Synology RackStation RS411 review

1. Introduction2. Synology RackStation RS4113. The DiskManager Operating System4. Testing Methodology and Performance5. Acoustics, Temperatures and Power Drain6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

Over the last year KitGuru has reviewed many NAS systems and we have been impressed so far with the entire range from Synology. So much so in fact that we have ended up with several of their products powering our business network. Today we are looking at the new RackStation RS411 which is targeted at business workgroups with dual LAN failover and link aggregation support.

Many people get confused with the Synology naming methodology, but on paper it is actually really easy to understand.

“+” series = performance range.
standard series (no digit) = mixture of performance and storage.
“j” series = entry level consumer, concerned about capacity but not performance.

DS = Diskstation
RS = Rackstation
First Digit = number of bays
Second numbers = year for the release

Therefore we can see that the RS411 is a 4 drive capable unit and was created for the year 2011. The RS411 can support 3 terrabyte hard drives, which means that a total storage capacity of 12TB is allowed (4x3TB). This should cover most bases for small or medium sized businesses.

Highlights

• Optimal Price/Performance Ratio
• Cross Platform File Sharing & Backup
• Fit to Business Environment
• 2 LAN with Failover and Link Aggregation Support
• Affordable Total Cost of Ownership

The RackStation RS411 arrives in a huge box which isn't really surprising as the unit itself is 44mm X 430.5mm X 457.5mm (HxWxD).

The bundle contains the software disc, literature on the product and setup, rack mounted panels, drive mounting screws and a power cable.

The RS411 is a huge NAS system, geared for rack mounted business configurations, the four drive slots are designed in parallel for maximum vertical efficiency. It is made completely of metal and weighs a whopping 7.1kg without drives.

Each of the drive bays are metal, set in place with a hefty metal bracket, pretty much a prerequisite for a business.

Next to the power buttons are activity LED's which give an overview of system status.

Along the back are several fans to keep the drives cool under operation. The power cable sits on the right side at the rear of the chassis. There are three 40mm x 40mm fans installed which Synology have selected carefully to keep noise emissions to a minimum.

Connectivity is plentiful, with several gigabit enabled LAN ports, USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA for connection to another units. This section is also removable, simply unscrew two thumbscrews for access.

This control board has a 1.6GHZ processor onboard with 256MB of Hynix H5TQ1G83BFA DDR3 memory. It also can support wireless with an additional connector.

Synology are using metal drive trays with this particular design, which is great. The metal sections are covered with felt material to offer additional protection for each of the hard drives when installed. Sadly there is no key locking system, but Rack based NAS systems are often fitted behind glass cabinets for security purposes.

Each of the drives are installed by screw mounting from the rear, through the cage. It only takes a few minutes for each drive. They are then slotted (with an audible click) back into position.

The Synology RackStation RS411 is certainly well made, and all aspects of the design are catering to the more demanding business sector, who expect ultimate build quality.

Regular readers of KitGuru may want to skip this page. We have covered the Diskmanager Operating System many times, but it is such an integral part of a Synology product that it would be remiss of us not to highlight the functionality and capabilities of this multitasking software platform.

The first thing in setting up a Synology NAS system is to load the ‘Synology Assistant' software package, which is included on the software CD, or available from the Synology support site directly.

synology_88f6282_rs411_1354.pat – is the data file that configures the RS411 system. If you are moving from another NAS system, this methodology seems a little backwards, but we are getting used to it.

The software is directly controlled via a webbrowser (Firefox in this case) and it is very intuitive and responsive. Chrome 5, Internet Explorer 7 and 8 and Safari 4 and 5 (Macintosh) can also be used.

The first duty is to set up a volume, with one or multiple drive units. The RS411 supports Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6.

The Diskmanager software offers drive monitoring panels as well as cache enabling for improved performance with specific hard drives. HDD hibernation, S.M.A.R.T. and Dynamic Bad Sector Mapping are supported.

Once a volume is in place, shared folders can be configured for access from a variety of platforms. The software supports a maximum user count of 2048 with 256 user groups and 256 shared folders. It also allows for up to 128 concurrent connections over CIFS, AFP or FTP.

Networking support is also comprehensive, Windows, Macintosh and NFS protocol can be enabled or disabled through various panels.

Link Aggregation support is available, either IEEE 802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation or Network Fault Tolerance only (non-802.3ad network environment). Jumbo frames can be adjusted from 1,500 to 9,000k.

Wireless dongles can be bought and used with the RS411, for a full list of models, visit the Synology support site. This is updated fairly regularly.

Much of the functionality is available through the admin panel, which is linked top left of the browser window. From here you can view all the subsections and head into the main control panel for system wide adjustments.

There is a plethora of media support available from DSM 3.0.

