QNAP ES2486DC-2142IT-128G 24-Bay Enterprise ZFS NAS, 2.5in. SAS 12G/6G, Xeon D-2142IT 1.9GHz CPU

QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-128G 24-Bay Dual-Controller Enterprise ZFS Storage Array

The QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-128G is a high-availability 24-bay dual-controller Enterprise ZFS storage array designed for mission-critical applications, virtualisation, databases, VDI, and enterprise storage environments where reliability and continuous data access are essential. Featuring dual active-active controllers, two Intel Xeon D-2142IT 8-core processors, 128GB total DDR4 ECC memory, 24 hot-swappable 12Gb/s SAS drive bays, and eight 10GbE SFP+ interfaces across the system, the ES2486dc combines enterprise-class availability with high-performance storage and advanced ZFS data protection.

Dual Active-Active Controllers for High Availability

The QNAP ES2486dc is built around a dual active-active controller architecture designed to eliminate the storage controller as a single point of failure.

Both controllers operate simultaneously, with each providing independent processing, memory, networking, and storage management resources. If one controller becomes unavailable, the other controller can take over services, helping maintain access to critical storage and applications.

This makes the ES2486dc particularly suitable for:

• Enterprise virtualisation
• Mission-critical databases
• VMware environments
• Microsoft Hyper-V
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• High-availability application platforms
• Enterprise iSCSI storage
• Business-critical file services
• Data centre infrastructure

For organisations where storage downtime can directly impact business operations, the dual-controller architecture provides a significantly more resilient alternative to conventional single-controller NAS storage.

24-Bay 12Gb/s SAS Enterprise Storage

The ES2486dc provides 24 × 2.5-inch hot-swappable 12Gb/s SAS drive bays, supporting enterprise SAS hard drives and solid-state drives.

The system is particularly well suited to all-flash SAS SSD configurations, providing high IOPS and low latency for demanding virtualisation, database, and enterprise application workloads.

The drive bays support:

• 2.5-inch 12Gb/s SAS SSDs
• 2.5-inch 12Gb/s SAS HDDs
• 2.5-inch 6Gb/s SAS drives
• 2.5-inch SATA HDDs using QNAP QDA-SA3 adapters
• 2.5-inch SATA SSDs using QNAP QDA-SA3 adapters

SAS 12Gb/s provides enterprise-class storage connectivity and is backward compatible with SAS 6Gb/s devices.

Note: SATA drives require a QNAP QDA-SA3 drive adapter when installed in the ES2486dc.

Optimised for SAS All-Flash Applications

While the ES2486dc supports both HDD and SSD storage configurations, QNAP has specifically designed the platform to provide strong performance for SAS all-flash applications.

When populated with enterprise SAS SSDs, the ES2486dc is particularly suited to workloads requiring high random I/O performance and consistent low-latency storage access.

Typical all-flash applications include:

• High-density server virtualisation
• Enterprise databases
• Transaction processing
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• High-performance iSCSI storage
• Business-critical applications
• Large-scale simultaneous user workloads

This makes the ES2486dc an attractive platform for organisations wanting enterprise dual-controller availability without moving to a higher-cost NVMe storage architecture.

Dual Intel Xeon D 8-Core Processing

Each controller is powered by an Intel Xeon D-2142IT 8-core/16-thread processor operating at 1.90GHz with burst speeds up to 3.0GHz.

With an independent Xeon processor in each controller, the ES2486dc provides substantial processing resources for enterprise storage services and demanding simultaneous workloads.

The 64-bit x86 processors also include Intel AES-NI hardware encryption acceleration, helping maintain performance when storage encryption is used.

128GB DDR4 ECC Memory

The ES2486dc-2142IT-128G includes 128GB of DDR4 ECC memory across the system, configured as 64GB per controller.

Each controller is supplied with four 16GB DDR4 ECC RDIMMs and provides eight RDIMM/LRDIMM memory slots.

Memory can be expanded to:

• 512GB per controller
• 1TB maximum across the complete dual-controller system

ECC memory helps detect and correct memory errors before they affect system operations or data integrity, making it particularly important for mission-critical enterprise storage.

The substantial memory expansion capability also provides headroom for larger virtualisation, database, deduplication, and caching workloads.

