The Synology DS3617xs vs The Synology DS3615xs – Enterprise Synology NAS Comparison

Why buy the Synology DS3617xs or the DS3615xs for your Business Class NAS server? 

 The DS3617xs same as the DS3615xs is made by Synology. People often choose Synology because of user friendly interface as well as being suited for Mac and Windows based environments. It is relatively easy to set up and use, and those who are new to Network Attached Storage are advised to go for the Synology. This model comes with new DDR4 technology random access memorty (RAM). DDR3 used to work at 800 MT/s (or Millions of Transfers per second) and some went as high as 2133. DDR4, starts at 2133 MHz. The increased speed means an overall increase in bandwidth. Unlike the DS3615xs this box has the Intel Xeon D-1527 Quad Core 2.2 GHz (2.7 GHz turbo) processor. Another key difference between the DS3615xs is RAM. DS3617xs arrives with 16GB RAM. The DS3617xs 16GB RAM compared with DS3615xs 4GB is clearly weaker.

What are the advantages and Disadvantages of the Synology DS3615xs NAS?

 DS3615xs Design – Pros

This is a beast of a Synology NAS! An industrial 12 bay chassis for those of an industrial NAS need.

DS3615xs Design – Cons

Very large and not suited to a small office

DS3615xs Features – Pros

It can run almost anything the Synology DSM NAS software requires, but it has been fractionally shadowed by the newer Synology DS3617xs release.

DS3615xs Features – Cons

 Once again, for Synology, they seem to avoid direct attached options like USB and Thunderbolt connectivity as well as HDMI and remote controls. Such features are becoming more and more requesting in the enterprise sector.

DS3615xs Performance – Pros

The Dual Core i3 will keep pace and run any application you throw at it, as well as running the very latest version of the Synology OS NAS DSM software. You can also upgrade the unit to 10GBe by the installation of a PCIe x3 card into the provided slot.

DS3615xs Performance – Cons

The I3 CPU is a strong and enterprise level NAS CPU, but we have seen a rise in i7 and Xeon based NAS units in the last 6 months and this unit is in danger of being left behind

DS3615xs Overall Value

It is is not the cheapest, but it is a really outstanding Synology Business NAS and cannot recommend it enough to those looking to centralise all of their network business applications between staff, communication and distribution. Looking the tiniest bit dated now compared with the newer and more powerful Synology DS3617xs Enterprise NAS 12-Bay Server. Maybe see if that is available first

What are the advantages and Disadvantages of the Synology DS3617xs NAS?

 DS3617xs Design – Pros

This unit is a tank of a Synology NAS! The chassis is all industry and no room for glamour. However it still manages to be compact for a 12-Bay Enterprise NAS.

DS3617xs Design – Cons

This unit will not easily sit on a desk by your PC or Mac. You will need a good spot for it to live unobtrusively

DS3617xs Features – Pros

You are going to be hard pushed to find a Synology Business NAS that can utilise all the Synology DSM applications and services to the high degree this unit can. If you need a Synology NAS server that will not limit you, the DS3617xs is the most powerful NAS yet.

DS3617xs Features – Cons

The only limits are the lack of more SMB related features like HDMI ports or a Direct Attached option like Thunderbolt or USB 3.1 Gen 2.

 DS3617xs Performance – Pros

It’s rare for us at SPAN to give a NAS a 10 for anything, but this unit and it’s Xeon Quad Core CPU, 16GB of DDR4 Memory and 10GBe support mean that this unit is the smoothest Synology NAS experience yet.

DS3617xs Performance – Cons

The power consumption is higher than most desktop NAS, but for those specs and 12 Bays, this is not a huge surprise.

DS3617xs Overall Value

It is not cheap, but if you need a Synology NAS that is more than just a file server, but something you can conduct an entire business from ranging from email servers, internal communication between staff, office applications, Virtual Machines, surveillance throughout your building with IP cameras, file distribution and time based backups – The Synology DS3617xs is the Business Class NAS for you. If British Airways, Savile Row or Harrods made a NAS – THIS would be that NAS!

 

