Procom's NetForce NAS device reliable but costly
Procom's NetForce NAS device reliable but costly
By Francis Chu, eWEEK
July 2, 2000 9:00 PM PT
URL: zdnet.com
Procom technology inc.'s latest midrange NAS offering, the NetForce 1500, boasts large storage
capacity and hardware redundancy, making it a highly available file sharing system for Unix and
Windows networking environments in ISP, Web hosting and e-business applications. However, it's
not the speediest --or least expensive --solution.
Shipping since the middle of last month, the NetForce 1500 configuration that eWeek Labs tested
hosts a 700MHz Intel Corp. Pentium III processor, 256MB of RAM, a Gigabit Ethernet adapter
and 10 36GB Ultra Wide SCSI hard drives --for a hefty price of $37,000. Procom offers the
NetForce 1500 in several configurations, with prices ranging from $20,000 to the high $30,000s.
The price per gigabyte of storage is fairly high compared with low-end network-attached storage
devices such as Quantum Corp.'s Snap Server, but the Snap Server lacks the NetForce 1500's
scalability, redundancy and hot-swapping capabilities.
The Procom product's three redundant power supplies and two cooling fans will reduce downtime
for ISP (Internet service provider) applications. However, performance was sluggish in tests.
The NetForce 1500 runs on a proprietary FreeBSD-based operating system and uses the Network
File System and SMB/CIFS (Server Message Block and Common Internet File System) file sharing
protocols to share files in Unix and Windows networks.
The NetForce 1500 is compatible with Unix and Windows security models, which allows it to
provide sharing privileges and storage quotas.
The NetForce 1500 has a maximum storage capacity of 252GB with two Logical Unit Number
volumes configured with RAID 5 redundancy. We found it odd that the maximum disk configuration
allows for only an eight-disk RAID 5 volume, but Procom officials said that this limitation is
necessary to ensure the highest level of redundancy. Extra disks can be configured as hot spares.
The NetForce 1500 uses a Mylex Corp. dual-channel PCI RAID controller with a 32MB cache
and battery backup. The Mylex controller has external connectors for hooking up tape backup
devices.
Up and running
we found the initial setup of the NetForce 1500 fairly straightforward. The IP address can be
quickly assigned using the LCD screen and buttons on the front panel. The NetForce 1500 can also
take advantage of dynamic IP addresses using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
The LCD screen displays CPU utilization during operation, a nice feature. Network connectivity
and failure warning lights are clearly displayed on the front panel.
Administration of the NetForce 1500 is done via a Web browser. We used Microsoft Corp.'s
Internet Explorer 5.0 to set up networking parameters and configure the RAID. Due to the Java
Script and virtual memory requirements of Web administration, only IE 5.0 and Netscape
Communications Corp.'s Navigator 4.7 or later browsers are supported.
Tests showed the Web administration to be sluggish and prone to errors during configuration, and
we often had to refresh the screen to see the buttons or to confirm setting changes.
In tests using Ziff Davis Media Inc.'s NetBench 6.0 benchmark, which measures file server
performance, the NetForce 1500 delivered a maximum throughput of 63M bps (see benchmark
chart, Page 64).
This performance is mediocre on the file server performance scale, although it topped low-end
NAS devices such as Quantum's Snap Server and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s SureStore HD Server
4000. Network Appliance Inc.'s F760-series NAS filer has higher throughput and storage capacity
than the NetForce 1500 but costs more than three times as much.
In terms of scalability, the NetForce 1500 can be upgraded with higher- capacity hard drives when
they become available. Four PCI slots are available for NIC additions. ´
Technician Francis Chu can be con tacted at francis_chu@ziffdavis.com.
eWEEK labs // executive summary: NetForce 1500
Procom's NetForce 1500 NAS device can add hefty file storage capability to Unix and Windows
networking environments. Although its performance is subpar, the NetForce 1500's scalability and
high redundancy make it a worthwhile addition for ISP, Web hosting and e-business applications
where high availability is important.
SHORT-TERM BUSINESS IMPACT // Because the NetForce 1500 comes preconfigured out of
the box, initial implementation is fairly fast.
LONG-TERM BUSINESS IMPACT // With many redundancy features, the NetForce 1500 can
ensure high availability and a low cost of ownership in the long haul.
Pros: Large storage capacity; scalable; redundant and hot-swappable power supply and cooling
fans.
Cons: Mediocre performance; sluggish Web-based administration.
USABILITY B
CAPABILITY B
PERFORMANCE C
INTEROPERABILITY B
MANAGEABILITY C
Procom Technology Inc., Santa Ana, Calif.; (800) 800-8600; www.procom.com
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