What Is Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Why You Need One
What is a NAS?
Network Attached Storage, or NAS is a storage device that enables centralized access to files and data from several users and devices through multiple network protocols.
Devices and Users in a Local Area Network can access the NAS and retrieve data according to user permissions specified on the NAS Device.
How does Network Attached Storage Work?
NAS consists of Several Components that work together in order to serve the Devices and Computers on a Network.
NAS Components:
1) Operating System (Firmware):
Much like any Firmware, , NAS has an OS (Usually Vendor Specific OS or Firmware ) that comes with Built-In features to support Multiple Network Protocols.
Additionally, the OS comes with software to Manage Users and User permissions, RAID Disks Management, Backup and Data Synchronization and much more.
2) CPU:
NAS has a specialized CPU mostly designed to Handle User Access and Read-Write from Storage, and other applications.
The CPU comes with a Memory (RAM) to operate smoothly and handle multitasking.
3) Disk Drives (Storage Drives):
NAS requires storage drives, Hard Disk Drives (HDD) or Solid State Drives (SSD).
It usually contains several storage slots (bays) to enable Data redundancy or mirroring, such as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configuration.
4) Network Interface:
This component enables the NAS to connect to the Network through Ethernet Cable, it can get a unique IP Address for Network communications.
Most modern NAS devices come with more than one Network Interface.
NAS Common Features and Protocols:
1) Data Redundancy:
The NAS Device should support data redundancy for reliability and performance.
Redundant Array of Independent Disks or RAID is a common way for implementing Redundancy in a NAS.
2) Files Access Control and User Management:
NAS comes with a User Management included with its System, you can manage user permissions, assign permissions for a specific file on the NAS or remove permissions.
3) Backup and Recovery:
The NAS Storage Must provide some kind of Backup software to help establish disaster recovery plans. And automate the backup, to Multiple destinations like External Drives, Cloud Storage or other NAS Devices.
The backup software might come Built-in with the firmware ( HBS3 Hybrid Backup for Qnap NAS and Qnap Snapshot ) or it can be a third party Backup ( Veeam Backup Software ).
File sharing is a common method to access NAS Files over a Network, therefore, NAS devices support multiple Network File Sharing Protocols to cover and support most platforms.
Some popular Network File Sharing Protocols:
– Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol:
This protocol is supported by NAS Devices to enable Windows-Based Computers to access files and folders in the NAS.
– Network File System (NFS) Protocol:
This protocol is used by Linux-Based Computers to access network files and folders over a Network.
With NFS, Linux Systems are able to access NAS files and folders.
– File Transfer Protocol (FTP):
This client-server protocol is used to download or upload files from a server to a client device and vice versa.
The NAS device can act as an FTP Server to serve FTP clients over the network.
– Apple Filing Protocol (AFP):
This protocol allows MacOS devices to access file and folders on the NAS and supports MacOS features
Some other features that are provided by NAS:
LDAP for authentication, SSH and SNMP for management, Proxy and Reverse Proxy, Event and Access Logs for Monitoring.
5) Data and Network Security:
NAS Supports Disk and Volume Encryption at rest, where you can have an Encryption Key.
With this key, you can unlock the Encrypted Disk.
Additionally, NAS Device comes with network security features, like Built-In firewall and IP Blacklisting and Whitelisting.
Why Would You Need a Network Attached Storage?
NAS devices can be useful with multiple scenarios, where managing data across several devices.
Reasons you might need a NAS Device:
1) Central Data Storage and Access:
With the help of Network File Sharing Protocols, NAS can act as a central data storage, meant to be accessed by several devices over a network.
2) Data Backup:
You can use a NAS device as a backup storage for your data, with the solutions for backup, you can schedule the backup jobs to your NAS Device.
3) Media Streaming:
NAS can act as a media streaming server, allowing you to stream media like movies, music and photos to several devices like TV or Mobile phones.
4) Remote Access to your data:
Most NAS vendors provide some kind of solution to access your NAS from outside of your Local Network.
For example, Qnap NAS comes with a solution called myQnapCloud to access your Qnap NAS Remotely.
5) Budget Storage and Collaboration Solution:
Compared to the cloud storage solutions, NAS storage provides a higher upfront cost.
But for the long run, you can avoid subscription charges that you pay for cloud and have your storage serving you for a long period.
6) Collaboration Platform:
For small teams, NAS can be efficient for file sharing and collaboration, it makes access control for files and folders easy with permissions for each user.
What to consider when choosing a NAS Device?
1) Where do you want to use it?
It’s better to check where you want to use it. you might use it for Home Network (media streaming, personal files) or for Business purposes ( Collaboration, Backup ..)
2) How Many Drives can it support?
For home usage, two bays ( two drive slots ) might be enough.
But for business purposes, you might need 4 or 8 bays, or maybe more for enterprise setup.
3) Drives brand and drives storage:
You need to choose a drives with desired capacity and designed for NAS storage ( like Seagate Ironwolf, WD Red )
4) RAID Setup:
You might need redundancy, for this, a NAS devices support RAID configurations like RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, 6.
Depending on how many bays it has, it supports two or more of these configurations.
5) Network connections:
If you are dealing with large files, or videos, you need more reliable and faster network interface for your NAS.
Come NAS devices support Gigabit Ethernet, or 10GbE and more.
6) Price and Warranty:
For small scale NAS: the prices vary between 200$ to 900$.
For large scale enterprise NAS: the prices get more than 1000$.
This price is excluding the prices of storage drives.
Consider checking the warranty that NAS Vendor provides.
Conclusion:
Network Attached storage devices are an efficient and flexible storage component, their use cases spread across a wide variety of situations, from small personal storage, to large enterprise storage solutions. Having a capability for scaling and managing data make it a proficient go-to solution for any central storage or collaboration purpose.
