QNAP Systems Ts 253 User Guide

							61 
 
test), schedule weekly sequential read tests, and check the test results to 
gauge the performance of the tested disks.    
 
HDD S.M.A.R.T Information 
Switch to the icon view (or tree view) and click the Disk Health button to bring up the Disk Health 
window. 
  
First select the NAS Host or an expansion enclosure and one of its disks to check for S.M.A.R.T 
information. Refer to the below table for descriptions of each field: 
Field Description 
Summary This page provides an overview on hard disk S.M.A.R.T details and the result of the 
latest test. 
Hard Disk 
Information 
This page shows hard disk details, including disk model, model number, serial 
number, disk capacity, firmware version, ATA version and ATA standard. 
SMART 
Information    
This page shows the results of the latest S.M.A.R.T test. 
 
Test Click on this tab to choose a rapid or complete S.M.A.R.T testing method for the 
hard disks. The test result will be shown. 
Settings Configure the following settings on this page: 1) Enable Temperature Alarm: 
enable this option to set the temperature alarm. When the hard disk temperature 
exceeds the specified threshold level, the system will record an error message; and 
2) Rapid and complete test schedules: schedule a rapid or complete test here. The 
result of the latest test can be viewed on the Summary page. 
Click APPLY to Selected HDD to apply the settings configured on this page only to 
the selected hard disk drive or APPLY to All HDDs to all hard disk drives. 
  
Disk Health Global Settings 
You can enable the following Disk Health settings in the Global Setting dialog window (the setting 
icon next to ? on top right side of the screen): 
Activate Predictive SMART Migration: With Predictive SMART Migration, a warning message will 
pop up when an S.M.A.R.T error is detected on a hard disk drive (indicating that the RAID group 
that the hard drive disk belongs to is likely to fail very soon.) The migration sequence will be 
initiated for that RAID group to ensure the availability of that RAID group. The data from the disk 
with errors will be migrated to a healthy spare drive. The migration process is much faster than 
the standard rebuilding process. 
Disk S.M.A.R.T polling time (minutes): This value is the interval the hard drive disks are scanned 
for S.M.A.R.T errors and the default is 10 minutes.  
						

							62 
 
TLER/ERC timer (seconds): This option allows system administrators to configure the hard disk 
drive R/W response time. If you are not sure about the interval to set for the timer, please leave 
it as is.    
 
Expansion Enclosures 
 
Expansion enclosures are designed for expanding the storage capacity of a QNAP NAS. This is 
achieved either through a direct, physical connection between a NAS and expansion enclosures (via 
USB or mini-SAS cables) or a network connection between two NAS (using a LAN connection).  
 
Managing Physical Expansion Enclosures 
Note: The function or its content is only applicable on some models. To check for 
applicable models, please refer to the product comparison table on the QNAP website. 
  
First click an expansion enclosure (REXP) in the system component panel to check its general 
information. Refer to the following table for actions available to manage an expansion enclosure: 
Action Description 
Enclosure Info Click this button to check on details of the chosen enclosure, 
including the enclosure model, serial number, firmware 
version, BUS type, CPU temperature, system temperature, 
power status, system fan speed and power fan speed. 
Locate (under Action) Click this button and the chassis LEDs of the selected 
expansion enclosure will blink for easy identification. 
Safely Detach (under Action) Click this button to safely remove the enclosure from its host.  
Update firmware (under Action) Click this button to update firmware for the chosen enclosure. 
Rename enclosure (under 
Action) 
Click this button to rename the chosen enclosure. 
RAID Group Click this button and select a RAID group to check its details, 
including capacity, RAID group name, RAID type and disk 
member. 
  
Recovering Physical Expansion Enclosures 
Note: The function or its content is only applicable on some models. To check for applicable 
models, please refer to the product comparison table on the QNAP website. 
 
