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Synology DS213+
This month, I thought I'd do something slightly different from the usual tutorial-style articles. Specifically, I'm going to share my experiences with the Synology DS213+ Network Attached Storage (NAS) that I recently purchased and set up, to work with Linux/Windows/Mac OS X, though I'll only be focusing on the Linux side of things. As such, if you already have a NAS set up (or don't intend on getting one), this article probably won't be for you.
The Product
The Synology DS213+ is the “small and medium business” option of the 2-bay NAS systems offered by Synology. As such, it's more expensive than the DS213/DS213j, but offers a few more features. For an exact list of what isn't included in the cheaper versions, you can compare the products on the Synology web page. At first glance it seems that the DS213+ simply offers features like LDAP and Windows AD, hardware encryption, and slightly better performance. The NAS does not come with hard drives, so you will need to factor that in cost-wise. The model discussed in this article is using two Seagate ST3000DM001 (3TB) drives.
The Setup
Installing the drives into the device is painless and easy (even if it does require screws and a screwdriver). However, make certain to seat both drives properly, as not doing so can result in a drive not being recognized by the system.
Once you've plugged it in and inserted the drives, you'll need to start up the device by pressing the power button. For the software setup, you have two options: using the Synology Assistant software (available for Linux, Mac, and Windows), or use the web interface at http://diskstation:5000. Regardless of your choice, you'll need to let the software complete the first-run setup. This includes creating an administrator account. It's a relatively painless process, if somewhat slow. Once you can log in, you'll need to decide on the storage manager volume you'd like to use. You have the choice between RAID 1 and RAID 0 (or to let the DSM system decide on its own, which generally means RAID 0 for single drive setups, or RAID 1 for dual drive setups). For those who don't know: RAID 0 uses “striping”. To explain what striping is, simply imagine you have a set of values you want to write (A1-A8), where the system writes A1 and A2 at the same time, but to the separate disks. This results in a high level of performance, but offers absolutely no failure recovery. If you're using the NAS for temporary storage or a high throughput system, you'll probably want RAID 0. With RAID 0 you'll also have access to, in our case, 6TB of storage. RAID 1 uses mirroring without parity or striping, meaning that Disk 1 is an exact copy of Disk 2 – this means that if one drive fails, you can simply replace it and keep going. The downside is that you have access to only one drive's worth of storage (3TB in this case). Generally you'll want to use RAID 1 or higher for backup systems. However, note that RAID 0 and 1 are the only options for two-drive systems.
The system discussed here uses RAID 1, due to the fact that it's primarily used for backups.
Diskstation Manager (DSM) also allows you to create multiple volumes by selecting specific drives, though it seems largely useless in a two-drive setup. Once your volume has been created, you're left with the biggest question of all: how do you want to use the space?
The Usage
Due to the fact that the test network included Mac, Windows and Linux computers, both the Mac File Service and the Windows File Service were enabled. Linux, however, can treat the Windows File Service as a simple Samba share (accessed by visiting smb:<IP>/<share>/ in Nautilus). DSM also offers an NFS (Network File System) service, although the functions and features weren't tested. In order to allow each person of my family’s network access to a personal (and private) share, I had to create a separate user for each, disallowing access rights for all other users (save the admin account, in the case that IT help was required). Taking it one step further, a TimeMachine account was also created, due to the fact that we had multiple MacBooks which could all benefit from TimeMachine. To avoid TimeMachine filling up the entire 3TB available, a data cap was set in place (it's suggested to use 2-3 times the size of the actual Mac drive, which was impossible for 4 MacBooks – the total would be about 4TB!). As such, it was set at 1TB. For anyone using something similar (snapshot backups), it would be recommended to exclude folders that won't change much (Videos/Music, for example), and instead manage a single backup/copy of these folders, to avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts. Overall, the DSM interface is well designed and extremely easy to use. However, the clock and date do not, apparently, automatically synchronize with the network. As such, you'll need to change that setting before expecting scheduled tasks to run at the proper time. The Noise For anyone considering a NAS, it's important to consider location. If you're going to be keeping it in a bedroom, you'll probably want to invest in server-specific hard drives (they're quieter, although performance may be impacted), or set up a scheduled downtime, allowing you to sleep without the fans and disks whirring away. Also, the disk standby can result in loud spin-ups/spin-downs (at least with the Seagate drives, although according to reviews these disks are simply a bit louder). Thus, you may want to balance power-saving with peace of mind. Another alternative would be to simply soundproof the device – keep it in a padded enclosure, suspend it somehow, or set up some sort of sound barrier between the device and the rest of the room. These are minor details, and also largely dependant on the specific drives and usage of the device. The score result disregards these minor annoyances, as the NAS enclosure itself isn't actually causing them. Indeed, the enclosure itself sports a suspended drive bay, and rubberized feet, which should help to minimize noise as well. The Score Overall, the NAS succeeds in offering an easy-to-use experience, while offering a great many features (both advanced and basic). It could easily be used as a personal server, as it offers web hosting as well as FTP options. Through 3rd party software, you can also easily install PHPMyAdmin and other common tools. The only downside to this is the cost, especially due to the lack of drives. This is mostly offset by the wide range of features it offers, in comparison to similar NAS setups. Due to the form factor and design, along with the features and performance, this device gets a 4.5/5. The half a mark is simply because, while an excellent device, it could offer certain features to make life easier, such as hot swapping drive bays.