Administration Interface Part#1

Once you finished the initial configuration, you will be taken to the web login page through which you can access the administration interface. The login page is in HTML, but there is also a pretty nice iteration in Flash.


The administration interface looks rather old-fashioned, especially compared to Synology's and QNAP's implementations, but it is incredibly responsive and includes all the necessary tools to get the job done well. That said, we look forward to when Thecus follows the same road as the competition by offering a more polished and windowed interface with widget support and icons. Feel free to try the Thecus OS out in an online demo found here.

Near the top-right corner of the administration interface are the favorites, shutdown, and log-out buttons, and, on top of them, the language menu with 14 available languages, a news feed button, and the system log.


Once we logged in, the system informed us of some errors that had occurred.

System Information

You will see the NAS server's model number and firmware version in the General tab, along with its up time.


Status allows you to check the state of various services and the status of all installed hardware (CPU/memory activity, temperatures, network transfer data information etc.).


This is the system log, and it is very useful if something is going wrong and you want to find out why.


You can register your NAS online through Online Registration.


Syslog Management will generate a system log that can be stored locally or on a remote server. It can also act as a Syslog server to other devices, a useful function for a network with lots of clients.


The System Monitor does what its name implies: It monitors CPU/memory utilization, fan and temperature status, network throughput, and lists all on-line users.


The Hardware Information option is like the device manager of Windows: It gives information on hardware, including the CPU model, the amount of RAM installed, and the USB, Network, and Disk controllers.

System Management

The first five tabs of the System Management group allow you to set the time and date of the NAS, configure notification options, perform a firmware update, make a schedule for powering on/off the NAS, and change the administrator password, which you should do frequently to maximize protection.


The other settings allow you to save and restore the NAS configuration, perform a reset to factory defaults, shutdown or restart the system, and set the system's action once it recovers from an AC power loss. You can also check the file system, which takes a reboot, enable the Wake on Lan and SNMP services, and adjust the UI Login Configuration settings through which you can enable/disable the Web Disk, Photo Server, and Modules functions.

System Network

The Networking option displays all network parameters and allows you to change them, and the DHCP/RADVD menu shows every available NIC status. If a static IP has been used, the NIC can be configured to act as a DHCP/RADVD server.


The N5550 comes with two Ethernet ports you can then link to act as one, which increases network throughput or reliability. Successfully exploiting the Link Aggregation protocols for a speed increase requires a compatible switch.


The problem with network settings is that even the smallest change takes a lengthy reboot. During testing, we performed numerous reboots, which took forever. Thecus should then find either a way to speed up the reboot process or not make it a must-do for even minor changes.

Storage & RAID Management

Disk Information allows you to check on the installed disks, see the S.M.A.R.T information, and perform a bad block scan. You can also set the disk deactivation time here. Thecus should add smaller available time periods since the shortest available unit is 30 minutes. All attached external disks will also be displayed on this page.


RAID Management displays all existing RAID volumes and allows you to create a new one. You can also perform a few operations to existing ones, including the expansion of volumes or setting a global hot spare. If you want to create a new RAID array fast by skipping the HDD check, a time consuming but sometimes essential procedure, put a tick into the Quick Raid box in Step #3. Doing so will speed things up considerably.


Creating a new RAID array is very easy with the Thecus N5550. Editing an existing one is also a piece of cake.


The storage of this NAS can be expanded by using the stackable function. Exploit this function to expand the capacity of the NAS by using up to five other stack target volumes at different network locations. This is a really cool feature!


ISO Mount allows users to mount an ISO file and have the export name display all the details of the mounted ISO file.


The system administrator will access the Shared Folder menu often. It allows the creation and configuration of shared folders on the NAS. Simply declare a folder as public if you want a folder to be accessed by everyone.


Click on the iSCSI tab if you want to specify the space allocated for iSCSI. The N5550 allows for up to 15 iSCSI targets.