The Synology FlashStation Family
The all-flash Synology FS1018 desktop NAS offers identical solid-state storage as the larger FS2017 and FS3017 models. A fully populated base unit provides 48 TB of raw storage with 12 3.79 TB SSDs. Expansion shelves scale raw capacity to 336 TB. (48 TB + 12 TB drive x 24) (Capacity may vary by RAID types).
“Synology introduced the FS3017 and FS2017 last year. This desktop model is just the tip of the iceberg for Synology,” said Michael Gray, product manager at SimplyNAS, a leading system integrator of Synology NAS devices.
FS1018 Core Structure
The models differ in memory, processing power, throughput, and price. Synology FlashStation FS1018 is rated to deliver more than 40,000 random writes 4K IOPS. It is equipped with the Intel Pentium D1508 Dual-Core processor and 8 GB DDR4 ECC preinstalled dual inline memory modules (SO-DIMMS). Memory scales to 32 GB with the addition of two 16 DIMM cards.
1 x Gen3 x8 slot (x8 link) One eight-lane PCI Express (PCIe) expansion slot is available on the FS1018. Additionally, add-in card support is provided by installing the M2D17 – Dual M.2 SSD adapter card for SSD cache and PCIe Network Interface Card
FS1018 Smart Solution
Many of the larger vendors have scaled out Flash NAS products such as NetApp AFF and the all-flash addition from Dell – EMC’s Isilon Line, Synology has no interest in competing with those products, it appears Synology has found a gap in the market that fits hand in glove with the needs of the high-performance storage arena and designed for big data analysis, storage virtualization, database apps, media and entertainment.
Data protection is handled with Synology RAID F1, an algorithm that designates one SSD in the system as the first to wear out. Synology does this by writing a higher number of parity bits to the assigned SSD to prevent all drives from failing simultaneously.
Snapshots supports all Synology NAS via the B-Tree file system (Btrfs) copy-on-write technology. On FlashStation, Synology Snapshot Replication software can be configured to schedule point-in-time snapshots every five minutes. It supports 1,000 snapshots per shared file folder and 65,000 system-wide backup copies.
FS1018 Performance Snapshot
The performance of the FS1018 integrated with six of the Seagate Nytro XF1230 (XF1230-1A1920) 1920 GB SSD’s, was impressive. Our tests for aggregated 10GbE SMB Random IOPS (4K) produced a READ measurement of 59105.41, whilst the Write aspect was 49689.31, the results in this sector were in line with the 1GbE tests we undertook. We are planning to publish a full chapter and verse review of the product shortly.
PC: Synology.com
FS1018 Pricing and Options
Diskless (no drives) pricing starts at $1599 for the FS1018. Customers can choose to integrate using the compatibility list provided by Synology. Alternatively, you may want to use the services of a system integrator like SimplyNAS to have it pre-populated, tested and ready to use out of the box. Price comparative with Amazon clearly depicts SimplyNAS is not only competitive but in some instances better priced than Amazon, as a specialist they have the advantage of pre-and after-sales support and services. SimplyNAS estimates when fully fitted with 2TB SSD’s the price equates to 32.5 cents per gigabyte.
Conclusion
The FS1018 Flash NAS appears to signal Synology’s intent in the All-Flash SMB market by leading from the front. Integrated with six of the Seagate Nytro XF1230 (XF1230-1A1920) 1920 GB SSD’s, this model would outperform any other NAS in its class, ideally suited for businesses with the need to process data quickly and efficiently. The performance was exemplary and this for a unit that cost $1599 for a barebone with twelve drives is simply a steal.
