Using thin provisioning, a common feature of storage virtualisation, up to five Thecus network-attached storage (NAS) servers can be stacked.
This allows the capacity of each to be accessed via the devices' network connectors as and when it is needed.
According to the manufacturer, the way the systems handle traffic also means that free space is not allocated to users until it is actually needed to store data.
Different devices can be stacked - Thecus gives the example of linking its N7700 with its N7700PRO.
However, caution is advised when working with RAID volumes, as data kept on the target iSCSI volume could be erased as a consequence.
In-built management software simplifies the setup process, with available iSCSI target volumes discovered using the IP address of the physical device on which they are stored.
