Synology Cube Station CS407 - Do-It-Yourself NAS
Services And Enhanced Functionality
Synology positions the CS407 as a multi-purpose NAS Server, rather than a simple storage end-point. In fact, with the CS407's embedded OS and applications, it can perform a multitude of functions beyond just data storage and sharing. It's obvious that Synology understood that it's what a NAS server can do with the data that adds value and differentiates a product.
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The Synology CubeStation CS407 can provide the following functionality:
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File Server - CFIS, FTP, AFP
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Print Server - LPR, CFIS, AppleTalk
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FTP Server - Encrypted and Secure
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Download Server - BT, HTTP, FTP
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Backup Server - Network, Local and Desktop
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Multimedia Server - UPnP for Music, Photos, Movies
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Web Server - PHP and MySQL Support
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iTunes Server
We'll take you through some of the unit's more interesting features, next...
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Web Services, Backup, FTP, iTunes Server, UPnP Media Server, and Photo Station2 Photo Station2 also worked just as intuitively as the other features we had used thus far. When loaded up with standard image files, an automatically created network share is spidered by the Photo Station2 integrated software package and users can manage those files with an interface that is very much akin to flickr's photo sharing service. Backup services for the CS407 can be configured for use via an external USB hard drive connected to its USB port. If you're running the unit in RAID 0 mode for capacity or performance reasons, it's advisable to use this functionality for this significantly less reliable RAID mode. Network backup to another CubeStation or device on the network is also an option.
The CS407's UPnP Media Server and iTunes server functionalities are very easy to use as well. As you can see, Windows Media Center easily detected our CS407 and its content, offering them up for viewing via its interface. We should also note that the system was extremely capable in terms of multimedia streaming performance. We loaded up one of Microsoft's WMV HD showcase videos in 1080p format called "The Living Sea". The CS407 streamed this video to our workstation wihout a hiccup, though we even tried to bog the system down by copying another video clip from it, down to our workstation, during playback. We then enabled the CS407's iTunes server feature and dropped a folder of music to its allocated network share (most of these features work with a dedicated share). When we loaded iTunes up on our workstation, iTunes discovered the new media folder immediately and we were able to have access to our music library.
Finally, the CS407's Web Services feature is probably one of the easiest implementations of the sort one could imagine. Simply enable the web services feature on the corresponding page and a network share called "web" is automatically created. Then just transfer your web site files to this share folder (map it as a network drive if you like first) and they are automatically available for viewing. The CubeStation automatically enables port 80 for access to content in the web share folder, so you can then simply direct all port 80 traffic in a network router to point to the CubeStation's IP. At this point your web site can be seen by hitting your dedicated IP or even a dynamic IP (though it could change obviously) assigned by your ISP. |
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