QNAP or Synology?

[Vertigo]

Looking to upgrade a QNAP TS-459 Pro and wondering which way to jump.

The QNAP is used solely as an iSCSI device and I've been generally happy with it although it does have some functionality limitations. Now looking for something with more capacity and a bit more "poke" and the obviously choices are the QNAP TS-853 Pro and the Synology DS1815+.

I've read the respective reviews on Anandtech and there doesn't seem to be much in it although the Synology seems to have a slight edge when it comes to iSCSI flexibility and performance.

Just wondering if anyone has experience of these devices (or similar) and wanted to offer their opinion/advice

 

[Vertigo]

General data storage for virtual machines, stuff like Exchange databases, WSUS updates, SVN repositories, that kind of stuff. Also general file storage which is shared out via a server VM.

Workload isn't that high tbh, we're a company of only circa 40 people, just looking to upgrade to something with a bit of spare capacity & oomph which will last a good few years. Both the mentioned devices are more than adequate for our needs, was just wondering if anyone had had any specific experiences with either brand which would recommend them (or otherwise).

 

[Vertigo]

They're not "prosumer" at all, they're targeted at SMBs which is exactly what we are. We can't afford top-end enterprise SAN kit as the prices are stupid and it's overkill for our requirements.

All data on them is backed up, usually at hourly intervals so if it fails it's not a massive problem. They're simply used to separate data from the VMs so the latter are easily moved/restored to a different host in the event of hardware failure.

We've had our Exchange database on the TS-459 for around five years and have never had any problems with resilience or performance.