A Glance At The Software And Specifications
As with the housing, Qnap's software displays no weaknesses and demonstrates what a modern NAS device can do. A detailed discussion of its functionality is beyond the scope of this article, but we’ll provide a quick summary: the functions leave almost nothing to be desired. Experienced users should accomplish the rapid configuration through a Web browser in a few minutes.
For inexperienced users, the Web interface of a new TS-559 Pro+ presents an installation wizard that guides the user in six steps through the initial configuration. The name of the NAS server and the IP address are entered here along with indications of which network, file, multimedia, and Web server services are to be activated. The Qnap TS-559 Pro+ accommodates heterogeneous networks and supports access to AppleTalk and NFS via SMB/CIFS. Network users can access content over an iTunes or UPnP multimedia server and Web presence is enabled by the integrated LAMP servers (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP). The decision whether or not to activate only the Apache server or the MySQL server is left to the user.
The firmware supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 6, of which the latter two can be operated with a spare drive in a hot-swap configuration. For professionals and businesses, it is possible to integrate the Qnap TS-559 Pro+ with a network as an iSCSI device. The TS-559 Pro+ supports the virtualization solutions VMware vSphere (ESX/ESXi 4.0 and higher), Citrix XenServer (5.6), and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.
If you want to test the administrative interface before buying the device, we recommend taking a look at the live demo provided by Qnap. There you can use your own data to try out the system prior to purchasing it, including the administration interface, the Web file manager, as well as the download and multimedia stations.
Brief overview of specifications
Processor | Intel Atom D525 1.8 GHz dual core processor |
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RAM | 1 GB DDR2 RAM |
Flash-Drive | 512 MB DOM |
Hard Drive | 5 x 2.5/3.5" SATA |
HDD Bays | Five bays, connectable with hot-swap capability |
RAID Modes | RAID 0, 1, 5, 5 + hot-swap, 6, 6 + hotswap |
File System | ext3, ext4 (internal hard drives)ext3, ext4, NTFS, FAT32, HFS+ (external hard drives) |
LAN Connections | 2 x gigabit Ethernet |
USB | 5 x USB 2.0 (front: 1; rear: 4) |
eSATA | 2 x eSATA (rear) |
LCD Display | Mono-LCD-Display with Enter-/Select-buttons for initial configuration |
Dimensions | 185 mm (H) x 210 mm (W) x 235 mm (D) |
Weight | Empty housing: 5.1 kg (11.25 lbs) |
Other | VGA connection |
Fan | Temperature-controlled fan, 120 mm |