Network storage d link. Configuring the NAS D-link ShareCenter to work with the Line. Design and hardware characteristics
All files are safe and sound!
Text, photo: Sergei Bocharov.
NAS Test Review ( NAS) D-Link DNS-345.
Introduction
Sooner or later, every owner of a large collection of multimedia files has a standard question - where to store all this abundance?
Everyone solves this problem in their own way. Someone buys simple single-disc " HDD boxes" with a USB port and changes them as they fill up. Well, someone uses single-disk "advanced boxes" with built-in software and a network interface.
But sooner or later, the abundance of portable "boxes in the house" begins to annoy. And if you already have this feeling, then a powerful network drive or NAS is your choice.
With this material, we open a cycle of test reviews, in which we will acquaint readers with various NAS.
Well, in order to show that NAS is a convenient, simple and quite budget solution, we want to introduce you to the operation of the D-Link DNS-345 NAS.
Equipment
The D-Link DNS-345 NAS is positioned by the developers as a universal solution for storing user data at home and in the office. Its compact chassis can accommodate four 3.5" hard drives equipped with an interface SATA I/II.
A flexible system of settings allows the user to set the following drive configurations: Standard d , RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 5+ spare , RAID 10 and JBOD . At the same time, the NAS supports RAID migration from no RAID mode to RAID 1/5 and from RAID 1 to RAID 5. When creating a disk array, the EXT4 file system is used. We will not bore you with a detailed description of the differences between different configurations from each other, this is a topic for a separate article. But we will briefly talk about this below in the Expertise section. 
In order for the user to know in a timely manner about the status of the devices used in the NAS hard drives D-Link DNS-345 supports S.M.A.R.T. Of the additional features, it is worth noting the AES data encryption function, as well as the ability to transfer disks (Disk roaming) and transfer the array (RAID roaming).
And now the user who has read up to this point has already had a question: “Why do I need all these difficulties?”
Now we will answer it for you.
First and foremost, you are no longer limited by the capacity of just one drive. By installing, for example, 4 disks with a capacity of 4 terabytes in D-Link DNS-345, you can get storage for your data with a total volume of up to 16 terabytes, depending on the selected configuration.
Well, if you need more data storage reliability, then you can, for example, “donate” one disk and choose RAID 5. At the same time, the capacity of the NAS will no longer be 16, but 12 terabytes, but in the event of a failure of one hard drive all your data will be intact and accessible.
The price for this is "capacity of one drive" and a slight decrease in the speed of data access. But on the other hand, by inserting a new hard drive of the same capacity and activating the RAID recovery procedure, you will again get a fully functional high-speed system.
But that's not all, although you will agree that increased reliability of data storage and scalable storage capacity is already a lot.
The DNS-345 NAS has a built-in Web file server. With it, you can upload documents, photos and other multimedia files from anywhere.
Imagine that you are traveling and want to please your relatives with photographs. Feel free to download them to the drive via the Internet, and your relatives and friends will be able to watch them, also being anywhere in the world.
In passing, we note that the D-Link DNS-345 has an advanced user account management system. So that no one accidentally sees your photos and does nothing with them without having the appropriate account and rights. Give your friends read-only access to files and they won't erase your important data.
As befits a serious system, it records all user actions in a log.
The D-Link DNS-345's built-in Web server features an intuitive and user-friendly Web user interface. If necessary, you can use mobile app mydlink Cloud to connect and play music, videos and photos directly on your mobile device.
NAS also equipped with a built-in media server UPnP AV which is specifically designed to work with streaming audio and video data. Note that it has a certificate DLNA. Using UPnP AV server, you can stream digital media content to compatible media players, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, or directly to Smart TV . The exchange of streaming media data with mobile devices is also supported.
To get the best performance from the drive, it supports the iSCSI protocol. It performs data transfer at the block level, providing the highest performance of the NAS.
D-Link DNS-345 appears as a standalone drive on the network. With the appropriate rights, the user can perform operations such as setting up, preparing, and backing up data.
But that's not all. Many video lovers often download it from P2P networks, so a NAS can help you with that too. The built-in P2P app will give you access to an unlimited collection of free content. And the SqueezeCenter and Audio Streamer applications will help you transfer your music collection from the NAS over the Internet. 
Branded applications Photo Center, My Photos and Blog will give you the opportunity to show your photos to all Internet users. Note that the list of applications is constantly expanding by the developer and in the near future even more interesting features will be available for D-Link DNS-345.
Well, in conclusion, we will traditionally say a few words about control and switching. To connect to a computer network, the NAS is equipped with two gigabit Ethernet ports. This approach will allow you to use all the speed capabilities of the drive to the maximum.
The fact is that with a lot of traffic, the drive can quickly use the second port, directing part of the traffic through it and thereby double the data transmission and reception speed. Of course, for this you need to connect all two ports to the network and activate the corresponding mode in the menu. But we will talk about this already in the test section.
On the back of the D-Link DNS-345 you will also find a USB port for connecting a printer or a portable USB storage device. In the latter case, you can back up your data with just one click. If necessary, you can also connect a UPS to the USB port to monitor its parameters.
Expertise
NAS Supplied in a thick cardboard box. The exterior design and quality of printing is very high. Special thanks to the designers for a comfortable handle.
Together with the D-Link DNS-345, we found in the box: a network adapter with a cable, a cable for connecting to a local network, a disk with programs and utilities, and, of course, a brief instruction manual. On the one hand, such a kit will seem too ascetic to someone, but believe me, it has everything you need to work.
We took care in advance which hard drives we will use during our test. We have chosen storage WD 10 EFRX-68 JCSN 0 which belong to the so-called "red series" from WD and have a capacity of 1 terabyte. This model is specially designed for use in powerful home or corporate NAS systems and has increased reliability and performance, which is greatly facilitated by the large amount of cache memory built into the disk (64 megabytes).
