My first low-budget baremetal NAS server (DS918+)

[CA50]

First of all, thank you@jun and all others who have enabled us to run the DSM on non-synology machine thereby enabling me to setup my first baremetal NAS.

Sharing my configuration and experience so that it can help others who are planning to do something similar

 

My configuration

• Motherboard - H110M PRO-VH PLUS
• Processor - Intel G4400
• RAM - Kingston 4 GB DDR4 2133 MHz
• PSU - Corsair VS450
• HDD - 3 x WD 4TB NAS drive (WD40EFRX-68WT0N0) + 1 x TOSHIBA 500GB (MQ01ABD050)
• Case - Cooler Master HAF 912 ( front : 1x200mm front | rear : 1x120mm | top : 1x120mm )

 

Loader

• Jun's Mod v1.04b
• DSM version - 6.2.2 Update 2 (upgraded to 6.2.2 Update 3)
• Model - DS918+

 

Storage Configuration

• Storage Pool 1 - Toshiba 500 GB - Installed DSM | Downloads | Torrents (no RAID). Filesystem btrfs
• Storage Pool 2 - 3 x WD 4TB - primary storage in SHR. Filesystem ext4

 

Network

• 1 GbE supported by motherboard
• 1 GbE router (TP Link Archer C5 V4 running OpenWrt)

 

Experience

Installation process was breeze there were no hiccups. Now running the NAS happily

Any feedback and advice are always welcome.

 

Pictures

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2019 by CA50
correct formatting + added links

[IG-88]

onboard network for this is RTL8111H, important info when it comes to drivers (r8168)

as 918+ comes with realtek nic and synology delivers a r8168 driver with dsm and ahci is also part of dsm it has become easier to put something together and get it running, the "fun" starts with additional sata/sas ports and 10G network

 

 also important info would be if hardware transcoding is working

 

Edited November 1, 2019 by IG-88

[CA50]

The 'fun' part is my concern too. I am planning get a PCIe SATA expansion card but confused as which chip is  supported by DSM.
Regarding the hardware transcoding, I tried the 'offline transcode' option in DS Video but it failed. Did i try the wrong thing, do let me know the correct way of testing the hardware transcoding.

Cheers!

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

[IG-88]

3 hours ago, CA50 said:

I am planning get a PCIe SATA expansion card but confused as which chip is  supported by DSM.

since dsm 6.1/6.2 not much, go with AHCI, thats part of the kernel and does not need extra drivers

a 4 port marvell 9215 based card is a safe bet ans cheap

https://www.amazon.com/Syba-Controller-Marvell-Non-Raid-SD-PEX40099/dp/B01464550K

https://www.sybausa.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=64_181_85

 

if you want 8 ports ahci:

https://xpenology.com/forum/topic/19854-sata-controllers-not-recognized/?do=findComment&comment=122709

 

in general stay away from any sata multiplexer/ multipliers, 4-port cards with two chips are usually a bad sign (2port chip + multiplexer chip)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_multiplier

also uneven port numbers (3,5) or 6 ports are indicating multiplexers

like 5 port card, might be a 4 port chip, one port is used with a 2port multiplexer so 4-1+2=5, usable for dsm would be 4 port as only the 1st port of a multiplexer would be usable

really gets ridiculous when having a 2port sata chip and two 4port multiplexer, that card would have 8 ports but usable in dsm would be only 2 ports

if you read "FIS" in the description then its not usable in dsm (at least not with all sata ports)

my advice when going wild on ali express, read about the specs of the chip(s) on the card if you don't get info's about that skip to the next candidate

the only "switching" that is allowed is pcie switching (like with the 8 port card link from above)

 

with your mainboard you might think ahead for extending, 10G nic's are always pcie 4x or 8x so you might want to keep the 16x slot open for later and buy one or two 2/4 port ahci cards for the pcie 1x slots, having 4 ports sharing pcie 1x will not be optimal for ssd usage but you can still split later and use the 2nd pcie 1x slot for ssd's (still keeping the 16x slot open for 10G nic), i'd suggest to opt for a 4port pci 1x card and keep things open for later

 

you can have a usb3 2.5/5G nic but thats only a last resort imho (like systems with only one pcie slot)

https://xpenology.com/forum/topic/17690-drivers-for-usb-30-to-ethernet-255-gbit

 

[rfaguiar]

The 'fun' part is my concern too. I am planning get a PCIe SATA expansion card but confused as which chip is  supported by DSM.
Regarding the hardware transcoding, I tried the 'offline transcode' option in DS Video but it failed. Did i try the wrong thing, do let me know the correct way of testing the hardware transcoding.

Cheers!

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

I've bought a random one from aliexpress and it just worked out of the box

Sent from my FRD-L09 using Tapatalk

[CA50]

@IG-88, thank you for your detail post. Right now i am not thinking to upgrade by network as i will have to upgrade my router as well.
I am planning to add few more regular mechanical HDD for which i am planning to get PCIe x1 card

@rfaguiar, can you share the link to the card which you purchased ?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
 

Edited November 2, 2019 by CA50

[rfaguiar]

€ 7,29 16%OFF | PCI Express SATA 3 Controller Card, 2 Port PCIe SATA III 6GB/s Internal Adapter Converter for Desktop PC Support SSD and HDD w
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/SluWHwgIB

I wanted a cheap solution to add two hdd.

Sent from my FRD-L09 using Tapatalk

[altas]

 nice Build

 

i still have a HP GEN8 but next would be something similar as you have build.

 

[CA50]

Just an update, now i am able to hardware transcode on my NAS.
I have shared my approach here
https://xpenology.com/forum/topic/13797-tutorial-installing-918-62x-dsm-on-104b-loader-transcoding/?do=findComment&comment=125224

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

[toyanucci]

@CA50I'm about to pull the trigger on some hardware to setup xpenology as a upgrade to my very slow but faithful ds112 and I have a couple questions.

 

The USB stick needed to setup the system, will it be needed for booting every time the system is turned on? Also, I was curious about the storage pools you mentioned. I have a 120gb ssd laying around...would it be recommended to install dsm to that drive and then setup a storage pool with 3 4tb drives using SHR for storing all my media files etc? I'm wondering if that would make it possible to have the data safe should anything happen to the disk DSM is actually installed on. 

 

Sorry for all the questions but your post really inspired me to set this up lol. All items are in my amazon cart as we speak! 

[Richt16]

Sorry if in the wrong area,  as I need your help and support I have been running DS918+ 6.2.1/6.2 baremetal with Jun's mod v1.04b on GNU GRUB v2.02 for 5 years, today I logged in to the DS software first time in 5 yrs and it said update available to I think it said 7.1. 2 you gest it I pressed it and now I cant access anything apart from seeing the boot loader. Please can any one help to fix the issue, I am not that technically good with this, but can follow step by step guild as I cant afford to loose what is on the drives Please except my thanks now for any support you can give   

Edited February 12, 2024 by Richt16

[Richt16]

Hi All i have managed to sus it out, Thanks for your support and a great site