D-Link Forums
The Graveyard - Products No Longer Supported => D-Link Storage => DNS-321 => Topic started by: tangential on March 18, 2009, 02:09:49 PM
-
Just got mine a couple of weeks ago and it is working great. I used it to replace an old linux box that I was using as a fileserver to reduce power consumption, noise, etc...
First question. I am running Firmware 1.0 with a mirror'd pair of 1TB WD Caviar Green drives. Is there any compelling reason to upgrade (or to not upgrade) to the newer firmware?
Second (and far more important) question. How can I get this box to restart after a power interrruption? I have it on a UPS, but I go on the road for extended periods of time and I won't have anyone around to restart it in the event of a prolonged outage. All of my other devices are set to restart after a power failure, but I am missing how to do this with the 321.
Thanks,
John
-
The DNS-321 does not have the ability to restart after a power failure. This is by design because it does not have the tools (usb port) in order to detect power failures on a UPS. Otherwise in the event of a rolling brown out in the area you could cause your device to reboot continuously and in turn damage the device or the data. The only choice without physically modifying the device would be to plug it into a UPS and hope that power comes back up by the time the UPS runs out of battery. This option is available on the DNS-343 however not on the DNS-323 due to hardware limitations in the current revision.
-
The DNS-321 does not have the ability to restart after a power failure. This is by design because it does not have the tools (usb port) in order to detect power failures on a UPS. Otherwise in the event of a rolling brown out in the area you could cause your device to reboot continuously and in turn damage the device or the data. The only choice without physically modifying the device would be to plug it into a UPS and hope that power comes back up by the time the UPS runs out of battery.
Interesting excuse. Odd that its never stopped the makers of PCs or Servers or Firewall/Routers from implementing this feature. In fact I have several DI-624s and several WBR-2310s in service in various locations and they all restart after a power failure.
This option is available on the DNS-343 however not on the DNS-323 due to hardware limitations in the current revision.
It seems difficult to justify paying 4 to 5 times as much to add that option when the box o/w has exactly the feature set I need.
Time to get out the soldering iron I guess.
-
Interesting excuse. Odd that its never stopped the makers of PCs or Servers
PCs and servers (which typically have data stored on them) also typically have com ports (serial and/or USB) that are used to communicate with UPSs to permit orderly shutdown to avoid loss of data in case of a power outage.
In fact I have several DI-624s and several WBR-2310s in service in various locations and they all restart after a power failure.
There is a difference between a router and a NAS - principally that the router has no significant volume of data stored in it.
-
PCs and servers (which typically have data stored on them) also typically have com ports (serial and/or USB) that are used to communicate with UPSs to permit orderly shutdown to avoid loss of data in case of a power outage.
That's true and its certainly a conservative position (Only offering RAID-1 would be similarly conservative position to take to maximize the protection of the data, but somehow that hasn't happened.)
I guess its lucky that the PCs that restart on power fail don't actually require that you prove that you have a UPS hung on one of those ports before enabling the feature. Its at the users discretion. Plus it can be handled just as easily over the NIC if that's a serious issue for the installation.
There is a difference between a router and a NAS - principally that the router has no significant volume of data stored in it.
Firmware settings are a bit more durable than data on a disk, but they can be corrupted during low voltage fluctuations too. The fact that the volume of data is less doesn't necessarily make it less important.
It seems more likely that it is a feature set, cost based decision (which is a perfectly valid reason and a way to upsell purchasers to higher cost models.)