ReadyDATAOS v1.4.0 Release Notes:

New features and enhancements:

• ReadyDATA OS 1.4.0 introduces replication seeding. Seeding allows for data to be physically transferred on a hard drive or NFS share, for example, from one ReadyDATA unit to another. This helps users avoid long data transfer times often associated with the initial replication job on a data set. Seeding can be used with locally-managed and cloud-managed replication.
• For users with more than one ReadyDATA unit, block-level replication of Shares and LUNs can be configured to mirror data and snapshots from one system to another. ReadyDATA OS 1.4.0 introduces locally-managed replication in addition to existing cloud-managed replication. Locally-managed replication is ideal for users who do not wish to allow internet connectivity to their datacenters for security or company policy reasons.
• The ReadyDATA Replication Portal (http://readydata.netgear.com) has been enhanced to allow editing of existing replication jobs.
• Snapshots are now integrated with Windows Server 2008 and 2012. Administrators can roll files back to previous versions from the Windows file properties dialog (in Windows Explorer, right click a file, click "Properties", and then select the "Previous Versions" tab).
• Instant LUN Conversion: Thick LUNs can now be instantly converted to Thin LUNs, helping administrators to meet changing requirements and priorities. Similarly, Thin LUNs can be instantly converted to Thick LUNs as long as sufficient free capacity exists in the volume.
• The snapshot pruning threshold has been increased. Available volume capacity is managed by removing automatic (scheduled) snapshots when the lesser of the following thresholds is reached:
  • Available storage space on the volume is 200GB.
  • Consumed storage space on the volume is 75%.
    • Note: Upon upgrade to 1.4.0, the new pruning algorithm will take effect. Users with automatic snapshots enabled on volumes that met either threshold will notice that the oldest snapshots will be removed to bring back available volume capacity. While snapshots are being removed, users may notice performance overhead associated with the operation.
• The ReadyDATA 516 LED screen can now be accessed using the front panel scroll wheel and displays hostname and VNIC IP addresses.
• By default, synchronous writes are controlled by the client application. Users can now enforce synchronous writes for shares and LUNs. Conversely, synchronous writes can be disabled for applications that do not require guaranteed data integrity. However, NETGEAR strongly recommends that users do not disable synchronous writes. For most users, this setting need not be adjusted.
• A new performance monitoring graph has been added to the Dashboard to monitor cache (ARC) usage and effectiveness.
• Network share (NAS) permissions are now set in "File and Folder Permissions" and "Automatic Permissions" has been removed. "Automatic Permissions" was deprecated in ReadyDATA OS 1.3.0.
• The default router (gateway) has been made a global setting that is configured and shown in VNIC properties.
• Configuration Advisor
  • RAID Configuration: When creating large, single stripe volumes, ReadyDATA now recommends alternative RAID configurations to improve volume performance.
  • Data deduplication: Deduplication is a powerful feature to improve capacity efficiency in a storage system, however, it comes with a performance overhead. When deduplication is enabled on a system, a deduplication table is created and stored in cache. If the size of this table grows larger than allowed space in cache, I/O performance can be affected. ReadyDATA 1.4.0 monitors the size of this table and sends an alert recommending the addition of an SSD drive as the table approaches its limit in cache. If no action is taken, deduplication will be disabled to prevent I/O performance degradation. All past deduplication gains will remain and only new data added to the system will not be deduplicated. A user can opt to re-enabled deduplication after it has been automatically disabled, however, NETGEAR does not recommend this action unless an SSD drive is added to the system.
    • Note: inline compression offers similar capacity gains and does not incur the same performance overhead as deduplication.

Major bug fixes:

• An issue that caused Shadow Copy (also known as Volume Snapshot Service, Volume Shadow Copy Service or VSS) failures has been corrected.
• A display issue that caused incorrect reporting of consumed space on shares with a reservation is resolved.
• VNICs can no longer be renamed to prevent connectivity issues that occurred in specific environments after a VNIC was renamed.
• Miscalculation of free space on RAID5 and RAID6 volumes that caused early automatic pruning of snapshots has been resolved.

Deployment Notes / Limitations:

• For all ReadyDATA models.
• • It is necessary to disable VAAI when using vSphere4 or vSphere5 with iSCSI.
  • All system settings are volatile until the first volume is created.
  • Deduplication for thick LUNs has been removed as capacity savings are not realized on the ReadyDATA device or by the host.
    
• For ReadyDATA 516.
  • eSATA ports are disabled and capacity expansion beyond six bays is not supported.
  • The unit's IP Address will not be displayed on the LCD when in Technical Support mode.
  • A USB flash recovery tool is not currently available