Click Recover on the top-right side of the window, and there are three options available:  
						

							63 
 
1. Recover Enclosure: Recover volumes on an enclosure that was accidentally disconnected (e.g. 
unscheduled shutdown or unplugged SAS cable) from the NAS host. When this occurs, a broken 
chain symbol will be shown in the Chassis View and the status of the affected storage pool will be 
shown as Error and RAID group as Not active. 
2. Reinitialize enclosure ID: This is only used to reorder ID for expansion enclosures in a numerical 
manner. 
3. Scan All Free Drives: Scan drives in a free state in the NAS and attached enclosures for existing 
volumes or storage pools. 
 
Note: The Recover button is only available if the disconnected expansion enclosure 
contains volumes. 
 
Managing Virtual Expansion Enclosures (VJBOD) 
 
 
Introducing VJBODs 
Virtual JBOD allows you to allocate the free space of a QNAP NAS to another NAS in order to maximize 
the total available storage capacity for that NAS. The following figure illustrates how Virtual JBOD 
works. An iSCSI LUN on a remote NAS is created and added to a local host (host NAS in this example) 
as a hard drive to expand the Storage Space on the host NAS.   
						

							64 
 
 
 
Note:  
This function or its content is only applicable to some models (refer to the software 
specification page on the QNAP website for further details) and requires firmware 4.2.2 
(or newer). 
Any QNAP NAS that supports iSCSI and storage pools can be used as a remote NAS, 
but it is recommended that they use firmware 4.2.1 (or newer) and have at least 
154GB free space. 
For greater connection stability and to automatically recover from connection failure, it 
is recommended that both the remote and local NAS be on the same local network and 
that the remote NAS uses a static IP address. For other network related optimization 
settings (such as Port Trunking or Link Aggregation), please refer to the Network 
chapter.  
 
Creating VJBODs with new iSCSI LUN (using Create Virtual JBOD’s Disk Wizard) 
Note: Before you start this process, please ensure that the remote NAS has a storage pool 
with at least 154GB of free space.  
 
Follow these steps to create a VJBOD: 
1. Go to Storage Manager > STORAGE > Disks/VJBOD. 
2. Click VJBOD > Create Virtual JBOD. 
3. The Create Virtual JBOD’s Disk Wizard will appear. Read the introductions and click "Next". 
4. Establish a connection to a remote NAS:  
o Enter  the  remote  NAS’  IP  address  (or  click  "Detect"  and  select  the  NAS  using  its  hostname  or 
IP from the dropdown list). Or click Local Host to mount a LUN from the local host itself. 
o Enter  the  username  and  password  used  to  log  into  the  remote  NAS  (or  the  credentials  of  the 
local host if you select it in the last step).  
						

							65 
 
o Specify the system port and enable Secure Connection (HTTP) for a secure connection to the 
remote NAS. 
o Use Test to test the connection settings.  
o Click Next. 
5. Select Create a new iSCSI LUN on the selected NAS.  
o You can click NAS Detail in the top-right corner to check the storage status of the selected 
NAS. 
o Tick Host Binding if the LUN will be used to store sensitive information.  
o Click Next. 
6. Select a storage pool and click Next. 
7. Choose to set up CHAP authentication and enter the required information. Click Next. 
8. Set up the capacity for creating a new LUN and choose whether to enable 4K byte sector size and 
SSD cache in Advanced Settings. Click Next. 
9. Review the configuration summary and click Next. 
10. Click Finish (you can also choose to create a new storage pool, new static volume, or recover 
existing data in this step). 
11. The new VJBOD Disk will be created. 
 
Note:  
The purpose of mounting a LUN from a local host itself is to ensure that the LUN will 
still be accessible if the original local host becomes unavailable.  
After ticking Host Binding in Step 5, the LUN can only be accessed by the bound host, 
even if the connection between the local host and remote NAS is lost (in this case, only 
the administrator of the remote NAS can access it). 
VJBOD currently only supports Single RAID configuration and cannot be used to 
create a system volume or expand other storage pools unless the pool also consists of 
VJBODs that come from the same remote NAS and same pool. The expanded capacity 
of the LUN on the remote NAS will not be reflected on the local host. Therefore, to 
expand a VJBOD pool, you can only create a new VJBOD on the same storage pool and 
join the disk into the pool as a new RAID. 
The LUN created here is a block-level iSCSI LUN. 
 
