Synology rs4017xs+ setup/usage

mlaidman

Member
Mar 20, 2009
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61
Hi folks, and sorry off the bat for the silly questions...

The company where I work (TV, commercials, online content, etc.) just purchased the above Synology NAS, fully populated with 8TB Ironwolf Drives and 64GB RAM. (It has yet to be even installed!)

Our office now is spread across 2 rooms, with the computer clusters roughly 25-30 meters apart. There's a cluster of 6 (all 2015 or just-upgraded 2017 iMacs), and then another 12 or so in the other area, but maybe only 6 would need access to the NAS, and maybe only 3 of those would regularly be editing videos that might be stored/backed up on the NAS (I'm not even sure what exactly we're going to be putting on it yet, and what sort of RAID we'll be using).

Chances are that we won't really be editing directly off of it, at least for the time being. What are our options for network connectivity? Would it make sense to drag one of the two 10GBe cables to each of the main clusters that will be using it (knowing that we'd need TB3-10GBe adaptors for the iMacs)? And then to have each of the cables go to a hub for each cluster? Any product recommendations would be welcomed!

Also, we edit in Final Cut mostly, and I've taken a quick look at how their backups work. I'd ideally like to edit locally, or else via a RAID 0 external solution, and have that whole library mirrored on the NAS. Anyone know if this is doable? It seems like you can only set single locations for media/motion templates/cache/backups.

(As a side note, I'm the only foreigner working at a smallish company in South Korea, and while I have a lot of interest in all the tech stuff, I work here as an editor/PD and so am not involved in the purchase decisions. But I like to try and make sure no one makes any silly mistakes and that the equipment is used to its full potential! Our backups as of now consist of a wall shelf full of hard drives...single copies only...)

Thank you!
 

RussDraper

Junior Member
May 8, 2018
8
0
1
I would suggest you use 10gb connections, although you might not need them for the few connections you have. If you are editing 4k video from multiple sources you might notice the difference. The most popular 10gb switches were brocade for awhile, but now the entry level netgear switches are popular in my opinion. Even if you only have the 10gb connection going from the switch to the NAS that will help (in case you don't want to spring for a 10gb for each imac). Good luck!
 

mlaidman

Member
Mar 20, 2009
31
0
61
Thanks for the input.
It ended up getting set up in RAID 6, but with only a single Gb port being used and it being connected over our office internet network. I think that files are going to be slowly migrated over. It seems I won't actually be using it much as I'll move to a Pegasus R4 over TB2 to edit locally and backup to another external HDD. I'll let the powers that be deal with the NAS and if they need my input they can have it! Haha
The good thing is that it's located just a few meters from our desk cluster, so it won't be hard to add a direct 10GbE line should the time come. But for now, no one is going to be editing directly off of it.
Thanks again!