Just got out of the meeting with engineering, here are the answers to your questions.
pszilard wrote:
Question 1: Has anyone actually tried any ReadyNAS Ultra and Egnyte? Is it possible to load the Egnyte add-on?
While it is technically possible to load Egnyte on Ultra devices, we have not had any customer cases of anyone doing so. And since there has not been any use cases, we cannot determine on how Egnyte will run on Ultra models.
pszilard wrote:
Question 2: What IS the difference between an Ultra and a Pro?
Like you mentioned, the biggest difference between Ultra (home use) and Pro (business use) is the level of performance. Business ReadyNAS models have multi-core processors that allow them to have much stronger computing power to support larger data transfer, storage and synchronization. Running Egnyte on Ultra devices would see significant drop in performance that could hinder the full potential of utilizing a cloud file server.
pszilard wrote:
2) Snapshot with scheduling not listed on Ultra. Johnny: Is the Egnyte add-on using snapshots?
Egnyte uses its own snapshot functionality, separate from the ReadyNAS.
Hope that answers your questions. Great discussion, keep them coming! ~ Johnny
Thanks Johnny for running with this. Although in my current customer situation performance would not have been an issue (5 users on site), I was too chicken to take the chance and ordered a PRO 6 bay box.
Wish I had a demo Ultra Plus to try. Perhaps I'll order an NFR one...
If anyone is reading this, who has an Ultra or Ultra Plus NAS, would you please test the Egnyte client? (You can open a demo account for free, run the test and report back, then close the account - unless you are sold on the great Egnyte service, of course!)
The Ultra 4 Plus has the same hardware as the Pro 4 and the Ultra 6 Plus has the same CPU as the Pro Business Edition. The Ultra 6 has the same CPU as the Pro 4, the Ultra 4 has a single-core CPU vs the dual-core in the Pro 4.
Personally I can't see why it wouldn't work, as long as Egnyte doesn't rely on the availability of business features. If there is an incompatibility it would be due to a software issue not a hardware one.
I tested the ELC add-on last year and it worked fine then with my Ultra 6.
The Ultra 4 Plus has the same hardware as the Pro 4 and the Ultra 6 Plus has the same CPU as the Pro Business Edition. The Ultra 6 has the same CPU as the Pro 4, the Ultra 4 has a single-core CPU vs the dual-core in the Pro 4.
Personally I can't see why it wouldn't work, as long as Egnyte doesn't rely on the availability of business features. If there is an incompatibility it would be due to a software issue not a hardware one.
I tested the ELC add-on last year and it worked fine then with my Ultra 6.
Thanks for your post, mdgm. Where can I see a summary of the Business software features? Or can you give a list?
I tested the ELC add-on last year and it worked fine then with my Ultra 6.
Big thanks Matthew for chiming in. Good to know that someone has successfully used Egnyte on a high end Ultra device.
mdgm wrote:
"Active Directory Secure Mode", Rsync over SSH, Snapshot Feature etc.
Egnyte bundles our own Rsync and Snapshot functionality in OLC. The only potential software problem I see is if businesses want to utilize Active Directory integration. Since home ReadyNAS models don't support "Active Directory Secure Mode" (maybe there's a workaround?) there might be issues for businesses wanting that functionality.
Technically you can use Egnyte on an Ultra 2 Plus since it's mostly the same firmware as business models (we've heard of a few users who have used Egnyte on prosumer ReadyNAS devices). However we do not recommend or support the use of Egnyte OLC on prosumer device. From what my engineering team tells me, there might be performance issues with prosumer models for businesses that utilize heavy file transferring. There also might be problems with Active Directory integration as it is not supported on prosumer models.
That is disappointing. From what I an tell the ULtra Plus NAS is very similar to the basic Pro models.
Can you ask your folks what specific problems I might encounter utilizing my Ultra Plus (with my emphasis on the Plus).
I own and operate a small business, currently with less than 5 full time employees. The Ultra Plus has been terrific for us. The Ultra Plus is very fast and very capable and seems to be missing very few capabilities ofnthe Pro models. Others here can definitely detail the differences better than I.
What model of NAS would you folks recommend for us?.
Can your folks explain what features or capabilities the Ultr Plus is lacking that would be important for a business as small as mine? I'm thinking your folks may have concern about features we may never utilize.
Where on your web page do you discuss the suggested models of Ready NAS?
Pro 2 would be the recommended model. As far as I can tell it has exactly the same hardware as the Ultra 2 Plus. So as I said above the only reason why it might not work on an Ultra 2 Plus would be software issues (which I would think would be unlikely).
Can you explain for me what "Active Directory" is and what situation would I desire having it? I have lived happily without it for this long with my Ultra Plus!
That is disappointing. From what I an tell the Ultra Plus NAS is very similar to the basic Pro models. It appears to meet your hardware specs.
Can you ask your folks what specific problems I might encounter utilizing my Ultra Plus (with my emphasis on the Plus)?
Can your folks explain what features or capabilities the Ultra Plus is lacking that would be important for a business as small (less than 5 users) as mine? I'm thinking your folks may have concern about features we may never utilize.
Thx!
Thx again Johnny... I see your link that says which models of NAS you suggest is from Jun-29 2010 10:26 pm.
I'd really like to utilize your service, perhaps you can ask your tech folks to do some testing on the Ultra Plus series??
I'm sure there are more small businesses like mine that selected the Ultra Plus, based on our needs - but would also like to utilize your Local Cloud service.
Our engineers have ran some performance tests when our product was first in development. What they told me was that it runs okay with low data usage and user activity. But the bi-directional synchronization becomes very taxing to the ReadyNAS device when there are heavy data transfers, that's the main reason we do not recommend or support prosumer devices.
With that said, we are currently working on optimizing the data transfer process such that it becomes less taxing on ReadyNAS devices. Depending on the amount of optimization we can do on our end (keeping in mind the hardware specs are still the same on ReadyNAS), we might be more stable on prosumer devices, even with heavy data usage. I will keep the ReadyNAS community informed on the progress of the optimization and further prosumer device testing.
My personal suggestion (not Egnyte's) is to start a free trial and try it on the Ultra. I know there are several users that are running Egnyte on higher end prosumer devices. If you feel like you are comfortable with the performance, then by all means continue to use it.