Comparison results

Hardware Specifications
Model Name	The Synology DS3617xs buy – £1800 ex.VAT	The Synology DS3615xs buy – £1550 ex.VAT
CPU
CPU Model	Intel Xeon D-1527	Intel Core i3-4130
CPU Architecture	64-bit	64-bit
CPU Frequency	Quad Core 2.2 (base) / 2.7 (turbo) GHz	Dual Core 3.4 GHz
Hardware Encryption Engine
Hardware Encryption Engine (AES-NI)	YES	YES
Hardware Transcoding Engine
Memory
System Memory	16 GB DDR4 ECC SO-DIMM	4 GB DDR3 ECC
Memory Module Pre-installed	8 GB x 2	2 GB x 2
Total Memory Slots	4	4
Memory Expandable up to	48 GB (16 GB + 16 GB x 2)	32 GB (8 GB x 4)
Storage
Drive Bay(s)	12	12
Maximum Drive Bays with Expansion Unit	36	36
Compatible Drive Type* (See all supported drives)	3.5″ SATA HDD 2.5″ SATA HDD 2.5″ SATA SSD	3.5″ SATA HDD 2.5″ SATA HDD 2.5″ SATA SSD
Maximum Internal Raw Capacity	120 TB (10 TB HDD x 12) (Capacity may vary by RAID types)	120 TB (10 TB HDD x 12) (Capacity may vary by RAID types)
Maximum Raw Capacity with Expansion Units	360 TB (10 TB HDD x 36) (Capacity may vary by RAID types)	360 TB (10 TB HDD x 36) (Capacity may vary by RAID types)
Maximum Single Volume Size	200 TB (32GB RAM required, for RAID 5 or RAID 6 groups only) 108 TB	200 TB (32GB RAM required, for RAID 5 or RAID 6 groups only) 108 TB
Hot Swappable Drive
External Ports
Rear of the NAS
USB 3.0 Port	2	2
eSATA Port
Expansion Port	2	2
SD Card Reader
SDCopy
USBCopy
File System
Internal Drives	Btrfs EXT4	Btrfs EXT4
External Drives	Btrfs EXT4 EXT3 FAT NTFS HFS+ exFAT*	Btrfs EXT4 EXT3 FAT NTFS HFS+ exFAT*
Notes	exFAT Access is purchased separately in Package Center.	exFAT Access is purchased separately in Package Center.
Appearance
Size (Height x Width x Depth)	270 mm x 300 mm x 340 mm	270 mm x 300 mm x 340 mm
Weight	9.8 kg	9.8 kg
Others
RJ-45 1GbE LAN Port	4 (with Link Aggregation / Failover support)	4 (with Link Aggregation / Failover support)
Wake on LAN/WAN
RJ-45 10GbE LAN Port
SFP+ 10GbE LAN Port*
PCIe Slot for Network Card (See more)	1 x Gen3 x8 slot (x8 link)	1 x Gen3 x8 slot (x8 link)
System Fan	120 mm x 120 mm x 2 pcs	120 mm x 120 mm x 2 pcs
Fan Speed Mode	Full-Speed Mode Cool Mode Quiet Mode	Full-Speed Mode Cool Mode Quiet Mode
Easy Replacement System Fan
Wireless Support (dongle)
Brightness adjustable front LED indicators
Power Recovery
Noise Level*	22.3 dB(A)	27.4 dB(A)
Scheduled Power On/Off
Power Supply Unit / Adapter	500W	500W
AC Input Power Voltage	100V to 240V AC	100V to 240V AC
Power Frequency	50/60 Hz, Single Phase	50/60 Hz, Single Phase
Power Consumption*	108.2 W (Access) 53.4 W (HDD Hibernation)	88.48 W (Access) 43.54 W (HDD Hibernation)
British Thermal Unit	369.4 BTU/hr (Access) 182.3 BTU/hr (HDD Hibernation)	301.90 BTU/hr (Access) 148.56 BTU/hr (HDD Hibernation)
Redundant Power Supply (for xs+ and RP model)
Environment Temperature
Operating Temperature	5°C to 40°C (40°F to 104°F)	5°C to 35°C (40°F to 95°F)
Storage Temperature	-20°C to 60°C (-5°F to 140°F)	-20°C to 60°C (-5°F to 140°F)
Relative Humidity	5% to 95% RH	5% to 95% RH
Certification	FCC Class B CE Class B BSMI Class B	FCC Class B CE Class B BSMI Class B
Warranty	5 Years	5 Years
DSM Specifications
Model Name	DS3617xs	DS3615xs
Storage Management
Maximum Internal Volume Number	1024	1024
Maximum iSCSI Target Number	64	64
Maximum iSCSI LUN	512	512
iSCSI LUN Clone/Snapshot, Windows ODX
RAID Group
Supported RAID Type	Basic JBOD RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6 RAID 10	Basic JBOD RAID 0 RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6 RAID 10
RAID Migration	Basic to RAID 1 Basic to RAID 5 RAID 1 to RAID 5 RAID 5 to RAID 6	Basic to RAID 1 Basic to RAID 5 RAID 1 to RAID 5 RAID 5 to RAID 6
Volume Expansion with Larger HDDs	RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6	RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6
Volume Expansion by Adding a HDD	RAID 5 RAID 6 JBOD	RAID 5 RAID 6 JBOD
Global Hot Spare Supported RAID Type	RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6 RAID 10	RAID 1 RAID 5 RAID 6 RAID 10
SSD Support
SSD Read/Write Cache (White Paper)
SSD TRIM
File Sharing Capacity
Maximum Local User Accounts	16000	16000
Maximum Local Groups	512	512
Maximum Shared Folder	512	512
Maximum Shared Folder Sync Tasks	16	16
Maximum Concurrent CIFS/AFP/FTP Connections	2048	1024
Windows Access Control List (ACL) Integration
