QNAP ES1686dc-2142IT-128G

In Active-Active storage system architecture, both controllers are able to provide a complete range of services, which is different from the Active-Standby architecture of single-controller systems. The Active-Active architecture does not have the disadvantage of idle computing resources. To leverage the strengths of the ES1686dc Active-Active controller architecture, it is recommended to create multiple storage pools and distribute their ownership between both controllers. This allows simultaneous output from both controllers for better load balancing.

With two HA systems you are paying twice the price and causing a load imbalance as workloads are only processed on the active system. A power outage could cause data loss, and the disconnected network invalidates the HA architecture.

Both controllers of the ES1686dc can carry traffic, along with Copy-To-Flash protection against power failure and the dual-path SAS interface. Besides conserving computing resources, a high-speed, uninterrupted, and high-availability storage service is also provided through communication protocols such as SMB, NFS and iSCSI.

Powered by two Intel® Xeon® D processors, the ES1686dc features a dual active-active controller architecture that provides failover/failback operations as the standby controller can quickly take over if one controller breaks down. Redundant hot-swappable power supplies and cooling fans are also included to provide businesses with near-zero downtime high availability. The ES1686dc connects to the JBOD enclosure (EJ1600 v2) via the dual-path mini-SAS design to sustain continuous operations even if a JBOD cable is disconnected. Designed around redundancy, the ES1686dc is the best realization of reliable enterprise storage for uninterrupted mission-critical enterprise tasks and productivity.

The ES1686dc simultaneously supports main memory read cache (L1 ARC), SSD secondary read cache (L2 ARC), and memory write cache (ZFS Intent Log) to meet performance demands for various enterprise applications.

If unplanned power outages occur, the system can write cache data from the battery-protected DRAM to M.2 SSD through Copy To Flash (C2F) to ensure that data is not lost.

Note: To ensure write cache data safety, it is recommended to annually replace the BBU. QNAP provides one-year warranty for the BBU.

The ES1686dc provides two PCIe Gen3 x8 slots connected to the CPU, allowing you to install lightning-fast 10GbE/40GbE network cards to boost virtualization, media streaming, and other bandwidth-demanding applications. Installing Mellanox® Smart NICs further adds support for iSER for improved VMware® virtualization performance. You can also install a SAS expansion card (SAS-12G2E) for connecting up to seven 16-bay EJ1600 v2 expansion enclosures to seamlessly expand the potential storage capacity over 1PB, with unprecedented performance of up to 48Gbps per host connection.

“Reliability” is the priority for mission-critical business applications. The ES1686dc adopts dual active-active controllers to provide the most reliable base for business IT storage.

While SATA 6Gb/s SSDs provide high-performance yet affordable storage, the lack of dual-port support makes them unsuitable for dual-controller environments. The QDA-SA and QDA-SA2 adapters are designed for QNAP Enterprise ZFS NAS, and allows the use of a SATA 6Gb/s drive in a 3.5-inch SAS drive bay – providing the ability to expand storage capacity by using cost-effective SATA drives. By installing a SATA drive with the QDA-SA/QDA-SA2 into the dual-controller ES1686dc, the SATA drive can share these SAS dual-port advantages to ensure a high-availability, fault-tolerant enterprise storage environment.

The ES1686dc features the QES (QNAP Enterprise Storage) 2.1.0 operating system, which is based on the simple and efficient FreeBSD kernel and the ZFS file system that has been proven through years of experience to be most suitable for high-end enterprise applications. Not only does QES 2.1.0 provide reliable data protection, recovery, and business-class features, it is optimized for flash storage and is capable of driving outstanding performance for all-flash storage arrays to accelerate mission-critical services and eliminate challenges in VDI environments. QES 2.1.0 also comes with Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities that help ensure consistent primary storage performance in multi-application environments. Continuing the same user experience with the intuitive QTS operating system, QES provides business users with an easy learning curve for quick implementation within IT infrastructures.

QES 2.1.0 features QNAP’s exclusive Write Coalescing algorithm that further optimizes all-flash performance in ZFS, providing a highly cost-effective all-flash solution for enterprise-class data management and mission-critical services.

Transforms all random writes to sequential writes along with reduced I/O. It not only effectively increases random write performance for all-flash environments but also can improve SSD lifespans.

Users can allocate an additional over-provisioning ratio for SSDs (from 1% to 60%) and Storage Pools (from 1% to 40%) for a constant performance boost of over 100%.

In VDI environments where there could be over 90% duplicate data from OS images and applications that are spread over virtual desktops, the QES-powered ES1686dc provides businesses with the most cost-effective remote virtual desktop platform and mission-critical information warehousing.

Especially helpful for increasing SSD storage utilization efficiency when highly-repetitive data or massive small files (e.g. transaction logs of banks or e-commerce) are generated. It delivers higher cost efficiency of all-flash storage systems.

Note: Data compaction in QES 2.1.0 does not support dual-controller NAS. This will be supported in future versions of QES.

Designed with a focus on data integrity, a fundamental aspect of storage security and reliability, the QES-based ES1686dc uses its end-to-end checksums to detect and correct silent data corruption caused by hardware defects, bugs in firmware or metadata errors. If integrity violations are detected, QES automatically repairs the damage using data from the other mirror before the data is passed to applications.

Streamlined remote backups with nearly limitless snapshots and SnapSync

The ES1686dc supports up to 65,535 snapshots for iSCSI LUN and shared folders (if 1 snapshot is created every hour, 24 snapshots per day, then up to 7 years worth of snapshots can be created without needing to delete any) and replicates snapshots to remote servers by using the block-level SnapSync. In the event of a primary site failure, SnapSync assists businesses to resume essential services in the shortest possible time.

Create VMware/Windows backups for VSS-Aware applications using QNAP Snapshot Agent

QNAP Netbak Replicator is easy-to-use and VSS-aware backup software, helping businesses to create complete backups in data centers and virtualization environments without needing additional software. To build a QNAP Snap Agent and VSS Hardware Provider operating environment, all applications (including VSS Service, Requestor, Provider and QNAP Snap Agent) can be deployed with VSS-Aware applications on the same server, and the minimal requirements are only one ES1686dc and one server for it to be operational.

The ES1686dc supports VMware® vSphere® 6.5, Windows Server® 2016, and Citrix XenServer® 7.0 for flexible deployment and management in virtualization environments. It also supports VMware® VAAI and Microsoft® ODX to increase performance by offloading server loading for ESXi® server and Hyper-V® respectively. The QNAP vSphere Client plug-in, Web plug-in and QNAP SMI-S provider are also supported to increase the efficiency of operations and management in virtualization applications. The ES1686dc and VMware® ESXi server installed with Mellanox® Smart NICs that support iSER can acquire iSER advantages to offload CPU workloads with boosted VMware® virtualization performance. QES supports OpenStack® Cinder and Manila file sharing services. With the QNAP Cinder Driver, the ES1686dc can provide block-level storage space to virtual machines. It not only accelerates the deployment of virtual machines and enhances virtual machine image access efficiency through iSCSI, but it is also easier to integrate into commercial cloud storage platforms, providing businesses with a flexible, easy-to-use, and low-cost storage solution.