Questions about QNAP and 10G options

[Bob Zelin]

replies below from Bob Zelin –

We’re trying to decide between the Qnap TS-1685-D1521 and the Qnap TVS-1282T3 32GB. We lean toward the TS-1685 because we don’t care about the thunderbolt 3 (short cable runs aren’t really an option for us) and like the idea of the larger capacity. We are noticing there is a processor option with TS-1685, either the D1521 or the D1531. We like the lower price point of the D1521, but don’t want to be short sighted. What would be the advantages of the processor upgrade to the D1531 for a situation like ours?

REPLY – get the TS-1685-D1521, which is the cheaper model, that you can get with 16 Gig of RAM for under $3000.
It’s great, and for the same money, you get greater storage capability. In addition, in the future, when you decide to add expander chassis (you can have 4 on the TS-1685), you will use a 12G miniSAS connection, which is much faster than the TX-800P for the TVS-1282T3. You can get the slower processor because you are using this for storage, not for render or processing power. If you were to put in a GPU card in the TS-1685 and create a VM Ware virtual machine, and run a virtual station of After Effects for rendering, then the faster processor would matter – but no one does this (it’s cheaper and easier to simply get a Sonnet eGPU box and a AMD Vega 64) – so get the cheaper QNAP, and you will be fine.

We’ll populate the NAS with 12x HGST 4TB (NAS). Anyone have any issues with this combo?

REPLY – I would buy bigger drives. 40 TB of storage is not much storage these days for working in 4K and 6K.

When we upgrade our internal network to 10G, we’ve got a couple of questions about options:
Qnap 10GigE switch vs. NETGEAR XS708T – we realize one is managed and one’s not. In our case, would the smart managed switch be beneficial to us? Again, don’t want to be short sighted in picking price over performance.

REPLY – The performance of the QNAP QSW-1208-8C is identical to the XS708T. For $589, you cannot beat this value. With that said, an installer like me likes the XS708T because it’s a managed switch, and if you are having connection problems, I can remote in, over the internet to see what the problems are. You can’t do that with an unmanaged switch. But as far as speed and performance, the QSW-1208-8C is a great product.

Regarding 10G network adaptors, we have a mix of thunderbolt 2 and thunderbolt 3 machines. I know there are adaptors from Sonnet, Akitio etc. I’ve heard that Akitio adapters have been problematic, any changes since NAB on that? I also saw the announcement for the Sonnet Solo 10G adapter. Will these work on thunderbolt 2 and 3 or will a T2 to T3 adapter work if they are only T3 compatible? News on availability

REPLY – are the Akitio adaptors better now ? I don’t know. the Promise SanLink2 and the Sonnet Twin 10G for thunderbolt 2 are both great. The new Sonnet Solo 10G (for Thunderbolt 3 only) is only $199, making it the cheapest adaptor on the market. I was getting between 900 – 1000 MB/sec write and 1000 MB/sec READ at NAB with this adaptor, on a QNAP TVS-882ST3 and the QSW-1208 switch. The sonnet Solo 10 will be released May 1st of this year. The Solo 10 WILL NOT work on a thunderbolt 2 adaptor, as it requires more power than a thunderbolt 2 port can supply (and it’s buss powered).

Bob Zelin

Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
bobzelin@icloud.com

[Rich Rubasch]

I have one….we have two iMac Pros with the 1283T QNAP. We run the 10gig e cables from the iMacPros directly to the Qnap. All good. We use thunderbolt to gigabit ethernet to connect to our LAN and internet on the iMac Pros.

Bob, if we went with an unmanaged switch, would this one do the trick to connect the iMacPros and the QNAP together as well as provide internet access to our LAN and WAN via the switch?

That way I would not necessarily need a gigabit cable running from the QNAP to our LAN to access the internet and out LAN.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1365969-REG/netgear_xs505m_100nas_prosafe_5_port_10gb.html

Thank you!

Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media Inc.
Video Production, Post, Studio Sound Stage
Founder/President/Editor/Designer/Animator
https://www.tiltmedia.com