As virtualization becomes more and more popular even in home / power user settings, the importance of the iSCSI feature set of any COTS NAS can't be overstated. Starting with our ioSafe 1513+ review, we have started devoting a separate section (in the reviews of NAS units targeting SMBs and SMEs) to the evaluation of iSCSI performance. Since we have already looked at the way iSCSI LUNs are implemented in DSM in the ioSafe 1513+ review, it won't be discussed in detail.
We evaluated the performance of the DS1815+ with file-based LUNs as well as configuring a RAID-5 disk group in multiple LUNs mode and single LUN mode. The standard IOMeter benchmarks that we used for multi-client CIFS evaluation were utilized for iSCSI evaluation also. The main difference to note is that the CIFS evaluation was performed on a mounted network share, while the iSCSI evaluation was done on a 'clean physical disk' (from the viewpoint of the virtual machine).
Performance Numbers
The four IOMeter traces were run on the physical disk manifested by mapping the iSCSI target on each VM. The benchmarking started with one VM accessing the NAS. The number of VMs simultaneously playing out the trace was incremented one by one till we had all 25 VMs in the fray. Detailed listings of the IOMeter benchmark numbers (including IOPS and maximum response times) for each configuration are linked below:
Since the number of NAS units that we have put through this evaluation is limited, we have a couple of 4-bay NAS units in the comparison drop-downs above. Unfortunately, we have no graphs for apples-to-apples comparison. That said, we do see the 'single LUN on RAID' mode delivering the best performance. For some strange reason, the multiple LUNs on RAID configuration is never able to take advantage of the bonded network ports. Even the simultaneous multi-client sequential reads test always stay below 125 MBps.
File-based LUNs give maximum flexibility - thin provisioning, support for VMWare VAAI and Windows ODX. The latest versions of DSM have improved on the iSCSI feature set quite a bit. Synology's competitors have a bit of catching up to do in the iSCSI feature set area.
As more NAS units are processed, we hope this section will provide readers with a way to quickly get an idea of the competitive performance of a particular NAS unit when it comes to iSCSI support.
The thing is, no business is going to base a NAS on hardware that's "going to goodwill anyhow" unless they're run on a shoestring budget or one that doesn't comprehend data integrity. $750 is worth the time because it gives you the following with Synology:
-Easy setup -Easy replication to a second Synology -Easy migration from a failing NAS -Easy reporting/monitoring for small to medium business -Easy administration for a business that doesn't have your level of IT knowledge
This product isn't for you, but actually, the Synology DSM operating system *is* a proven OS; it's at version 5.1 now. The argument for purchasing one is the same as the argument for buying a server over building your own --in business, there's good reason for letting someone else do that part of the work for you, so you can concentrate on, you know, --business.
I don't know any business that would use these as secure NAS storage anyhow. Businesses have an entirely different type of storage, far faster, more secure, and actually quite larger. The last bank we bought is a simple rack configured for 24 drives in volumes of 12 that you can use any way you choose. These are for consumers, not businesses.
And for the record, I don't work with hardware, I write software by trade. Although my direct trade has nothing to do with helping me learn to set these up. That knowledge came from a few minutes on Google and I can follow instructions. I've also fixed a failed array, moved them to new hardware, etc. ZFS is actually one of the oldest and most secure RAID type format, originally created for Solaris/Sun systems very long ago. The nice thing about modern ZSF arrays is how easy they are to recover, unlike hardware-raid options which even putting the drives in an identical controller might not work.
And all of your bullets are easily covered by the combination accept the last which, honestly, if your level of IT is that low in any company, you should be out-sourcing all of your storage and IT needs and not even trying to do this alone. But it would be almost questionable why any company that small would need live, fast storage like this. New cloud services are generally far more their cup-of-tea for the very small businesses. Literally buy it and forget it, use it like a drive within your company, fully encrypted, etc. and surprisingly quick considering. Even my extremely large company has a few online storage systems for the 'very cheap' departments to use instead of spending a bit more for a rack in the data center and tape backups there-after. The cloud is far cheaper if you're not talking hundreds of Tera-bytes and extreme speed access. That's from the business side of the discussion. But again, these are aimed at consumers.
