Upgrading Storage from DAS to NAS

wehmoen · August 7

Hello there,

I recently upgraded my home network to 10Gbit (LAN) and 2.5Gbit (Wifi) and now want to upgrade my storage solution.
Right now I use 2 x ICY IB-3810-C31 with each having 10 x 12 TB Western Digital HC520. The enclosures are DS which makes access from other devices quite inconvinient.
I would like to update to some NAS with 10Gbit support, ideally with a built-in SFP+ port, that supports the same number of disks or more.
I did look into some Dell servers as well as some of the products Synology offers but I juts don't really know what I should be looking out for.
I wouldn't mind setting up/configuring a server myself. Just not sure about the hardware.

Not sure if this is a good idea to combine with the storage part but I also want to have some server at home to run a bunch of linux vms. Mostly for my PBX and some other apps.
If there was a good and affordable all-in-one solution I would probably go for it.

As for budget I am looking for something up to 2000-2500€ max.

Stuff like HW raid controller, dual power supply are nice to have. Right now I use Windows Storage pools.

I also considered just getting a cheap pc, throwing in a 10gbit nic, attaching both disk enclosures to it and then make it accessable that way - but i would prefer a rack solution as it would be mounted next to my Unifi stuff.

In case you're interested. Utilisation atm is about 40% and filled with work projects (node_modules lol) and videos/picture backups.

Needfuldoer · August 7

32 minutes ago, wehmoen said:

If there was a good and affordable all-in-one solution I would probably go for it.

There are 4U and 5U SuperMicro chassis that have 24 or 36 drive bays and take regular ATX motherboards, but I'm not sure what availability looks like in your region.

For example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204797811851

Add an LGA2011, LGA2066, LGA3647, or EPYC motherboard with IPMI and you're golden.

Another option would be a "real" server like a PowerEdge R540, but you'll have to add a drive shelf to have enough bays. That's extra cost and power overhead.

Your biggest 'limitation' is the sheer number of drives you're running. I "only" have a dozen, and even I feel boxed in by limited choices. (I'm currently running a PowerEdge R730, soon migrating to an R540.)

Tankfurter · August 8

16 hours ago, Needfuldoer said:

There are 4U and 5U SuperMicro chassis that have 24 or 36 drive bays and take regular ATX motherboards, but I'm not sure what availability looks like in your region.

For example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204797811851

Add an LGA2011, LGA2066, LGA3647, or EPYC motherboard with IPMI and you're golden.

Another option would be a "real" server like a PowerEdge R540, but you'll have to add a drive shelf to have enough bays. That's extra cost and power overhead.

Your biggest 'limitation' is the sheer number of drives you're running. I "only" have a dozen, and even I feel boxed in by limited choices. (I'm currently running a PowerEdge R730, soon migrating to an R540.)

It can be a challenge to do at home.

I am a storage nerd, so I ended up overlaying MinIO over a few nodes rather than attempting to build a single big node for cost savings. This required gatewaying back to NAS for those use cases using SAMBA s3fs-fuse.

It's probably not a solution for everyone. It is a bit complicated, but I have a lot of experience with S3 and objects in general, so it had some natural alignment for me.

The main advantages of this configuration for me are I want to object and NAS and to scale over several smaller nodes without rebuilding on one big piece of hardware.

I have also done the same with Gluster at scale in the datacenter, which might be viable to do the same, reducing the size of any individual node from a hardware cost standpoint.

wehmoen · August 8

On 8/7/2024 at 10:54 AM, Needfuldoer said:

Your biggest 'limitation' is the sheer number of drives you're running.

So, I did consider going for bigger drives like 24TB or even larger, like the 28TB DC HC680 model of WD, but I was concerned about possible failures and the associated costs of replacement. Not sure if having higher capacity and fewer drives fitting in a smaller server outweighs the risk of higher replacement costs.

On 8/7/2024 at 10:54 AM, Needfuldoer said:

but you'll have to add a drive shelf to have enough bays

I could consider this under the aspect of ensuring the setup is future proof and easily scaleable tbh.

On 8/7/2024 at 10:54 AM, Needfuldoer said:

extra cost and power overhead

My electricity provider calls me each month anyway because I run aircon - which isn't common here and my usage is through the roof. As for the cost part it might just be smth i can write off as business expenses. So should be fine as well. I would have to look into that a bit more.

17 hours ago, Tankfurter said:

It can be a challenge to do at home.

So we came to the same conclusion. I got a few friends that work with servers/hardware on a daily basis. Building customs solutions and stuff.

17 hours ago, Tankfurter said:

want to object and NAS

Given you mentioned S3 I asusme you mean object storage? I would be fine just with NFS honestly.

Looks like there might not be the "hey check this out- this is it" - kinda solution. What about 45drives or their 45Homeland stuff? Anyone has experience with that?