Using a local SSD to cache a NAS

[Exia]

Hi all

 

I have a Synology DS410 under Synology Hybrid RAID with ~7TB storage, and recently I got my hands on a 840 EVO 120GB. 

 

I am wondering if there is a way to cache the NAS using the SSD which would be installed in my PC (connected via ethernet to router and NAS) ? 

 

My other use case would be to use the SSD to cache my storage drives in my PC (2 x WD Green 2TB - RAID 1) using Intel smart resposne. 

 

Any thoughts? 

 

Thanks!

[Dr3nz4r]

why not using it as OS drive? would be the first thing i would do

otherwise, i would cache my local drives

[SMURG]

As for caching the NAS, it's possible but I really wouldn't recommend it. The only way I can see would be to run a caching server as a VM on the primary machine, which is really not an elegant solution at all, and the latency would probably make it kinda pointless anyway. You'd be better off caching the storage drives in your PC lol.

Whilst we're on the topic, it does occur to me that the whole VM caching server method might be more appealing as a write cache if you want to be writing to the NAS at >1gb/s, but I don't think that's the scenario here lol

[legopc]

I am wondering if there is a way to cache the NAS using the SSD which would be installed in my PC (connected via ethernet to router and NAS) ? 

no i dont think so and isnt ethernet to slow for such a thing 

[Exia]

Thanks for the replies.

 

My OS is already on another bigger SSD and that is where i save my programs as well. As such, I wasn't sure if I will have any noticeable performance gain in caching my local drive (I don't use it that much - most media are  stored on NAS).

 

 

no i dont think so and isnt ethernet to slow for such a thing 

 

Good point that I often forget. Anyways I would be ok if the ethernet can be the bottle neck on a NAS since I am only getting ~40MB/s write speed currently. 

 

As for caching the NAS, it's possible but I really wouldn't recommend it. The only way I can see would be to run a caching server as a VM on the primary machine, which is really not an elegant solution at all, and the latency would probably make it kinda pointless anyway. You'd be better off caching the storage drives in your PC lol.

Whilst we're on the topic, it does occur to me that the whole VM caching server method might be more appealing as a write cache if you want to be writing to the NAS at >1gb/s, but I don't think that's the scenario here lol

 

Good point. I actually like your second solution since one of the issue (first world problem.. i know) is that writing at 40MB/s to the NAS feels too slow .. it'd be nice if I can just write to the VM and thus writing to the NAS more like a .. background task. 

Seems like too much work for little benefit. I am too lazy for that lol

[wpirobotbuilder]

You could cache a networked storage device, some enterprise equipment works this way by allowing the user to write large amounts of data and then have it be written over time across a network connection.

 

No harm in trying it, let us know if you do.

 

I would rather use it as an OS drive or as a cache for a local drive.

[cpuxtech]

Use as OS, second option would be to cache the local drives no doubt.