INTRODUCTION

   Whether you're just a home user or a professional, chances are that you could really use a NAS (network attached storage) to share files not only to your local network but also to remote locations. Of course, even though as we've mentioned numerous times in the past NAS devices can now be used for a plethora of things including website hosting, file downloading, media playback and network video recording at the end of the day file sharing is their primary purpose and that's also the main reason small and large businesses invest in NAS servers. Demanding workloads however require high-end models and even though something along the lines of the XCubeNAS XN8008T desktop NAS by QSAN which we reviewed a while back (review here) would probably be more than enough small and large businesses usually opt for rackmount models which come with special features that make them ideal for professional environments. To that end a while back QSAN send us their XCubeNAS XN7008RE model and today after 2 weeks of tests our review is finally here.

   QSAN Technology, a leading storage technology designer and manufacturer, was founded in July 2004. Building on our vast experience in the industry, QSAN strives to build enterprise-class storage systems that pride ourselves with outstanding performance, secure data protection, and comprehensive data management. QSAN endeavors to provide the industry with high-quality data storage systems that are simple, secure, scalable and reliable. For more information, please visit www.QSAN.com.

   Even though the XCubeNAS XN7008RE is far from the top of the line model in the 2U rackmount line of NAS servers by QSAN still its specifications are nothing short of impressive so under the hood we find the 7th generation Intel Core i3-7100 dual-core processor (clocked at 3.9GHz / 3MB Smart Cache / 51W TDP) together with two 4GB DDR4-2133 memory modules (8GB - expandable to 64GB). The XN7008RE also features a total of 8 drive bays (up to 200 via expansion units) which can accommodate both 2.5"/3.5" drives and can be configured in RAID 0/RAID 1/RAID 5/RAID 5 + hot spare/RAID 6/RAID 10/RAID Z3/RAID 60/JBOD with support for up to 128TB of total storage (this is calculated based on the highest capacity models at the time of this review - 16TB / up to 3200TB with expansion units). Other features include a total of 5 USB ports (1xUSB 2.0 / 4xUSB 3.0), 4 RJ45 Ethernet ports, HDMI output (for service/debug purposes), two PCIe expansion slots (x4/x8), two SAS 12Gb/s ports and two 250W replaceable/redundant power supply units. Finally, just like with all NAS models by QSAN to date the XCubeNAS XN7008RE runs a 128-bit ZFS (Zeta-byte) file system via a custom Linux kernel (QSAN Storage Management v3) and is covered by a 3 year limited warranty.