NAS recomendations

[jbailey]

Hello,

 

I am looking for some help on suggestion for some NAS boxes for backup use.

 

Currently I backup server and user data to servers on site in a separate location to server room, not what I want to be doing and ideally want to have something to go off site.

 

Servers to backup are virtualised, I currently do file level and image based backups. I use Dpm 2012 and phd virtual backup systems for this.

 

I am testing with Dpm to Azure off site backups to see what costs are like for sending user data to azure, but would want to backup server data\images to something I can take off site.

 

have previously used tape loaders at other schools but don't really want a tape loader system if I can avoid it.

 

SIMS\SMT\Finance data goes off site to Rbuss, but don't really want to pay LEA for more storage for that.

 

So I am thinking of 2 identical NAS boxes (possibly a reserve diskless unit in store) and having one off site with a clone of all server images and having one on site getting updated with new images, then swapping them every week\month\half term etc to fit DR plan.

 

This wouldn't replace the backups we are doing on-site\rbuss\azure but would be in addition to them to provide better DR options and I plane on cloning the server images to an offsite server to store for long term data retention\test\DR purposes.

 

So,

 

I don't have a lot experience with NAS boxes to be honest, I inherited some drobo boxes here but have replaced them with server based storage as I didn't like them much.

 

I would need something "pro\enterprise" rather than "home\soho".

 

Don't really want to go down the micro server type root, would prefer something witch embedded OS rather than a windows box.

 

need some form of reliable raid for the boxes 1\5 and nested options ideally, need to take at least 4 x 2 or 4 tb drives, and hot swap components would be good.

 

need to be able to carry it to my car so not a rack mount and reasonably robust.

 

needs to be 1gb ISCSI plus usb 2\3 would be good as a fall back and work with a server > switch > nas type setup.

 

other features like file server\networking\ftp etc. would be handy but not essential.

 

Want to buy them driverless and add my own choice of drives.

 

I see some people have used qnap and synology devices, but not sure what kind of performance \build quality these are?

 

Have found the following unit, which looks suitable in features \price, qnap stuff seems a bit cheaper but more home user focused?

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Synology-DS412-DiskStation-Diskless-Enclosure/dp/B007JLE84C

 

open to suggestions

 

thanks in advance

[PotNoodleTech]

Having just bought two Synology DS2413+ to use for backup - they are outstanding. I am so suprised at how easy to set up and just plain fast they are. Shoved a load of 4TB drives in there and they can max out a 1GB link on both reads and writes which I was not expecting. Not only do I have 5x the backup space I had begfore, it's also perfroming the backups 4x as fast on average!

[seawolf]

A MicroATX FreeNAS server with 4-5 drives for storage and a USB or small SSD drive for the OS, 16GB of RAM, a good i3 processor, and dual NIC would fit the bill nicely.

 

I built one of these last year with 7.8TB of usable storage on 4 Enterprise SATA drives and a 16GB SSD in a very nice Liam Li case and vey high quality fans and PSU for $1,600 all up. FreeNAS is ZFS, so it's easy to expand the storage later as well. You can also get a ixsystems to build you a commercially supported model to your specs for a reasonable cost, but it will cost a little more than a DIY (but not much).

 

Synology make a good unit, but you won't get as much performance or bang for your buck as a FreeNAS box. The FreeNAS can do NFS, iSCSI, SMB, AFP, and FTP. It also has built in UPS support and is far more flexible than any black box system.

[seawolf]

Here's a FreeNAS Mini unit from ixSystems that is similar to what I built. They do ship overseas and support is good when needed (rarely needed)

 

http://www.ixsystems.com/storage/freenas/

[ReBoot]

I would get an HP Microserver available at £100 with current cashback offer. Add your disks and install OpenFiler - I prefer OpenFiler to FreeNAS although its a bit more tricky to setup. I wouldn't buy Netgear - currently using one of these and the perfromance is not that good.

[seawolf]

I would get an HP Microserver available at £100 with current cashback offer. Add your disks and install OpenFiler - I prefer OpenFiler to FreeNAS although its a bit more tricky to setup. I wouldn't buy Netgear - currently using one of these and the perfromance is not that good.

 

HP Microserver might be good value. Haven't used one, but the price seems right if they have enough RAM and quality guts.

 

I would recommend against OpenFiler though in a strong way - http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/373443-why-we-recommend-against-openfiler

[Oaktech]

I asked about synology before and the response came back 'synology makes baby jesus cry' so I didn't get it.

 

We are currently using freenas, however we are expecting to use either a WD Arkeia or QNAP, or possibly an EMC Datadomain in the near future.

[zag]

Synology are currently best of for speed, Qnap is another alternative. Edited February 25, 2014 by zag

[3s-gtech]

Just bought a Synology DS1513+. It is mega fast, mega complex, and a pretty awesome piece of kit. Costly, but it has 15TB inside.

 

Also seriously impressed with Netgear ReadyNAS Pro stuff (Atom powered ones).

[PotNoodleTech]

I asked about synology before and the response came back 'synology makes baby jesus cry' so I didn't get it..

 

He was crying tears of joy I think.

[bossman]

Just purchased Synology RS3614xs+ Rackstation

 

Installing next week when it arrives (Can't wait)

 

Was going to go with QNAP at first but was swayed by the new stuff which Synology has introduced, 34TB of raw storage will probably go RAID6 which equates to around 28TB formatted storage,

 

Should last us a while hehe!

[abillybob]

+1 for the HP Microserver. That is what we have here with 8TB storage works like a little gem

I would get an HP Microserver available at £100 with current cashback offer. Add your disks and install OpenFiler - I prefer OpenFiler to FreeNAS although its a bit more tricky to setup. I wouldn't buy Netgear - currently using one of these and the perfromance is not that good.

[PotNoodleTech]

Just purchased Synology RS3614xs+ Rackstation

 

Installing next week when it arrives (Can't wait)

 

Was going to go with QNAP at first but was swayed by the new stuff which Synology has introduced, 34TB of raw storage will probably go RAID6 which equates to around 28TB formatted storage,

 

Should last us a while hehe!

 

Let us know how it goes. Im so impressed with the SOHO stuff that I'm going to be looking at the rackmount Synology for production storage from 2015 onwards.

[jbailey]

thanks,

 

we have used the hp micro servers at other sites for backups, but hand thought of using free nas \open filer on one - thanks.

 

That would be a cheap option, but ideally I want something I can hassle someone to send a replacement for if it breaks, not get bounced between the box maker and the software maker etc.

 

have used free nas before and liked it, like the idea of a supported box from them, have asked for a quote.

 

I am certainly going to have a play tonight with free nas on my home hp micro server to see what its like as not used it for a number of years.

 

Still think the Synology boxes look good and possibly stretching to the more advanced 5 bay would probably fit costs wise - at a push, what's all the crying about I wonder? will search.

 

given me a bit to think about, thank you.