NFS Kerberos Authentication
High Availability Manager
Log Center
Syslog Events per Second	3000	3000
Virtualization
VMware vSphere 4
VMware vSphere 5 with VAAI
VMware vSphere 6 with VAAI
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012 R2
Citrix Ready
OpenStack
Add-on Packages (learn more about the complete add-on package list)
Model Name	DS3617xs	DS3615xs
Antivirus by McAfee (Trial)
Central Management System
Chat
Maximum Users	1600	1000
Notes	The number of concurrent HTTP connections for Chat was configured to the maximum. CPU and RAM usage were both under 80% when testing the recommended number of clients. For tested models with expandable memory, the maximum amount of RAM was installed.	The number of concurrent HTTP connections for Chat was configured to the maximum. CPU and RAM usage were both under 80% when testing the recommended number of clients. For tested models with expandable memory, the maximum amount of RAM was installed.
Cloud Station Server
Maximum Concurrent File Transfers	2000	1024
Maximum Concurrent File Transfers (with RAM expansion)	10000	10000
Docker DSM
Maximum Docker DSM Number (Licenses required)	35 (including 1 Free License) (Learn more)	25 (including 1 Free License) (Learn more)
Document Viewer
Download Station
Maximum Concurrent Download Tasks	80	80
exFAT Access (optional)
HiDrive Backup
MailPlus / MailPlus Server
Free Email Accounts	5 (Licenses required for additional accounts)	5 (Licenses required for additional accounts)
Recommended MailPlus Client Number	Up to 300 (Btrfs) / 400 (EXT4)	Up to 300
Maximum Server Performance	2,248,000 (Btrfs) / 2,184,000 (EXT4) emails per day, approx. 68.8 GB (Btrfs) / 66.7 GB (EXT4)	832,000 emails per day, approx. 26.9 GB
Media Server
DLNA Certification
DLNA Compliance
Office
Maximum Users	1600	1000
Maximum Simultaneous Editing Users per File	90	90
Notes	CPU and RAM usage were both under 80% when testing the recommended number of clients. For tested models with expandable memory, the maximum amount of RAM was installed. Client performance may affect maximum simultaneous editing users. Client PCs used for testing: Intel Core i3-3220 / 8GB RAM	CPU and RAM usage were both under 80% when testing the recommended number of clients. For tested models with expandable memory, the maximum amount of RAM was installed. Client performance may affect maximum simultaneous editing users. Client PCs used for testing: Intel Core i3-3220 / 8GB RAM
PDF Viewer
PetaSpace
Snapshot Replication
Maximum Snapshots per Shared Folder	1024	1024
Maximum Snapshots of all Shared Folder	65536	65536
Surveillance Station
Maximum IP cam (Licenses required)	75 (including 2 Free License) (See All Supported IP Cameras)	75 (including 2 Free License) (See All Supported IP Cameras)
Total FPS (H.264)*	2250 FPS @ 720p (1280×720) 1050 FPS @ 1080p (1920×1080) 600 FPS @ 3M (2048×1536) 500 FPS @ 5M (2591×1944)	2250 FPS @ 720p (1280×720) 650 FPS @ 1080p (1920×1080) 450 FPS @ 3M (2048×1536) 200 FPS @ 5M (2591×1944)
Total FPS (MJPEG)*	900 FPS @ 720p (1280×720) 450 FPS @ 1080p (1920×1080) 280 FPS @ 3M (2048×1536) 200 FPS @ 5M (2591×1944)	600 FPS @ 720p (1280×720) 240 FPS @ 1080p (1920×1080) 150 FPS @ 3M (2048×1536) 150 FPS @ 5M (2591×1944)
Video Station
Video Transcoding	Group 1 – Type 2 (See more)	Group 1 – Type 2 (See more)
Maximum Transcoding Channel Number	1 channel, 30 FPS @ 720p (1280×720), H.264 (AVC)/MPEG-4 Part 2 (XVID, DIVX5)/MPEG-2/VC-1	1 channel, 30 FPS @ 720p (1280×720), H.264 (AVC)/MPEG-4 Part 2 (XVID, DIVX5)/MPEG-2/VC-1
Virtual DSM Manager
VPN Server
Maximum Connections	30	30
Environment & Packaging
Model Name	DS3617xs	DS3615xs
Environment	RoHS Compliant	RoHS Compliant
Packaging Content	Main Unit X 1 Accessory Pack X 1 AC Power Cord X 1 RJ-45 LAN Cable X 2 Quick Installation Guide X 1	Main Unit X 1 Welcome Note X 1 Accessory Pack X 1 AC Power Cord X 1 RJ-45 LAN Cable X 2
Optional Accessories	Camera License Pack 16GB DDR4 ECC SO-DIMM Expansion Unit: DX1215 X 2 VS360HD Synology Ethernet Adapter E10G15-F1 Synology Ethernet Adapter E10G17-F2	Remote Camera License Pack 4GB (2GB X 2) ECC RAM Module Kit 8GB (4GB X 2) ECC RAM Module Kit 16GB (8GB X 2) ECC RAM Module Kit Expansion Unit: DX1215 X 2 VS360HD Synology Ethernet Adapter E10G15-F1 Synology Ethernet Adapter E10G17-F2

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