NAS or DAS specifically with Hybrid RAID (Synology SHR or Terramaster TRAID) for Mac Studio

[Chancha]

Thanks for that tip on the NAS 10GbE card. I'm now looking at the Synology DS1522+ that has a 10GbE optional upgrade. The way you are connecting the Studio to the NAS and Studio to the Internet and NAS to the router or switch is exactly what I'd like for my setup. I put together this diagram which includes notes contributed by members in this forum. I also added a NVMe M.2 SSD that I can pull out from my Mac Pro and pop into an enclosure for fast external storage. I can probably add more notes, but want to put this out there for critiques.

View attachment 2106531

p.s. I can't figure out how to delete the thumbnails below. They're the same as the above.

The diagram pretty much nails it; with the exception of the CAT between NAS and switch; you really don't need that since your intention is to secure the NAS away from the internet and rest of your LAN. The major DSM updates can be pushed from a computer accessing the NAS via browser, in this case Safari running on the Mac Studio that can upload the update file you download in macOS. The software packages though may be a bit harder to get updated manually.

Alternatively you can leave this CAT cable attached, but do some steps in both the NAS and the router side to limit the NAS's access in and out of the "firewall". In DSM you can disable the gateway so the NAS does not know which IP is even on the edge connecting to the outside world. And on the router you can do MAC address specific blocking etc.

Anyway as with everything network related, the possibilities are endless, but of course more things can go wrong as well.

 

[GoGrater]

The diagram pretty much nails it; with the exception of the CAT between NAS and switch; you really don't need that since your intention is to secure the NAS away from the internet and rest of your LAN. The major DSM updates can be pushed from a computer accessing the NAS via browser, in this case Safari running on the Mac Studio that can upload the update file you download in macOS. The software packages though may be a bit harder to get updated manually.

Alternatively you can leave this CAT cable attached, but do some steps in both the NAS and the router side to limit the NAS's access in and out of the "firewall". In DSM you can disable the gateway so the NAS does not know which IP is even on the edge connecting to the outside world. And on the router you can do MAC address specific blocking etc.

Anyway as with everything network related, the possibilities are endless, but of course more things can go wrong as well.

Thanks, Chancha. I like your idea to remove the CAT cable between the NAS and switch and download the major DSM updates from the Studio's browser. But when you say "software packages... might be a bit harder...", what software are you referring to?

Here's my updated diagram v2. I've added two M.2 NVME drives for cache and your previous suggestion for formatting to BTRFS. Thanks again!

 

[bradl]

Thanks, Chancha. I like your idea to remove the CAT cable between the NAS and switch and download the major DSM updates from the Studio's browser. But when you say "software packages... might be a bit harder...", what software are you referring to?

Here's my updated diagram v2. I've added two M.2 NVME drives for cache and your previous suggestion for formatting to BTRFS. Thanks again!
View attachment 2113628

There is an App Store like Package Center where you can download packages to use on the NAS, like Photo Station and Moments to manage your photos, Audio Station to manage music, Video station (Plex, etc.), HyperBackup to manage backups, and other applications for networking (mail, web, Tomcat, Java, PHP, etc.). The NAS will download those directly from Synology. It requires a connection to the internet to get those, but does not mean that your NAS will be exposed (your NAS will be the client, not the server). If using IP Masquerading, it will go through your Mac's connectivity to the switch to pull those down.

BL.

 

[GoGrater]

There is an App Store like Package Center where you can download packages to use on the NAS, like Photo Station and Moments to manage your photos, Audio Station to manage music, Video station (Plex, etc.), HyperBackup to manage backups, and other applications for networking (mail, web, Tomcat, Java, PHP, etc.). The NAS will download those directly from Synology. It requires a connection to the internet to get those, but does not mean that your NAS will be exposed (your NAS will be the client, not the server). If using IP Masquerading, it will go through your Mac's connectivity to the switch to pull those down.

BL.

Thanks for the tip, Bradl, as well as all of your previous helpful info. I finally fired-up my Studio today and although I know there's more challenges and learning ahead, I'll get there eventually with the help from you and others in this forum.

 

[haralds]

In theory, your Mac Pro 5,1 can be converted and re-purposed as a NAS with NAS OS re-installed like True NAS Core, OMV, etc. or even Xpenology (a hacked version of Sysnology OS), but as the hardware has aged, its stability might be an issue.

The biggest issue is the hit on your power bill with the cMPRO 5,1. It's a power hog. A NAS or RAID will be much less.

 

[haralds]

I don't have high bandwidth requirements. I have been thrilled with my Synology DS1520+. 5 bays maximize RAID disk utilization with SHR. I currently use 5x16TB with another 5x8TB in the add-on cabinet. The DS1520+ is limited to 2 1Gb/s ports, which I have bonded with a Netgear managed switch. This mainly adds multiple simultaneous accesses. I maxed its RAM to 20GB for some resident VMs used for services like Home Assistant. I also use M2 caches.
Actual R/W speed are ~ 102MB/s/92MB/s, about twice of a USB3 or USB-C spinning drive.
I would recommend a small UPS connected to it for automatic shut down/restart.

BTW, get the 5-disk versions for better RAID utilization under SJS or RAID6.

 

[GoGrater]

I don't have high bandwidth requirements. I have been thrilled with my Synology DS1520+. 5 bays maximize RAID disk utilization with SHR. I currently use 5x16TB with another 5x8TB in the add-on cabinet. The DS1520+ is limited to 2 1Gb/s ports, which I have bonded with a Netgear managed switch. This mainly adds multiple simultaneous accesses. I maxed its RAM to 20GB for some resident VMs used for services like Home Assistant. I also use M2 caches.
Actual R/W speed are ~ 102MB/s/92MB/s, about twice of a USB3 or USB-C spinning drive.
I would recommend a small UPS connected to it for automatic shut down/restart.

BTW, get the 5-disk versions for better RAID utilization under SJS or RAID6.

Glad you like your DS1520+. I'm currently planning to get the DS1522+ which is a 5-bay like your model. I've read this newer model is not as good for video, but I currently only work on still photography so I don't believe that will be an issue for me.

Wow, you have lots of data. I still need to figure out my HDD sizes. Although I don't have too much data right now, I expect to start taking lots more photos from now on, I'm wondering if it's better for me to buy only enough TBs in total + parity drives to last for maybe around 5 years (or whatever the estimated lifetime of HDD)s. Then again, I could keep the drives until they die because the RAID will allow me to rebuild a drive since I will implement Synology's SHR-2 RAID. Hopefully that makes practical sense. I'm a newbie at this so I could be wrong.

Yes, I'll plug the NAS into a UPS.