Eight 10GbE SFP+ Interfaces

Each ES2486dc controller provides four 10GbE SFP+ interfaces, giving the complete dual-controller system a total of eight 10GbE SFP+ ports.

High-speed 10GbE connectivity provides the bandwidth required for demanding applications such as:

• Virtualisation clusters
• High-speed backup and recovery
• Enterprise databases
• Large file transfers
• iSCSI SAN storage
• VDI
• Data centre applications

Each controller also provides three Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 interfaces, with one assigned for remote management.

Multiple network interfaces allow resilient storage network architectures to be created while providing substantial aggregate bandwidth for simultaneous workloads.

PCIe Expansion for 25GbE and Additional Connectivity

Each controller provides two PCIe Gen 3 x8 expansion slots, giving the complete system four PCIe expansion slots.

These can be used to expand the ES2486dc according to application requirements, including adding compatible:

• 10GbE network adapters
• 25GbE network adapters
• SAS expansion adapters

This provides an upgrade path for organisations requiring greater network bandwidth or additional storage expansion as their infrastructure grows.

Cache-to-Flash Protection

Storage write cache can significantly improve performance, but cached data must remain protected if power is unexpectedly lost.

The ES2486dc incorporates Cache-to-Flash (C2F) protection, with each controller equipped with a dedicated 64GB M.2 SSD.

The storage architecture provides:

• L1 ARC read cache using RAM
• L2 ARC read cache using SSD
• ZIL write cache
• Cache-to-Flash protection

This helps combine high storage performance with the data protection required for enterprise and mission-critical workloads.

Enterprise ZFS-Based QES Operating System

The ES2486dc runs QNAP QES, QNAP's enterprise storage operating system designed specifically for its dual-controller enterprise storage platforms.

Built around ZFS, QES provides advanced data integrity, storage efficiency, and data protection capabilities.

Key enterprise storage technologies include:

• ZFS-based storage architecture
• End-to-end data integrity
• Block-based inline deduplication
• Inline compression
• Thin provisioning
• Snapshots
• SnapSync
• SSD optimisation
• Storage pools
• Enterprise access controls
• iSCSI storage
• NAS file services

Inline deduplication and compression can significantly reduce the amount of physical storage consumed by workloads containing duplicate or compressible data.

This can be particularly valuable in virtualisation and VDI environments where many virtual machines contain identical operating system and application data.

Inline Deduplication and Compression

The QES operating system supports block-based inline data deduplication and inline compression, reducing the amount of data that needs to be written to the underlying storage.

For SSD-based deployments, reducing unnecessary writes can provide two important benefits:

• More efficient use of available SSD capacity
• Reduced SSD write activity, potentially extending SSD service life

Deduplication can be especially effective for:

• Virtual machine storage
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• Operating system images
• Test and development environments
• Repetitive enterprise datasets

This makes the ES2486dc particularly attractive for organisations deploying large virtualised environments on SAS flash storage.

Snapshots and SnapSync for Data Protection

QES provides advanced snapshot functionality to protect critical data against accidental deletion, corruption, application problems, and other unexpected events.

Snapshots create point-in-time versions of storage data that can be used for rapid recovery without requiring a complete duplicate copy of the primary dataset.

For disaster recovery and business continuity, SnapSync enables snapshot data to be replicated to another compatible QNAP enterprise storage system.

This allows organisations to maintain secondary copies of critical storage at another location and can significantly reduce recovery time following infrastructure failure.

Designed for Enterprise Virtualisation

The combination of dual active-active controllers, SAS storage, large ECC memory capacity, high-speed 10GbE networking, and ZFS makes the ES2486dc particularly well suited to enterprise virtualisation.

Typical applications include:

• VMware vSphere
• Microsoft Hyper-V
• Citrix virtualisation
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• Enterprise iSCSI SAN storage
• Database virtualisation
• Private cloud infrastructure
• High-availability application storage

An all-flash SAS configuration can provide the high random I/O performance required when large numbers of virtual machines simultaneously access shared storage.

Storage Expansion for Growing Environments

The ES2486dc is designed for enterprise environments where storage requirements may grow over time.

