We were impressed with the NetStor MVD. The least expensive unit of the bunch, this NAS device has fine configuration and management features. However, the system's biggest drawback is its lack of integration with ADS, and its excellent performance numbers came with a minor caveat.
The MVD software is based on Red Hat Linux and is produced by a third party, Mountain View Data. The device we received came with 1 TB of external Ultra320 SCSI storage redundantly connected to the head unit. It can be expanded to 16 TB. The head unit comes with two copper Gigabit Ethernet NICs and can hold up to four more NICs. The heart of the machine is a 2.4-GHz Intel Xeon processor with 1 GB of RAM. The head unit is actually a Supermicro machine--a Supermicro case with a Supermicro motherboard. It has dual power inputs with dual hot-swappable redundant power supplies. The RAID controller is integrated into the external chassis.
The NetStor MVD turned in some good test results--so good we had to look twice. Turns out the vendor had enabled write caching on the head unit, and the external RAID array comes with write caching turned on by default. Turning on write caching will do wonders for performance, but it's a dangerous practice without using a UPS unit. This is not a big deal; however, the decision should be left to the customer based on performance and data-protection needs. That said, even when we turned off write caching, the NetStor MVD performed very well, turning in winning numbers on the CIFS linear read and the NFS linear write tests. The unit was snappy and deftly handled everything we threw at it.
The NetStor MVD's easy-to-use management interface is accessible from a Web browser at Port 20000 (the others use Port 80). We found that little twist an interesting and wise security move. However, the interface doesn't allow integration with ADS--just Windows Server 2000-style permissions administered from the MVD administration interface. The base software allows for up to 32 concurrent snapshots and can be upgraded to 64 snapshots for a fee. It supports an external tape array directly attached or NDMP backup over the network.
The NetStor MVD isn't the most capable NAS we tested, primarily because of its ADS integration limitations. It also has a short, one-year cross-ship parts warranty and security administration limitations. Nevertheless, at $14,745, it's worth a second look.
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We were impressed with the NetStor MVD. The least expensive unit of the bunch, this NAS device has fine configuration and management features. However, the system's biggest drawback is its lack of integration with ADS, and its excellent performance numbers came with a minor caveat. 
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