Creating VJBODs with existing iSCSI LUN (using Create Virtual JBOD’s Disk Wizard) 
Note: Before you start this process, please ensure that the remote NAS has an idle target, 
storage pool with an instantly-allocated LUN and the capacity of the LUN is at least 154GB.  
 
Follow these steps to create a VJBOD: 
1. Go to Storage Manager > STORAGE > Disks/VJBOD. 
2. Click VJBOD Beta > Create Virtual JBOD.  
						

							66 
 
3. The Create Virtual JBOD’s Disk Wizard will appear. Read the introduction and click "Next". 
4. Establish a connection to a remote NAS:  
o Enter the remote NAS’ IP address (or click "Detect" and select the NAS using its hostname or 
IP from the dropdown list). Or click Local Host to mount a LUN from the local host itself. 
o Enter the username and password used to log into the remote NAS (or the credentials of the 
local host if you select it in the last step). 
o Specify the system port and enable Secure Connection (HTTP) for a secure connection to the 
remote NAS. 
o Click Test to test the connection settings.  
o Click Next. 
5. Select Choose an existing iSCSI LUN on the selected NAS. Click Next. 
6. Select a storage pool and click Next. 
7. Choose to set up CHAP authentication and select to use Data Digest and Header Digest (under 
CRC/Checksum). Click Next. 
8. Review the configuration summary and click Next. 
9. Click Finish (you can also choose to create a new storage pool, new static volume, or recover 
existing data in this step). 
10. The new JBOD is created. 
 
Using VJBODs 
The VJBOD is essentially a space mapped from a LUN on a remote NAS. Before a VJBOD can be used to 
store data, a storage pool or volume must be created first. For volume or storage pool creation 
instructions, please check the relevant chapters (refer to the Volumes chapter for volume creation 
instructions and the Storage Pools chapter for storage pool creation instructions).  
 
Managing and Monitoring VJBODs  
Click a disk under Virtual JBOD in the system component panel to check its general information. 
Refer to the following table for actions available for managing a VJBOD: 
Action Description 
Disk Info Check details of the chosen VJBOD, including the remote NAS 
model, disk name, disk type, disk location, remote disk 
configuration, remote LUN name, remote iSCSI name, target 
IQN and disk capacity. 
New Volume (under Action) Create a volume using the chosen VJBOD. Please refer to the 
chapter on Volumes  for more information. Note that this 
action is only available for VJBODs without any volumes. 
NAS Detail (under Action) Check details of the remote NAS where the LUN is located. 
The details include the hardware information, storage  
						

							67 
 
configuration, shared folders and installed applications. 
Remote Log (under Action) Review logs (including information, warnings and errors) of 
the storage pool or NAS where the VJBOD disk is located. This 
will allow you to identify issues on the remote pool if the 
VJBOD becomes abnormal. You can click on the down arrow 
button on the Log page for advanced log search 
functionality. 
Date Recovery (under Action) Recover the Volume or Storage Pool in VJBODs (if it exists). 
This action is only available when the VJBOD is idle.  
Edit Disk (under Action) Edit the name of the chosen VJBOD. 
Disconnect (under Action) Disconnect a VJBOD. Note that this action is only available for 
VJBODs that are in an abnormal status. 
Connect (under Action) Reconnect a VJBOD. Note that this action is only available for 
VJBODs that are Disconnected. 
Edit Target (under Action) Edit the VJBOD iSCSI connection and Remote NAS IP. Note 
that this action is only available for VJBODs that are 
Disconnected. 
Delete (under Action) Delete a VJBOD connection configuration. Note that this action 
is only available for VJBODs that are Disconnected. 
 
Alternatively, click on Virtual JBOD > Virtual JBOD Overview and check the following for each 
VJBOD disk: 
Disk details associated with the local host: The disk name, status, total size, storage pool and 
volume/LUN.  
Disk details associated with the remote host: The NAS name, storage pool, disk configuration, 
target & LUN name and CHAP.   
						

