QNAP ES2486DC-2142IT-96G 24-Bay Dual-Controller ZFS Enterprise NAS, SAS 12G/6G, Xeon D-2142IT 1.9GHz, 96GB RAM

QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-96G 24-Bay Dual-Controller Enterprise ZFS Storage Array

The QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-96G 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 continuous data availability is essential. Featuring dual active-active Intel Xeon D-2142IT 8-core controllers, 96GB total DDR4 ECC memory, 24 hot-swappable 12Gb/s SAS drive bays, high-speed 10GbE SFP+ connectivity and the QNAP QES ZFS-based operating system, the ES2486dc delivers the resilience, data protection and performance required for demanding enterprise workloads.

Dual Active-Active Controllers for High Availability

The QNAP ES2486dc is built around a dual active-active controller architecture, providing the redundancy required for business-critical storage environments.

Each controller operates independently and includes its own:

• Intel Xeon D processor
• ECC system memory
• Network interfaces
• PCIe expansion
• Cache-to-Flash protection
• Management connectivity

The active-active architecture helps maintain storage availability if a controller experiences a failure, reducing the risk of a single controller becoming a critical point of failure.

This makes the ES2486dc particularly suitable for organisations running workloads where storage interruption could significantly impact business operations.

Dual Intel Xeon D 8-Core Processors

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.

Across the dual-controller system, the ES2486dc therefore provides two independent enterprise-class Xeon processors dedicated to storage operations.

The processors support Intel AES-NI hardware-accelerated encryption, helping the system provide data security without unnecessarily compromising storage performance.

This processing architecture is well suited to demanding applications including:

• Enterprise virtualisation
• Database storage
• VDI
• File services
• Commercial cloud applications
• High-performance shared storage
• Business-critical application servers

96GB DDR4 ECC Memory

The ES2486dc-2142IT-96G includes 96GB of DDR4 ECC system memory, comprising 48GB installed in each controller.

ECC memory provides additional protection against memory errors, an important consideration for enterprise storage systems handling critical business data.

Each controller provides eight RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4 memory slots and supports expansion up to 512GB per controller.

This gives the complete dual-controller system a maximum supported memory capacity of 1TB.

The substantial memory expansion capability allows the ES2486dc to scale for increasingly demanding workloads and can also benefit the ZFS caching architecture.

24-Bay 12Gb/s SAS Enterprise Storage

The ES2486dc provides 24 hot-swappable 2.5-inch drive bays supporting 12Gb/s SAS, with backward compatibility for 6Gb/s SAS drives.

Supported drive types include:

• 2.5-inch SAS HDDs
• 2.5-inch SAS SSDs
• 2.5-inch SATA HDDs using QNAP QDA-SA3 adapters
• 2.5-inch SATA SSDs using QNAP QDA-SA3 adapters

The SAS architecture provides the reliability and performance expected from enterprise storage environments.

For organisations seeking high IOPS and low latency, the ES2486dc can be configured as a high-performance SAS all-flash storage array.

Optimised for SAS All-Flash Storage

QNAP positions the ES2486dc particularly strongly for 24-bay SAS all-flash deployments.

Populating the system with enterprise SAS SSDs provides a high-performance storage platform suitable for workloads requiring substantial random I/O performance and low storage latency.

Potential all-flash applications include:

• Virtual machine storage
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• Transactional databases
• Enterprise applications
• High-performance file services
• Private cloud infrastructure
• High-I/O application environments

The combination of SAS SSDs, ZFS, large memory capacity and 10GbE connectivity allows the ES2486dc to address demanding enterprise storage workloads.

Extensive 10GbE SFP+ Connectivity

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

High-speed 10GbE connectivity provides the bandwidth required for:

• Virtualisation
• High-performance storage
• Large file transfers
• Database workloads
• Data centre connectivity
• Storage networks
• Backup and replication

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

The extensive network connectivity allows the ES2486dc to integrate into redundant and high-bandwidth data centre network architectures.

