OWC Jupiter Mini

The basic requirements are a 10Gb Ethernet network switch, a 10Gb Ethernet adapter (for most client computers), Category 6A Ethernet cabling to and from the Jupiter Mini to client computers.

Getting Jupiter set-up takes 1-1.5 hours, and most installations can be accomplished with the very helpful OWC Quick Start Guide. We do recommend having us provide you with a no-cost consultation to discuss and simplify the most time-consuming considerations like site preparation, data migration, and technical staff coordination. We can suggest guidance for on-site positioning of Jupiter and networking hardware.

No…and that is a major benefit to the “set it and forget it” design of Jupiter Mini! Our dedicated Jupiter Technical Support staff will assist you in setting up IP addresses, client computer sharing, and email notifications. While straightforward, connecting to a network switch may require additional set-up time.

Another key value of the Jupiter Mini is that it is backed by renowned “one stop shop” OWC support. To provide the ultimate in ownership convenience, your Jupiter Mini system AND the drives are all warrantied and supported by us and you can choose to extend that warranty coverage to five years. For three years, you will receive included support with guaranteed response in one business day. You will also get software updates, access to the easy-to-use TrueNAS web management interface, application support, and high-level workflow consultations.

You will realize savings in the thousands of dollars with each project Jupiter Mini helps you complete. Gone are the high labor costs associated with drive set management tasks like purchasing and configuration, download/upload time, and reduced employee productivity. Factor in the priceless value of your data assets and Jupiter Mini’s ROI is truly immeasurable. When you need to expand your storage capacity, you can add a SAS HBA card to Jupiter Mini and connect to a Jupiter Kore DAS/NAS expansion solution for overwhelming capacities.

The general rule is you need to have available at least 1.5x the usable capacity you intend to have online and accessible. You need to consider rates of accumulation and offloading to secondary storage/archive as well as the RAID scheme you choose to use. A final consideration is that your actual usable capacity is dependent on Jupiter Mini’s TrueNAS SCALE operating system’s 80% full capacity threshold. This built-in safety feature protects your existing data while alerting you that you need to expand your capacity.

Many NAS technology providers promote the eye-catching, but impossible to achieve 10GbE maximum theoretical speed of 1200MB/s. Because there are many variables that can affect performance (data type and application, client traffic, network design, file size, and workstation capabilities to name a few) we typically achieve real-world benchmark test speeds of 600MB-1000MB/s to ensure you will be completely satisfied Jupiter Mini will meet your needs.

We plan for the unthinkable and that’s why Jupiter Mini solutions come pre-configured with the TrueNAS SCALE host storage operating system. With its advanced ZFS filesystem algorithms, this innovative OS detects and alerts you to a hard drive issue well before it fails. Both the TrueNAS dashboard and email notifications will alert the administrator when a drive becomes “degraded”. You then simply contact us to verify the drive condition and initiate a drive replacement. To mitigate even brief downtime, we do recommend you purchase 1-2 cold spares of the same capacity drive and store them on-site.

TrueNAS SCALE has various RAID parity schemes to choose from based on how much drive capacity you want to commit to data protection. RAID-Z1 – which functions like RAID 5 and is the default RAID setting for Jupiter Mini – will protect your data unless two or more drives fail at the same moment. Dual parity (known as RAID-Z2) is similar to RAID 6 and protects data until three or more drives fail. Due to Jupiter Mini having five drives, we primarily recommend RAID-Z1.

Additionally, as you are the sole party responsible for personal and/or company data, you must include data redundancy in your workflow plans. In addition to the excellent data protection Jupiter Mini offers, you need to create a second and third set of data (AKA the “3-2-1 Rule”) as a sensible standard). We will discuss this matter with you in our Pre-Sale Consultation and make additional recommendations from the OWC storage ecosystem, so you have a complete one-source backup and archive solution.