Need advice NAS acquisition advice for gfernandes: enthusiast, 1000

[gfernandes]

Usage type: enthusiast

Preferred form factor DS (DiskStation)

Number of bays: 2-bays

Do you have any existing drives that you plan on using? Yes

Prefered RAID array setup for this NAS: SHR

This NAS will be used for: backup, multimedia, business (virtual machines, mail, office, etc.), surveillance, utilities (docker, VPN, reverse proxy, web hosting, etc.)

Max budget for this setup: 1000

Number of users that will utilize this NAS: 6

Any preferred network connectivity? 10G

Where will this NAS be used: LAN and over the Internet

Any special network requirements: (DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION)

Special cloud provider connectivity: (DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION)

 

[Telos]

DS720+... if possible to "future proof"... DS920+

 

[Rusty]

2 bay in a 10G configuration does not exist but for 1000 (what $, €,,,) you can get a much beefier device with more bays as well. Def consider 920 or even something bigger if you will be using your existing drives.

 

[fredbert]

The fewest number of bays that even support addition of 10G card is: desktop 'DS' 6 bays; rackable 'RS' 4 bays.
Desktop NAS supporting 10G card or include 10GbE

Otherwise there are plenty of NAS that have dual or quad 1GbE interfaces that can be bonded together. Some options require a suitable managed switch, but others can be done with an unmanaged switch.
Dual 1GbE desktop NAS
Quad 1GbE desktop NAS

DSM link aggregation

For the range of uses then a plus (DSnnnn+) series NAS should be the minimum. Also consider increasing the RAM.

Synology offers two mail service solutions, both have SMTP, IMAP, POP, and webmail plus AV and anti-spam:

• Mail Server and Mail Station
  • Free for unlimited users
  • Mail Station webmail based on RoundCube v1.3
    • No link to any CardDAV contacts/addressbook service
  • Adding a mail catch-all requires editing the Mail Server configuration files via SSH (see my post in Resources)
  • A user's mailbox folder, .Maildir, is placed in their home folder. Most file sharing clients hide '.' items but File Station shows it... could lead to being 'cleaned up' by the user. I've avoided this by setting up LDAP Server and giving each user with a second LDAP user account that is limited to using Mail Server/Station and managing their password.
• MailPlus Server and MailPlus
  • User licence model
    • Included is a free 5 user licence (assign the NAS user accounts)
    • Extra licences, 5 and 20 user, are expensive, e.g. a 5 user licence is well over £200
    • Two NAS running MailPlus Server in a high-availability configuration combine free licences so you have 10.
  • MailPlus webmail is an improvement to Mail Station and from a user's experience is the main/only difference
    • Looks to be a re-worked and re-themed RoundCube
    • Links to Synology Contacts
  • MailPlus Server support adding catch-all accounts for its mail domains, via the admin GUI.
  • There's a prettier interface with graphical reporting
  • Mailbox folders are not in the user's home but in a separate shared folder for all MailPlus Server's data.
  • The high-availability setup with two NAS requires MailPlus Server to be using LDAP (e.g. directory) user accounts, not local DSM user accounts.

You want six users so will have to decide which of these is the better option. Personally I would use MailPlus if I could reduce my seven users to five as it would mean I can stop using LDAP accounts. However, I could create a HA MailPlus with my two NAS but that still means I have to use LDAP accounts ... so more complex and nothing much saved in return.

 

[gfernandes]

2 bay in a 10G configuration does not exist but for 1000 (what $, €,,,) you can get a much beefier device with more bays as well. Def consider 920 or even something bigger if you will be using your existing drives.

Terramaster

 

[Rusty]

Terramaster

O my! /faints

 

[gfernandes]

The main reason for the 10GbE is bandwidth for iSCSI. It works so well on my DS218+ that I can't even imagine why it doesn't support higher throughput rates.

 

[jeyare]

@gfernandes

in your case is 10Gbps NIC absolutely pointless:

1. two fast SSDs in RAID1 never utilize the 10Gbps NIC
just imagine 10Gbps = 10 240 Mbps = 1 280 MB/s
for such performance you need two NVMe (unsupported format) in RAID1, then you can really forget for more than 30% utilization with SSDs in best case with RAID1 (SLC fast SSDs). Don’t mention of usage for random writing and reading during lot of parallel IOPS. OMG
- there possible utilization of 50% performance just with two SSDs really fast in RAID0. No low cost QLC SSDs. You need prepare +700EUR for single 2TB drive.

2. Even the CPU will be a brake for your fast 10Gbps NIC in your Terramaster.

3. be aware about iSCSI and pure block transfer.

Btw: Terramaster is one of the brands specialized for catching of more and more vulnerabilities in time. They are really good in this way.

There is just single 2bay Terramaster NAS with 10G NIC - F2-422 contains Intel Celeron J3455. This CPU supports PCIexpress revision 2.0 x4 lanes. What is absolutely out of full 10Gbps support. Just max 2Gbps. So have nice experiences with that.

So this is common example of unprepared plan for new NAS.

 

[gfernandes]

@gfernandes

in your case is 10Gbps NIC absolutely pointless:

1. two fast SSDs in RAID1 never utilize the 10Gbps NIC
just imagine 10Gbps = 10 240 Mbps = 1 280 MB/s
for such performance you need two NVMe (unsupported format) in RAID1, then you can really forget for more than 30% utilization with SSDs in best case with RAID1 (SLC fast SSDs). Don’t mention of usage for random writing and reading during lot of parallel IOPS. OMG
- there possible utilization of 50% performance just with two SSDs really fast in RAID0. No low cost QLC SSDs. You need prepare +700EUR for single 2TB drive.

2. Even the CPU will be a brake for your fast 10Gbps NIC in your Terramaster.

3. be aware about iSCSI and pure block transfer.

Btw: Terramaster is one of the brands specialized for catching of more and more vulnerabilities in time. They are really good in this way.

There is just single 2bay Terramaster NAS with 10G NIC - F2-422 contains Intel Celeron J3455. This CPU supports PCIexpress revision 2.0 x4 lanes. What is absolutely out of full 10Gbps support. Just max 2Gbps. So have nice experiences with that.

So this is common example of unprepared plan for new NAS.

Chill, I was just kidding about terramaster. But you're oversimplifying the question about the 10GbE. The point is: with 1GbE, almost any drive can hit the limit. If you go to 2.5 or 5GbE, you'll spend as much as with a 10GbE, so it's better to go for 10.

 

[jeyare]

still out of efficiency with 2bay NAS from all possible aspects.

don’t mention about cost of 10G switch + 10G NICs on both sides vs 4x1G in LACP and just 5G NIC at computer side include 1G switch (LACP support).

 

[Rusty]

Play nice boys... Dont make me close another thread.

People have the right to spend their cash and others have right to comment on that. Let’s try and get arguments out in the open and try not to stress too much about it.

10G is getting (or is) very cheep these days so soon everyone will have it, so it’s understandable that people will jump on it 1st chance they get even if they can’t utilize it to the fullest.

Still back in the mail topic here, in Syno world atm there is no “small” device with 10G, so you will have to either look for another brand or go for a more powerful model @gfernandes