PCIe Expansion for 25GbE and Additional Connectivity

Each controller provides two PCIe Gen3 x8 expansion slots, giving the system four PCIe expansion slots across its dual-controller architecture.

PCIe expansion provides flexibility for future connectivity requirements.

Supported expansion options include compatible:

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

This allows organisations to increase network bandwidth or expand storage capacity as requirements grow.

Enterprise Cache-to-Flash Protection

Each controller includes a dedicated 64GB M.2 SSD for Cache-to-Flash (C2F) protection.

The ES2486dc uses a multi-tiered caching architecture including:

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

The Cache-to-Flash mechanism helps protect cached write data during unexpected power interruptions.

Combined with battery-protected DRAM write cache, this architecture provides the data protection and performance characteristics expected from enterprise storage infrastructure.

Enterprise ZFS-Based QES Operating System

The ES2486dc runs QNAP QES, an enterprise storage operating system based on ZFS.

ZFS provides extensive data integrity and storage management capabilities designed for business-critical environments.

QES combines the data protection benefits of ZFS with QNAP's enterprise storage management functionality, providing a platform designed for demanding virtualisation, database and file storage applications.

Inline Data Deduplication and Compression

QES supports inline block-level data deduplication and inline compression, helping organisations reduce the physical storage capacity required for suitable workloads.

Deduplication can be particularly effective in environments where large amounts of identical data exist, such as:

• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• Virtual machine environments
• Repeated operating system images
• Development and testing environments
• Backup datasets

Compression can further reduce storage consumption by storing compressible data more efficiently.

Together, these technologies can increase effective storage capacity and improve the economics of enterprise flash storage.

Snapshots for Data Protection

The ZFS architecture enables the ES2486dc to support large numbers of snapshots without the limitations commonly associated with traditional storage architectures.

Snapshots provide point-in-time copies of data that can help protect against:

• Accidental deletion
• File corruption
• Unwanted changes
• Application errors
• Ransomware-related data modification

Snapshots can provide rapid recovery of files and storage volumes without requiring a complete restoration from conventional backup media.

SnapSync Remote Replication

QNAP SnapSync provides snapshot-based remote replication between compatible QNAP Enterprise ZFS systems.

SnapSync can help organisations maintain copies of critical data at another location, supporting disaster recovery and business continuity strategies.

Combined with snapshots and the ES2486dc's dual-controller architecture, this provides multiple layers of protection against storage, site and data-related failures.

Designed for Enterprise Virtualisation

The QNAP ES2486dc is designed for demanding virtualised environments where storage performance and availability are critical.

Its combination of:

• Dual active-active controllers
• Intel Xeon D processors
• ECC memory
• SAS storage
• 10GbE connectivity
• ZFS data protection
• Inline deduplication
• Inline compression
• Snapshot technology

makes it particularly suitable for shared virtualisation storage.

QNAP provides support for major enterprise virtualisation environments, allowing the ES2486dc to serve as high-performance shared storage for virtual machines and business applications.

Expandable Enterprise Storage

Storage capacity can be expanded beyond the 24 internal drive bays using compatible QNAP expansion enclosures.

SAS expansion connectivity allows organisations to increase capacity as data requirements grow without immediately replacing the primary storage platform.

This scalability makes the ES2486dc suitable for organisations expecting storage requirements to increase over time.

Redundant Enterprise Hardware Architecture

The ES2486dc has been designed to minimise single points of failure.

Enterprise resilience features include:

• Dual active-active controllers
• Redundant power supplies
• ECC memory
• Multiple network interfaces
• Hot-swappable drives
• Cache-to-Flash protection
• Battery-protected write cache
• Redundant system architecture

This makes the system suitable for environments where storage availability is critical to ongoing operations.

