Last February, QNAP introduced the TDS-h2489FU, an “All-flash NVMe” storage system that is emerging as one of the solutions more advanced, powerful and attractive of the Taiwanese company, and that is clearly focused on those companies and professionals who have high workloads, and who want to be able to carry them out in an efficient, safe and reliable way.
Externally, the QNAP TDS-h2489FU has a sober and discreet profile, with the minimalist nuances typical of a 2U rack mount, where we can find a total of 24 bays for U.2 SSD drives based on the NVMe protocol and the standard PCIe Gen4 x4. This already allows us to be clear that we are dealing with a first-rate solution, and that the QNAP TDS-h2489FU does not want to be another backup storage system, but rather wants to become one of the best in its class, into a role model.
To meet that goal, QNAP has not skimped at all, since the QNAP TDS-h2489FU comes configured with two powerful Intel Xeon Silver 4300 processors. Depending on the configuration we choose, this team will have two Intel Xeon Silver 4309Y 8 cores and 16 threads or with two Intel Xeon Silver 4314 16 cores and 32 threads. Both processors are based on the Ice Lake architecture, are built on the chip giant’s 10nm node and have excellent IPC, which coupled with their high core and thread count translates into fantastic performance that It will allow us to face any challenge with guarantees.
Keys that define the value of the QNAP TDS-h2489FU
With this QNAP “All-flash” storage system we’ll have everything we need to build a high-performance infrastructure while keeping costs down and enjoying the latest industry technologies, numerous expansion options, and excellent software support. In this sense, the value offered by its QuTS hero operating systembased on ZFS (128-bit file system), thanks to its simple and intuitive interface, and its wide range of functions that translate into a whole world of possibilities:
- QuTS hero auto recovery, which guarantees the reliability and integrity of the data. It also supports Write Once, Read Many (WORM).
- Data deduplication and compression online to reduce the size of files, which will allow us to save storage capacity and optimize overall performance.
- multi-level cache technology, composed of a Main Memory Read Cache (L1 ARC), an SSD Second Level Read Cache (L2 ARC), and a ZFS Intent Register (ZIL) that enables synchronous transactions with full power failure protection , improving not only performance, but also security.
- RAID-Z to improve data protection through triple parity.
- QNAP SSD Antiwear Leveling, that automatically detects the life cycle in which the SSD units configured in RAID are found on a regular basis, something very important since it will help us avoid a simultaneous failure of SSD units.
- Secure app ecosystem through the App Center, that will allow us to access numerous tools with which to extend the benefits of the QNAP TDS-h2489FU, including security applications, synchronization, virtual machines, containers, content management, productivity and many more.
- Hybrid Backup Sync, that makes it easy to back up data from a TDS-h2489FU to another QNAP NAS or remote server, eliminating redundant data. It supports standard cloud storage for NAS data backup. For backup to object cloud storage, VJBOD Cloud is especially useful to reduce bandwidth usage and the time required to complete the backup.
- VMware and Hyper-V VM Backup with incremental source backup, global deduplication, and recovery compression.
- SaaS Backupwhich allows us to protect our company’s cloud data by backing up and synchronizing Google Workspace and Microsoft Office 365 files, emails, calendars, and contacts to the NAS.
- SnapSync syncs in real time and immediately data changes with the destination storage, ensuring that the primary NAS and secondary NAS always have the same data. The RPO is minimal, which will allow us to achieve disaster recovery in real time.
At the hardware level, the QNAP TDS-h2489FU is one of the most complete and powerful solutions in its class. We have already seen that this model can be configured with up to two Intel Xeon processors with 16 cores and 32 threads, which means a total of 32 cores and 64 threads, but this is not the only interesting fact. In total, it has 24 bays for high-performance SSD drives with a bandwidth of up to 64 Gb/s, which allows reaching impressive performance values, as we can see in the attached graph.
In terms of connectivity and expansion capabilities, the QNAP TDS-h2489FU also shines with its own light, thanks to its four 2.5GbE RJ45 ports and the QXG-25G2SF-CX6 dual-port SFP28 25GbE SmartNIC integrated with the NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-6 Lx SmartNIC Controllerwhich supports iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER), allowing data transfer between the NAS and ESXi host to be increased by reducing the load on the CPU.
QNAP’s TDS-h2489FU also features two M.2 slots for PCIe Gen3 SSD storage units, where we can install two SSD units working as acceleration cache, or we can also mount Coral M.2 accelerators, based on the Edge TPU chip, which will allow us to enjoy AI acceleration applied to image recognition and management. Do you need more options? Well, don’t worry, the QNAP TDS-h2489FU also has two PCIe Gen4 slots where you can install different cards and accelerators.
To ensure a seamless user experience even in disasters, the QNAP TDS-h2489FU comes equipped with a redundant power supply, and it also has an OLED screen where the system status is shown in real time. You want to know more? Then take a look at the official QNAP website.
