Banyon

Hello all, I've been lurking around here for a while, and decided to register. First off, good work on what you've been able to accomplish so far. I have done a test install on and OLD HP workstation I had laying around. I was able to get it installed (Considering I didn't even check what hardware it was, and it was a early Pentium 4 model, impressive), it had a fair amount of problems, but that was expected. I have a few questions, some pertaining to the N54L itself, some to Xpenology. Lets start with what I have, and what I want. Have: 1. Zyxel NSA320 with 2x2TB WD Red drives 2. Older Dell Dimension desktop with i7 and 12GB RAM acting as a Windows server. (This thing sucks WAY too much power for a 24/7 machine, only real complaint) What I want: 1. 4 bay Synology with 4x2TB WD Red (maybe 3TB, who knows, lets start with what I have some parts for already) 2. Low power consumption server capable of running Windows Server 2012 Essentials 3. If these both could be in the same box to lower power consumption even more (and lower cost), that would be amazing. So now with the questions: 1. Does the N54L support Vsphere properly or does it have to be "hacked" to get it to work? 2. If not using Vsphere, does the N54L run Xpenology without any issues? The only attempts to install this software ran into a few serious ones. 3a. Would you recommend the N54L as the best bang for the buck? Is there anything similar that is supported as well, has similar specs and price range? 3b. If you don't recommend, what low power parts would you suggest for a white label box? I have looked around a bit, but it almost seems cheaper to just go with the pre-made box. All my configurations lacked something, or cost as much as the actual synology box. I have looked at some Mini-ITX boards and small cases that could fit and IcyDock... but something with the build always had a problem. 4. If I we to install two identical Intel GBE cards into this machine, would VSphere/Xpenology be able to using ethernet bonding? It's pretty late and I can't remember all the questions I had, so i guess this will have to do for now. Thanks for your time in advance.