Disk layout for 8 bay NAS

SupraWez · 9 Sep 2018 at 14:24

Hey All,

Just wondering what disk layouts people would go with for an 8 bay NAS.

Using WD REDs 4TB maybe something like this :-

1-2 : raid 1 mirror
3-4 : raid 1 mirror
5-7 : raid 5
8 : hot spare

or

1-2 : raid 1 mirror
3-4 : raid 1 mirror
5-8 : raid 5

Interesting to see what others would do and reasons why.

SupraWez · 10 Sep 2018 at 13:24

Thanks for all the input, the NAS will be a QNAP.

As for usage it will general office usage, so documents and desktop backups etc.

SupraWez · 10 Sep 2018 at 14:37

bremen1874 said:
Are you using 4TB drives because you already have them?

Correct, already have some WD REDs.

SupraWez · 11 Sep 2018 at 10:53

So with all the information above what about a layout like this :-

1-4 : raid 10
5-8 : raid 6

SupraWez · 11 Sep 2018 at 10:57

Another option would be this :-

1-2 : raid 1 mirror
3-8 : raid 6

The reason being QNAP creates a bunch of defaults and from memory also stores upgraded firmware and apps on the initial volume, this would be the raid 1 mirror. The raid 6 set could them be created as an encrypted volume that would require unlocking once the NAS has booted and could store all documents etc.

Thoughts?

SupraWez · 11 Sep 2018 at 13:26

OK just been checking on the QNAP configuration and you create your storage pool, ie raid set, then create your volumes on top.

Therefore could create a single raid 10 or 6 storage pool and have multiple volumes, the first smaller default volume unencrypted with a subsequent volumes either encrypted or not as needed.

The QNAP also support M.2 drives for read/write or just read caching.

EDIT: with the caching enabled I am thinking raid 6.

SupraWez · 25 Sep 2018 at 10:26

Snapshot said:
How about small SSD for system, 6 drive RAID 10 plus hot spare?

There are also two nvme slots available, I was going to use one for the system / initial volume and the other as a cache drive, that leaves all 8 slots for the main raid volume, either RAID10 or 6.

The NAS also supports additional nvme on a 10gb PCIe card so could add more if needed.

SupraWez · 25 Sep 2018 at 12:54

Si. said:
Also, if you are looking at encryption, remember that this will have a large impact on the performance. Most QNAP devices (and Synology), don't have dedicated encryption processors so the main CPU will be doing the work, this means that throughput will drop significantly for any encrypted volumes.

Just a quick look and the NAS has hardware encryption engine :-

With a hardware-accelerated encryption engine with AES-NI, the TVS-873e also provides unmatched encryption performance in its class (up to 960 MB/s with AES 256-bit full NAS volume encryption) to boost system performance, security, and ensuring the safety of sensitive business data stored in the NAS.

https://www.qnap.com/en-uk/product/tvs-873e