ASUSTOR offers the second generation Nimbustor 2 As5402T, a nas with a affordable price designed for gamers, but which does not forget the functions for corporate use.
With its 11 × 16.5 × 22.5 cm, the Nimbustor 2 As5402T has very compact dimensions and can be put everywhere.
With the growing branching of domestic networks which, even involuntarily, end up connecting computers, laptops, cell phones, tablets and one or more smart TVs, sooner or later the need arrives to share data between them, so that are immediately available to all family members.
In practical terms, the need for a network record comes, or rather a NAS (Network Attached Storage), which can deal with exactly this work. The presence of these devices in the offices has been established for some time, but what characteristics should a NAS have to enter the right into a house? According to Asustor, the magic formula is a combination of speed, flexibility and ease of use, although clearly this ‘ease’ will only be such for those who already chew the most basic concepts of the system’s work. I will try, in this review, to focus on the parties that most concern the players’ audience.
Six housings in all
The Astor As5402T is essentially a mini-computer based on Quad-Core Processor Celeron N5105, capable of reaching up to 2.9 GHz, with 4 Giga of RAM and six housings for drive: 4 connectors M.2 and 2 connectors Sata for 3.5 or 2.5 inches discs. When it comes from the shop, unless there are particular offers, it will be completely without records and you will have to provide them independently.
The front panel improves the aesthetics of the product once the discs are inserted in the drawers.
The Asstor As5402T is essentially a mini-computer to which up to six drive can be connected
To mount the M2 drive it is necessary to open the case completely, while for the SATA Drives it is sufficient to extract the appropriate drawers (once the front panel is removed) and screw them correctly on the guides. The possibility of using also 2.5 “discs without resorting to third -party adapters is a convenience that not all Nas offer, and should not be underestimated as it allows you to use SSD Drives instead of the hard disks municipalities, much easier To be found in this format, rather than in the most cumbersome 3.5 “form factor.
We can therefore develop our NAS according to the speed of access to data, rather than the capacity, depending on the drive that we will enter. Clearly, the greater the expectations in terms of speed and available space, and the greater the costs that we are going to bear, since it is advisable to popularize a NAS with identical discs couples, and then configured them in appropriate cluster raid.
PORTE ETHERNET 2,5 GBPS
The most innovative aspect of the Astustor 54xx series consists in the use of high -speed i/o doors. On the back of the device we find two 2.5 Gbps LAN doors that can also be coupled (bonding), so that their speed can add up to 5 Gbps.
The most innovative aspect is the presence of two 2.5 Gbps LAN doors that can be coupled.
We can develop our NAS according to the speed of access to data, rather than capacity, based on the drives used
Clearly, because this configuration is possible, it is necessary that the other devices on the network support it, starting from the switch we have in our house. Unlikely, given the costs and technologies involved, but certainly more plausible in case of corporate use. The doors are automatically configured on the basis of what they find from the high side of the cable: since my domestic Lan is still firmly at 1 Gbps, I connected the AS5402T to two different devices, the router (1 Gbps) and one specific PC equipped with a 2.5 Gbps door. In short, the goal was to use the latter to test the performance of the NAS.
In order to avoid possible problems, I preferred to use two classes of totally different IP addresses for the two connections, making all members of my local network can access the disc with the 1 Gbps network and only the specific PC could work at 2, 5.
The drives used
Given the temporariness of the test, we used two serial-stone SSD drives in the drawers and two Drive M.2. The SATA-III conesions reach a maximum of 550 MB/S of Throughput, while the Celeron N5105 processor supports only version 3 of the PCI Express protocol. So we can wait for a maximum speed of 3.5 GB/s from the M.2 drive. An even excessive speed, given that the data must still travel via the network and, even at the best of the hypotheses in case of 5 Gbps bonding, we could reach a theoretical maximum of 625 MB/s. In any case, the manufacturer declares that the AS5402T can reach up to 576 MB/s reading and 566 MB/s in writing, and this is completely compatible with what has been obtained in our tests, launching Crystal Diskmark 8 out of two Mon Mon Cut respectively on the M.2 record pair and on the SATA record pair:
The speed of the M.2 drive used in the test is correctly limited by that of the data transmission (2.5 Gbps)
The use of two SSD drive instead of traditional hard disks allows you to reach speeds similar to those of the M.2 drive
Speed next to 288 MB/s reading and 214 MB/s in writing are exactly what we should expect with a single network connection at 2.5 Gbps. The U and V units mentioned in the benchmark were mounted as if they were internal discs of the trial PC, by means of the Inscsi protocol.
As if they were internal records
We can create virtual units to assemble as if they were internal records, and even install the games
ISCSI, for those who do not know, serves to mount a space created on a network storage just as if it were a local record, by means of an identifier and an address that must be communicated to the operating system. The AstoR website is highly highlighted this possibility, underlining that it is actually possible to install the games on an Iscsi disc, however leaving aside to consider that most of domestic users have never launched the inscription of Windows in his life , if not by mistake. Speed less than a separate M.2, it does not seem like a good idea: it would be like installing something on a USB disc claiming it is an internal disk. Those who were accustomed to technology, however, will be pleased to know that the management of the Mon is very simple on the apparatus web interface, and that it is also possible to create them in Thin Provisioning.
USB3.2, App and possible expansions
The other ports on the system are 10 Gbps USB 3.2. A nice comfort, because they allow you to connect an external disk quickly and large enough to support the backups of the data contained in the internal discs. The AS5402T includes an internal backup software with which you can program them. Or maybe a printer, why not, since AstoR can also act as a print server. Not that it is particularly useful in an era in which even the cheapest printers have network functionality, but for those with an old model they can be comfortable. The real Selling point of this system – possible capacity and connectivity aside – consists in the large amount of apps that can be downloaded from the Astor store and install you above, as if it were a real computer.
The available apps are comfortably divided into categories.
There is everything, from web to SQL Server, to get to multimedia sharing software and even virtualization (virtualbox) and containers, both the central processor should not have great difficulties in managing everything. The problem, when installing too many apps, is that they occupy RAM memory and risk slowing down the operations.
So, even if the idea teases us, we would advise against taking advantage of the computational part of the NAS to act as a private server, a little for safety reasons, a little because it is always better to have machines dedicated to performing the most complex functions. And only those. However, if you need to display your files on the internet, or look for a “server in a box” for amateur purposes, with the AS5402T you can do it.
Conclusions
Versatility, speed and power for sure there is no shortage of this nas. The user interface is also quite easy to use – as long as we reiterate, know what you are doing with the necessary skills in the networking and storage field – and the software that accompanies it should make everything even more immediate. Its features are in line with what a Prosumer user (and not just a gamer with some more serious ambitions) would like to find himself at home, when he needs it. The price is also tempting: it is difficult to find all this elsewhere for only 430 euros. So the point is this: if you need a NAS and you just need a place to copy the data, surely you will find cheaper (and more slow) devices more or less everywhere, but if you want one who is also “fig” and can do Really everything, then this is the solution with the best price/feature/performance ratio that has happened to us lately.
VOTE 9.2
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