Software: The QNAP v3 User Interface
In the past I have come across a few impressive network storage devices that ended up being letdown because of the software used. Many feature slow and unattractive graphical interfaces that offer very limited functionality. Fortunately, QNAP has proven to have enough experience in this area to avoid that. Setting up the TS-809 Pro Turbo couldn't be much easier and to be honest there is nothing we would really change.
Once the device is plugged onto the network it's simply a matter of jumping on to the nearest networked computer and inserting the included CD. An auto play screen will appear, which will guide users throughout the rest of a straightforward process that takes no more than just a few minutes.
After installing and configuring the TS-809 Pro Turbo to work on the network users can launch a web browser that connects to QNAP's device through the designated IP address. Accessing the administration section of the TS-809 Pro Turbo NAS you will find a host of options as seen below.
There are loads of options and just about everything can be customized or changed in some way. The main menu includes System Administrator, Disk Management, Access Right Management, Network Services, Applications, Backup, External Device and System Status. Most of these feature several sub-menu items and it will take some time to work through them all.
Under the System Administrator menu we first entered the "General Settings" sub-menu where the server name and port can be configured, as well as time, date and language settings. Next we have the "Network" sub-menu where users can change TCP/IP settings and check on a few status options such as link speed and activity.
The "Hardware" sub-menu enables users to configure the smart fan feature, which provides complete control with a range of manual settings, as well as the hard disk standby mode and the minimum free space limit before setting off the light signal alert. Here users can also enable or disable the alarm buzzer for error reporting.
By default, security level settings for the TS-809 Pro Turbo NAS are set to low, though you can easily change this to medium or high in the appropriate section. Users can configure specifically which IP addresses or networks will be allowed to or barred from accessing the device's contents.
Under "Disk Management", the Volume Management sub-menu allows users to setup various volumes using a number of different configurations. For example, it's possible to set just two drives for RAID0 while placing the others in RAID1, 5, 6 or even in a non-RAID configuration.
The "Networking Services" menu includes options for Microsoft and Apple networking as well as NFS and FTP services. There is also Telnet/SSH, SNMP settings, Web Service and Network Service Discovery options as well.
The TS-809 Pro also features a number of applications such as the Web File Manager, Multimedia Station, Download Station, Surveillance Station, iTunes Service, UPnP Media Server, MySQL Server and QPKG Plug-ins.
With these you'll be able to do things like setting up an image slide show, stream music encoded in the most popular formats, and perform PC-less BitTorrent, FTP, or HTTP downloads. There's even a remote control application, dubbed QGet, to remotely manage these downloads from any Windows or Mac computer. We're only scratching the surface here as you'll find configuration options for pretty much everything you can think of.