The D-Link DNS-345 case is quite compact so that, if necessary, it can easily find a place on a table or cabinet.
Installing hard drives in the drive is very simple. All you have to do is remove the front cover by lifting it up and you will have access to the drive bay. Note that D-Link specialists used the simplest method of installing disks.
You take the drive in your hand with the connector facing away from you with the label facing up and simply place it in the appropriate bay. You do not need screwdrivers, screws, skids and other paraphernalia. Just don't press too hard! When all four HDDs are in place, close the front cover and turn on the drive.
You can simply connect the drive to your computer or connect it to your home network through a router or hub. Note that the initial network address of the drive specified in the instructions will be valid only when D-Link DNS-345 is directly connected to a computer. If you are using a router or have a DNS server on the network, you will have to find out the drive's IP address yourself.
This can be done in two ways. You can press the Next button on the front panel of the NAS and the display will show the address and subnet mask, or use the utility included on the bundled CD. She will scan your network and find the drive in it and display its address. And you just have to select it with the mouse button and click on the Configuration button. This action will automatically enable access to the built-in web -server that manages the operation of the NAS and you can configure the settings for your drive. 
By default, the embedded Web server is not localized. But the D-Link website has the appropriate firmware. Before downloading, check the menu for the current software version of your NAS . This is what the localization file should correspond to. Installing the firmware is very simple, and in order for Russian language support to turn on correctly, do not forget to click on the Play icon (green triangle) in the table and refresh the current browser page.
We deliberately dwelled on this process in such detail so that even those who are not at odds with the English language will not have problems with the NAS.
The fact is that the developers provided the D-Link DNS-345 with a very high-quality and solid contextual help, the localization of which is almost perfect. With it, you can easily configure all the parameters of your NAS. The built-in configuration wizard will also be of great help to you. It is with him that we will begin work.
The wizard immediately suggested that we choose the desired structure of our array of disks.
The Standard operating mode allows you to work separately with each of the four installed hard drives. This is no different from working with any external single-disk or network drive. JBOD mode combines disks into one volume. Choosing a RAID 0 setup will combine all drives into a single striped array for maximum performance. In RAID 1 (or disk mirroring as it's called), the contents of one hard drive are duplicated on another for maximum reliability. If one disk fails, the other will continue to function separately. After the failed drive is replaced, the current data will be automatically copied to new disk, allowing the drive to return to a full level of protection, keeping files intact.
RAID 5 uses a special algorithm for writing data to disk with corrective codes. Data is written simultaneously to several disks and in case of failure of one disk, the information is automatically restored using special algorithms. A RAID 10 array is a RAID 0 made up of multiple RAID1 arrays. RAID 10 is a mirrored array that writes data sequentially across multiple drives for protection and high data transfer speeds.
Here, if you briefly describe those modes of operation of the D-Link DNS-345 that are available to you. For our test, we decided to choose the well-proven and "battle-tested" RAID 5. As we have already noted above, the reliability of data storage in it is quite high, but we will just evaluate the speed of work and other parameters.
The entire process of setting up and formatting a RAID 5 array took us no more than 10 minutes. As a result, we got a fault-tolerant disk array with a capacity of 3 terabytes, completely ready for tests.
Agree it is difficult to test a disc when nothing is recorded on it. And the first thing to do after creating a disk array is to connect it as a network drive (or, in professional slang, attach it) to a PC to write data. Of course, this is not a problem for professionals, this operation is done in two mouse clicks.
Well, for those who are not familiar with this, do not despair. Open the NAS management utility located on the CD and wait until it displays your drive under drive mapping. Then select the desired disk and select the menu item To plug. And almost instantly your network drive will appear in the PC section My computer.
Data write speed NAS we checked very simply "bay" on it over a gigabit network of 1.5 terabytes of data. The average write speed was almost equal to the maximum network speed. We did not particularly choose the file sizes, we wrote everything in a row, so that the data on the speed of work can be considered reliable. Our local network was not heavily loaded, so this is not surprising.
So that, as people say D-Link DNS-345 “life didn’t seem like honey”, we recorded some of the files without separating movies, music and pictures, and carefully placed some of the material in the appropriate folders. A little later we will explain to you why we did this. 
Keeping in mind that the drive forms a disk in the EXT4 file system, we nevertheless decided to try to access the data written to it using two different network media player and Smart TV without installation UPnP AV server. As expected, the contents of the NAS were not available, although the media players and our Smart TV saw the drive itself on the network.
Installing UPnP AV server is made by selecting the appropriate option with the mouse, but the time of its installation depends on the amount of data recorded on the NAS. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the server to carefully scan the contents of the disks, and only then our data became available to all media devices connected to the network.
It was for this part of the test that we so cleverly recorded our media files on the D-Link DNS-345. We wanted to see how accurate the built-in UPnP AV the server will distribute them by type, and whether they will all be available for our multimedia devices.
Integrated UPnP AV the server completed its work without errors. All data was correctly grouped by type and became visible to our media devices.
Opened our test Plasma Smart TV Panasonic TX - PR 50 ST 60. We tested the drive in two modes using a standard Ethernet network and Wi-Fi. The browser built into the TV correctly displayed the contents of the drive on the screen. We decided to start the test by watching Full HD movies, which require the highest data transfer rate. A bunch of TV - NAS perfectly coped with this task. The picture on the screen was very high quality, and scenes full of movement, even with a large number of moving objects, looked flawless.
