Open-E's DSS V6: Storage Software Set Up, Managed, And Benchmarked

Features
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We got our hands on one of Thecus' eight-bay N8800PRO storage appliances for the purpose of taking Open-E's Data Storage Software V6 out for a test drive. Read on as we set up, manage, and benchmark this marriage of storage-oriented hardware and software.

Open-E: Configuring A RAID Array

After selecting the disks that you want to be part of the RAID array , Open-E sets up the software-based configuration on Thecus' N8800PRO. We chose to use all eight disks in a RAID 6 arrangement. Initializing the 16 TB array took about 12 hours, which is neither impressively fast or frustratingly slow for an array of this size.

As an aside, if you want to optimize the array for throughput or I/O performance, you can modify its block size between 4 and 256 KB. In addition, you can choose the algorithm to use for RAID 5 and 6, affecting the array's performance.