Consider these aspects when evaluating NAS solutions:
Storage capacity
Data redundancy
Backup features
Scalability
Access security
Ease of setup
Storage capacity is crucial as it determines how much data can be accommodated. Deciding on NAS with ample space ensures future data growth is unhindered. Data redundancy is equally important, providing protection against data loss through mechanisms like RAID. Backup features allow regular data snapshots, ensuring data can be easily restored. Scalability is vital for organizations expecting growth, enabling seamless expansion without replacing the entire system.
Access security is paramount to protect sensitive data against unauthorized access, often involving encryption and secure authentication protocols. Ease of setup ensures the NAS can be deployed quickly without requiring extensive technical knowledge. Selecting a NAS with intuitive management software simplifies device configuration and ongoing maintenance, allowing users to focus on their tasks rather than spending excessive time managing the hardware.
Network Services Manager at a educational organization with 51-200 employees
User
Jul 20, 2021
How will it integrate into your network? Is the management intuitive? When was the NAS hardware released, and how long will it be supported? Is it upgradeable? How flexible is the vendor?
It really sucks to get locked into an inflexible vendor. Insist on references from current users that you can talk to directly!
Most people purchasing a cloud NAS are not aware they are being charged twice; once by the cloud provider and once by the NAS vendor. It is important to understand how you are being charged for a cloud NAS.
Sr. Director, Architecture and Cloud at a hospitality company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Mar 14, 2022
I've looked at the responses from your most recent contributors. All make excellent points.
My concerns would be reliability, company reputation and history, seamless integration into existing environment and userbase, excellent customer references for service and support, exposing all costs, features that offer protection such as immutable storage and single, foolproof global file locking, high availability features, user self-service file restore, automatic retention enforcement are all important items that I would look at.
The rest, such as support for needed protocols, speeds and feeds,
Administrateur systèmes OS et DBA at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Jul 10, 2018
It very easy to manage via webmanger gui
it offers a global biew on what happen by host, pools,
Create,delete , expand & reduce,migrate pools is very easy like kid game.
waht i liked on it, its cababality to add external storages (another nas) and manage mdisk and pool from one webinterface
Technical Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant
Dec 2, 2016
A NAS System for me, has to be seamless integratable in an exsisting Environmend (such as Microsoft Domain Services), so it is important that the OS of the NAS supports CIFS 3.02 with Server Site Copy Offload an other native MS Windows Server Features.
I don't care very much about the (afaik often manipulated) Opinion in Forums and Blogs!
Thats why i agree with Chris Krikke. It's more important for me to use a reliable Hardware and Software Platform with depandable Service Levels Agreements, than any "cheapo" Hardware and "self-build" or "Open-Source" Software from shady Sources...
Senior Systems Administrator at a pharma/biotech company with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Top 20
Apr 22, 2016
There are the common answers like IOPs, throughput, bandwidth, latency, etc. What I do is look for end-users that are happy with the product through blogs, forums, articles, etc. it's too easy to get lured in with marketing hype but real world experience from somebody that has actually been using the product is invaluable.
Network Attached Storage (NAS) offers centralized data storage accessible over a network, providing a convenient solution for file sharing and data management across multiple users and devices.NAS systems provide an efficient means of storing, protecting, and accessing data in home or office environments. They act as dedicated data hubs, enhancing collaboration with shared access and improving security through built-in data protection features. Suitable for both personal and business use, NAS...
Consider these aspects when evaluating NAS solutions:
Storage capacity is crucial as it determines how much data can be accommodated. Deciding on NAS with ample space ensures future data growth is unhindered. Data redundancy is equally important, providing protection against data loss through mechanisms like RAID. Backup features allow regular data snapshots, ensuring data can be easily restored. Scalability is vital for organizations expecting growth, enabling seamless expansion without replacing the entire system.
Access security is paramount to protect sensitive data against unauthorized access, often involving encryption and secure authentication protocols. Ease of setup ensures the NAS can be deployed quickly without requiring extensive technical knowledge. Selecting a NAS with intuitive management software simplifies device configuration and ongoing maintenance, allowing users to focus on their tasks rather than spending excessive time managing the hardware.
How will it integrate into your network? Is the management intuitive? When was the NAS hardware released, and how long will it be supported? Is it upgradeable? How flexible is the vendor?
It really sucks to get locked into an inflexible vendor. Insist on references from current users that you can talk to directly!
Most people purchasing a cloud NAS are not aware they are being charged twice; once by the cloud provider and once by the NAS vendor. It is important to understand how you are being charged for a cloud NAS.
I've looked at the responses from your most recent contributors. All make excellent points.
My concerns would be reliability, company reputation and history, seamless integration into existing environment and userbase, excellent customer references for service and support, exposing all costs, features that offer protection such as immutable storage and single, foolproof global file locking, high availability features, user self-service file restore, automatic retention enforcement are all important items that I would look at.
The rest, such as support for needed protocols, speeds and feeds,
Throughput and scalability are my biggest keys.
Scalability, cost, support and ease of management.
Support for multiple protocols is nice to have but many implementations lack full protocol support.
The cost of support beyond the first 5 years is also something to look into.
It very easy to manage via webmanger gui
it offers a global biew on what happen by host, pools,
Create,delete , expand & reduce,migrate pools is very easy like kid game.
waht i liked on it, its cababality to add external storages (another nas) and manage mdisk and pool from one webinterface
A NAS System for me, has to be seamless integratable in an exsisting Environmend (such as Microsoft Domain Services), so it is important that the OS of the NAS supports CIFS 3.02 with Server Site Copy Offload an other native MS Windows Server Features.
I don't care very much about the (afaik often manipulated) Opinion in Forums and Blogs!
Thats why i agree with Chris Krikke. It's more important for me to use a reliable Hardware and Software Platform with depandable Service Levels Agreements, than any "cheapo" Hardware and "self-build" or "Open-Source" Software from shady Sources...
There are the common answers like IOPs, throughput, bandwidth, latency, etc. What I do is look for end-users that are happy with the product through blogs, forums, articles, etc. it's too easy to get lured in with marketing hype but real world experience from somebody that has actually been using the product is invaluable.
Hardware replcaement, the replacements service for hp proliant hardware is much beter dan NAS hardware service recplacement like QNAP and others.
IOPS, latency and costs per GB
It depends? We mostly use NAS as a lower tier of storage in our environment, so I'm mostly concerned about cost per capacity and support.
IOPS, throughout and latency