We decided to complicate the task and load the drive more seriously, and at the same time the local network with two more processes. We started recording a group of files on the NAS with a total volume of 100 gigabytes and turned on the viewing of another Full HD movie from a laptop. Thus, three different tasks were performed using three data streams.
To our surprise, the D-Link DNS-345 did a great job with this as well. We did not even need to use the second Ethernet port, judging by the performance statistics, one port was enough.
Next, we decided to test the operation of our media players with the D-Link DNS-345. And here we have further complicated the task of the drive, forcing it to transmit and receive data already in five streams. At the same time, on both players, we watched video files of 25 gigabytes in Full HD resolution, and plus, at the same time, we recorded collections of 200 gigabyte files on the NAS from two laptops.
To the credit of the drive, we note that in this case it worked correctly. But sometimes on scenes saturated with movement, a slight stutter was noticeable. But, the D-Link DNS-345 has the very "ace in the hole" in the form of a second gigabit Ethernet port.
We just turned on the second port in the router and the situation changed within a few seconds. The port automatically started working, taking over part of the network traffic. This was clearly visible from the statistics of the loading of the ports of the NAS itself, and visually from the activity indicators of our router.
Needless to say, we had no problems with displaying digital photos and playing music files stored on the drive. There, the data volumes are significantly lower, as are the data rate requirements.
We also checked the operation of the drive with a tablet and smartphone. There were no problems. All media files stored on the NAS were accessible and opened correctly.
Concluding the story about the operation of the D-Link DNS-345, we want to say a few words about the noise level and heating. The built-in ventilation system turns on when it is really needed, the intelligent system correctly regulates the air flow rate. Thanks to this, the drive works quite quietly. The soundproofing of the housing is very effective in suppressing the noise generated during hard work disks. So that the drive will not disturb your peace of mind at home even at night.
Summing up
We had the opportunity to use the D-Link DNS-345 drive for quite a long time, and we got only positive emotions from working with it. The built-in help system and intuitive menu with large icons, as well as a setup wizard, make working with the NAS very easy.
In our opinion, even a person far from computer technology will be able to independently configure the device to work as part of a home media system.
Separately, it is worth noting that the D-Link DNS-345 is not a static device that is capable of performing only the functions “hard-wired” into it by the manufacturer. Developers regularly upload new applications to the site that expand the capabilities of the device.
The drive is compatible with a large number of hard drives from different vendors. But you will get the best result in terms of speed and reliability by installing special drives designed to work in a NAS.
Recall that we used hard drives of the "red series" from WD - WD 10 EFRX -68 JCSN 0. A list of compatible drives is available on the D-Link website.
In conclusion, let's talk about the most important - about the price. It seems to us that for this model it is absolutely justified.
And to be honest we'll probably buy a couple similar devices for myself.
The average retail price of D-Link DNS-345 is 12,000 rubles. (at the time of writing)
We express our gratitude to Western Digital for the hard drives provided for the test!
We thank D-Link for the equipment provided for the test!
Good day! In this article, we will discuss d link server two types - ftp and dns. To begin with, let's discuss the “old-timer” FTP (File Transfer Protocol), which appeared back in 1971, before many protocols that are popular today. Without going into too much detail, let's say briefly - FTP is needed to allow computers to transfer files. It is most commonly used to send large amounts of data from an admin PC to a server or between two different servers. In order to set up such a message, it is necessary to have, in fact, the source computer of the files, the target computer to which you want to transfer information (FTP server) and a utility for transferring via this protocol. Any computer / laptop, etc. can act as a source. with installed software (FileZilla, WinSCP, etc.), and as a receiver, for example, d link ftp server. For access, the client is provided with a server name (host name), login, password and port number. Often hostings limit disk space - this should be taken into account when uploading a large amount of data to the server via ftp. In addition, to ensure a good transfer rate, the number of users connected to one server at the same time is limited by the administrator. Therefore, if you cannot connect to the server, but you are sure that it is working at the moment, try again later, most likely it is just loaded. There are also mirror ftp servers on the Internet. They store the same information located on different ftp servers. This is necessary to select the server closest to your computer, which ensures maximum speed, since the delay in receiving / transmitting data in this case is minimized.
Features of D-link NAS servers
In turn, DNS stands for Domain Name System, which was created by Paul Mokapetris in 1983. For inexperienced readers, it is worth explaining in understandable language what it is dns server d link. This is a special device that, in a very generalized form, provides information to you (or rather your computer) on how to find another computer (or a server that can host a site). To make it even clearer why this server is needed, let's give a simple example: in the absence of dns (let's imagine that it is turned off or disappeared altogether), when entering any site, etc., we would receive an error message, since the computer can determine the IP address, in our case, Wikipedia, and go to it. As a rule, this d link server is located at the Internet provider. If, for any reason, this server is turned off, then the provider provides the client with alternative dns servers (usually they are public, public, which act as a backup for serious companies).
Application of D-link NAS servers
Network Attached Storage (nas server) - storage connected to the network. The storage device is called nas server, which you can buy in specialized stores. Access to such data is made by the server via a local Ethernet network. There are several requirements for purchasing this device:
- quick access to files - simultaneous ability to use data from the NAS server by several devices at once (TV, PC, etc.)
- storage of data in different sizes and quantities regardless of the PC (in most media: video, music, photos, etc.)
- access files without PC c.
Benefits of D-link NAS Servers
Ordinary hard drives can be used as a kind of storage media in NAS server storage (2.5 and 3 5-inch), because. hard drives today are able to provide the highest speed for data exchange. The NAS has the ability to use multiple drives at once, not just one. The number of hard drives to use is determined by the capacity of the hardware network platform, as well as the ability of the built-in software.
