SSD cache not working [Solved]

[scaigs]

TS870, no SSD Cache option.png

Good evening everyone,

Just got an TS-870 with 4xWD RE 4TB drives and 1x Corsair Force FS as a SSD drive for cache, firmware v4.0.3.

I see nowhere where I can setup my SSD as cache nor have a menu option for it. Tried on bay 8 on a new volume and raid and now on bay 3 and it is just recognized as another drive but still no option for SSD Cache as shown on this post.

Any hints???

Regards,

Luis

[onesmallstep1966]

The answer is on page 1 of this post, but in essence, you need to be on minimum firmware 4.0.5 and have your HDD's setup as a storage pool.
SSD Caching won't work on legacy RAID volumne and unfortunately there's no way to convert a legacy volumne to a storage pool without erasing your legacy RAID and starting from scratch. This will obviously wipe all data on your HDD's so make sure you have a backup.

On the Plus side, the new Storage Pools work very well and are much more flexible and the SSD Cache does make a difference, so while its a lot of work to change over, it's worth it.

[scaigs]

Dear onesmallstep1966,

there is no firmware 4.0.5 for TS-870, I opened a ticket support and they said the same but are numbed when told that there is firmware to download for TS-870. No replies or further communication from them.

Also, it's measleading information on their website as they sell the stuff and even highlight that feature but it's nowhere to be found or that you need certain firmware version, no problems for the Pro version firmware is there but not for the non-Pro.

Will give them till tomorrow then will take other ways to get either my money back or something else.

[onesmallstep1966]

Go straight to QTS 4.1. You can download it here for the TS870/870 Pro

http://www.qnap.com/v3/uk/product_x_down/beta.php

Although it's Beta, I've been running it on my 670 Pro without issue.

[scaigs]

Hi onesmallstep1966,

Sorry but won't put beta software on a piece of hardware that is supposed to be my production specially after investing a few thousands in hardware (NAS, HDD, 10GbE).

First experience with QNAP and not a good one.

Regards,

Luis

[schumaku]

there is no firmware 4.0.5 for TS-870, I opened a ticket support and they said the same but are numbed when told that there is firmware to download for TS-870. No replies or further communication from them.

-> Downloads and other support for TS-870 - Firmware

Also, it's measleading information on their website as they sell the stuff and even highlight that feature but it's nowhere to be found or that you need certain firmware version, no problems for the Pro version firmware is there but not for the non-Pro.

The exact same "TS-870/870 Pro TurboNAS 4.0.5 Build 0108 167 MB 2014/01/16" - clearly designated for both TS-870/870 Pro - firmware is available from the link above as well as theDownloads and other support for TS-870 Pro - Firmware.

Afraid, you need to re-init the NAS from scratch to get the advantages of the new Storage Manager , including the flexible storage management, SSD caching, ... as the phase-in plan was not fully transparent to the user base.

[scaigs]

Dear schumaku,

Thank you for your feedback, I validated and tested two different setups following their recommendation on using firmware v4.0.5 (downloaded from the TS-870 Pro page).

Everything works as expected (SSD Cache) and since it was a new Appliance i had the leasure to scrap the volumes and test them over the last two days.

Their omission of not stating on their web site that I could use the TS-870 Pro firmware cost me some precious hours of research and frustation.

Now all is good, rebuilding a final version of my volume (7x 4TB WD RE drives, 1x SSD 256GB cache drive). After that, will move data from my old NAS and connect my VMware servers to it.

Thank you for your support and feedbacks, it's great to have such a community forum.

Regards from Montréal,

[shadowrt]

So from what I'm seeing is I have to migrate the vm's on my new qnap running 4.0.3 to an old array in order to shutdown update firmware and rebuild the whole array? Ek. I thought qnap was going to work as described out of the box. How much could I sell a slightly used TS-870 for?

[schumaku]

So from what I'm seeing is I have to migrate the vm's on my new qnap running 4.0.3 to an old array in order to shutdown update firmware and rebuild the whole array?

QTS 4.0.5 including the Storage Manager v2, flexible volumes, and SSD cache support is available since 25 October 2013 - some five+ months.

Ek. I thought qnap was going to work as described out of the box.

What does not work?
What would you say if your NAS would fail the RAID would break - ups - no backup, no way out?

How much could I sell a slightly used TS-870 for?

Wrong plan.

[JasonVIREB]

So with my 879 pro running 4.05 can I just pop in an SSD drive and use it to cache the existing array or would it involve a complete wipe and re install? I have a couple of ISCSI luns, but all I care about caching are the SMB shares.

[JasonVIREB]

So with my 879 pro running 4.05 can I just pop in an SSD drive and use it to cache the existing array or would it involve a complete wipe and re install? I have a couple of ISCSI luns, but all I care about caching are the SMB shares.

[schumaku]

If already using the flexible volumes yes, otherwise no - you need to create the volumes from scratch again.

[HotFix]

Dear schumaku,

Thank you for your feedback, I validated and tested two different setups following their recommendation on using firmware v4.0.5 (downloaded from the TS-870 Pro page).

Everything works as expected (SSD Cache) and since it was a new Appliance i had the leasure to scrap the volumes and test them over the last two days.

Their omission of not stating on their web site that I could use the TS-870 Pro firmware cost me some precious hours of research and frustation.

Now all is good, rebuilding a final version of my volume (7x 4TB WD RE drives, 1x SSD 256GB cache drive). After that, will move data from my old NAS and connect my VMware servers to it.

Thank you for your support and feedbacks, it's great to have such a community forum.

Regards from Montréal,

Greetings scaigs,
I created a forum account just to respond to your post.

I'm about to spring for a TS-870 myself and was toying with your configuration versus 8 x 4TB drives in a RAID 1+0. I am assuming you are using a 7 disk RAID 5 with SSD caching. Is that correct? If so what kind of performance are you seeing out of it.

I'm trying to determine the IOPS capability differences between your configuration (again assuming RAID 5) with an SSD cache versus a RAID 1+0. I'm also leaning towards the cheaper 3TB disks just to save $300-400 on the configuration because I don't think I it will take me awhile to fill up 10+TB.

[Trickydick]

Unless I'm wrong, legacy volumes are not available for caching.

Thanks for the reply. Volume 1 is formatted with EXT4. How can I tell if it's a legacy volume and what is the opposite of "legacy", storage pool?

Is this true?

When I bought my system I had a SSD drive from the get go, but I don't think I've ever configured it properly.
Several BIOS updates over the years has converted my volume into a Legacy volume, although initially, before the multiple BIOS updates, it did support SSD caching.
My Caching screen looks almost exactly like the one in the first post. It shows that there is enabled SSD caching, but there there is no allocated space, and that the SSD drive is assigned to the caching status.
Not sure where to go from here (although still need to read through the rest of the thread - it doesn't look like the solution will work for me).
TD

[Trickydick]

The answer is on page 1 of this post, but in essence, you need to be on minimum firmware 4.0.5 and have your HDD's setup as a storage pool.
SSD Caching won't work on legacy RAID volumne and unfortunately there's no way to convert a legacy volumne to a storage pool without erasing your legacy RAID and starting from scratch. This will obviously wipe all data on your HDD's so make sure you have a backup.

On the Plus side, the new Storage Pools work very well and are much more flexible and the SSD Cache does make a difference, so while its a lot of work to change over, it's worth it.

This is disturbing that a once supported feature has now been disabled by their firmware updates. I don't really want to spend the dough or the time to add enough drives to my system just to create a new storage pool to take advantage of a feature that (i hadn't configured correctly from the outset) it was formerly capable of.
TD