Setup 1 - FreeNAS
The performance of FreeNAS leaves much to be desire. It is consistent in iSCSI performance as compared to the other setups, however FreeNAS CIFS read speed is largely disappointing. I've attempted to seek help from forum but the response are not so friendly.
What I liked most about FreeNAS is it's versatility. You can run it on any motherboard and have your existing ZFS storage pool imported without a single hassle. This is a distinctive advantage over the rest, especially in disaster recovery scenarios. At the end of the day, nothing is more important than your data.
If Synology DSM is the special task force that has an arsenal of weapons (apps) to execute the kill, FreeNAS will be the infantry solider that battles on all kind of terrains.
Setup 2 - Synology DSM
The rebuild Synology DSM is the top performer among the 3 setups. If you decided to use this OS, bear in mind that this is an unofficial version and the OS is not
upgradeable.
- You have no rights to bang table and ask why is "this feature" not working.
- You have no official support from Synology folks.
- You will also need to rely on yourself to diagnose and troubleshoot on any problems that surface.
For Synology owners, I must say you have made a good choice. The OS is superb and so is the nice price tag. If we were to compare a Synology Diskstation and
BYON, a competitive model would be DS413 and above. At time of writing, a
Diskstation DS413 cost about SGD$800. This is quite a hefty sum and is almost double of my cost to BYON. I could have build two NAS with the same amount of money!
But wait, let's take it from another perspective. We break down the Diskstation cost with $400 going to the hardware while the other half for support and warranty. Is it worthy to fork out additional SGD$400 to receive official support and have the ability to upgrade the OS? It really depends:
- Are you sure a Diskstation will have zero issues as compared to BYON?
- How confident are you in Synology support solving every possible problem that surface?
- How often do you upgrade the OS? Or you follow the practice,
"If it's aren't broken, don't fix it."
Well, you can also view the extra SGD$400 as a form of insurance and assurance. But $400 for a peace of mind? Is your every penny well worth? You decide.
Setup 3 - U-NAS
The performance of U-NAS came close to Synology DSM. This is within expectations as both are developed from Linux and they use the same RAID architecture. It is also the fastest writer in CIFS tests.
If you've followed through
3.4.2 U-NAS 2.0 Functionality Tests, U-NAS has quite a list of remarks.
What bugs me the most is, U-NAS refused to hibernate. It could be a bug in current release. Furthermore, the motherboard is bound to the OS license. To replace or RMA the motherboard, there is an additional cost of SGD$20. This cost is to purchase another U-NAS license.
U-NAS is also not a choice for users who cannot communicate (read/write) in Chinese. Discussion on U-NAS OS are only in Chinese and even some of the system logs are in Chinese. Despite all the shortcomings, I felt there are a lot more potential in U-NAS OS and will look forward to future releases.
Lessons Learnt
Do not use NAS Performance Tester for benchmarking
NPT
results are nowhere near to actual usage performance. It only look good
on paper. If you disagree, study those tests results from the
three setups. There are huge differences. Still, you can continue to use it to deceive yourself and make
yourself feel good.
Plan for cooling
If you select a compact enclosure for your
BYON,
do plan for cooling measures. At the time of writing, I have yet to
verify the accuracy of the system temperature reported from Synology
DSM. However, I faced no issues after the NAS was up and operational for
more than a week. Guess, I'll just leave the "issue" as it is.
Final Thoughts
I have traveled a long journey in BYON. This personal project stretches me too much, having to balance between work, family and personal interest. A large part of the work goes to documenting my findings and sharing with everyone here, so please be appreciative. Of course, I have learnt a great deal and benefited from BYON. =) At present, my NAS is already commissioned. I will not reveal which OS is my final choice and I'll leave it open for guessing. I need a break to focus on other subjects in my life. I hereby thank you for reading and supporting
BYON.
Last but not least, please
participate in this poll for two short questions related to
BYON.