Ideal Applications for the QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-96G

The ES2486dc-2142IT-96G is particularly well suited to:

• Enterprise virtualisation
• VMware environments
• Microsoft virtualisation
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• Database storage
• Enterprise file servers
• High-performance shared storage
• Private cloud infrastructure
• SAS all-flash storage
• Business-critical applications
• Data centre storage
• Backup and disaster recovery
• High-availability storage
• Commercial cloud applications

Technical Specifications

Specification	Details
Model	QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-96G
Product Type	Dual-Controller Enterprise ZFS Storage Array
Form Factor	2U rackmount
Controller Modules	2
Controller Architecture	Dual active-active
CPU	2 × Intel Xeon D-2142IT
CPU per Controller	8-core / 16-thread
CPU Frequency	1.90GHz, up to 3.0GHz
CPU Architecture	64-bit x86
Encryption Engine	AES-NI
Total System Memory	96GB DDR4 ECC
Memory per Controller	48GB RDIMM DDR4 ECC
Memory Configuration per Controller	4 × 4GB + 4 × 8GB RDIMM
Maximum Memory	1TB total
Maximum Memory per Controller	512GB
Memory Slots	16 total / 8 per controller
Flash Memory	4GB dual-boot OS protection
Drive Bays	24 × 2.5-inch
Drive Interface	12Gb/s SAS, backward compatible with 6Gb/s SAS
SAS HDD Support	Yes
SAS SSD Support	Yes
SATA HDD/SSD Support	Yes, QDA-SA3 adapter required
Hot-Swappable Drives	Yes
SSD Cache Acceleration	Yes
L1 ARC	RAM
L2 ARC	SSD
ZIL Write Cache	NVRAM with C2F
Cache-to-Flash	1 × 64GB M.2 SSD per controller
10GbE	4 × 10GbE SFP+ per controller / 8 total
Gigabit Ethernet	3 × RJ45 per controller / 6 total
Remote Management	Dedicated via one Gigabit interface per controller
PCIe Expansion	2 × PCIe Gen3 x8 per controller / 4 total
Network Expansion	Compatible 10GbE/25GbE adapters
SAS Expansion	Supported
USB	2 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 per controller, engineering purposes
Operating System	QNAP QES, ZFS-based
Inline Deduplication	Yes
Inline Compression	Yes
Snapshots	Yes
SnapSync	Yes
Power Supply	Redundant
Dimensions	Approx. 88.3 × 446.4 × 504.3mm
Net Weight	Approx. 23.4kg

ES2486dc-2142IT-96G vs ES2486dc-2142IT-128G

The principal difference between the two ES2486dc configurations is the amount of factory-installed ECC memory.

Feature	ES2486dc-2142IT-96G	ES2486dc-2142IT-128G
Total Installed Memory	96GB	128GB
Memory per Controller	48GB	64GB
Controllers	2	2
CPU per Controller	Xeon D-2142IT 8-core	Xeon D-2142IT 8-core
Maximum Total Memory	1TB	1TB
Drive Bays	24 × 2.5-inch SAS	24 × 2.5-inch SAS
10GbE SFP+	8 total	8 total
Dual Active-Active	Yes	Yes
QES / ZFS	Yes	Yes

For organisations that do not initially require the additional memory of the 128GB configuration, the 96GB model provides the same core processing, storage, networking and high-availability architecture while retaining substantial memory expansion capability.

Why Choose the QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-96G?

The QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-96G combines enterprise-class availability, high-performance SAS storage and advanced ZFS data protection in a compact 2U platform.

Dual active-active controllers help keep storage services available during controller failures, while two Intel Xeon D-2142IT processors and 96GB of ECC memory provide the processing resources required for demanding enterprise workloads.

Twenty-four 12Gb/s SAS bays provide a flexible platform for high-performance SAS SSD storage, while eight 10GbE SFP+ interfaces across the system provide substantial network bandwidth for virtualisation, database and data centre applications.

QES adds ZFS-based snapshots, SnapSync replication, inline deduplication and compression, while battery-protected write cache and Cache-to-Flash technology help protect critical in-flight data.

For organisations requiring high-availability virtualisation storage, enterprise SAS all-flash performance or resilient business-critical shared storage, the QNAP ES2486dc-2142IT-96G provides a powerful and scalable dual-controller solution.