Help selcting NAS for Home Use

[jasonreg]

Looking for some advice. I have been reading as much as I can to learn, and am about ready to pull the trigger but would like some input. I am replacing an old WHS (original version) which has been meeting our needs to date (mostly). Our desires are:

1. Ability to “mindlessly” backup windows PCs on the server (ala WHS);
2. Ability to remotely access files stored on the NAS from outside the LAN securely. I also want to ensure that while enabling this I am not opening up the NAS and then the LAN to external threats as much as possible;
3. Ability to host a plex server. This is not something we are currently doing but I would like to get all our BD and DVD movies out of the mega storage carousels and ripped into whatever format to play on various TVs throughout the house. Ability to access these movies outside the LAN and or on iPhone/iPads not really critical but nice to have;
4. Min 4 Bays, ideally 5-8 bay for future-proofing;
5. Email notification of failing drives
6. LAG – min 2 ideally 4 ports

Those I think are the most important to us and more or less in that order. I am looking at pre-built vice building my own given my inexperience with Linux. Budget – would like to keep it less than $2K (not counting HD), ideally sub $1,500. Am I asking to much? What else should I be looking for?

All thoughts and specific suggestions welcome & thanks in advance for your input.

 

[bernard038]

Hi Jason,
To answer a few of your questions:

1. AFAIK, the automagic backup option you have in WHS or Server 201x essentials, is not an option on NAS from a third party. But maybe you can use a (paid) backup / image solution for this.
2. Maybe it's just me, but i do not trust the remote access options provided by the likes of QNAP or Synology so for me there are two options:
   1. Create a VPN to your LAN, you can use a SMB-router to achieve this, or PfSense on an old PC.
   2. Sync the files on your NAS to GDrive, dropbox, Onedrive, Amazon drive or another cloud service, both Synology and QNAP have a sync app for this.
3. Would you like the Plex to transcode on the server? Maybe a NAS isn't the best option for you. A VPN, as mentioned before, can provide you with a secure way to watch movies externally. (yes, i know, this can also be done with port-forwarding, but in my view this is not secure).
4. .....
5. Standard option on Synology and QNAP models, i guess also on models of other brands.
6. .....

In short, if the mindless backup and transcoding of media files is essential for you, maybe upgrading to server 201x essentials is a better option...

 

[RMerlin]

AFAIK, the automagic backup option you have in WHS or Server 201x essentials, is not an option on NAS from a third party. But maybe you can use a (paid) backup / image solution for this.

Personally I use Acronis True Image on my desktop, pushing daily images into my NAS. If you don't need full imaging capability, there are a number of backup solutions that are inexpensive or free. Also, some NAS models might come with a backup solution too.

Maybe it's just me, but i do not trust the remote access options provided by the likes of QNAP or Synology so for me there are two options:

1. Create a VPN to your LAN, you can use a SMB-router to achieve this, or PfSense on an old PC.
2. Sync the files on your NAS to GDrive, dropbox, Onedrive, Amazon drive or another cloud service, both Synology and QNAP have a sync app for this.

Just to add, some NAS now offer a built-in VPN server, so if your router doesn't have one, the VPN server can be run on the NAS itself. I've personally used OpenVPN with QNAP and Asustor products, there's a good chancee Synology also offers a VPN server.

Min 4 Bays, ideally 5-8 bay for future-proofing;

Price will start going up quickly once you go past 4 bays, as this starts to fall in the realm of business products. 4 bays should be plenty IMHO. Fill two slots with a pair of 10 TB if need be, and keep the two other slots for more disks. That will give you a starting capacity of 10 TB, and will most likely be able to move to beyond 20 TB in the future (assuming capacities higher than 10 TB start appearing by then).

LAG – min 2 ideally 4 ports

2 Ports LAG support is fairly common in NAS these days (excluding 1/2 disks entry-level products that aren't within your targeted products of course). Not sure you need 4 ports LAG for home usage however.

 

[bernard038]

Personally I use Acronis True Image on my desktop, pushing daily images into my NAS. If you don't need full imaging capability, there are a number of backup solutions that are inexpensive or free. Also, some NAS models might come with a backup solution too.

Just to add, some NAS now offer a built-in VPN server, so if your router doesn't have one, the VPN server can be run on the NAS itself. I've personally used OpenVPN with QNAP and Asustor products, there's a good chancee Synology also offers a VPN server.

Is Arconis True Image just as 'hassle-free' as the WHS / SRV201x essentials client backup solution? Does it store a full-image on a daily basis, or does it only store the changes made that day? Come to think of it, when @Jason stores all his files on the NAS, there isn't much need for a daily image of every client i guess.

Yes Synology offers also a VPN server package. Maybe it's just me, but i wouldn't use a NAS (or a fileserver or DC at work) to act as a VPN- or webserver.....

 

[RMerlin]

Is Arconis True Image just as 'hassle-free' as the WHS / SRV201x essentials client backup solution?

No idea, I never used WHS. I have Acronis True Image configured here to take daily backups of all my desktop partitions to my NAS. Backups are incremental, with new baseline image being done once per week - you can fully configure that to your liking.

ATI supports both disk image and file-based backups modes.

Yes Synology offers also a VPN server package. Maybe it's just me, but i wouldn't use a NAS (or a fileserver or DC at work) to act as a VPN- or webserver.....

It's generally not good practice indeed, but it's not so bad as VPN software is generally well hardened security-wise - you just need to ensure that your software is kept up-to-date. And since it's a home network here, it's highly unlikely that the user would become a deliberate target.

Another nice thing of OpenVPN is its ability to run on any port, so you can easily move it to a non-standard port, and avoid all generic IP range scanners looking for potential targets.

 

[jasonreg]

Thanks Folks, you have given me something to think about. Yes, I use a cisco RV320 router so it does have VPN capabilities. I suppose I was thinking that the NAS VPN would be easier to configure and use but perhaps it is just the same. I don't really want to open the entire network up, just the NAS.

 

[bernard038]

Thanks Folks, you have given me something to think about. Yes, I use a cisco RV320 router so it does have VPN capabilities. I suppose I was thinking that the NAS VPN would be easier to configure and use but perhaps it is just the same. I don't really want to open the entire network up, just the NAS.

Plex on a NAS and OpenVPN on on a RV320 work just fine. I use exactly the same configuration.