Infrant ReadyNAS X6

Reviews: Networking

Infrant ReadyNAS X6

Author:
Editor:
Sponsor:
Published:

Richard Poelling
Brian
Infrant
Dec. 7, 2005

<< Previous

Next >>

Services

Security

The security of your data is just as important as keeping it backed up. With the ReadyNAS X6 you have three options for security: share, user, and domain. The share level access allows you to define specific passwords for each share. This is the most basic of security for the X6. The next level of security is the user level. This is by far the most useful, and most likely the most used security configuration. This option is similar to the share level access, except for the addition of the username. After this we come to the Domain security model. This configuration works similar to the user model except the usernames and passwords are kept on a separate domain controller.

Backups

The X6 is not just a standard box with some hard drives in it. Infrant went to a lot of trouble to include many useful features into the X6 to create a truly unique device. One such tool is the ability to schedule backup jobs. This type of functionality goes great with the X6 since it will most likely be your number one source of archival files. By setting up different backup jobs, you can pull files from other machines, or even copy files to other systems. Using the Frontview administrative interface, you are able to see all your backup jobs on one screen. Although there might be some time involved in setting up these jobs, they will be well worth the effort to never have to remember to back up information.

FTP

Now that you have all this great information on a central device, what do you do if you want to get to it from an alternate location? The answer comes in the form of a built in FTP server. By simply enabling the FTP service and forwarding the requests to the X6, you can set up FTP access to all your important files. Access can be restricted by host, users, and even groups. A default access level can be set as well as a read only and write ability access level. Files won't be shared out just by enabling the FTP. Each share that you want to access by FTP needs to be set up for that purpose. This is a nice security feature which makes the user think about what they want to share out.

Snapshots

The idea behind a snapshot is that it will be taken when the X6 is receiving the least use. A "snapshot" is taken of each share and saved in a folder of the same name except for the -snap on the end of it. This would allow you to backup the snapshot without worry of open files which could be a problem in the normal share. The feature does take up a little room. In my configuration, 37 GB was set aside for these snapshots. Although I think the idea is a good one, I would have liked to have not seen them. After the first snapshot was taken, I had essentially doubled all of my shares. This could easily be confusing for a user who might have no idea what was up. I would have liked the ability to hide these shares. Personally, I just turned off the feature rather than have all those unsightly shares hanging around. I was told by Infrant that they are working on the ability to either hide the shares or disable the feature entirely such that the space is not reserved.

Media Streaming

The ReadyNAS X6 also has the ability to stream media (video, audio, digital pictures) to players on your network. This is reliant on whether your player is compatible or not so if this type of feature is important to you, I suggest you check Infrant's forums for their list of compatible hardware. The X6 also supports adding plugins for devices such as the squeezebox audio receiver. Since I do not have any of the compatible devices, I will not be testing this feature, but wanted to make you aware of it.

<< Previous

Page 5 of 10

Next >>

Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks
Page 3: Installation
Page 4: Hard Drives
Page 5: Services
Page 6: Testing
Page 7: Testing: DiskBench
Page 8: Testing: Iometer
Page 9: Quality, Security & Error Reporting
Page 10: Conclusion

Subscribe to Storage [more info]

Add Comment

0 User Comments

Add Comment

To add a comment without being a member, you may omit the password field, but you must enter your name (or nickname) along with your comment. * Denotes required fields.