New ReadyNas 312/314/316?

desktopguy wrote:
Will still be monitoring ReadyDATA for my video clients.

I am curious about your selection of ReadyDATA for video applications. I am evaluating Synology for a 400 to 500 camera system with full time recording for about half of those. Similar rack mount very high capacity storage chassis. I was drawn to Synology by their next day answers to my presales questions, the online calculator they have to size and spec exactly such a system and mostly by their open and well documented REST API to the surveillance module so that we can write a custom application to manage and control the constellation of NAS's.

What strengths would you give to ReadyDATA that we should not overlook?

Thanks in advance,
RND

Whilst I can't speak for desktopguy, I would say the stand-out feature of the ReadyDATA is the use of the ZFS filesystem. It's a very mature filesystem and the perfect choice for storing important business data. ZFS is far less prone to data corruption than filesystems such as EXT4.

I partly agree with desktopguy in that it is a BIG disappointment that the new OS will not be available for existing ReadyNAS x86 units. I would have thought that this could at leats have been made available to the Pro units. Having recommended and installed several Pro units devices, some fairly recently it will reflect badly that devices we have recommended to business will now presumably not receive any future update. Having been to CES this year and seen the interfaces for Synology, Buffalo and the like, the ReadyNAS interface is far behind in both ease of use and available features.

While I have not seen the new interface/devices (not fortunate enough to be a beta tester for these devices!) I would have hoped that thos OS would have been backwards compatible to Pro x86 ReadyNAS devices.

Another question I have is that will Replicate become free for those with the Pro devices now that the licence fee has been removed for the new family of devices? I am guessing that it won't due to the fact the the ReadyNAS OS and interface will not be changing for the older devices.

I have been on the ReadyNAS bandwagon ever since it was Infrant however it seems that Netgear is now taking a dangerous path of neglecting existing users (specially business user's of the higher end devices) and this is certainly swaying me to look for another NAS brand that are prepared to offer these upgrades exisrting user's of soon to be phased out devices to recommend to be implemented into other businesses. As a software developer and hardware technician I cannot see too many technical issues in getting the new OS and interface to work on existing x86 devices (save for the fact that there may be a requirement to completely erase the existing NAS data to install a new OS and file system) as it is basically the same CPU platform and the only real issue may be some hardware drivers.

As mdgm said the old devices will not suddenly stop working or go our of warranty but I do think as mentioned above that the Pro Nas's at least (or even from the Pro4 upwards including the rack mount devices) that these should all have been able to get an OS/interface upgrade

There will continue to be bug fix releases for 4.2.x and 5.3.x.

I've asked NetGear about Replicate for 4.2.x. We'll see what happens. It would be a nice gesture to make it free.

Hi all,

Now that I have calmed down, let me expand on what I said earlier.

I will test the RN516 when it hits Australia as the feature set is second only to the Infortrend NAS. (which has a hideous web interface)
No other NAS devices I know of come close to the feature set - if it works as promised.
It will be good to see Netgear finally allowing JBOD expansion on smaller devices.

I can understand Netgear want to sell new gear - not support existing equipment.
There is NO reason to NOT support ReadyNAS 6.0 on the Pro4/6 except for maybe minimum RAM specs.
If they are not going to back-port ReadNAS OS 6.0 they at least have to fix outstanding bugs.
Case in point.
Today an interstate client had the dreaded issue of his ReadyNAS Pro6 stuck at the "booting" screen.
After I did all the usual troubleshooting (os re-install, skip volume check etc…) I dropped the device into tech support for L3 to fix.
Turns out the issue was the boot volume was full due to logs files growing too large.
My client was off line the entire day waiting for L3 to fix. (from 8am to 7pm)
This is the second time it has happened to that client and it has happened to several other clients.
It's a known issue and they even have a add-on to address the issue but it never been documented anywhere or the fix merged into the standard firmware. Its these kinds of bugs that they HAVE to squash before releasing a new OS.

On the high end video side, I have lot of 22 bay Synology setups (head + JBOD) with my clients.
They are a good devices with great pricing, but there is no drive scrubbing so I am concerned about "bit rot".
Add to that SHR RAID is not as robust as XRAID2.
Also, whilst there is an Australian distributor, if there is a major issue, you have to drop it into telnet mode and get Taiwan to remote in and fix it.
At least with Netgear, I can open a case (usually in the Philippines) and then get the local L3 technicians in Sydney to take a look.

The ReadyDATA is an interesting product that will fit into alot of video production setups - especially with the dual 10Gb connections.
It does go head to head against the Infortend NAS. They have an amazing track record building solid RAIDs.
Both systems are ZFS based so feature set is similar.

RND asked about features to look out for on the ReadyDATA.
It's simply not an area I am interested in - my video production clients want rock solid, fast bulk storage.
ReadyDATA is a better fit than Synology for that. But does come an increased cost.

