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Network Attached Storage

Proposer​

Ailbhe
Andy
John
Oskar

Brief​

ABAIR needs to centralise the storage and access to files, particularly audio recordings. Currently recordings exist in multiple locations across many of our servers, with lots of duplication. These files are difficult to access, particularly for non-technical staff members. A NAS box, hosted on our own network, with a user-friendly file browsing GUI would make all our work a lot easier.

Considerations for the NAS​

How much storage do we need now?

  • ~20TB?

How much storage do we estimate we will need for the next 5 years?

  • ~100sTB.
  • Depends on TG4. Probably in the hundreds.
  • Maybe we can get a box with X slots but only fill X-N for now?

HDD vs SSD?

  • NAS are typically HDD, but need to consider future-proofing.
  • What will be our bottleneck - Read/Write or network?
  • Some rough figures on Read/Write speeds:
    • HDD (7200RPM): ~200MB/s
    • SSD: ~600MB/s
    • NVME: ~3000MB/s
  • Network speed in TCD? Ran ethtool [network interface] and got speed: 1000MB/s. Real speed is much lower I believe: 100-200MB/s
  • Price. HDD much cheaper.

Max users/devices accessing the NAS simultaneously?

  • I am going to estimate the absoulte max (in the summer with lots of people around) would be 12.
  • Need to consider the number of ethernet connections - 4 to 6 would probabaly be sufficient.

Types of client devices/operating systems which will be accessing?

  • Windows, MAc, Linux, Android.. all and everything.

RAID structure?

  • Going to say RAID 5 - Strage Efficiency is excellent (N-1)/N, and we will have more than the minimum 3 disks.

File System

  • Only real consideration I can see is if we want to use ZFS for better data integrity, scalability.
  • Major issue is RAM consumption. General recommendations for ZFS are minimum 8GB with an extra 1GB per TB of storage. That is a lot!

CPU

  • Don't need a powerful CPU - file sharing (e.g. SMB) is light on CPU resources.
  • With up to 12 users, 4-core minimum.

RAM

  • We are only going to be using this device for file sharing, not RAM hungry activities like streaming or hosting other services.
  • If we go with a standard (non-ZFS) setup with up to 12 users at once, probably 8GB would be a sufficient minimum.

Budget?

  • Andy?

Standalone box or rack?

  • John is in favour of a separate physical box that can be pointed at during meetings.

Software, e.g. Open Source (TrueNAS) vs Proprietary (Synology)

  • Consider ease of use vs. granular control.
  • Synology (and the like) will work out of the box with a nice file browser UI. It's plug and play.
  • TrueNAS gives more granular control, but will require more input into setup and maintenance.
  • John prefers FOSS and having control, but is leaning toward no fuss plug and play for this.

Summary

  • Plug and play box
  • Min Quad Core CPU
  • Min 8GB RAM
  • Use HDDs
  • Raid 5
  • At least 100TB
  • At least 4 ethernet ports.
  • Under €XXXX
  • Extendable in future.

Where to Buy​

Some options available to us in TCD:

Plan​

Start: Now
Finish: Before we get access to TG4 (possibly October 2025)
Tech Stack: ?
Summary: ?

Team​

Andy
John
Oskar

Purchase Candidates​

NAS​

HDDs​