These devices can have not only the main purpose of a nas server, which is recommended for those who want to work simultaneously with several devices, but also a number of secondary functions with additional features and service applications:
- print server;
- backup;
- video recording from IP cameras;
- built-in customer manager;
- iTunes-Server;
- PhotoStation and others.
For a long time, D-Link network storage devices did not appear in our test lab. Today we decided to correct the current situation and present our readers with a review of a two-disk NAS designed for home use.
Appearance
The D-Link DNS-327L network storage is made in a white plastic case with an inclined cover, the dimensions of which are 90x145x196 mm, while the device weighs only 640 grams. Frankly, we see such a design for the first time, it is not without originality. For its operation, DNS-327L requires an external power supply (supplied) with the following characteristics: 12V and 3A.
The sides are nothing special, there is only a thin gray stripe and a voluminous name of the manufacturer. The top panel has a thin perforation around the perimeter, as well as an inscription informing us that we have a two-disk NAS in front of us.
There are two buttons on the front panel: one is designed to turn on / off the entire device, while the second is responsible for connecting / disconnecting an external USB drive and activating Reserve copy USB. There are also three indicator lights that reflect the status of the hard drives and the connected USB device.
The rear panel is equipped with a sticker with brief information about the device and a ventilation grill, behind which there is a 54x54 mm fan. In our opinion, the use of a small fan in home devices is not entirely justified. Of course, during our testing, the sound produced by the blades was almost inaudible, however, over time, fan noise usually increases. The back panel also has a Gigabit Ethernet network interface, a USB 3.0 port, a power connector, and a Kensington lock. At the top of the panel there is a button for opening the cover of the device.
On the bottom of the storage there are four rubber feet for desktop placement of the device. Wall or rack placement is not provided. Most of the bottom is occupied by a ventilation grill. The remaining space has a sticker with additional information about the model. The recessed Reset button is for resetting user settings.
Let's now look inside the case.
Hardware platform
The electronic filling of the storage is represented by a single board made of green textolite. All the main elements are located on one side of the board.
The D-Link DNS-327L NAS is based on the Marvell 88F6707 processor operating at 1.2 GHz. As random access memory two Nanya NT5CB256M8GN chips are used. The volume of each module is 256 MB, so the storage is equipped with 512 MB of RAM. Flash memory functions are performed by the Hynix H27U1G8F2BTR module, the volume of which is 128 MB. Network support is provided by the Marvell 88E1318-NNB2 chip, and for work USB port 3.0 is traditionally answered by the Reneasas D720202 module.
Now let's move on to studying the software of the device.
Getting Started and Supporting Utilities
After the device is purchased, the hard drives are installed, the storage is connected to the network and turned on, it needs to be configured. The Setup Wizard utility can be used to detect the D-Link DNS-327L in the local network segment and its initial configuration.
In fairness, it should be noted that you can run the Setup Wizard even before the drives are installed inside the case, since the utility consistently describes the entire process of preparing the storage for work.
After all the necessary preparatory steps have been completed and the device is turned on and connected to the local network, the Setup Wizard utility will allow you to detect it and perform the initial configuration: set an administrator password, configure the device name and description, set network parameters, perform time synchronization, create disk array, install additional extension packages, and connect to the mydlink service.
Connecting to the mydlink service will allow, if necessary, remote storage management both using a PC and using a mobile device.
After the initial setup is completely completed, you can proceed directly to using the network storage. However, before that, we would recommend installing latest version firmware using the “Software Update” sub-item of the “System Management” item of the “Management” menu (Management-System Management-Firmware Upgrade).
Also, for users living outside of English-speaking countries, it may be necessary to install and run a language pack, the corresponding option is available in the "Language" sub-item of the "System Management" item of the "Management" menu (Management-System Management-Language).
In addition to the previously discussed Setup Wizard utility, users of the D-Link DNS-327L NAS have several more programs available, including the D-Link Storage Utility, designed to detect network storages on the network and change their IP parameters.
The ShareCenterSync utility can be used to manage backup tasks.
Let's now consider the capabilities of the device's web interface.
Web interface
You can connect to the storage using any modern browser, for which you need to enter the login and password specified when preparing the device for operation.
After entering valid credentials, the user gets to the main page of the device (Home menu). Here he can get brief information about disk space, pre-installed applications, and view log information.
Pre-installed user apps include: My Photos (Photo Album and Photo Gallery), My Files, My Music, and My Surveillance.
It is also worth noting here that before using the "Photo Gallery" and "My Music" modules, you need to add a shared folder in the "Multimedia Services" item of the "Application Management" item of the "Management" menu.
If desired, the user can independently choose which other application icons he wants to see on the main page of the device.
The Applications menu gives the user access to the main applications installed on the storage. So, for example, using the “FTP/HTTP Downloads” and “P2P Downloads” items, the user can force the storage to download the necessary file from the provider's network or the Internet.
Remote backup of user data is performed using the "Remote Copy" and "Amazon S3" items.
The "Internal Copy" item allows the administrator to back up user data from one drive to another, or to an external drive connected to the USB port. It is also possible to copy over a local network. Here you can also use the backup system for Apple devices - Time Machine.
The "Management" menu items allow the administrator to configure the basic settings of the storage using the setup wizard, manage the entire device and its individual parts, configure network connection, and install expansion packs. For example, using the Disk Management item, you can create or delete a disk array, format drives, change disk check settings, or encrypt data.
Local users and their groups are managed using the "Account Management" item. Also here, the administrator can set quotas for certain users or their groups, configure access rights to shared network folders, mount ISO disk images and change the password for their own account.
The "Network Management" item is responsible for setting up the local network. Here the administrator can specify the parameters of the IPv4 and IPv6 protocols, select the speed of the Ethernet port, configure the operation of DDNS, and also force the router to forward certain ports to the storage (provided the router supports the UPnP protocol).
