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Synology

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Synology Inc
File:Synology (R).gif
TypeNetwork-attached storage
Operating systemLinux
CPUPowerPC, ARM
Connectivity100BASE-T, 1000BASE-T

Synology Inc, founded in April 2000, is an Taiwanese company that produces network attached storage appliances for the SOHO and SMB/SME. Synology aims to provide people an innovative way of sharing and storing digital contents. Synology servers bear a small footprint and are designed to be energy conscious and user-friendly. Synology target customer group are power users, small offices and businesses. The customer’s investment is further protected with free firmware updates, which often introduce new functions, along with an online support staff and a lively community forum, where Synology and advanced Synology users provide mutual support and share ideas relating to Synology products.

Synology products are sold around the world, particularly in European, Asian, and Japanese markets. For North America, units can be found from online retailers, such as Newegg and Tiger Direct.

Product Series

All product series are based on Linux, which is a GPL software,[1][2][3] but only Windows and Mac OS X clients are supported. They can nonetheless be used from Linux clients (after installation from a supported OS). Filenames are case-sensitive so Unix systems can fully use the file systems.

Disk Station

The Disk Station is a single, dual, quad or five bay enclosure, similarly sized to an external CD-Rom drive or a square box (comparable to the cube station), designed to meet the storage needs of most small offices or home users. Currently, the Disk Station supports several terabytes of total storage, depending on which model is used.


Cube Station

The Cube Station is a quad-bay shoe-box sized storage device, designed to meet the needs of those who require capacious amounts of storage; up to eight terabytes of total storage is available to the user. The Cube Station typically black, or white/silver in color, depending on which model is used. It seems that Synology has dropped the name "Cube Station" in its line of 4 drive NAS devices in favour of the name "Disk Station". The last in the "Cube Station" series appear to be the 407 models released in 2006/2007.

File:RS407.jpg
The Rack Station

Rack Station

The Rack Station is quad-bay 1U format Rack Mount storage server, designed to be installed in a Rack Mount Environment. Similar in capabilities as the Cube Station, the Rack Station adds the capability of using Hot-Swap Hard Drives.

General Similarities

In general, most of the Synology devices have the same set of features and or capabilities (some of the lower end models do not feature the security capabilities which the higher end models have to offer, such as SSL or ADS capabilities). The differences between all of the models mainly lie in the amount of performance or storage capacities which are required by the user. All products have an Ethernet and USB port, while some models feature an eSATA port for connecting external hard drives. By default, Synology NAS units do not come with hard drives; these are purchased separately.

Uses

The ability of Synology’s servers evolves over time, as Synology aims to release new capabilities to each of their products. However, the primary purpose of the Synology product is to expand or supplement the storage needs of the user, using the Network Attached Storage structure. Along with expanding storage, the Synology server is capable of performing data back up purposes for Windows users, or to backup to other Synology/Rsync servers, using the RSync Protocol. Along with these basic necessities, the Synology server is capable of multimedia streaming via the UPnP protocol or it can behave as Print Server. And finally, with its integrated Apache, MySQL, and PHP engines, the Synology Server is capable of being a light-weight web server, or a small Blog server.

References

  1. ^ Linux-based NAS gains UI update
  2. ^ Linux gains new architecture support
  3. ^ Synology Inc. - NEW NAS Experience - Request GPL Source

Product reviews

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