Synology vs Custom build? Am I doing it wrong? reddit / selfhosted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Illuminated_Humanoid · 2023-10-24 07:19 I have owned my Synology NAS and enjoyed self-hosting with it for about 2 years now. I never self-hosted before owning it, so this is all I know. The only reason I purchased one in the first place was because of my discovery of Plex media server. Plex was great on PC for the first little bit until I realized I was outgrowing my ability to reliably host it for myself and family to enjoy and that's what forced me to find a dedicated solution, which led me to the Synology NAS. I wonder to myself sometimes if I would be better off building my own system with my own parts. What has stopped me I think mostly is sacrificing the Synology DSM OS, which I really do like and find good value in. I know there are Linux distros for specific NAS needs, but I haven't had any experience with them to know if it's a good choice for self-hosting. What do you use? How do you like it? Are you planning to change your setup? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ttkciar · 2023-10-24 07:30 I built a Slackware Linux system, put a bunch of disks in it (eight 4TB drives), used md to RAID6 them together (one filesystem with 24TB of usable space, losing three disks loses the array) and export it to the house LAN via http, https, smb (Samba) and gluster. It's cheap and flexible and fast and awesome, and my only plan to change it is to replace the drives with eight 8TB, because the 4TB are getting old and they're filling up. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-10-24 07:33 Synology is a great option if you just need storage, and nothing else. I do not recommend it for using it for anything else, even if you like DSM. If you want to run Plex, get a proper compute platform like a NUC or SFF PC and install Linux on that and then run Plex as a container with the data mounted via NFS from the Synology NAS. This gives you the flexibility that you can easily upgrade your compute node of you need more power (look for QuickSync capable CPU for Plex hardware transcoding), while your storage is save and sound on a Synology. Don’t forget to backup your data via 3-2-1 (1-0) rule! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ejz9 · 2023-10-24 07:43 Honestly if it works for what you have and you like it? Keep it. I think we often can browse Reddit, and hear things from friends and others who self host and what there setup is. There’s no “the best” setup. It’s just what’s “the best” for your needs? I have a custom built server. I built it no different that how one might build a PC. I have a: Ryzen 5700G 8C/16T 64GB gskill 3200 or 3600mhz Neo 2TB Samsung 980 On a ASrock mobo with 2.5GB Ethernet (my internet isn’t even gigabit) Inside a NZXT H1 What do I host? Classic home utilities people list on this sub. Also other utilities for fun. Otherwise? Game servers. I bought a beefy rig for my MC servers with friends and ambitions of “public mc servers”. But I also host more than just MC servers. I got that CPU too cause it has integrated which I knew would help for jellyfin. I plan to when I go home some weekend (in college currently) to buy and install 1 or 2 20TB drives for “Linux isos” and my FLAC library that’s growing. Xo bandcamp also rip bandcamp. I upgraded from an old Mac Mini 2012 that worked and would be better than what I have now for the basic stuff. Again though I have game servers but it doesn’t see much usage of those right now. But I can do more with my own server than the $25/ month rental for just MC with often less ram. I recently just debated did I go wrong when I setup the new server with Ubuntu instead of Proxmox. Did I? No cause it works for what I need. I can do all I need and want, I don’t need VMs and if I really do I have Kasm. I’ve never had a NAS though even though I use NextCloud on this device. I’ve yet to establish what and how I want to save backups though. Sure they save somewhere but I wanted to buy a 20TB just for them. Also I’ve never used RAID but I think you’ve got to have more money and persistent data movement to justify that. RAID’s just another way have managing data though and effectively maintains backups and harnessing mass storage. Hopefully this helps! Happy Hosting! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ariquitaun · 2023-10-24 08:20 DIY always better for an all around server which is a nas but also a application server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- adamshand · 2023-10-24 08:39 Why don't you recommend running services on a Synology? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- planeturban · 2023-10-24 09:02 For me: The Unix way - do one thing and do it well. A NAS is a NAS, not an application server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-10-24 09:14 Synology NAS often have very shitty CPU, which is good thing, because you don’t want a high TPD CPU to serve you NFS. This also means the RAM in the systems is very limited. On top of that if you need features like iGPU (Intel QuickSync) you are mostly out of luck because only a few Synology NAS have a CPU that can do that. NAS stands for Network Attached Storage, but most people today confuse it with an application server that can run containers and what not. It can do that, don’t get me wrong, but it should because of the points I made above. Upgrading a NAS in terms of CPU or RAM is also often very limited and more expensive than simply buying a NUC or SFF computer and using that as your compute device (application server). Even the lowest of the low Synology NAS will saturate 1G for instance. If it has a 10G option and you can use SSD or NVMe as cache it can easily pump out 1.2GB/s, no need to use it as an application server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-10-24 09:16 Sadly, people today confuse a NAS with an application server, because its Linux, it can run containers, but it really shouldn’t. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Salopridraptor · 2023-10-24 10:08 I'm using a Synology running jellyfin, navidrome, komga and it's working pretty well for me ;) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-10-24 11:24 and that is great, enjoy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Finagles_Law · 2023-10-24 11:54 Why? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-10-24 11:56 The same reason you don’t use your microwave to dry your clothes. A NAS is a slimed down version of a “server” in that sense that it has the storage capacity associated with most servers, but none of the other components. Most NAS have only a single PSU, two or four embedded network connections. If you are lucky one, or even two PCIe ports at very low speeds. Shall I go on? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Finagles_Law · 2023-10-24 12:00 I'm a 20 year IT and DevOps guy, and I run Synology at home after years of old servers and whitebox home labs. I use it because it Just Works, and when I'm at home I want to be working on my personal projects and relaxing, not learning or troubleshooting. I have the full *arr suite, Plex and file services on my DS920+, and unless I'm transcoding several streams, the CPU barely gets warm. I do plan on adding some edge devices on NUC, Mac Minis or Arduino, but they will run strictly as edge devices or specialty boxes like video conversion. More devices means more complexity. The Synology is perfectly capable of running my house stuff for me, so I keep it simple. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Xiakit · 2023-10-24 12:21 I started with Syno, selfhosting more and more, then switched to containers. After that bought a dedicated mini PC for the more CPU intensive tasks and migrated the containers to it. The data resides on the Nas and the rest is on the mini server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bloodylegend33 · 2023-10-24 12:24 I moved all my containers from synology to my intel nuc and the UI response times on things like the arr stack was very noticeable. I highly recommend exactly what u/ElevenNotes is saying. Even sabnzb downloads and unzips a lot faster. I mean it makes sense they are better cpus than what you get in a synology. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-10-24 12:26 Pshhhhhhhhhht, don’t talk sense on this sub. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bloodylegend33 · 2023-10-24 12:30 Haha well I guess you and I can enjoy our homelab just a bit more responsive! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-10-24 12:32 Nah not me, I got banned from /r/homelab because I’m a mean asshole for saying stuff like Synology is better used as NAS instead of a full-blown application server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Jonteponte71 · 2023-10-24 13:32 This is probably the ideal route if you want to keep it simple and relatively cheap. I have the same setup after starting with a 918+ for just file sharing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dazchad · 2023-10-24 13:46 For me, synology hardware just isn’t powerful enough for anything more demanding. Transcoding is lacking, so Plex/jellyfin/emby are out. I do host the servarr suite there though, and that’s it. I have a NUC with a beefy database and my other services, including reverse proxy. Another reason to have another machine is security. You don’t expose your NAS, so there’s a smaller chance of being hacked (not immunity mind you) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dazchad · 2023-10-24 13:48 I put ssd on my synology as a volume and it was night and day for apps and containers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-10-24 13:52 Exactly, good point about security, since you have no idea how secure the entire DSM stack is, it makes sense to isolate a Synology NAS from the rest of the network and only allow the storage protocols you use, like NFS and SMB. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Finagles_Law · 2023-10-24 14:06 Wow, you're pretty condescending. I've been an enterprise IT admin for probably longer than you've been alive and manage a fleet of about 2000 servers. I've been HP, Dell, Microsoft, Cisco and Citrix enterprise certified. You generally just don't *need* that much power at home. It's wasteful. You're like a guy who buys a Ford Super duty to get groceries and maybe haul a couch once in a while. It's overkill for 95% of users who aren't sharing to their whole friends and families. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ElevenNotes · 2023-10-24 14:13 I don’t know nor do I understand what’s condescending about stating that using a NAS as an application server is ill advised? You have plenty of people who just wrote in this sub that for instance the web UI is sluggish on certain applications and that unpacking a 25GB rar takes way longer than it does on, let’s say, an Intel NUC. What exactly is the problem in that statement? Everything has it’s use. A NAS is perfect for storage in a home, adding an Intel NUC to it to run Plex or \*arr and what not only complements the whole instead of brutally forcing everything on a single device that was not made to handle that. We are in the /r/selfhosted sub, maybe you forgot that, and not on the /r/synology sub. Most people here do run a lot of containers, some of them can be pretty demanding, at \*\*home\*\*, so yes, I think I’m in the right sub to make this statement. PS: I did not ask about your job, I don’t understand why you feel the need to tell me what you do when it adds nothing to a discussion about Synology vs. custom? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- joyfulmarvin · 2023-10-24 14:17 My only worry with DSM was the backup. The backup that I would be able to recover to DSM only. Synology lock-in is quite expensive, while replacing parts of a general server is a bit easier and cheaper. I had a fan failure on synology that turned into a whole problem - there were no replacement fans in stock already as the system was phasing out and the fan itself was proprietary in some way. I had to solder something to make it work without alarms. I don’t remember what exactly, but that was when I switched to generally available consumer hardware. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kmisterk · 2023-10-24 14:45 ## Post Removed Hey, Illuminated_Humanoid! Thanks for your submission on selfhosted. Your post has been removed due to a violation of the purpose of the subreddit: **Self Hosting** ## Not Self-Hosted When it comes to posts regarding applications in this subreddit, they must feature a self-hosted tool, or a tool that *can be* self-hosted, or some kind of related information, help request, or otherwise related to a tool that is something that one can self-host. If you believe this post *is in fact* relevant to /r/selfhosted, feel free to [message the mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to= /r/selfhosted&subject=Removed For Not Being Self- Hosted&message=[Removed Post](https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/17f707m/-/\)) with your concerns.