Asustor AS6204T Braswell NAS Review
by Ganesh T S on November 5, 2015 8:00 AM ESTMulti-Client CIFS Performance for Professional Workloads
NAS units used in SMBs / SMEs need to provide good performance under heavy load from multiple clients. The SPEC SFS 2014 benchmark uses real-life workloads (just like Intel NASPT), but makes it easier for users to understand the benchmark results. This is achieved by using the concept of business metrics. Given a particular NAS unit, how many concurrently accessed databases can reside in it? How many IP cameras or video streams can be simultaneously recorded? To determine this metric, each load point is associated with a target required op rate. If the NAS under test doesn't meet that op rate, it is deemed as an 'invalid run'. SPEC requires all published benchmarks to follow certain strict rules - such as presented results having no invalid runs for at least 10 load points. Unfortunately, small-scale NAS systems with 7200 RPM drives can't meet these requirements, Hence, we can't officially publish SPEC SFS 2014 benchmark results for the evaluation of the Asustor AS6204T.
Using a popular filer benchmarking program, we did play back multi-client real-world professional workload access traces on the NAS using up to 10 Windows 7 VMs. The Asustor AS6204T with four 7200 RPM hard drives in RAID-5 can support,at any given point of time, recording of 10 or more video streams, or, up to five databases, or, up to four software builds, or, up to three virtual desktops.
Database Operations
The Database Operations workload seems to get / doesn't seem to get acceptable performance for up to 5 clients.The detailed metrics from our trace playback are available here
Software Builds
The Software Builds workload seems to get / doesn't seem to get acceptable performance for up to 4 clients.The detailed metrics from our trace playback are available here
Video Recording
The Video Recording workload seems to get / doesn't seem to get acceptable performance for more than 10 clients.The detailed metrics from our trace playback are available here
Virtual Desktops
The Virtual Desktops workload seems to get / doesn't seem to get acceptable performance for up to 3 clients.The detailed metrics from our trace playback are available here
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Der2 - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
Nas life.zeeBomb - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
I have heard a lot about these surverlliance stations for quite some time now...appears to be the next big thing. Thank YOU for delivering these results!asendra - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
I'm hoping Sinology releases in 2016 a 4bay braswell NAS, a DS416+ if you will, hopefully with a N3700. They have already announced some 2016 models with braswell, just not the ones I want.I would buy the current DS415+, but because I'm in no need of one right now, I just hope they get to it before I need to make the purchase.
galfert - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
I think the DS716+ is the device to get this year. No need to wait for a DS416+. If you need more than two drives you can get the 5 bay expansion model for the DS716+. That is why it is called a DS7xx+ model...because you can have 7 drives. So it is better than a DS4xx model which can't support the expansion module.For me the DS716+ is the device I've been waiting for. Powerful Intel CPU, Expandable RAM, Expansion module support, Transcoding of video, virtualization support, Hardware Encryption support. It has everything I need. Previously you had to compromize. I have a DS214play and a DS713+ and the DS716+ can replace both of them.
asendra - Friday, November 6, 2015 - link
You know, I hadn't considered that option. It would be a more expensive one, but it could work, in fact I could use a dx213 instead, wich gives me plenty storage for my needs.If when I need to buy one this next year they haven't released yet the new 4bay braswell ones, I might go with this option instead of the older ds415+.
Another thing I wanted to wait for so I could see how it develops It's Btrfs support.
DanNeely - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
Is the rebuild time graph showing numbers in seconds? Hours would be a lot more immediately meaningful. /3600 isn't a particularly easy mental computation.romrunning - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
Your article says: "Their Braswell lineup consists of four models, with each model name following the pattern AS6X0YT, where X (1 or 2) refers to the number of cores in the Braswell SoC in the model and Y (2 or 4) refers to the number of bays."Yet the Asustor AS6204T has 4 cores. So by your definition, it should have been named the "AS6404T".
So it sounds like your definition should be updated.
romrunning - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
Forget the above - the wording isn't as clear. I thought you were saying it was a direct relationship where the number = amount of cores. It could have been written that the second numeral denotes whether the CPU is dual-core (X=1) or quad-core (X=2).romrunning - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
This also reminds me - with today's advanced CMS/commenting systems, why can't we edit or delete our own comments on Anandtech??DanNeely - Thursday, November 5, 2015 - link
Which editor/reviewer do you want to furlough to hire a web developer to replace the comment system?