In Active-Active storage system architecture, both controllers can provide a comprehensive range of services, which is different from the Active-Standby architecture of single-controller systems. An advantage of Active-Active architecture is the lack of idle computing resources. To leverage the strengths of the ES2486dc Active-Active controller architecture, QNAP recommends creating multiple storage pools and distributing ownership between both controllers to enable simultaneous output from both controllers for improved load balancing.

The ES2486dc provides two PCIe Gen 3.0 x8 slots connected to the CPU, allowing you to install lightning-fast 10GbE/25GbE network cards to boost virtualization, media streaming, and other bandwidth-demanding applications. Installing a Smart NIC that supports iSER can improve VMware® virtualization performance. You can also install a SAS expansion card ( SAS-12G2E ) for connecting up to seven 16-bay EJ1600 v2 expansion enclosures to seamlessly expand potential storage capacity to over 1PB, with unprecedented performance of up to 48 Gbps per host connection.

Designed with a focus on data integrity, the QES-based ES2486dc uses its end-to-end checksums to detect and correct silent data corruption caused by hardware defects, firmware bugs or metadata errors. If data integrity violations are detected, QES automatically repairs the data with data from the other mirror before passing it to applications.