DS1010+ as an ESXi target?

[tssgery]

Is anyone using the DS1010+ as a datastore for VMware ESXi? If so, can you share your impressions? Are you using iSCSI or NFS?

I'm running an ESXi 4.0 Server with a fairly small load, 2-4 VM's running at a time... all Linux, webservers, applications servers, for web development and testing.


I'd like to move off my internal disk asap in case something fails. I'm just starting to read up on Synology NAS devices but would like to get at least 3-5 TB of protected storage.

 

[Ixian]

I am testing with one here with some machines for our engineering group to develop on, and it works pretty darn well as an iSCSI datastore I have to say. That said I'm probably going to go with the Rackstation RS810RP for our deployed VSphere/ESX installations.

The 1010+ would have no trouble dealing with a small load and 2-4 VM's - though of course "small load" is in the eye of the beholder. iSCSI is the way to go, Synology supports multiple connections making it good for a cluster/HA setup. It will work, the real question is how important are the VM's stored on it?

If this is for a small lab/test servers/etc it's a great low cost way to do it. If you are running mission critical VM's on it that require constant uptime you should probably look at the RS810RP instead - the "RP" stands for "Redundant Power" which I consider to be a must for something as important as a datastore supporting mission-critical servers. You'll want to connect each to it's own dedicated UPS (the RS810RP supports two in DSM, one for each PS) to fully isolate power outages. The RS810RP is also more powerful - it has a faster CPU - and can handle a higher load. It's also VSphere certified which I'm not certain the 1010+ is.

As with the 1010+, the RS810RP can connect to an external storage bay, providing 4 more drives of space. You can make one volume out of both but the real advantage is to use the second bay to mirror the RS810RP itself, or even better set it up as a separate volume and use it as the backup target for your VM and file-level backups.

Don't get me wrong, the 1010+ is a great little box, especially for the price, and if you aren't too concerned with 100% uptime and do regular VM backups it'll serve your needs. If uptime is important or you foresee growing then go for the RS810RP, it's about $800 more (for the dual power supply model) but you'll save upgrade costs down the road. Up to you.

On a side note, I have to add that these new x86 based NAS's with dual core Atoms or Pentiums are going to destroy the low end SAN marketplace. We have an EMC Clarion iSCSI SAN and even the 1010+ can match it in terms of performance and it's less than a tenth of the cost. Now, true, the Clarion has redundant everything, including separate system boards, CPU, and memory, and supports more drives, but these Synology units come pretty close, and they are so cheap you could buy two or three complete setups, including the drives and external storage units, put them in as cold-storage backups, and still not come close to the price of a "real" SAN. For non-"Enterprise" businesses these units fill a very nice gap.