Of course, if you didn’t get a CD with your TS-209 like I did, all is not lost. you can download the latest versions of all the software you’ll need from QNAP’s site:

QNAP Finder

Firmware

QGet

NetBak Replicator

User Manual

Release Notes

Extract the files to a temporary folder (you may want to burn them all to CD for safe-keeping). The first thing you should install is QNAP Finder but don’t run the Quick Setup Wizard just yet! Cancel the wizard and exit QNAP Finder. Then, open up Windows Explorer and navigate to the following folder:

C:\Program Files\QNAP\Finder

Once you’re in the Finder sub-folder, create a new folder and name it Firmware. Next, copy the firmware file you extracted earlier to the Firmware subfolder you just created. Close Explorer and now launch QNAP Finder, and run the Quick Setup Wizard.

The reason why we just did what we did, is because the Quick Setup Wizard will automatically look to the C:\Program Files\QNAP\Finder\Firmware folder to update theTS-209 Pro II with the firmware image file, as part of the configuration routine. Would it have caused a problem had it not found the firmware image file where it expected? Probably not. But better safe than sorry. You also have the option of performing a manual configuration without the wizard. The wizard makes things quicker and easier for you, and I personally like quick and easy.

One good thing about QNAP’s Quick Setup Wizard, is that it explains what each step does and why, in a language that both experienced and novice users can understand. Usually the “toughest” decision a new user has to make, is how to configure the drives installed in the NAS. Because the TS-209 Pro II only has two drives, your choices are going to be a little easier than with a TS-409 series NAS.

Create Singe Disk Volume

This option will simply initialize each drive as a single disk volume. When you connect to the NAS, you’ll see each installed drive as a separate disk volume. This configuration lacks any data protection or redundancy. Whichever drive fails will lose any data stored on it.

 

Create RAID 0 Striping Disk Volume

“Stripes” two or more disks together into a single volume that equals the total capacity of both disks for maximum capacity and read/write performance. More capacity and better disk performance is good. No redundancy in the event of a hard drive failure, isn’t. With RAID 0 if you lose a drive, you lose your data—all of it.

 

Create RAID 1 Mirror Disk Volume

Requires two disks. Protects your data by automatically “mirroring” the first drive onto the second. In the event of a drive failure, all of your data is safe on the other drive. Pop in a replacement drive, and you’re back in business. Drawbacks? With RAID 1, volume size is equal to one—not both disks in the array. Disk performance takes a hit due to the mirroring process.

 

Create Linear Disk Volume

Also known as Spanning, a linear disk volume combines multiple disks into a single large disk and writes the data sequentially across them. The only advantage is that it can combine multiple disks of different sizes into a single volume, whose capacity is the sum of all the disks combined. A linear disk configuration offers no data protection or redundancy in the event a drive fails.

For the money and for the sake of your data, take RAID 1 behind door number three.

Since there are fewer disks and RAID configurations to contend with, QNAP Finder’s Quick Setup Wizard will usually take less time to complete compared to a TS-409 series NAS (how much depends on the capacity and access time of the drives). Once the wizard has earned its pay and reboots your TS-209 Pro II, QNAP Finder can come in hand for the following tasks:

By default, QNAP Finder will enable the network protocols on the QNAP TS-209 Pro II that are used on the workstation it is installed from. If the initial installation of QNAP Finder and the configuration process of the NAS is performed from a Windows PC, then by default the Microsoft Windows Networking protocol  will be enabled on the TS-209 Pro II. NFS will be enabled if installed on a PC running Linux. If you have a mixed network environment, QNAP Finder may or may not enable all of the required protocols on the NAS needed to talk to Windows, Apple and Linux machines, so don’t be surprised if you have to enable any additional protocols once the initial configuration is complete.

Server Administration

Server Administration is where the real work gets done administering and maintaining your TS-209 Pro II. By default, Server Administration launches in Internet Explorer regardless of whether you have an alternate browser installed as the default browser. Though Internet Explorer is QNAP’s “recommended” browser for Windows, you can use another browser like Firefox or Opera. Just type the following in Firefox’s address bar (or copy-and-paste it from IE’s address bar) and save it under Favorites:

http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8080 where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx=the TS-209 Pro II’s IP Address

Launching Server Administration from QNAP Finder will always launch it from Internet Explorer.

The Login page for Server Administration with is bright, cheerful hi-tech design, is where you login under the Administrator account. Hot links to several of the most popular services available on the NAS can be accessed here, and can be removed or added back to the front page. In addition to having the ability to log into Server Administration in multiple languages, you can also change the administrator password. After several reviews of QNAP products, I’d love to be able to tell you that SSL (Secure Socket Layer) logins work. As of this writing, they’re just as broken as they were in my reviews of the TS-409 Pro and 409U. I have it on good authority that this matter will be solved soon, which should make those users who need SSL login functionality very happy. Artistic admins who want to spruce things up a bit can add a 100x100 pixel graphic image of their choice to the front page. And of course, there’s the obligatory link to QNAP’s home page at the bottom.

Going from colorful to conservative, logging in take you to the no-frills blue and steel gray pages of Server Administration with its strictly-hyperlink interface. The server name you selected for the TS-209 Pro II is displayed in the upper left-hand corner. Back, Home, Show Help and Logout icons are in the upper right-hand corner. Show Help always brings up context-sensitive online help based on the current task being performed, but you still can’t perform topic and keyword-based searches. And yes, the “For detailed instructions, please click here” links are still broken IE7 or Firefox.

