Dissatisfaction with ReadyNAS

[Wadester]

I'm starting to lose faith and becoming disappointed with our choice for a NAS. We're having too many unexplained issues that can't seem to be resolved and it's very frustrating. The performance, physical design and capacity are great but the technical problems are starting to outweigh the advantages. The issues are:

1. The ReadyNAS' file system doesn't seem to play nicely with Windows Active Directory integration and Folder/File Permissions are a headache (see #6). It turned out to not be an easy task in setting everything up the way we wanted. I understand there are fundamental differences between the Linux and Windows filesystems, so either seemless integration is not possible or it isn't properly implemented in the ReadyNAS. I wonder if we would have the same issues with any other Linux-based NAS. This is, however, an acceptable problem that we can deal with.

2. The FrontView web server stopped working before and this has happened to others from what I'm reading. It doesn't affect the file server itself, but it requires a reboot to fix. Posted topics failed to provide a solution. It's happened twice so far (since March) but hasn't happened for a while with no firmware updates applied since.

3. A couple of weeks ago, a user claimed a number of specific subfolders were missing while others remained off of the same subfolder. They were not accidently moved. I didn't see how could have been deleted by the user as he said he didn't see a delete confirmation popup. I believe him because he's somewhat technical and knows his way around a file server. There's always a possibility he did delete them, but I don't believe so. Nothing was showing up in the logs. I have no explanation to provide the user or my boss except that it must have been user error but I have no proof.

4. After that incident, I wanted to run a Disk Scrubbing and Online File Consistency Check manually, but that's not available in FrontView. I tried changing the schedules for both to run that night, but both failed to start with no explanation in the logs. I moved them back to their original times (Sat and Sun) and they ran again but I had to wait until then for the results (no issues found).

5. This morning I found a backup job still running this morning. The first attempt to Cancel failed. A second attempt resulted in "Cancelling..." for over an hour now. This is a current issue reported in another post.

6. Random permission denied issues on subfolders (share\folder\folder) where a Windows group permission is set. This happens to only one user at a time but not to others in the same group. The user must log off, then back on to restore access. There is no consistency. The permissions haven't changed on that folder since it was originally set up.

About once every couple of weeks, a user complains they can't access the subfolder -- including myself, and I'm a Domain Admin. It doesn't matter which User (standard or admin), Computer or Operating System (XP or 7) is used. This hasn't happened to everyone in the group (about 5 out of 8 users). This is becoming a real problem that shouldn't be happening. I do not know of a solution much less cause, and I DO NOT want to have to Factory Reset and re-install everything again.


I'm a realist. I understand very well no solution is perfect. However, this list of issues exceeds my expectations -- especially from a device that costs as much as it did. I recommended this appliance based on company reputation and the unit's features. Now I'm starting to regret it. If we could return it, I would and probably apply the $3,300 to a Windows file server instead.

Needless to say, I'm not satisfied with our ReadyNAS Pro Business Edition and could not recommend it to other businesses. Does anyone else feel this way?

[yoh-dah]

Wade, can you send me your logs (see my sig).

[Wadester]

Sent

EDIT: E-mail was rejected

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Subject: FW: Topic reply notification - "Dissatisfaction with ReadyNAS" - attn: yoh-dah

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[chirpa]

How large is the zip file? I think the mail server only accepts >10MB attachments.

[Wadester]

34MB

Try downloading it from our web site:

http://www.appliedperformance.com/System_log.zip

[chirpa]

Thanks, grabbing it now.

All done, if you want to remove it.

[Wadester]

FYI - The same job (#3) that failed last week and wouldn't cancel did complete last night. So far, there doesn't seem to be an explanation as to why it didn't.

[chirpa]

Can you send me the log for that backup job. Download the system logs again, but extract backup_003.log and rezip and email, please

[Wadester]

Sent

[Richy_Boy]

I agree Wadester, the RN solution is great for home users, but once you start having to rely on them for high up-time* business use, they're very clunky and feel a real budget option.

* To clarify, once they're working on a fimware, they work OK... if you change settings (i.e. network binding) or dare to upgrade the firmware for a new bit of functionality it's one hell of a gamble and horiffically time consuming to backup everything.