Using the "Application Control" item of the D-Link DNS-327L network storage web interface, the administrator can manage the operation of the following services: FTP, AFP, NFS, as well as multimedia services. You can also install additional expansion modules here.
The "System Management" item is intended for selecting the language of the storage web interface, setting the time and parameters for disabling disks when idle, managing system logs, updating firmware, and managing a connected USB device.
Brief information about the status and loading of the device is presented in the "System Status" item.
This concludes our study of the capabilities of the D-Link DNS-327L NAS web interface and proceeds directly to its testing.
Testing
The first measurement we usually start this section with is setting the storage load time, by which we mean the time interval elapsed from the moment the device was powered up until the first echo response was received via the ICMP protocol. D-Link DNS-327L NAS boots in 106 seconds. We consider this to be an acceptable result.
The second traditional test is checking the security of the device, for which we used the Positive Technologies XSpider 7.7 (Demo build 3100) network security scanner. A total of seven open ports were detected: TCP-80 (HTTP), UDP-137 (NetBIOS Name), TCP-139 (NetBIOS samba), TCP-443 (HTTP SSL), TCP-445 (Microsoft DS), TCP-515 ( printer) and TCP-3306 (mysql). The most interesting information found is presented below.
Before proceeding to load testing, we would like to provide readers with a brief information about the equipment used in the test. For testing, we used Seagate Constellation ES ST2000NM0011 hard drives. We deliberately reduced the amount of RAM available to the system using the msconfig utility to meet the requirements of the test utility - Intel NASPT 1.7.1.
| Component | PC |
| Motherboard | ASUS Maximus V Extreme |
| CPU | Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5 GHz |
| RAM | DDR3 PC3-10700 SEC 32 GB |
| Network Card | Intel Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter |
| Operating system | Windows 7 x64 SP1 Rus |
D-Link DNS-327L NAS supports the following types of disk arrays: JBOD, RAID0 and RAID1. It is also possible to work with a single disk. With the help of the first performance test, we found out what data access speeds the storage provides when using each of the listed types of arrays.
On the back of the device is a USB 3.0 port, to which we connected our external USB drive, sequentially formatted in the following file systems: NTFS, FAT32, EXT2 and EXT3.
We also did not bypass the possibility of encrypting user data placed on the storage. The measurements were taken for a RAID0 disk array. As you can see from the diagram below, encryption significantly reduces device performance in most operations.
The support of the IPv6 protocol by the D-Link DNS-327L storage made it necessary to conduct a comparative test of the data access speeds over the IPv4 and IPv6 protocols.
This concludes the testing section and proceeds directly to summing up.
Conclusion
In general, we were satisfied with the tested two-disk D-Link DNS-327L NAS, which has one Gigabit Ethernet network port and one USB 3.0 interface. In our opinion, the capabilities of the DNS-327L will be quite enough for the average home user, and the reasonable price makes the choice of storage obvious.
The strengths of the D-Link DNS-327L NAS are listed below.
- Acceptable price.
- The presence of a USB 3.0 port.
- Good performance over IPv6.
- The ability to manage not only via HTTP, but also via HTTPS.
- Original design.
- Ability to encrypt user data.
- Built-in help.
- Good access speeds to data located on internal hard drives.
Unfortunately, we cannot fail to point out the shortcomings of the device.
- Poor performance when encrypting data.
- Small fan in the case.
At the time of this writing, the average price for a D-Link DNS-327L NAS (excluding drives) in online stores in Moscow was 5,100 rubles.
iXBT Brand 2014 voting D-Link ranked fourth in the NAS category. This manufacturer has long been engaged in the subject of home network drives, but rarely indulges us with new products in this segment. Its solutions have a noticeably more attractive price compared to the market leaders. They may be of interest to those users who need a basic set of NAS services and several popular additional features that work out of the box.
The current range of products of this class on the local market of the company is small and includes the most popular models for two and four compartments in a desktop format. In this article, we will get acquainted with the ShareCenter DNS-327L for two hard drives, which differs from other solutions in the line by the presence of a USB 3.0 port, increased RAM and body color. The company positions the model for home users and SOHO. In addition, it has support for D-Link proprietary cloud technologies and mydlink portal, allowing you to provide remote access to the device via the Internet. Interestingly, this ecosystem also includes IP cameras, routers and other company equipment. Note that the product has been on the market for a couple of years, but continues to be relevant, and is also provided with technical support, including the release of firmware updates.
The most attractive characteristic of the model is its relatively low cost. So it will be interesting to see how the device compares to lower-end products from more popular manufacturers in this category in terms of features and performance.
Delivery set and appearance
The NAS comes in a medium sized cardboard box. Unfortunately, it does not have a handle for more convenient transportation. But the box itself is not heavy at all and weighs about 1.3 kg.
The color design is traditional for D-Link. Photos of the device, key features, system requirements, firmware capabilities and other information are provided. There is also a schematic description of the commissioning process.
Included is a 12V 3A plug-in power supply, a network patch cord, special handles for installing hard drives, a quick start guide in several languages, including Russian, a software CD and a few additional leaflets. .
We praise the manufacturer for the fact that the power supply and its cable in this model are white and consistent with the color of the device case. It is a pity that the company stopped there and did not complete the drive with a white network cable. By the way, the last one is uniquely short - less than a meter, and, in our opinion, in many cases it will be necessary to use another one.
Also, the equipment looks a bit strange today optical CD, which, judging by the descriptions, is required to install the device.
The outer elements of the case, which has a vertical layout, are made of white plastic. The bottom and top cover are matte, while most other surfaces are glossy.
Overall dimensions are 90×145×198 mm. Note that the upper part is beveled, which brings some variety to the traditional forms.