Photo Station

• Supported Image Format: BMP, JPG (jpe, jpeg), GIF, RAW (arw, srf, sr2, dcr, k25, kdc, cr2, crw, nef, mrw, ptx, pef, raf, 3fr, erf, mef, mos, orf, rw2, dng, x3f)•
• Supported Video Format : 3G2, 3GP, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX, FLV, M4V, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, QT, WMV, XviD, RM, RMVB, VOB, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR, WMA3

Download Station

• Supported Download Protocols: BT/HTTP/FTP/NZB/eMule
• Custom BitTorrent Port Range
• BitTorrent / eMule Bandwidth Control

Audio Station

• Supported Audio Format: (USB Mode) AAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, WMA VBR; (Streaming Mode) MP3, M4A, M4B
• Supported Playlist Format: M3U, WPL
• Internet Radio: SHOUTcast, Radioio

DLNA/UPnP Media Server

• DLNA Certified
• PS3/Xbox 360 Support
• Supported Audio Format: AAC, FLAC, M4A, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, PCM, WAV, WMA, WMA VBR, WMA PRO, WMA Lossless
• Supported Video Format: 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, DAT, DivX, DVR-MS, ISO, M2T, M2TS, M4V, MKV, MP4, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, MTS, MOV, QT, SWF, TP, TRP, TS, VOB, WMV, XviD, RV30, RV40, AC3, AMR, WMA3
• Supported Image Format: BMP, JPG (jpe, jpeg), GIF, ICO, PNG, PSD, TIF (tiff), UFO, RAW (arw, srf, sr2, dcr, k25, kdc, cr2, crw, nef, mrw, ptx, pef, raf, 3fr, erf, mef, mos, orf, rw2, dng, x3f)

IT staff and system administrators can configure messaging, by email or by SMS message. For those who seek maximum security and backup support, the system can also be hooked directly into a UPS device.

We are testing the Synology Diskstation DS1511+ within our gigabit network which is pretty much as good as you will get for a home or small office environment. It is a mixed network with several 1GBit switches for ultimate performance.

Reference Test PC:
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 @ 4ghz
Storage: Kingston 128GB SSD V+ Series
Motherboard: Asus Rampage II Gene
Graphics: Geforce GTX285 2GB
Memory: Corsair Dominator 1600mhz @2000mhz
Network: 2x Belkin 16 Port Gigabit Switches
Operating System: Windows 7 64 Bit Ultimate

Data throughput is excellent, very closely matched to the DS710.

Our local PC has a fast Kingston SSD as the main drive and we are using it to ensure no bottlenecks occur on this side of the testing. Our PC is hooked up to the network and we transfer a 10GB MKV file from the PC to the NAS systems. All NAS systems are using dual drive mechanical Raid 0 configurations.

When writing, we recorded an average rate of around 53 MB/s. CPU usage spiked between 50 percent and 80 percent. and memory usage was steady at 20 percent.

With jumbo frames set to 9k we managed around 107 MB/s average which is a fantasic result. With the settings at default this dropped to around 96 MB/s. CPU usage lowered to around 50 percent and the memory demand was still around 20 percent.

Next we created a folder of files, 500mb/s in size with a variety of data , from small database documents to larger jpgs and bmps.

Impressive read performance from the RS411 unit, averaging 73 MB/s.

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components.

Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

Noise was measured from half a meter away with two 2TB drives installed.

Considering the RS411 is using three tiny 40mm fans, the noise levels are very respectable indeed. You can hear them in a very quiet room, but a rack mounted system is designed to be set up in a specialist IT targeted environment, away from workers and general employees.

With two Samsung 2TB drives installed, the system only takes 21 watts at idle and 45 watts under load. When fully populated and active we would expect the load figure to rise to around 55 watts.

Time to test the cooling system. Our room ambient temperatures are 23c which is a reasonable temperature for an air conditioned environment.

The drives remained between 1c and 4c above ambient and the average figures are recorded above. Great results from the Synology RS411.

The Synology RS411 is capable of sustaining over 100 MB/s when delivering files to employees within a business environment. The dual LAN configuration with failover support and hot swappable drives helps ensure constant service uptime if disaster strikes.

The RS411 is not only a high performance NAS system, but it combines rugged metal design with easy access to internal circuitry from the rear. As a backup device it covers many bases, for instance PC users can back up their data to the RS411 using the free Synology Data Replicator software and Mac OSX users have native Apple Time Machine integration, making it totally hassle free.

Additionally, the DiskManager software allows for web based backup to another Synology Diskstation or Rackstation. USB and eSATA support also means that smaller external drives can be used for total peace of mind.

Energy efficiency is very impressive, with the RS411 only demanding 21 watts of power when in hibernation mode. Scheduled power off times can be set to help reduce electricity costs, such as overnight when employees aren't working.

The Synology RS411 can cater for the hosting of up to 30 websites with PHP/MySQL content. Functionality is further enhanced by the Surveillance Station which delivers a centralised interface to protect office environments by the deployment of IP cameras throughout the network. Mail Station can be added to turn the RS411 into a mail server with only a few simple steps. USB printers can be shared across an office environment directly from the unit.

On a software level there really is no faster, more streamlined operating system than Synology Diskmanager V3.0. It covers enough areas to be truly useful to an expert, yet it is uncluttered enough to make sense to a networking newbie.

The only negative we could mention would be the write performance, which seemed to peak around the 53 MB/s mark, even when using a Solid State Drive for verification. This will not prove an issue for the majority of working conditions, but for those who need ultimate performance, then we strongly recommend the Synology DS1010+ or DS1511+. They aren't rack solutions, but the throughput is phenomenal.

Pricing in the UK is set around the £700 including vat mark, but we have seen some dealers selling them for under £600, which makes it an even more tempting proposition.

KitGuru says: Another excellent product from Synology, their range grows stronger and stronger every month.

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