ASUSTOR AS-302T Review

Finding your NAS and getting started has never been easier.  ASUSTOR’s Control Center allows you to quickly identify your ASUSTOR brand NAS on your network and configure many settings before accessing the device directly through the web interface.

You can quickly view NAS settings/specs, set the device password, change network information, and access the NAS web page with a quick click.

Once inside, the AS-302T is powered by ASUSTOR’s ADM operating system.  ADM brings a desktop like environment to NAS management and has a ton of additional apps that can be installed to extend the functionality already built in.  ADM, ASUSTOR Data Master, is an IOS-like interface developed by ASUSTOR (built on Linux) with this in mind.  With the advanced web IU, you can rearrange settings, create pages based on your usage preferences, and even change the background image.  You can run multiple applications without having to commit to those changes and lose everything; the applications can be minimized, moved, or closed.  Multitasking in a NAS OS!  Other NAS UI require that you either commit your changes or lose them before moving to another setting.  I can create a share and an RSYNC module for it side by side in two different windows.

The administration, out of the box, is broken up into several different “apps” that reside on the desktop.  The apps are logically defined and it is easy to figure out what does what without requiring a manual.

Access Control

Access control is where your users, groups, app privileges, and shared folders reside.  Users can be added with just a few clicks and groups can be assigned just as easily to make administrating access to shared folders easy.  Shared Folders can be created and added in no time at all and allows for advanced user access permissions.  ADM is the first NAS OS we tested that recognizes right clicks and presents options for individual items quickly.  Others have followed since.

Activity Monitor

The activity monitor presents everything you need to know about what your NAS is doing in a very slick way.  The percentage of each CPU (core) is displayed graphically, as well as memory, network activity, disk usage, and running processes.

Backup & Restore

Backup & Restore is everything the name describes.  You can create RSYNC jobs, FTP Backup jobs, configure backup to external devices, configure the One Touch Backup, backup to Cloud (currently only supports Amazon S3), and the ability to export and import your backup settings.

File Explorer

File explorer is as self descriptive as can be.  You can view and manage documents easily.  With the cloud services ASUSTOR builds into the NAS, you also have the ability to create a public share for any specific document quickly to allow someone from the outside to download.  Beyond that, compression is built-in (zip or 7z!); just right-click on a file and choose.

Settings

Settings is home to the basic configuration of your NAS.  You can configure system ports, regional options, enable notifications, restore to factory default, configure networking, modify energy saving features, and more.  The hardware subsection allows you to configure things like LED indicators, buzzers, HDD power down settings, and customize the LCD panel.  ADM defender is a very basic firewall that can ban specific IP addresses or ban them based on failed login attempts.  ADM update allows you to check for and install any software updates available for your system.

Services

Services is where you configure most of what your NAS will do for you.  Here you can enable and configure CIFS/SAMBA, AFP, NFS, FTP, WebDAV, the Web Server, MySQL, Terminal Access, and the RSYNC Services.  Each of these are easy to configure, but I am a bit disappointed in the RSYNC implementation.  Creating modules for each folder you have can become a cumbersome and time-consuming process. It would be helpful if an RSYNC Module was created automatically each time a share is created, or at least an option available for creating the module when the share is created.

Storage Manager

The Storage Manager is where your disk management and volume management reside.  Here you can create volumes in various RAID and non RAID arrays (RAID 0,1 single disk or JBOD).  Inside the Disk tab you can view SMART information or get down and dirty with the Disk Doctor.  The Disk Doctor is something that every NAS should employ.  It not only allows you to do a SMART scan, but it will also do a bad block scan.  To further enhance the feature, you can schedule each of these and have the AS-302T report to you its findings.  Worried about losing data? This can be your first line of defense in detecting potential issues and being proactive.  This NAS has support for iSCSI for use in shared storage environments.

System Information

The System Information module gives you insight into some basic information about your NAS.  It will let you know what version of ADM you are running as well as the ASUSTOR ID you have assigned to the AS-302T.  Here you can also find what model you have, the CPU, how much RAM is installed, and what temperatures your NAS is experiencing.  The Networking tab shows you some basic network information.  The Log tab shows you the latest issues or experiences your NAS has had.  Online users is self explanatory.  The Dr. ASUSTOR, however, is something unique.  It is a utility that can help you proactively manage your NAS.  It will list errors and solutions as well as offer suggestions for keeping your NAS healthy.  This is how I discovered the Bad Block scan… it suggested it to me.