Another design element is a thin gray strip at the bottom of the case. It has two buttons on the front (power on and off the USB drive), and below - four multi-color indicators (power, USB status, status and activity of hard drives).
The model rests on four rubber feet. On the bottom, you can also find a ventilation grille for the main circuit board, a hidden reset button, and an information sticker.
To install drives, the user will need to remove the top cover. To do this, use the large button on the back panel. Below is another sticker with data for entering the management interface and parameters of the power supply, a cooling fan grille, a Kensington lock hole, a power supply input, a gigabit network port with indicators, and a USB 3.0 port. Note that the connector elements accessible from the outside are black, which somewhat spoils the appearance. In addition, the USB port is installed too close to the network port, which is not very convenient.
From the point of view of a home user, the "vertical" case format should be written down as pluses, since this way the device takes up less space on the table. It also includes an efficient and quiet cooling system with the ability to completely turn off the fan. The downside is that there is only one USB port located on the rear panel. For appearance this may be good, but it is inconvenient to quickly connect devices to it.
Design and hardware characteristics
The internal design of the device is quite simple - the bay for installing disks (in vertical orientation) is a metal frame. Under it, a single circuit board of the device is installed.
On it you can see the drive processor - Marvell 88F6707 of the Armada 370 line (ARM architecture, clock frequency 1.2 GHz) and all other hardware components: two DDR3 RAM chips with a total capacity of 512 MB, a 128 MB flash chip, a USB 3.0 controller D720202 and an auxiliary network chip Marvell 88E1318. As we can see, from the point of view of the platform, this model belongs to the entry level. Note that there is no heat sink on the processor, and the SATA connectors are installed directly on the board. The disadvantages of the product can be written down and the presence of only one USB port. The dimensions of the device quite allow installing one or two more ports, especially since the processor has a USB 2.0 controller.
To cool the filling, a Sunon MB50101V2-0000-G99 MagLev fan is used. It works for blowing, has a format of 50 × 50 × 10 mm and is connected with a three-wire cable. The rotation speed is automatically regulated, and there is even an option to turn it off completely if the temperature of the disks is not a concern. In this case, with quiet disks, the model is almost invisible. In our testing, we used a 1TB WD Red and the fan almost never turned on. However, even the low speed of its rotation creates a low, but noticeable noise for a quiet home environment. So if you plan to work with high-capacity drives, at high external temperatures or in cramped conditions, it is advisable not to put the drive in the bedroom.
The device was tested with software version 1.04 dated 07/17/2015.
Assembling and configuring the drive
To start working with the device, you will need to install hard drives in it. Compatibility list is available on the website. In it you can find current models up to 6 TB inclusive. Note that we are talking only about 3.5″ hard drives. It is impossible to install 2.5″ format devices on a regular basis.
In fact, even with the traditional format, not everything is as simple as we would like. The fact is that the handle-frames repeat the shape of the upper part of the case and have side elements of different lengths, which requires some care when choosing the orientation when attaching them to hard drives. As a result, the “Front” indicator on the knobs can further confuse the user.
For example, find the device's IP address in the router's log and access its web interface (https is also supported, but port numbers cannot be changed). By default, the administrator password is blank here. There is an "Installation Wizard" in which you change the administrator password, select the time zone, configure network addresses, set the name of the drive. Additionally, you can specify the mail server settings for the notification system. Note that the disk array is not automatically created. You can also use the bundled utility or the mydlink service to configure it.
The web interface has an extended design compared to the traditional format. In the upper right corner there are elements for rebooting and shutting down the device, as well as for changing the interface language. The right side of the pages provides information about disk volumes, system, and CPU and RAM consumption. You can also display the event log here. And when opening pages with settings, this block switches to the built-in help system.
In the interface, we see three main sections - "Home", "Applications" and "Management". The main system parameters are in the last paragraph. Let's take a closer look at them.
After selecting this item, seven icons are displayed on the page. We have already talked about the "Installation Wizard" above. Disk Management allows you to select the configuration of disk volumes. The device supports four options - two separate partitions and JBOD, RAID0 and RAID1 arrays.
Recall that an additional layer of protection against the failure of one disk is provided only by the last one. It also has a restore function. In the case of using disks of different sizes in arrays 0 and 1, the second volume of the JBOD format can be made from the remnants.
When you change the volume configuration, all information is lost. The data partition uses the EXT4 file system. The documentation describes the option of migrating from one disk to a mirror with data preservation. At the same stage, you can activate volume encryption.
Of the additional operations, scanning of file systems of volumes is provided, as well as tests of disks using SMART technology (including scheduled ones).
On the volumes, the user can create the necessary shared folders (shared resources). True, this process is somewhat different from what we are used to with other network drives. First you need to use the built-in explorer and create folders in the file structure of the device. Next, you will need to select these folders and allow them to be published over the network. For each, there are several options, including the activation of the trash for deleted files and the choice of access protocols.
It is possible to mount ISO-images of optical discs as shared folders, as well as create them from folders directly through the web interface of the drive.
Traditionally, user accounts and groups have been used to control access. The system also supports setting disk space quotas for them. There is also the possibility of creating several accounts at once, as well as importing data from a text file.
In addition, in the “Account Management” section, items were placed for changing the administrator password and connecting the drive to the mydlink account (or creating a new one) to work with the portal of the same name. Through it, you can check the status of the device, as well as access some of its settings and services.
The drive's network settings include setting IP addresses (including IPv6), configuring a dynamic DNS client (four services including D-Link proprietary), port forwarding for built-in services through a UPnP-compliant router, and enabling SSH.
