QNAP Systems has announced an upgrade to the NAS management software
that powers its Turbo NAS lineup of NAS servers.
Version 3.1 of the NAS management software, embedded as firmware,
adds new features including virtual disk support (up to eight virtual
disks via iSCSI expansion over the network), exclusive QNAP RAID
Recovery that can recover a degraded or inactive RAID 1, 5, or 6 due
to unintentional removal of drives. Network Discovery Services are
enhanced with new Bonjour support offering zero-configuration
networking for HTTP, SAMBA, FTP, AFP, and SSH based networks, and
full UPnP support.
Other new features of the 3.1 firmware include EXT4 support for large
volumes and file sizes, SNMP support, and bitmap support for faster
rebuilding of RAID volume after a crash or adding/removing a drive.
The new 3.1 NAS management firmware ushers in a y new AJAX-based user
interface that allows NAS configuration via a web interface.
The new UI supports Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari (version 3 &
4), FireFox 3, and Google’s Chrome web browsers. Administrators can
choose from three different color themes, 15 languages, and even
enable a QNAP RSS feed that will keep them up to date with product
news and updates.
The new 3.1 firmware is available immediately for free download at
http://www.qnap.com/download.asp for owners of severeal QNAP Turbo
NAS models. The new firmware will also be pre-installed in new QNAP
models from July.