I have 3x PRO units and in some respects I'm glad I didn't go for a 3200 or 4100 device as it's putting too many eggs in one basket for my liking. 2/3 were offline for nearly a week after upgrading to .13 broke something and threw 'our of resource' errors, so had to be factory reset and rolled back to .11 (where they were stable).

I run Ubuntu on my home PC and it hasn't so much as twitched in the last 3 years even with new distros and patches being applied as and when they're available. I'm not sure how upgrading a NAS box is any more complicated as it has limited functionality.

Rich

[Wadester]

Thanks for the comment, Rich. Strangely, tho, the device is labeled as a "Business Edition" and advertised with Active Directory integration when it really looks like it's a patch job at best. If I was aware of this integration issue, I definitely would not have chosen a ReadyNAS -- or maybe a Linux-based NAS at all. I'm not sure if other Linux-based NAS have better AD integration or not.

[gr8idea]

Mmmh, I had my troubles with the NAS in the beginning, too. Especially with the rather annoying and slow USB functionality on the front bus. Used to eSATA and its speed, rotating disks out became a nightmare regarding backup time and ressources. I had to try around a lot in order to find a rather unorthodox solution, which I wouldn't have expected from a device labelled "business".

Before purchasing the PRO, I expected it to run as one of our very old IOMEGA Nas with "windows server 2003 appliance edition" - we installed those about 5 years ago. And they behave like a volkswagen: they run, and run, and run, and run... Without any problems (hardware-/software-wise) whatsoever. The PRO so far has proven not so well and I really start to wonder, if I hadn't better invested in another windows-based NAS. Especially AD-integration is a bit tricky with the linux based PRO and I'm lucky to use the PRO only for rather undemanding backup tasks right away from the server without big AD demands. I once gave a try to set up a folder structure for some clients but soon shifted that to the old IOMEGA NAS, horrified by the rather ***-backwards AD-integration on the PRO.

I must add to your comments that the label "business" is TMHO a bit over the top for this unit. Especially the unaccessability of Frontview every now and then, without any reason, adds to my rather mixed feelings. Especially when it comes to considerations about price and "value-for-money". It all seems to me more like a banana-solution: it ripens with the end-user... As an IT professional for an SME, limited in time and ressources by definition, I experienced some moments in which I was close to throw the PRO against the next wall, annoyed by half-baked and poorly integrated functions. An experience I never had before with peripheral devices designed to work smoothly in a dedicated business environment. But maybe it was just bad luck and coincidence...?

[Wadester]

But maybe it was just bad luck and coincidence...?

That's exactly what I'm trying to find out. You feedback was great. I wish there were others who knew about and contributed to this topic who were having the same problems because I'm sure there are a lot more people having the same issues. It's nice to know I'm not the only one.

[russrtw]

You're not the only one. I've successfully run a Duo for years before purchasing an NVX, but then after installing PRO's, NVX's, 3100's and 4200's at clients I'm starting to see random problems such as you're describing. I'm having strange performance issues on a recently installed 4200. Just this weekend had a PRO Biz 12TB (6x2TB WD Black Drives) fail on disk 3 of a resync and then give me a "The paths for the shares listed below could not be found. Typically, this occurs when the ReadyNAS is unable to access the data volume" error that has rendered the PRO useless and looks as though we'll have to factory default it.

On the other hand, the original Duo and NVX I've had in my own office have run rock-solid for a long time, but I never used the AD sync on the NVX and limited the number of add-ons I used. I've since been BETA testing their new products, but of course they all use the same OS and are probably prone to the same bugs.

[Wadester]

Wow... thanks for sharing that, russrtw. That's a serious issue. Did you/they ever figure out why or how that happened? I hope someone from Netgear is reading these posts!!

I've got a new issue to report: The latest ReadyNAS Remote is now not working, either. I tested the previous version a while ago at home and it worked great. I'm not sure if it's the recent O/S or Remote upgrades that broke it. Here I went bragging it to my boss as a great remote file access solution and now it doesn't work!

I see "Avid ReadyNAS Admin/Promoter"... will you be removing the "Avid" or "Promoter" parts soon? : \