In the "Application Management" section, the name of which is a bit confusing, there are parameters for some network protocols. For FTP server you can limit the number of clients and speed, select the port number and encoding (unicode is present), enable encryption and FXP, select ports for passive mode, set a filter to block clients by IP addresses. AFP and NFS only have the option to enable protocols. Note that the AFP implementation also supports the Time Machine backup program.
The built-in multimedia file indexing system allows you to select only certain folders. In addition to the DLNA server, the drive can also be used for network iTunes libraries. True, in this case, only one folder is provided, but it can be the root folder for the entire device.
It is somewhat unexpected for this class to see the implementation of the Syslog server, which allows you to save event logs from different devices on the local network in a single place.
In the "System Management" section, we see the familiar items for setting the clock, setting the network name, working with the configuration and updating the firmware (only from a file).
There are also buttons to reboot and turn off the device. Power management options include enabling disk hibernation, setting a work schedule, automatic switch on power supply, a point for forced shutdown of the drive in case of exceeding the specified temperature threshold, setting the fan operation mode.
The drive keeps an event log in the simplest format without search and filters. It is possible to send information to the Syslog server, as well as to the administrator by e-mail or SMS (via an external paid service).
The drive supports connection of some types of USB devices, including UPS (can work with network models), drives and printers (only printing works). External drives can use multiple partitions and popular file systems including FAT32, NTFS, and EXT4.
For safe shutdown, a corresponding item is provided in the web interface, or you can use the button on the case. All volumes are presented over the network as shared folders with unlimited access. In the settings, you can only disable support for the FTP protocol for them. An attempt to use USB hubs (including those with additional power) to increase the number of connected devices was unsuccessful. We cannot call such a configuration stable. In addition, there is probably a limit on the maximum number of external volumes - we were not able to see more than three.
The last group of pages in the "Management" section allows you to get information about the operation of the device. In particular, it presents network addresses, system and disk temperatures, disk space occupancy on volumes, data on hard drives, CPU, RAM and network load graphs, and a list of processes. A separate table contains a list of currently installed network services with the ability to quickly start and stop them.
Device Capabilities
The Home section of the NAS web interface contains links to file access services and other applications. At the same time, there is a group "My Folder" with a fixed composition and "Favorite Application", where the user can independently specify the necessary modules or links to settings pages.
In particular, by default, the first group contains "My Photos", "My Files", "My Music" and "Video Surveillance". The first three items are file managers with additional features.
"My Photos" allows you to view image files already recorded on the device that have been previously indexed, as well as create your own albums and upload photos to them from a computer or the network drive itself. In the second case, the slideshow mode, some file editing operations, sending an image to an AirPlay device, publishing to in social networks. It is not very convenient that these photos are saved in a folder hidden by the system and are not available for other services.
My Music uses information from file tags to sort by artist, album, and genre. This module also has a built-in audio player that allows you to listen to songs in MP3 format directly from your browser.
The third option - "My Files" - no longer has additional functions related to multimedia formats, but provides the ability to manage files of any type, including uploading and downloading, copying and moving, deleting and working with archives.
The "Applications" section collects all additional services, including both regular ones for firmware and those installed by the user from the "Additions Center" catalog. At the time of writing the article, the latter included thirteen programs, and a link was provided to the official forum (in English), where you can find modules developed by enthusiasts. Note that other directories of programs can be found on the network, the total number of which is in the tens.
Of the interesting programs, we note the aMule, Transmission and Xunlei file upload systems, the Joomla, phpBB and WordPress content management systems, the Audio Streamer audio stream broadcasting program (based on the Icecast project), the AjaXplorer file manager, Photo Center photo album management (the Gallery project is used), the maintenance program phpMyAdmin databases, Squeeze media server.
The D-Link Vault module allows you to back up selected folders to the ElephantDrive cloud storage. It supports deleted file storage, file versioning, file type filters, continuous operation, and scheduling.
Considering that this manufacturer also supplies IP video cameras, it is not surprising that we met the My Surveillance video surveillance service in its NAS. The program supports up to four cameras. There are about forty D-Link models in the list of officially supported ones (including high-resolution, with audio recording and with PTZ). Nothing is said about the support of other manufacturers.
The system allows you to view a live picture and recordings through the browser. This requires the installation of a proprietary plugin, so the list of compatible operating systems, probably only included with Windows.
The camera settings specify the quality, video codec, recording mode, motion detection parameters, storage time or space limitations. There are also settings for notifications by e-mail or SMS (via an external server), its own event log, the creation of backup copies of video recordings and the choice of network ports for the service.
Note that with the active simultaneous operation of several additional programs device interface may not be the most responsive. As for the download speed from p2p networks, we managed to see numbers up to 6 MB / s there, which is quite good.
As for regular programs in the firmware, here you can find interesting functions. In particular, this is an offline file download service via HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent protocols, backup to Amazon S3, synchronization with cloud storage Dropbox and Google drive(we couldn’t set up a connection with the Google service) and backup programs.
It supports the creation of several tasks for local (from one internal folder to another), network (probably with the rsync protocol) backup. We also found support in this module for SMB network resources, but only as a source, not a destination, which is somewhat strange.
In addition, there are special functions for USB devices. First, you can enable automatic copying of data when connected from MTP drives to the selected NAS folder. Secondly, there is the function of copying or synchronizing the specified folders on a USB drive and a network drive by long pressing the button on the front panel of the device. But there are some flaws here, in particular, there are no messages in the log.
With console access and a popular hardware platform, advanced users can add other native applications to the system.
To access the drive from mobile devices, you can use standard protocols and universal programs. In some cases it may be more convenient to use proprietary utility mydlink Access NAS App for Android and iOS that works through cloud service and does not require router settings.
Through it, you can access files, download and upload them, make backups photos, view images in a slideshow, listen to music, and play videos.