We have eight task categories on Server Administration’s home page:

Related tasks are hyperlinked beneath each one. The home page of each category can be accessed either by clicking on its title or the icon next to it. You can access related tasks either by clicking on them, or on the Outlook-style sidebar on the category home page. Either way, the task you choose will appear on the category home page’s task pane. The dark red navigation bar that was blank on the home page, now displays icons representing the eight task categories. Hovering your mouse over an icon will display a descriptive label of that category, provided you’re using Internet Explorer (yep, this still isn’t working in Firefox—so what else is new). Click the icon, and you’ll be taken to that category home page and its tasks.

Chances are, whether you used the QNAP Finder wizard or went the manual route, you already have TCP/IP Configuration set-up as needed. If you want your TS-209 Pro II to act as a DHCP server or enable Jumbo Frames for improved network throughput, you’ll want to make a quick pit-stop here to do so. Under Microsoft Networking, if the TS-209 Pro II is on a non-domain network as a stand-alone server, make sure to change the default “NAS” workgroup name to your workgroup name to insure that the Windows PCs on your network won’t have any issues connecting to the QNAP TS-209 Pro II. If your network is Active Directory-based, you’ll need to join the TS-209 Pro II to the domain by filling out the necessary fields on this page. Though there’s not much need for them anymore, some networks still use WINS servers. The TS-209 Pro II can easily fill this role. It can also serve as an Active Directory Domain Master. If you have a mixed-environment network, you’ll need to insure that the appropriate protocols and settings are enabled and configured for Apple Networking and NFS Service.

Web File Manager offers rudimentary folder creation and deletion single file transfer to the TS-209 Pro II’s network shares. It is also displayed and linked on the Server Administrator front page, and while the service itself can be disabled, the displayed link cannot be removed. Clicking it while the service is disabled will bring up a dialog box telling you as much, and asks you if you want to enable the service. You’ll probably find your workstation operating system’s file manager (or your preferred third-party file manager) more effective, as Web File Manager cannot perform multiple folder and file operations. If you require FTP services, you’ll find that the TS-209 Pro II is more than up to the task with a wide range of settings and options that are configurable under—you guessed it—the FTP Service section.

If your routinely share digital media over the network, you might want to give Multimedia Station a try. You can access Multimedia Station directly through the front-end link which is displayed by default (and like Web File manager can be disabled but not removed from the front-end page). All files and folders that you plan on using under Multimedia Station must be placed in the Qmultimedia system share on the TS-209 Pro II. User accounts, passwords and access rights to folders and files (referred to in Multimedia Station as albums) are set up through the TS-209 Pro II’s administrator account. There are also the usual file operation tools at your disposal to create, modify and delete folder and files within the Qmultimedia share for organizational purposes. You can also upload files through Multimedia Station to any of its folders, though you are limited to uploading one file at a time.

Multimedia Station allows users to view photos as a slide-show. They can also zoom in or out of the photo and view basic information about it (name, resolution, creation date and camera information if available). Photos can be printed or saved through their browser. Users can also modify the description of their account and their password (but not the user name you assigned to them). Music and movie files can be played through their native applications or through the browser if the appropriate browser plug-in is installed. QuickTime videos played OK, but ironically, I couldn’t get Windows Media files to work.

Any glimmer of hope I had that the latest firmware revision on this QNAP NAS would exercise previous demons, was immediately dashed. Thumbnail generation for photos still isn’t anywhere as fast as it really needs to be, especially if you’re dealing with a lot of digital photos. The scripting errors are still here, wrecking their frequent havoc under both Internet Explorer 7.0 and Firefox. The iTunes Service in spite of its tendency to omit album cover art for some songs and not others, and a few minor annoyances with Smart Playlists—having to sometimes recreate the list several times before it is finally picked up by the NAS, and playlist naming issues that do not carry over into TwonkyMedia—is still a better implementation than I’ve encountered with other NAS units. And speaking of the built-in TwonkyMedia Server, there’s no finer service for using with UPnP-compliant multimedia devices and the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3for sharing photos, movies and music (you can’t play videos you’ve downloaded from iTunes on the Xbox 360, but that ball is in Apple—and Microsoft’s court). In addition to BitTorrent-ready Download Station and QNAP’s QGet utility which allows you to manage download tasks on one or more QNAP servers, the TS-209’s QPKG is a quick and easy way to add new features to the QNAP TS-209 Pro II via downloadable plug-ins, like the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) service provided by MLDonkey or the WordPress blogger.

If you’ve been stressing over the cost of running your own web server, you’ll love the TS-209 Pro II’s Web Server service, which is not only MySQL-ready, but includes the Joomla! open-source content management system. The TS-209 Pro II is also DDNS (Dynamic DNS)-ready. If you need to change the default system port setting,  of the TS-209 Pro II, you can do so under System Port Management, while View Network Settings gives you a summary of your LAN configuration.

Disk and device management for the TS-209 Pro II are taken care of under Device Configuration. The SATA Disk page is where you can view the status of the drives installed in the NAS. Scan drives for bad blocks, perform consistency checks, format and delete volumes. Or create new disk volume configurations. The RAID Management Tool section is where you perform in-place RAID migration and expansion for the TS-209 Pro II. The USB Disk page where you manage any USB storage devices that can be plugged into one of the three USB ports. The device must be formatted in the EXT 3 or FAT file system—if it isn’t you can elect to do so from the drop-down menu. You can plug in a device formatted with the NTFS file system, but the TS-209 Pro II will treat it as read-only. Shares can be created on the external storage device for your users to access just as they would shares created on the TS-209 Pro II’s drive volume (obviously you wouldn’t want to do this with a USB thumb drive). Clicking the Eject Now button on the page safely disconnects any external USB drive from the TS-209 Pro II.

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