QNAP TS-419P+ Turbo NAS Review

Setting up shares on the TS-419P+ seems to be easy enough for my aging father to handle, but the advanced permissions leave a bad taste in my mouth. With the default configuration of the NAS, groups are created and permissions on shared folders are applied through these groups. With the implementation of “Advanced Options” you can set user defined permissions on folders. The limitations here are a bit confusing and somewhat cumbersome to navigate. A user inherits permissions from the top level share and any special permissions on sub folders are overridden by these. Also, setting these permissions on a user by user basis takes a lot of time to replicate through the directory structure and files. I set specific user permissions on my Music share containing 44,746 files and it took more than an hour to complete. This is in stark contrast to the flexibility and speed of permissions in Windows Server 2008 R2; I can set user permissions on shares very quickly and have more flexibility with Folders and Sub-folders than I can on the TS-419P+.

In the age of the “connected home” there are multiple devices that we may use to stream content; some of us have XBOX 360’s, PS3’s, smart TV’s, etc. The TS-419p+ takes into consideration that these types of devices could be running in our home and accommodates with a UPnP Media Server by including a TwonkyMedia Server. If you are unaware of what this does for you, it shows up as a media server on your XBOX 360, PS3, Windows Media Player, etc, with all your music, videos, and photos for easy streaming.

If playing music on the go through a web browser is your thing, then the Multimedia Station will cut the mustard. The flashed based web player supports all video and audio formats compatible with flash player and transcodes them on the fly. The Multimedia Station’s user permissions are separate from that of the NAS so you can create different users without have to worry about folder permissions. The Jukebox feature allows you to create playlists and access them from anywhere you have an internet connection. Navigating through the menus is as easy as you would expect and playback quality is top notch for web streaming.

Beyond the software that QNAP provides you native to the TS-419P+, there is a QPKG Manager that allows you to add “approved by QNAP” software packages through the web interface. This includes packages like Joomla, WordPress, OpenLDAP, eyeOS, Tomcat, and more. These packages are developed by the vast community of QNAP users, approved by QNAP, and really extend the capabilities of the NAS beyond just simple file serving. Currently, there are 28 packages available through the repository. The oversight here is that there isn’t a package for ClamAV. Even though the system is running Linux and won’t be infected by the same types of malicious software packages as Windows it doesn’t mean that the files it serves up shouldm’t be scanned. There is some debate as to whether or not your NAS should be running AV in the first place, but with the intention of this device filling a gap in the home or small office I feel that it is worth mentioning.

Outside of all the cool features the TS-419P+ brings to the table, there is one feature that the NAS needs to handle well, serving up files. The QNAP Ts-419P+ can be setup a few different ways depending on your initial configuration. Our configuration in the Lab is as follows:

TS-419P+

• 4 x HDS5C3020ala632 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s HDDs in RAID 5
• Single Network Interface

Bench rig:

• Gigabyte 880GA-UD3H
• AMD Phenom II X4 965
• 2x2GB Patriot Sector 5 PC3-12800
• Seagate 500GB ST3500630AS
• BitFenix Colossus
• BFG LS-450
• Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

In House Server:

• Gigabyte GA-EP45UD3LR
• Intel Core 2 Duo E7400
• 2x2GB Corsair XMS2 CM2X2048-6400C5
• Hitachi HDS721010KLA 1TB HDD SATA 3.0Gb/s (OS Drive)
• 5x Hitachi HDS72202ALA330 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s (Hardware RAID 5)
• Lian Li PC 75B
• OCZ GameXStream 850W PSU
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• 2x 120mm Antec Fans
• 4x 80mm Panaflo Fans

Network

• D-Link DGS-2208 Gigabit Switch
• Cat5e everywhere
• Jumbo Frames: 9014 Bytes (matches all systems on our network – including NAS)