Testing
To check the speed of the device in the main scenario, the Intel NASPT utility was used with our standard templates. Two 1TB WD Red WD10EFRX hard drives were installed in the drive. Three configurations were tested - one hard drive, as well as RAID0 and RAID1 arrays of two hard drives. Device settings included creating the desired volume, shared folder and user with full access to it. The results are shown in the following graph.
As we can see, the maximum read speed, depending on the disk configuration, is 75-86 MB / s and is achieved with single-threaded reading. At the same time, an attempt simultaneous operation with a large number of files reduces the performance to 61-65 MB / s. The situation is different for streaming write operations - the maximum speed of 71-76 MB / s is noted when several files are written simultaneously, and work with one stream is carried out at speeds of 34-38 MB / s. In our opinion, for traditional tasks home network medium-sized this will be enough, including working with documents, backups, watching HD-video. Here only record in one stream it would be desirable to see more productive.
To test the operation of drives connected via USB 3.0, we used an SSD with an appropriate adapter. Scenarios were tested for reading and writing a large file over the network, as well as backup and recovery from an internal RAID1 array. The external drive used NTFS, FAT32 and EXT4 file systems.
First of all, we note that there is no significant influence of the chosen file system on the results. Reading from a USB 3.0 device over the network is carried out at speeds of about 90 MB / s, which is even higher than from internal hard drives. Writing to them is also slightly faster - 36-42 MB / s. Unfortunately, in backup tasks, the performance is noticeably more modest - only about 20 MB / s.
The NAS power consumption test was performed with the same 1TB WD Red drives as the performance study. The disk volume used a RAID1 configuration. As with other devices, three scenarios were tested this time - sleep (drives off), idle (drives on, no activity) and work (random read and write). The results are averaged over ten minutes.
The results obtained are similar to other models with a similar hardware platform - the maximum consumption of the device does not exceed 14 watts.
The temperature regime in this case is not easy to assess, since the model is equipped with an active cooling system with a variable speed fan and does not have the ability to automatically take readings in dynamics. On the other hand, it is the final result that is important to the user. The following graph shows the maximum values we noted in different modes from the drive status page.
Given the platform and design of the device, we expected good results. The test confirmed that the network drive provides the hard drives with a completely comfortable mode and their temperature does not exceed 50 degrees. At the same time, with our drives, the fan practically did not turn on and the model worked very quietly.
conclusions
The D-Link DNS-327L NAS is not new, but it is widely available in stores and has a relatively low cost. It can offer the home user not only a solution to the problems of storage and network access to files, but also a set of popular additional functions, including media services, file uploads, cloud and mobile access, and video surveillance.
The device has a fairly attractive and practical case for this class. The only significant remark to the design is the configuration and location of the USB ports. At the same time, the drive is equipped with an active cooling system, but when using certain models of hard drives and the device is comfortably placed, the fan will be turned off, which ensures a minimum noise level.
Using the entry-level ARM platform does not allow us to talk about the high performance of the drive, but for a home user and several clients it will be quite enough.
The firmware made a good impression with the design of the shell and the set of features. However, some of the modules, in particular the backup, are implemented in a somewhat strange way. You can find some more interesting solutions in the official catalog of additional programs. It is also allowed to install third-party modules from ready-made packages and have access to the device console. Note the presence on the Internet of a large number of resources with information on this family of network drives.
We thank the company and agency 2L
for hard drives provided for testing
We thank the company for the equipment provided for testing
We thank the company for providing the switch for testing
NAS setup
Log in to the NAS's web interface by entering its IP address in any web browser (the IP address assigned by default is indicated in the user manual or on a sticker located on the device case).
Open the “Management” tab and run the configuration wizard by clicking on the “Run Wizard” button.
Use the ”Next” button to navigate between the pages of the form and fill in the fields:
- administrator password;
- time and time zone;
- local network settings;
- device name setting;
- linking the NAS to the local network administrator.
Preparing hard drives and creating RAID.
Click the "Management" button, go to the "Disk Management" tab, then select "Hard Drive Configuration" and click the "Set RAID Type re-format" button.
On the page that opens, click "Next"
In the next step, choose the method of using disks.
- Standard - both disks will be used separately. In our case, not a suitable solution.
- JBOD - two disks will be used as one large disk. The write speed will have the same limitations as always, but the disk space will increase. Suitable for a small number of cameras, records from which you need to store for a long time.
- RAID 0 - two disks will be used as one, recording is carried out in parallel on both disks. The best option for recording a large number of cameras.
- RAID 1 - the recording will be duplicated on both disks, creating a complete copy of the data. The speed and volume of recording will be limited by the parameters of one disk, but data can be restored if one of the disks fails.
Leave the rest of the settings unchanged, wait until the disk is formatted and the RAID is created.
ATTENTION: when formatting, all information will be deleted from the disks
Creating a network resource on the NAS "e and setting up a system of access rights to it.
Select the resource to create. In step 2-1, select the access level - read/write. Then without changing the settings, click "Next".
Storage setup is complete.
Windows 7 setup
Windows setup is not always required and depends on network security policies. Below is a solution to the problem with reading or writing an archive to network resources that removes the ban on writing data to network resources without authentication.
Update Windows:
start → control panel → windows update
Click update now. For the correct operation of the Line with the NAS, SP1 or older must be installed.
Security policies need to be changed
start → control panel → administration → local security policies
In the window that opens, select:
security policies → local policies → security settings
We change two parameters:
- Network security: LAN Manager authentication level
Set the parameter: “Send only NTLMv2 responses. Deny LM and NTLM »
- Network security: NTLM restrictions: and outbound traffic
Set the parameter: "Allow all"