							68 
 
 
 
Tip:  
If the firmware of the remote NAS is 4.2.2 (or newer), you can monitor what NAS has 
connected to an iSCSI LUN, as well as receive warnings if the iSCSI connection is lost 
on the iSCSI Storage page (Storage Manager > iSCSI > iSCSI Storage).  
If more detailed monitoring is required for multiple NAS, you can use Qcenter to 
monitor both host and remote NAS.  
 
Detaching and Reconnecting VJBODs  
If a VJBOD has been used to create a virtual volume or storage pool, that volume or storage pool must 
be detached first before the VJBOD can be detached. Refer to the Volumes chapter for volume removal 
instructions and Storage Pools chapter for storage pool removal instructions. To detach a VJBOD disk, 
follow these steps: 
1. Go to Storage Manager > STORAGE > Disks/VJBOD.  
2. Select a VJBOD in the system component panel.  
3. Click Action > Disconnect. 
4. Click OK and the VJBOD will enter Disconnected status. 
5. Click Action > Delete. 
6. Check to remove the LUN and unused iSCSI target from the remote NAS and click OK. The 
VJBOD will be deleted.  
 
To reconnect disconnected VJBODs (there will be an error symbol in front of such disks), follow these 
steps: 
1. Go to Storage Manager > STORAGE > Disks/VJBOD.  
2. Select a disconnected Virtual JBOD in the system component panel.  
3. Click Action > Connect.  
						

							69 
 
4. Click OK and the VJBOD will enter the Ready status.  
 
You can detach all of the VJBOD disks at once. To do so, go to the Virtual JBOD Overview page 
(click the Virtual JBOD Overview button in the top-right corner of the Storage Manager window) 
and click Safely Detach all. Detached VJBODs can be re-attached by selecting Recover > Scan All 
Free Disks in the Disks/VJBOD page. 
 
Note: To protect the data and file system of VJBODs, always detach them before shutting 
down the remote NAS.  
 
Data Roaming 
You can move VJBODs from one NAS to another without needing to physically disconnect and 
reconnect drives. To do so, follow these steps:  
1. Safely detach a VJBOD (refer to the Detaching and Reconnecting Virtual JBOD Disks section for 
instructions). 
2. Open the Create Virtual JBOD’s Disk Wizard on the NAS that you want to move the JBOD to and 
choose the existing iSCSI LUN on the remote NAS (refer to the Creating VJBOD with existing 
iSCSI LUN section for instructions). 
 
Automatic Reconnection  
The system will attempt to reconnect and recover a storage pool on a remote NAS for VJBODs after 
they become inaccessible for 30 seconds. However, the reconnection and recovery process may take 
longer if the remote NAS uses a dynamic IP (or it will fail if the two NAS are not on the same LAN). 
Therefore, we recommend using a static IP for the remote NAS.  
 
Note: If the remote NAS system port is changed, some information regarding the remote 
NAS may be incorrectly displayed on the host NAS. If this occurs, you can enter the 
updated information in the Re-login page (select the disk in Disks/VJBOD and click 
Action > Re-login).   
						

							70 
 
 
 
 
Storage Space 
 
The Storage Space features Storage Pools and Volumes. This page lists available storage pools and 
the volumes, iSCSI LUNs, and snapshots from remote NAS on each of these storage pools. It displays 
these storage entities’ capacity and/or usage to give a complete view of storage allocation. Users can 
create or manage storage pools/volumes/RAID groups, or take/view snapshots of the volumes on this 
page.  
 
 
Below is a chart of what the icons and bars indicate. 
Symbol  Name Description 
 Volume Users may change the volume name. System 
volume names are appended with (System). 
 LUN Users may change the LUN name. 
 Snapshot The number to the right of the camera icon 
indicates how many Snapshots are currently saved. 
 Storage 
Pool Usage 
Gray: Unallocated 
Green: Allocated 
Dark blue: Snapshot used 
Light blue: Snapshot reserved 
Red line: Alert threshold 
 Volume 
Usage 
Dark blue: Used 
Red line: Alert threshold