"Businesses have an entirely different type of storage, far faster, more secure, and actually quite larger." You mean this same hardware in a rack mount? Did you even read this article? Any business employing 1-50 or so people would be the target for this NAS. Something like a hairdresser, contractor, accounting firm (hopefully with offsite backup also). You are too entrenched in your view point to see that others have different priorities and objectives. Yes, for people like you and I, setting up an 8 bay NAS with generic components is trivial, but the manager at your grocery store doesn't know, and doesn't care. They will buy something that is plug-and-play, has a warranty, and has the storage they need. Imagine if that manager hired you to set up a storage solution, would you custom build the hardware and install Ubuntu for it? No, you would quote out one of these, and a couple hours of install. Making you a nice profit, and not having the buyer have deal with you and the cobbled together solution for any little problem in hardware compatibility, or down time, or interoperability issues.
The manager at the grocery store isn't responsible for buying hardware and would have no need for said hardware. Nore would a hairdresser... And even if they did need storage, online storage would be more cost beneficial in most of those cases. But what are they going to store? The grocery store has a giant IT system tied into the parent company with their proprietary software. The Hairdresser has contact information, assuming they have their own store and not working for a chain... My parents both work at a grocery while they retire. And unfortunately, mom & pop groceries are all but gone due to the push of the horrible corporate arm. And I help my wife's hairdresser who does my hair for Locks for Love when I grew it out (a free everything when I donated). The most she ever needs is her laptop cleaned of malware. All of her contact information is safely and securely stored in the 'cloud' (god I hate that word... it's on servers on the internet... but let's tag it with a stupid word now that speeds are high enough we can push to outside storage easier...) Nice try though. Ironic on both counts, but no dice.
SirGCal: yes, I am resurrecting this comment chain almost a year later. I rarely post on the 'net to comments like these: so lucky you. We just deployed this NAS for my client. My client is a small retail business (20+ employees) who sell medical scrubs and equipment. They own three retail stores, run two large e-commerce sites and handle a lot of phone orders. We setup the NAS to retain local disk images of all their machines. We also use it for VM hosting and additional file sharing needs. They use me as a part time contractor because they have a very tight budget and cannot afford a full time (competent) IT resource. They would much rather purchase a device, with manufacturer support, like this, than have me spend labor hours building something out that I may not be around to support later (i.e. if I get hit by a bus). We also backup everything to the cloud as a redundant fail-safe. This *includes* everything on the NAS. Sure, I could have set up my own solution. But, as a previous commenter mentioned: finding and purchasing the necessary hardware, setting it up, testing it and deploying it would have been more time consuming, and therefore more expensive. I am calling bull**** on going through that entire process in only 30 minutes. And, again, a custom solution would have been without manufacturer support. So, "no dice".
Configure a NAS unit like this beside someone who is trying to create a HA iscsi server with plex, picture sharing website, and cloud synch replacing onedrive/dropbox/etc with little prior knowledge. Then do watch them both when something goes wrong. Time is money.
If I rebuilt my home file server from scratch, it would probably take me less than an hour to get it up and running. When I did it originally, I spent days experimenting which filesystem to use, tuning cache and stripe size on the array for performance, diagnose samba configuration issues etc. As a hobby, that's fine. If I had to charge for my time, it would have been cheaper to just buy a preconfigured NAS.
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LoneWolf15 - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link
The thing is, no business is going to base a NAS on hardware that's "going to goodwill anyhow" unless they're run on a shoestring budget or one that doesn't comprehend data integrity. $750 is worth the time because it gives you the following with Synology:-Easy setup
-Easy replication to a second Synology
-Easy migration from a failing NAS
-Easy reporting/monitoring for small to medium business
-Easy administration for a business that doesn't have your level of IT knowledge
This product isn't for you, but actually, the Synology DSM operating system *is* a proven OS; it's at version 5.1 now. The argument for purchasing one is the same as the argument for buying a server over building your own --in business, there's good reason for letting someone else do that part of the work for you, so you can concentrate on, you know, --business.