Compatible QNAP SAS expansion enclosures can be connected through appropriate SAS expansion adapters, allowing additional storage capacity to be added while maintaining centralised management through the ES2486dc.

This allows organisations to begin with the 24 internal drive bays and expand the storage environment as capacity requirements increase.

Redundant Enterprise Hardware Architecture

High availability extends beyond the dual active-active storage controllers.

The ES2486dc incorporates enterprise redundancy throughout the platform, including:

• Dual active-active controllers
• Redundant hot-swappable power supplies
• Hot-swappable system cooling fans
• Dual-controller SAS storage architecture
• Cache-to-Flash protection
• Multiple network interfaces
• Enterprise ECC memory

This comprehensive approach to redundancy makes the ES2486dc suitable for organisations that require storage infrastructure designed around continuous availability.

Ideal Applications for the QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-128G

The ES2486dc-2142IT-128G is particularly well suited to:

• Enterprise data centres
• Mission-critical storage
• VMware and Hyper-V virtualisation
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• Enterprise databases
• High-performance SAS all-flash storage
• iSCSI SAN environments
• Business-critical applications
• Private cloud infrastructure
• High-availability file services
• Enterprise backup and recovery
• Organisations requiring dual-controller storage redundancy

Technical Specifications

Specification	Details
Model	QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-128G
Product Type	Dual-Controller Enterprise ZFS NAS
Form Factor	2U Rackmount
Controller Architecture	Dual active-active
Number of Controllers	2
Processor	2 × Intel Xeon D-2142IT
Processor per Controller	Intel Xeon D-2142IT, 8-core/16-thread, 1.90GHz, up to 3.0GHz
CPU Architecture	64-bit x86
Encryption Acceleration	Intel AES-NI
Installed Memory	128GB DDR4 ECC total
Memory per Controller	64GB RDIMM DDR4 ECC (4 × 16GB)
Memory Slots	8 × RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4 per controller / 16 total
Maximum Memory	512GB per controller / 1TB total
Flash Memory	4GB dual-boot OS protection
Drive Bays	24 × 2.5-inch hot-swappable
Drive Interface	SAS 12Gb/s, backward compatible with SAS 6Gb/s
SAS HDD Support	Yes
SAS SSD Support	Yes
SATA HDD/SSD Support	Yes – QNAP QDA-SA3 adapter required
SSD Cache Acceleration	Yes
Cache-to-Flash	64GB M.2 SSD per controller
10GbE Networking	4 × 10GbE SFP+ per controller / 8 total
Gigabit Ethernet	3 × GbE RJ45 per controller
PCIe Expansion	2 × PCIe Gen 3 x8 per controller / 4 total
USB	2 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 per controller – engineering use
Storage OS	QNAP QES
Storage Architecture	ZFS
Inline Deduplication	Yes
Inline Compression	Yes
Snapshot Support	Yes
SnapSync	Yes
Block Storage	iSCSI
File Services	Enterprise NAS file services
Expansion Support	SAS expansion via compatible expansion adapters/enclosures
Power Supplies	Redundant hot-swappable
Cooling	Hot-swappable system fans
High Availability	Dual active-active controller architecture

Why Choose the QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-128G?

The QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-128G provides an attractive combination of enterprise high availability, SAS storage flexibility, all-flash performance, and advanced ZFS data protection.

Its dual active-active controller architecture is designed to maintain storage availability if a controller fails, while 24 hot-swappable 12Gb/s SAS bays provide the flexibility to build high-performance all-flash arrays or other enterprise SAS storage configurations.

Dual Intel Xeon D processors, 128GB of ECC memory, eight 10GbE SFP+ interfaces across the system, PCIe expansion, Cache-to-Flash protection, and redundant enterprise hardware provide a strong foundation for demanding virtualisation, database, VDI, and mission-critical workloads.

The ZFS-based QES operating system adds inline deduplication, inline compression, snapshots, SnapSync, thin provisioning, and advanced data integrity capabilities, helping organisations improve storage efficiency while protecting critical business data.

For organisations that require the resilience of dual active-active controllers but prefer proven enterprise SAS storage rather than NVMe, the QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-128G provides a powerful and cost-effective platform for high-availability enterprise storage.