NAS for a small firm?

[eidam655]

Hi everyone,

 

I recently became responsible for the network of computers in a small architectural firm (6-8 computers). Currently the workflow uses AutoCAD for drafting with all the drawings being on one 'master' computer, with the 3D and Archviz jobs being produced on each PC locally and only the end results are uploaded to the 'master,' which then functions both as an archive and as a workstation.

 

So I want to move the archive onto a NAS box. The question is, which one?

 

I assume that a box with 8TB storage space (effectively 4TB because of RAID mirroring) should be enough. I also think that a box with 10GbE connection is a better choice - even if all the users were to open files at the same time, the server would not be the bottleneck. (I welcome any disputes to this estimate, since I'm not a network guy by nature and am surprised why the servers have 2 or more Gbit ports.)

 

I have however questions whether anyone has any experience with a NAS in their own practice, whether there's something I forgot to consider (how much do CPU/RAM speeds matter?) and whether anyone would have a concrete recommendation they could give. So far I've found this guy, but no reseller.

 

I'll be thankful for any tips from you

~Adam

[Amen]

Have a look at this:

https://www.qnap.com/en/product/items_by_series.php?CA=2&ref=header

It is not really cheap. But you can have 10gb, it can run virtual machines for a license server..., and it uses tiering (ssds for often used data and hdd for less used data).

If you want something cheap you could build a server using a Dell t20. Lots of information about that on the internet.

And a raid is not a backup.

[beestee]

We had an older computer and a bunch of old plate drives that we made a NAS from using FreeNAS. It has worked well enough for us to move implementation from test to production.

 

http://www.freenas.org/

[numerobis]

So do you already have a 10Gb network?

 

Normally there is more than one network port to be able to connect to different networks or to combine two or more ports to increase the throughput for more than one simultaneous connections (link aggregation/trunking).

 

You could use a fully configured NAS (Synology, QNAP, Thecus,...), a preconfigured system like a HP ProLiant Microserver or a Dell PowerEdge T20, or build it yourself if this is an option.

 

Are these 6-8 clients workstations or is this including render nodes?

Edited September 13, 2016 by numerobis

[Amen]

If you go with the 10GB Network, you should not forget that a new 8-port 10GB switch (Netgear ProSAFE XS708) cost around 900 €. you need a 10GB network card (NIC) for the workstations (Intel X550-T2) around 300 to 370 € each. If you go with the bigger Qnap Nas (TVS-1282-I5-16G) it is 2250 € plus 10Gb NIC, +2 500GB nvme SSDs (350 €), 2 1Tb SSds (300 €) and at least 4x 8TB Nas HDDs (300 €). You want the Nvme SSds if you want to be able to get the most out of the 10GB network.

But it all amounts to a lot of money - around 8k €.

It is future proof, though, and it should be really fast.

[Jeff Mottle]

Synology. Full stop. http://www.synology.com/

[Amen]

Don't forget a power backup:

APC Back-UPS 1400VA

 

This is another very good option:

Supermicro SuperServer 5028D-TN4T

 

Have a look at servethehome.com. They have a good forum about networking, nas...

[eidam655]

Thank you all for the replies.

 

The 10GbE option I had in mind at first was supposed to work like this - the server and switches would support 10GbE speeds, while each client could stay on its 1GbE integrated NIC, which would still yield the theoretical maximum of 125MB/s per PC. However, I didn't find any reasonably priced switch with 10GbE ports in my vicinity, so I won't be pursuing this option further.

 

I have heard about FreeNAS and deploying it on a self-built server; however I don't know how important the CPU/RAM are for the server itself, as it should only work as an 'offline dropbox' for working file, and I don't know how much babysitting a FreeNAS server requires once it's built and turned on. I've used a few linux distros before, so yes, once they're configured they are set; but when something goes awry it can be a pain to fix.

 

So my latest thoughts are on a 4-bay Synology DS416play, which has 2 GLAN ports and with proper switches that too support link aggregation (like TP-LINK TL-SG2008) this could be a good balance between price, setup ease & servicing.