carage - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
It will work great until it get hits with SynoLocker again.SirGCal - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I don't know any business that would use these as secure NAS storage anyhow. Businesses have an entirely different type of storage, far faster, more secure, and actually quite larger. The last bank we bought is a simple rack configured for 24 drives in volumes of 12 that you can use any way you choose. These are for consumers, not businesses.SirGCal - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
And for the record, I don't work with hardware, I write software by trade. Although my direct trade has nothing to do with helping me learn to set these up. That knowledge came from a few minutes on Google and I can follow instructions. I've also fixed a failed array, moved them to new hardware, etc. ZFS is actually one of the oldest and most secure RAID type format, originally created for Solaris/Sun systems very long ago. The nice thing about modern ZSF arrays is how easy they are to recover, unlike hardware-raid options which even putting the drives in an identical controller might not work.And all of your bullets are easily covered by the combination accept the last which, honestly, if your level of IT is that low in any company, you should be out-sourcing all of your storage and IT needs and not even trying to do this alone. But it would be almost questionable why any company that small would need live, fast storage like this. New cloud services are generally far more their cup-of-tea for the very small businesses. Literally buy it and forget it, use it like a drive within your company, fully encrypted, etc. and surprisingly quick considering. Even my extremely large company has a few online storage systems for the 'very cheap' departments to use instead of spending a bit more for a rack in the data center and tape backups there-after. The cloud is far cheaper if you're not talking hundreds of Tera-bytes and extreme speed access. That's from the business side of the discussion. But again, these are aimed at consumers.
DiHydro - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
"Businesses have an entirely different type of storage, far faster, more secure, and actually quite larger." You mean this same hardware in a rack mount? Did you even read this article? Any business employing 1-50 or so people would be the target for this NAS. Something like a hairdresser, contractor, accounting firm (hopefully with offsite backup also). You are too entrenched in your view point to see that others have different priorities and objectives. Yes, for people like you and I, setting up an 8 bay NAS with generic components is trivial, but the manager at your grocery store doesn't know, and doesn't care. They will buy something that is plug-and-play, has a warranty, and has the storage they need. Imagine if that manager hired you to set up a storage solution, would you custom build the hardware and install Ubuntu for it? No, you would quote out one of these, and a couple hours of install. Making you a nice profit, and not having the buyer have deal with you and the cobbled together solution for any little problem in hardware compatibility, or down time, or interoperability issues.SirGCal - Friday, November 21, 2014 - link
The manager at the grocery store isn't responsible for buying hardware and would have no need for said hardware. Nore would a hairdresser... And even if they did need storage, online storage would be more cost beneficial in most of those cases. But what are they going to store? The grocery store has a giant IT system tied into the parent company with their proprietary software. The Hairdresser has contact information, assuming they have their own store and not working for a chain... My parents both work at a grocery while they retire. And unfortunately, mom & pop groceries are all but gone due to the push of the horrible corporate arm. And I help my wife's hairdresser who does my hair for Locks for Love when I grew it out (a free everything when I donated). The most she ever needs is her laptop cleaned of malware. All of her contact information is safely and securely stored in the 'cloud' (god I hate that word... it's on servers on the internet... but let's tag it with a stupid word now that speeds are high enough we can push to outside storage easier...) Nice try though. Ironic on both counts, but no dice.verraneventide - Tuesday, October 27, 2015 - link
SirGCal: yes, I am resurrecting this comment chain almost a year later. I rarely post on the 'net to comments like these: so lucky you. We just deployed this NAS for my client. My client is a small retail business (20+ employees) who sell medical scrubs and equipment. They own three retail stores, run two large e-commerce sites and handle a lot of phone orders. We setup the NAS to retain local disk images of all their machines. We also use it for VM hosting and additional file sharing needs. They use me as a part time contractor because they have a very tight budget and cannot afford a full time (competent) IT resource. They would much rather purchase a device, with manufacturer support, like this, than have me spend labor hours building something out that I may not be around to support later (i.e. if I get hit by a bus). We also backup everything to the cloud as a redundant fail-safe. This *includes* everything on the NAS. Sure, I could have set up my own solution. But, as a previous commenter mentioned: finding and purchasing the necessary hardware, setting it up, testing it and deploying it would have been more time consuming, and therefore more expensive. I am calling bull**** on going through that entire process in only 30 minutes. And, again, a custom solution would have been without manufacturer support. So, "no dice".awktane - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link
Configure a NAS unit like this beside someone who is trying to create a HA iscsi server with plex, picture sharing website, and cloud synch replacing onedrive/dropbox/etc with little prior knowledge. Then do watch them both when something goes wrong. Time is money.Gigaplex - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link
If I rebuilt my home file server from scratch, it would probably take me less than an hour to get it up and running. When I did it originally, I spent days experimenting which filesystem to use, tuning cache and stripe size on the array for performance, diagnose samba configuration issues etc. As a hobby, that's fine. If I had to charge for my time, it would have been cheaper to just buy a preconfigured NAS.dgingeri - Tuesday, November 18, 2014 - link
If their time is worth that much, they should hire a real IT guy to do it right.