TL;DR - Looking for a chassis like Synology uses for their 12 bay models (see picture at link below)
Verbose:
I am a current Synology user, I like them... but would like to change some basic things.
a) their processors aren't very beefy. I like CrashPlan to run and it eats resources (Java, millions of files to monitor)
b) I want to run ZFS. It's native on Ubuntu (very easily) nowadays. I don't like their stripped down version of Linux and limited package selection
c) speaking of packages - I don't want my NAS to have a bunch of packages for SMTP servers and all this other stuff. I would say "I just want my NAS to store stuff" but I might decide to use this NAS as an actual Linux server too, but that is *secondary*
Primary focus is simple, ZFS action in the most compact chassis possible.
Other than their pseudo-proprietary Linux build and web UI / tooling, their biggest value proposition for an empty chassis is the chassis itself. That's the main question I am looking to ask, is if anyone knows of a 10-12 disk (or so) chassis that is basically as small as 12 drives can be stacked like a Synology unit.
See picture here:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/overview/DS2413+
For my build, I would put in 12 data disks, a beefier CPU and more RAM than the SOHO Synology units support, and put a barebones Ubuntu + ZFS setup on it. ZFS has built-in share support for CIFS and NFS, and Ubuntu itself has enough sharing options if I didn't want to use the built-ins. I could put the boot volume on an SSD internally, or even a SD card. Not too worried about that.
Need to figure out the backplane situation (if a chassis exists out there maybe it already has one?) and would look at using a Mini-ITX board (which just by eyeballing it looks like what they use in the Synology)
I've built some DIY NAS systems in the past, but the chassis has been the holy grail. It's so much more portable and simple than a full-tower with a bunch of 5-in-3 conversion bays (been there done that)
At the end of the day, I don't really use much of the Synology value adds - I don't really need their support, I don't need their package center, I just need a solid data storage unit + a way to back it up to a secondary place (my choice is the cloud, using CrashPlan since it's the only "set it and forget it" unlimited solution for Linux that I know of still... praying for Backblaze to get a Linux client going)
Anyone know of any places with these kind of chassis? I'm surprised there isn't just ONE I can find out there.
Verbose:
I am a current Synology user, I like them... but would like to change some basic things.
a) their processors aren't very beefy. I like CrashPlan to run and it eats resources (Java, millions of files to monitor)
b) I want to run ZFS. It's native on Ubuntu (very easily) nowadays. I don't like their stripped down version of Linux and limited package selection
c) speaking of packages - I don't want my NAS to have a bunch of packages for SMTP servers and all this other stuff. I would say "I just want my NAS to store stuff" but I might decide to use this NAS as an actual Linux server too, but that is *secondary*
Primary focus is simple, ZFS action in the most compact chassis possible.
Other than their pseudo-proprietary Linux build and web UI / tooling, their biggest value proposition for an empty chassis is the chassis itself. That's the main question I am looking to ask, is if anyone knows of a 10-12 disk (or so) chassis that is basically as small as 12 drives can be stacked like a Synology unit.
See picture here:
https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/overview/DS2413+
For my build, I would put in 12 data disks, a beefier CPU and more RAM than the SOHO Synology units support, and put a barebones Ubuntu + ZFS setup on it. ZFS has built-in share support for CIFS and NFS, and Ubuntu itself has enough sharing options if I didn't want to use the built-ins. I could put the boot volume on an SSD internally, or even a SD card. Not too worried about that.
Need to figure out the backplane situation (if a chassis exists out there maybe it already has one?) and would look at using a Mini-ITX board (which just by eyeballing it looks like what they use in the Synology)
I've built some DIY NAS systems in the past, but the chassis has been the holy grail. It's so much more portable and simple than a full-tower with a bunch of 5-in-3 conversion bays (been there done that)
At the end of the day, I don't really use much of the Synology value adds - I don't really need their support, I don't need their package center, I just need a solid data storage unit + a way to back it up to a secondary place (my choice is the cloud, using CrashPlan since it's the only "set it and forget it" unlimited solution for Linux that I know of still... praying for Backblaze to get a Linux client going)
Anyone know of any places with these kind of chassis? I'm surprised there isn't just ONE I can find out there.
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