Presales questions: WOL, UPS, quotas, ...

[genoahous]

Background:
I'm currently using a competitor's NAS product, which needs replacing. I have a background in programming, IT, sys admin. My machines which will use the NAS are iMacs (10.8.x) and PCs (Win7, WinXP).

Questions:

1. If I enable WOL will it work like my iMacs which auto power-up from sleep when any network packet is received (ex: AFP, SMB, or SSH protocols)? Or does one have to send the magic WOL packet to wake the NAS from sleep?
2. If I setup a network UPS, which client do I need to install on my Macs and PCs? I'm currently using an apcupsd daemon setup.
3. I noticed that you have user usage quotas. Any plan for having quotas by shared folders?
   • This would be useful for something like time machine, where I want to limit its maximum space so NAS doesn't get full, but I want to use the same user for access to other shared folders with no quota. IOW: fewer NAS users to manage = less confusion.
4. Do the Apps, Pre-Installed or from App Central, run under a non-privileged user (ex: nobody, daemon, or such)?
5. I was wondering what events can send SMS or E-mail notifications? The manual is too brief, and the live demo does not allow enabling.
6. Are there any limits on the number of USB3, and/or USB2 hard disks one can hook up (with/without hubs)? I mostly plan to use externals as backup for the NAS.

I too vote for the following feature updates:

• AFP v3 support.
• SSH with non-privileged users.

Thank you for your help.

[James.S@AST]

Hello Genoahous,

Thank you for interesting in our NAS.
Please see the answer below for your question:
A. We do support the WOL via send magic packet to the NAS.

B. Yes, you can use apcupsd as network UPS client on your PC and MAC.

C. The current solution we know to implement shared folders will have a dramatic impact on data transfer performance.
We will keep studying this topic.

D. The Apps is install and run under "admin" account.

E. The notification system can let you send the message to multiple user according to the type of logs.
Information: all the general information
Warning: Function works but has exception.
Error: Anything cause system not work properly.

notification.JPG

F. All the external ports can hook up on devices, to use with hub is not guaranteed.

[genoahous]

Thank you for your reply.

Please clarify the following answer:

A. We do support the WOL via send magic packet to the NAS.

I was hoping that NAS could wake on ANY packet (like Macs) and would not only use magic packet to wake. That way NAS would wake whenever a computer requests access. Otherwise I would have to run a script to send the magic packet to wake NAS from sleep when access is desired.

FWIW - My PCs, using ASUS MBoards, have a WOL with an option "Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer". When this is off, then PC wakes when access to shares is requested (Ex: any SMB protocol packets). It would be great if you added this option to your WOL settings.

[genoahous]

I did some testing, and the "Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer" option is too broad of option. When unset, it causes the PC to wake every few seconds, most likely due to broadcast packets or such (I didn't use a network sniffer to verify).

What I desire is a more intelligent "Wake on Demand", which acts like my Macs do. My Macs wake from network access only when enabled protocols are directed towards them (AFP, NFS, SMB, SSH, VNC) or when a magic WOL packet is sent. This is controlled by setting "Wake for network access" option under Energy Saver in System Preferences.

[James.S@AST]

Thanks for your test and feedback,
We will study it and see how to implement with our system.

[audiophile]

I second the qualified WOL request. There are scenarios where the NAS should go to hibernation mode after some time with no open files / fs requests from pcs. The NAS should awake automagically after the first qualified file resp. fs request to the NAS. It goes without saying that this is typical low level scenario - things would be completely different in virtualization environments resp. iSCSI.

Regards
--audiophile

[pingu]

Another vote for this from me.

Ideal scenario is that if this system is idle, it first hibernates the disks, then after another configurable time period of idle, the system goes into S3 standby.
Finally, as described above, if specific network access is made to the NAS (not just WOL packets), it wakes from S3 sleep.

A lot of the access I make to the NAS will be via my mobile devices, so sending a WOL magic packet is impractical.

Many thanks,
pingu.