Cloud Computing & Tricks and Tips - UK - Edition 04 (2020)

QNAP’s mid-range business

NAS models are remarkably

impressive looking and

impressively specified units.

The TVS-682T sit within this

range and offers the business

user a wealth of features,

hardware scalability and

incredible performance.

QNAP TVS-682T

The TVS-682T represents the top end for the SMB user, those

whose businesses are likely to expand quickly and support a

workforce in the potential hundreds. This is a high performance

NAS, utilising an Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz dual-core

processor, 8GB of DDR4 memory as standard and with the

capability of expanding up to 64GB of memory and a 512MB

flash memory module.

The four main 3.5-inch hard drive bays that can accommodate

drive capacities up to 10TB are impressive enough but QNAP

has designed the TVS-682T to take a further two fast Solid

State Drives (SSD) and another pair of M.2 SSD modules as well.

The additional SSD elements allow for fine-tuned storage

options, which the user can utilise for fast access storage, or

use as cache acceleration drives. The acceleration will

significantly boost the read and write access times of the

main 3.5-inch hard drives, pushing the most used files to

the cache to be read from the faster SSDs. The overall

performance therefore, including the powerful CPU and

memory, is quite incredible.

Beyond the drive capacities, you can find a pair of 10GBase-T

network ports, a further four Gigabit Ethernet ports, three for

HDMI, a pair of Thunderbolt 2s, four USB 3.0 ports to the rear

and a single USB 3.0 to the front of the unit. There’s even a pair

of built-in speakers for a full-media machine setup.

Whilst the above may seem a little extreme to some, those who

will need a power-house NAS solution will greatly benefit from

having access to the QNAP TVS-682T. A good working example

is a small production company, who records footage in 8K for

editing. The storage capacity and performance of the TVS-

682T make short work of that editing process, allowing the

crew to work on finer details.

The QTS 4.2 Linux operating system that drives the TVS-682T is

easy to use and speeds through its processes thanks to the

unit’s specifications. You get the usual array of media serving

and streaming elements, alongside file sharing, backup control,

virtualisation and of course, cloud computing.

An interesting feature on this model is the ability to partition

the installed drives according to the applications you use. For

example, virtualisation images can be stored on the SSDs to

provide fast read and write access to the virtual desktop users.

Surveillance, shared folders and cloud data can be stored on

the high capacity hard drives and the M.2 SSDs can work in

tandem providing data caching for the entire system.

The design of the TVS682T is quite extraordinary, because it’s

essentially a powerful desktop PC. Its 231 x 225 x 320mm

mixture of matte and glossy plastic and metal looks good and

the drive bays dominate the face of the unit impressively.

Looks aside, considering the specifications, performance,

scalability, features and everything else about the QNAP

TVS-682T, this is a NAS unit that leaves most of the competition

standing. Naturally this level of NAS doesn’t come cheap; in fact

expect to pay out in the region of £1,000 before you even

factor in the four hard drives, two SSDs and two M.2 SSDs. The

overall cost would certainly exceed the £2,000 mark.

Advanced Cloud Uses