| Article Index |
|---|
| Netgear ReadyNAS Duo Review |
| Functionality |
| The Out Of Box Experience |
| Performance |
| Is the ReadyNAS Duo For Me? |
| Conclusion and Thoughts |
| All Pages |
Unpacking and setting up the ReadyNAS Duo was a revelation. Since the test unit was the ReadyNAS Duo RND2150, it came pre-loaded with a 500GB 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda hard disk. The entire initial setup process consisted of just 4 steps:
- Unpack the ReadyNAS, the network cable and the power supply;
- Connect the network cable to the ReadyNAS and the switch;
- Connect the power supply
- Open the Web Admin page (http://nas-xx-xx-xx/admin)
This could not be made much simpler, except that the default name for the NAS is NAS-xx-xx-xx - where the x's are the last half of the NAS' network identity, printed on the sticker at the back of the NAS. A better plan would have been to place the default name on the back - since the network address is already unique and the sticker matches the NAS, it should be just as easy to put the name on the sticker beside the address.
The NAS comes with two shares defined by default:
| Share Name |
Share Description | Share Configuration |
| backup |
Backup Share |
CIFS (Windows Networking) On |
| media |
Media Server Share |
CIFS (Windows Networking) On AFP (Macintosh Networking) On HTTP (Web Networking) Off |
Both shares allow guests to read and write all files by default. Not the most secure configuration but definitely the simplest for a novice user to unpack and have "just work".
There are no user accounts defined other than the default Admin account. Surprisingly, however, this account is not able to access shares - it is used only for administrative access.
Also, the only protocols enabled by default for these shares are for Windows and Mac OS. The NFS protocol preferred for OSX, Linux and UNIX is completely disabled by default, as is access to shares using a web browser, FTP and Remote Sync (RSYNC).
The basic steps therefore, from box to production, need to include creating the right user accounts in addition to the basic tasks previously listed, and enabling the right protocols for your network.
The ReadyNAS Web UI, called Frontview, makes this pretty straightforward. 6 clicks and 3 pieces of information (username, email address and password) will create a user account, and another dozen clicks enables the NFS and FTP protocols for the default shares.
It's a piece of cake, and because Frontview responds quite snappily, you're up and running in less than 5 minutes. That's really respectable.
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|80.3.187.xxx |2009-05-04 21:20:05 tokaboy - Readynas Duo performance figuresYoure performance tests are wrong pal.
No other eeview in the world complained about the Duuo's perfomance and it regularly sits in the top section of testing charts.
SmallNetBuilder mentioned "excellent performance" in their review.....
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30462/75/
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|150.101.192.xxx |2009-05-14 22:37:13 David Rawling - AuthorThanks for taking the time to comment.
The graphs provided by SmallNetBuilder on page 7 of their review show almost identical performance to our tests - over 1000 Mbps Ethernet, the Duo topped out at 30 MBps reads and 15 MBps writes on both reviews, and I think this shows consistent results.
We focus on repeatable results - we use the same tests with the same data sets on multiple devices (servers, virtual machines, other NAS and even PCs) and the results are repeatable and consistent, and we publish the highest results we achieve.
Happy to discuss by email - djr (AT) pdconsec.net.
Dave.
Unfortunately, with no disks on board the system does not initialise/get an IP address as per the documentation.
After a 56 min call to support (lucky it was 1-300 as it was diverted to the US over our weekend), eventually got tech's advice to load a disk. Once disk on board, it booted up OK