Plug a Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliance into the LAN and you get instant access to shared storage, with none of the management hassles or licensing worries of a general purpose file server. But that doesn't mean compromising capacity or performance, with Adaptec's new Snap Server 650 more than a match for even highly-specified server alternatives.

You only have to run through the specification to realise that the Snap Server 650 is far from your average NAS product.

To start with it's powered by not one but two 64-bit AMD Opteron processors. And not your standard Opterons either, but the latest dual-core chips, effectively making it a four-way platform. Plus it comes with 2GB of ECC-protected memory (expandable up to 4GB should the need arise) and dual Gigabit Ethernet interfaces with support for automatic fail-over and load balancing as standard.

Redundant power supplies is another standard feature and the storage is a bit special too. Managed by a Serially Attached SCSI (SAS) host bus adapter, the basic 1U rack mount appliance comes with four 300GB, hot-swappable, Seagate Cheetah 15K disks. In theory that's 1.2TB in total, although what you end up with will depend on how it's configured. The default RAID 5 setup, for example, left us with just 843GB free, the rest being used to store the parity data needed to keep the array working in the event of a disk failure.

Disk mirroring and other RAID levels can also be configured, along with hot sparing and instant capacity expansion (ICE) allowing RAID volumes to be dynamically re-sized as disks are added. And that's done by connecting additional Adaptec SANbloc S50 JBOD storage arrays to the server, each of which can accommodate another 12 disks. Up to seven of these units can be added, to support a staggering 64.2TB altogether.

The software employed is a 64-bit Linux implementation called GuardianOS, optimised for file sharing on multi-platform Windows, Apple and Unix/Linux networks. It can boot from any disk in the array and is managed through a straightforward Web interface which, as on other Snap Servers, is remarkably easy to get to grips with, putting it well within the compass of most small business managers.

GuardianOS also offers a number of easy-to-manage data protection facilities. Most are included in the price although some do require licensing separately. Among the standard options are CA eTrust anti-virus scanning of files, plus the ability to take volume snapshots for backup purposes. And to go with that you get an integrated copy of BakBone's NetVault backup software with a 500GB virtual tape library, although if you want to plug in an external tape drive and take backups to tape, additional licensing is required.

Snap EDR (Enterprise Data Replicator) also has to be paid for. This add-on allows you to continuously replicate data to another Snap Server appliance, for much faster recovery in the event of hardware failure. However, it does add £650 plus VAT to the price and you have to buy another appliance to support it, while for £1,300 plus VAT you get one-to-many and many-to-one replications and can include ordinary Windows and Linux servers in the process.

On the downside, there's no hardware RAID controller on the Snap Server - it's all handled by the processors. Despite this, performance is impressive and the GuardianOS software more than a match for a high-end file server with similar SAS storage. Moreover, it's a lot more secure and an absolute doddle to manage, with the basic file sharing options all configured ready to use straight out of the box. It can also be setup to act as an iSCSI target SAN target, although some of the data protection options, such as volume snapshots, can't be employed here.

An impressive beast of a machine, the Snap Server 650 is far from cheap, but it compares well on price with similarly configured, general purpose file servers. That's especially true when you factor in the additional software associated with such platforms. Moreover, it takes over where most other NAS appliances leave off, with performance and capacity to spare along with masses of scope to grow as storage requirements change.

More of an out-and-out server than a Network Attached Storage appliance, the Snap Server 650 is powered by two dual-core processors and can be configured with up to 64TB of fast SAS storage. With a host of data protection facilities thrown in for good measure, it can cope with large and growing networks, yet without sacrificing the easy management features that have made Snap Server a market-leading NAS brand.