryption which can be hardware-accelerated. Encrypted volumes can only be read by NAS systems in possession of the master key for that volume. The user can optionally create a passphrase to add extra protection for their system against loss or theft.
Encryption allows for confidence when retiring and recycling hard drives because the drives no longer need to be wiped provided the master keys are obliterated.