ES1686dc R2

High Availability Enterprise NAS with Dual Active Controllers

Active-Active architecture: 2 units in a single chassis

Note: It is recommended to create multiple storage pools and distribute their ownership between both controllers to leverage the strengths of the ES1686dc R2 active-active controller architecture. This allows simultaneous output from both controllers for better load balancing.

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  Active-Standby Architecture

  If the active system fails, the standby system starts up and takes over processing.

  • Requires purchasing two systems for HA, doubling the cost.
  • Causes load imbalance as only the active system processes workloads.
  • A power outage may lead to data loss.
  • Network disconnection invalidates the HA architecture, rendering it ineffective.

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  Active-Active Architecture

  Both systems are active simultaneously.

  • Both controllers handle traffic, optimizing workload distribution.
  • Copy-To-Flash protection safeguards data against power failure.
  • Dual-path SAS interface ensures seamless connectivity.
  • Efficient resource utilization, reducing computational waste.
  • High-speed, uninterrupted, and high-availability storage service.
  • Supports multiple communication protocols: SMB, NFS, and iSCSI.

Intel® Xeon® D processors bring high performance and efficiency

Powered by two Intel® Xeon® D processors, the ES1686dc R2 features a dual active-active controller architecture that provides failover/failback operations as the standby controller takes over if one controller breaks down.

• CPU

  Intel® Xeon® D-2142IT 8-core 1.90 GHz processor (burst up to 3.0 GHz) per controller.

• Memory

  64GB RDIMM DDR4 ECC (4 x 16 GB) per controller, up to 512GB (8 x 64GB).

• SMB Sequential Throughput (10GbE x 8)

  Write MB/s

  Read MB/s

• iSCSI Random 4K IOPS (10GbE x 8)

  Write IOPS

  Read IOPS

SMB Sequential Throughput (10GbE x 8)	Write MB/s	Read MB/s
iSCSI Random 4K IOPS (10GbE x 8)	Write IOPS	Read IOPS

Tested in QNAP Labs. Figures may vary by environment. Learn more about test environment.

Multi-level cache technology

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  Multi-tier caching

  The ES1686dc R2 simultaneously supports main memory read cache (L1 ARC), SSD secondary read cache (L2 ARC), and memory write cache (ZFS Intent Log) to meet performance demands of various enterprise applications.

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  Expand main memory up to 512GB

  Both controllers have eight RDIMM slots, allowing for up to 512GB memory.

  The main memory will retain 8GB for use by the write cache.

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  NVRAM

  In the event of power failure, the system can write cache data from the battery-protected DRAM to M.2 SSD through Copy To Flash (C2F) to ensure that data is not lost.

  To ensure write cache data safety, it is recommended to annually replace the BBU. QNAP provides one-year warranty for the BBU.

PCIe Gen 3 slots

The ES1686dc R2 provides two PCIe Gen 3 x8 slots per controller connected to the CPU, allowing you to add additional functionality to meet growing workload and business requirements.

• Network Card

  Supports up to 25GbE, boosting virtualization, media file transfer, or adding support for iSER for improved virtualization performance.

  QNAP network expansion cards

• SAS Storage Expansion Card

  With the QXP-820S-B3408 SAS storage expansion card, you can scale up the ES1686dc R2 with QNAP’s TL SAS expansion enclosures.

Petabyte-scale, dual-controller SAS storage expansion

Gain petabyte-scale storage capacity using the QNAP’s expansion enclosure. Dual-channel (dual-path) connections allow service continuity even if one node fails.

NAS hardware you can rely on

• High-capacity Storage
• Powerful Processor and Memory
• High-speed Ethernet
• Flexible Expansion and Connectivity
• Others

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QES: ZFS-based OS designed for HA systems

The ES1686dc R2 uses the QES operating system, which is based on the simple and efficient FreeBSD kernel and the ZFS file system that is suitable for high-end enterprise applications.

Learn More: QES 2.2

What’s the difference between QES and QuTS hero?

	QES	QuTS hero
OS kernel	FreeBSD	Linux
File system	ZFS	ZFS
CIFS/FTP/NFS/iSCSI
End-to-end data integrity
Max. snapshots	65,536	65,536
Remote disaster backup and recovery	SnapSync	SnapSync
Deduplication
Real-time data compression
Real-time data compaction
Application consistency	• Snapshot Agent • VSS Hardware Provider	• Snapshot Agent • VSS Hardware Provider
App Center
Supported QNAP NAS models	Dual-controller NAS models	Single-controller NAS models

Self-healing ensures data integrity and reliability

Designed to ensure data integrity, the QES-based ES1686dc R2 uses end-to-end checksums to detect and correct silent data corruption caused by hardware defects, firmware bugs or metadata errors. If integrity violations are detected, QES automatically repairs the damage using data from the other mirror before the data is passed to applications.