As a point of comparison, I test NAS devices regularly - it it does not meet my client requirements, I let the distributor know.
Ive tested Ingrasys, Pegasus, LaCie, ActiData, Infortrend, ReadyNAS, Synology and a few other brands.
Even with all it's quirks and issues ReadyNAS is still my go to product for mac based creative networks.
I will be testing the Asustor NAS next week, but don't have high hopes…
I would love to test Thecus and QNAP, but the local distributor does not loan to consultants - only resellers. Their loss…

I understand the fact that there has to be some stage where bug fixes stop on EOL'ed devices. However to stop bug fixes prior to devices being EOL'ed is certain uncommon if not rare! This is evidenced by the long wait from when 4.2.22 was released, when 4.2.23 was first beta'd and then when 4.2.23 was 'officially' dropped (viewtopic.php?f=51&t=69201&start=135).

I would have thought there would at least be some interest in Netgear to get this working on at least the Pro devices as the Pro6 at least is generally seen as a SMB product and business generally don't like seeing this sort of behaviour on devices they may have purchased a month before a new line is announced. It certainly doesn't help build confidence in a new product being supported in the future. There was certainly no mention of any new ReadyNAS devices at the recent CES 2013 conference in Las Vegas which leads me to believe this was always their intention to just abandon any bug fixes on the older x86 devices in addition to their already stated position of not releasing the newer OS on existing 64 bit x86 devices.

The fact that there is a t least a possible revenue stream (ie: older devices getting the new OS and buy default getting access to the app store giving Netgear $ from app store sales royalties on ReadyNAS apps) and also that it is showing Netgear to be supporting the ReadyNAS customers they already have would have (in my opinion) been reason enough to make this happen. Customer confidence can often be worth a lot more in the long run than the initial cost of supporting recently EOL'ed devices.

Escalation engineer trick we costumer. NetGear make 4.2.23 now. :)

NetGear no make Ready OS update for NVX :(

COMPATABILITY CONCERN: If the PRO Series is becoming redundant and the new OS isn't being rolled out to them, I can also see a compatibility issue.
Example: Some of my clients have invested in multiple units. If one fails they can currently take the drives from one and then place into another UNIT and away they go. This will no longer be possible if they invest in the Newer Models. The drives in newer model can't be placed into the older should something go astray. In turn they are left with a "mish mash" of NAS technologies. Not good at all and a very poor decision by Netgear not to look after their dedicated clients who have stood by them over the many years. Its also embarrassing for us resellers who recommended the PRO series based on support, future updates and compatibility. What are Netgear thinking leaving their PRO series users hang out to dry! I am 100% certain, my clients won't be buying the newer models down the line. Why would they!

MSD wrote:

COMPATABILITY CONCERN: If the PRO Series is becoming redundant and the new OS isn't being rolled out to them, I can also see a compatibility issue. Example: Some of my clients have invested in multiple units. If one fails they can currently take the drives from one and then place into another UNIT and away they go. This will no longer be possible if they invest in the Newer Models. The drives in newer model can't be placed into the older should something go astray. In turn they are left with a "mish mash" of NAS technologies.

Though not supported, you can run the new OS on existing systems: http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=70323

So assuming you (or your client) bought one of the new models and it failed out of warranty (some models have a 5 year warranty) and assuming your old Pro was still working then you could install the new OS onto it (use a spare disk) and use it to recover your data. After recovering your data you could downgrade the Pro back to the old OS if you wish (this would also require a factory default after installing the modified firmware image to downgrade).

As for if your Pro fails out of warranty you should be able to check to make sure the ReadyNAS OS device has the latest firmware on it (use a spare disk), then power down, remove the spare disk, migrate your disks across and boot the NAS. Do not do a firmware re-install. The NAS should boot the old OS and you should be able to copy off your data. If you like you could test this using a spare disk (not from your array) moved from a 4.2.x box to a 6.0.x device. Before moving the disks across you could also clone the disks from the failed 4.2.x NAS in case something goes wrong.

mdgm wrote:
Though not supported, you can run the new OS on existing systems: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=70323

Thanks for the response. This is fine if one wants to play around as a Hobbyist, but certainly not an option for a client site as the thread (and you) state
This is UNSUPPORTED by NETGEAR. Do so at your own risk, without support from NTGR.

In Short: The ReadyNas series used to be all about convenience and without having to mess about. This new OS's introduces a dilemma.....for those that already have the PRO Series. Netgear need to introduce the new OS to them if they seriously want current customers to add more NAS's to their systems (in my opinion only). I for one wouldn't introduce a new OS NAS to my systems. Its easier to just buy a second hand Pro series as a spare. Bad news for Netgear sales.

Late Edit: Having just read the Thread about being able to run the new OS on a current system. Yeah right..................sounds like a lot of trouble for something that doesn't work very well! I wouldn't even attempt it.