Storage Solution for Proxmox: Synology vs TrueNAS

[Crashman]

Hi!
I set up a small homelab. Currently ProxMox is installed on a server running a RAID-Z with 4 SATA SSDs and ~12TB storage volume. The RAID-Z is used to store data like large photo collections and so on. The VMs system volumes are stored on another NVME SSD. One VM serves as SMB-Server. Other VMs connect to it.
Another Synology NAS is used as backup solution.

To be honest: I don't like the SMB-Server (based von Ubuntu Server) as guest on Proxmox. I want to move main storage completely to the NAS as a dedicated storage system. I like the ease of use of the Synology NAS. I also tried TrueNAS in a test setup and - while it is not as polished - it could be an alternative to DSM. Currently I am using only a small Synology solution, it is almost out of disk space.

Option 1: Buy a new Synology device, RS1221 for example. Add a SFP+ Port. Move SSDs to NAS, add some large HDDs - done with it.
Option 2: Build a TrueNas Box myself, add SFP+, Move SSDs to NAS, add some large HDDs and start to set it up...


Currently I would prefer the synology solution for ease of use. But it is based on Btrfs, unlike TrueNAS (Scale) which uses ZFS. Does Synology bring any disadvantages when used as external storage for Proxmox VMs. compared to TrueNAS?

Thx,
Sebastian

 

[LnxBil]

Does Synology bring any disadvantages when used as external storage for Proxmox VMs. compared to TrueNAS?

Anything external is per-se not better than anying PVE internal. Local ZFS has probably more features than Synology, because there is no integration into PVE with respect to snapshots and thin-provisioning. I'm unsure about the current state of the integration, yet there was/is/will be an integration. Depends on the features you want to use. Both could work just fine.

In general, one optimized to the minimalistic, so no external stuff, so that you don't need two devices to run your machines, just one. Also energy-wise is in general a single machine prefered two machines, so maybe also think about those implications.

 

[Crashman]

Hi,

energy consumption is a something I am convinced about. But I have to admit, that Synology runs stable for more than 10 years and I like the idea, to have my data storage in a single, stable box. PVE is still a little bit of playground to me. And additionally, I use the Synology cloud backup, to backup some really important files (3TB).

But I found another possible solution, Maybe I buy a QNAP TL-R400S expansion unit. It comes with a sata controller card. I would buy 4th 4TB SSD and put it into my existing raid-z - makes around 12TB. I could use the existing 12TB HDDs for some kind of internal replication (another ZFS pool) and I could use the current Synology unit with just one disk for another backup and bridge for cloud backup.

One backup per week to NAS would be fine for me. That is en energy saving way with good amount of security. And I won't need expensive and energy hungry 10GbE. I will think about it