Unleashed SSD potential – agile and cost-effective for the ultimate performance

QES 2.2 features QNAP’s exclusive Write Coalescing algorithm that further optimizes all-flash performance in ZFS, providing a highly cost-effective all-flash solution for enterprise data management and mission-critical services.

QNAP all-flash solution

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  Write Coalescing

  Transforms all random writes to sequential writes along with reduced I/O. This not only increases random write performance for all-flash environments, but also improves SSD lifespan.

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  Pool over-provisioning

  Users can allocate additional over-provisioning for SSDs (from 1% to 60%) and Storage Pools (from 1% to 40%) for a constant performance boost of over 100%.

Deduplication and compression maximizes VDI storage performance

In VDI environments where there could be over 90% duplicate data from virtual desktop OS images and applications, the QES-powered ES1686dc R2 provides businesses with the most cost-effective remote virtual desktop platform and mission-critical information warehousing.

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  Inline data deduplication

  Block-based data deduplication optimizes storage usage and significantly decreases storage capacity requirements.

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  Inline compression

  Shrinks data to reduce storage I/O workloads for improved performance. In VDI, deduplicated virtual desktops are easily cached to achieve optimal virtual desktop performance.

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  Inline compaction

  Especially helpful for increasing SSD storage utilization efficiency when highly repetitive data or massive small files (such as transaction logs of banks or e-commerce) are generated. It delivers higher cost efficiency of all-flash storage systems.

Deduplication helped us achieve our primary goal of increasing storage capacity more efficiently.

Learn more

Real-time SnapSync ensures minimal RPO with real-time disaster recovery

Real-time SnapSync ensures that both the primary and secondary NAS maintain identical data. When data is written to the source, it is immediately written to the destination. If the primary NAS goes offline, IT staff can simply adjust the privilege settings of the secondary NAS to ensure continuous operations. SnapSync provides the strongest support for nonstop business operations and helps users to reduce the risk of data loss.

Learn More: SnapSync

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  Business Continuity

  Copy-on-write technology makes QES snapshot creation almost instantaneous without affecting ongoing data writes. SnapSync supports incremental backups, real-time deduplication, and compression. The source ES1686dc R2 performs deduplication before compressing the metadata to reduce synchronized data and save bandwidth.

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  VMware SRM

  SnapSync supports VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) that offers enterprise-class remote backup and disaster recovery solutions for virtual applications. With the Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) for SRM, operation overheads of the ESXi® server can be offloaded to a QNAP NAS to accelerate and simplify virtual machine backup/restore.

Compatible with VMware, Microsoft and Citrix virtualization

The ES1686dc R2 supports VMware® vSphere®, Windows Server®, and Citrix XenServer® for flexible deployment and management in virtualization environments.

Learn More: Storage for Virtualization

Reliable, high-performance storage for virtualization

The ES1686dc R2 supports block-based iSCSI LUN as a reliable, high-performance, and affordable storage solution for mainstream virtualization environments. It supports VMware® VAAI and Microsoft® ODX to increase performance by offloading server loading for ESXi server and Hyper-V respectively.

Learn More

Supports iSER for Improved VM Performance

The ES1686dc R2 supports iSER, combining iSCSI and RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access), which can bypass general network drivers, the socket layer, and to directly enter memory buffers of the server and storage. Response time is also reduced to ensure service quality of the NAS.

Build an affordable Fibre Channel SAN environment

Common Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks (SAN) devices are often costly. By installing QNAP dual-port 16Gb/32Gb Fibre Channel expansion cards in the ES1686dc R2, you have more budget-friendly options to add a NAS to a SAN environment. You can set a Fibre Channel Target using the iSCSI & Fibre Channel app. Moreover, the LUN Masking and Port Binding features provide an additional layer of data security.

Learn More: QNAP NAS supports Fibre Channel SAN, QNAP Fibre Channel cards

5-year warranty as standard

The ES1686dc R2 is backed by a 5-year warranty at no extra cost – providing your business organization with greater peace of mind.

Learn More