NAS mainly for ESXi 6

[Alphasite]

I want a NAS that's mainly just going to be used for ESXi 6. I won't be doing any media streaming or anything like that. Most of the reviews I've found concentrate on the extra stuff.

I'm primarily going to use it for iSCSI and NFS datastores. Other than that some network storage for some laptops (OS X and Windows). VMware certified is a plus but not necessary as long as it works.

I currently have a small QNAP 2-bay unit (TS-212P). It's been okay but I need more space. I'd like four bays. I've been looking at QNAP and Synology units but can't decide. As I said most reviews seem to talk about all the extras.

 

[sfx2000]

I've been looking at QNAP and Synology units but can't decide.

Both QNAP and Synology are pretty decent - and they're both VMWare certified, which makes life a bit easier to deal with when working with ESXi...

 

[Alphasite]

Some models are, some aren't, but the question is which models would be suited for my purposes.

 

[sfx2000]

Some models are, some aren't, but the question is which models would be suited for my purposes.

Might be a good idea to reach out to the vendor pre-sales teams - outline your requirements, and they can provide some suggestions.

That, plus probably scope out their customer support forums for collective user insight there.

 

[Alphasite]

I thought this forum ("NAS Buying Advice") would be a good place to start.

 

[sfx2000]

I thought this forum ("NAS Buying Advice") would be a good place to start.

The iSCSI and VMWare ESXi asks are pretty specific, and there's not a lot of folks that use that functionality - hence the recommendation to reach out to the pre-sales teams - both vendors have very good teams that know the product lines, and can get you pointed in the right direction.

I've used it with QNAP on an experimental basis just to see if it works (it does), but really couldn't compare it to what Synology offers (or AsusStor for that matter).

 

[mdgm]

The right model depends on things such as how many VMs you'll be running and what you use them for. 1 or 2 VMs for use in a home lab would be quite different to half a dozen VMs for use in business.

You also have to consider how you will do backups and factor this into your budget. It's no good getting the perfect setup for your primary storage but leaving no budget for backups. When doing your testing before putting it to production use you should plan what to do if the NAS goes down or one of your ESXi hosts goes down.

I'd lean towards higher end models in ranges for this kind of use case.