In the last episode of my HomeLab journey, I have written about my new Datacenter 3 location. This time I am focusing on storage….
It´s time to replace my custom build Xpenology NAS with something new….. My new network (HomeLab Stage LXI: New network) has enough power to support a new Power NAS.
The old system was based on an IBM x3550M3 server where I replace the CPU with a low power model, 64GB RAM, SAS controller and 8 x 2TB SAS drives. It worked fine for several years, but I wanted something new….
I am looking for a new rackmount NAS with the following features:
Low Power, High Performance, 25-100GbE networking, 8-12 SSD slots, upgradable memory…..
Use cases: File sharing (of course), replication and storing surveillance camera videos (14 cameras around my house)
Decision: Synology RS1221+

- Quad Core CPU 2.2 GHz
- 4GB RAM (upgradable to 32GB) ECC SODIMM officially, 64GB unofficial
- 8 x drive
- 4 x 1GBE onBoard (not usable for me….)
- PCIe 8x slot for network expansion
- 25dBA (pretty silent)
- 50W maximum power when using 8 x HDD
I will use the following additional software from Synology:
Synology Virtual Machine Manager
Synology Snapshot Manager for VMware
Synology Storage Replication Adapter for SRM
Synology NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI
Synology Storage Console for VMware
Synology CSI Driver for Kubernetes

Memory Upgrade to 32GB: Done 🙂
Network expansion with dual port 25GbE (E25G21-F2)

Port Aggregation configured to Nvidia Networking SN2100 with breakout cables and LACP on the SN2100 side
I wanted enough storage capacity combined with high performance….

8 x 4TB Samsung QVO SATA SSDs


I decided to perform a Raid 6 storage configuration for all SSDs:


Synology Surveillance Station License 8 + 4 additional license (2 are included with the RS1221+) = 14 licensed cameras
30 days actual retention time for all cameras:

Copy performance from my workstation (connected via 40GbE) to NAS is about 1GB/s, which is pretty nice
VMware Synology Storage Console:

Looking for the next episode: HomeLab Stage LXIII: New UPS setup