The Synology DS918+ 4-Bay NAS Official Specifications – The wait is almost over
Originally uncovered as far back as April 2017, the Synology DS918+ was always going to be a real game changer for the big name in network attached storage. This was far from their first 4-Bay NAS server and will almost certainly not be their last. However I think it is fair to say that things were beginning to become a little stagnant. For a start, the latest releases in the form of the 5 and 8 Bay featured a virtually unchanged CPU, as well as rather unimpressive improvements in memory and hardware improvements. That isn’t to say that synology have been coasting it for the last year or two. They have been making incredible improvements in the software side of things and with their DSM software (the NAS equivalent of an operating system like Windows or iOS that is accessed from your web browser or mobile device) is now a much more feature filled and application ready user interface. However the tiny improvements in terms of hardware have been vastly ramped up in the brand new Synology DS918+.
What makes the Synology DS918+ NAS so special?
Synology DiskStation DS918+ is a 4-bay NAS designed for small and medium-sized businesses and IT enthusiasts. Powered by a new quad-core processor, DS918+ provides outstanding performance and data encryption acceleration along with real-time transcoding of 4K Ultra HD source contents. Synology DS918+ is backed by Synology’s 3-year limited warranty.
The DS918+ is a high-speed Scalable Storage Server
Synology DS918+ is a 4-bay network attached storage solution equipped with an quad-core processor and 4GB DDR3L memory (expandable up to 8GB). With Link Aggregation enabled, DS918+ delivers great sequential throughput performance at over 226 MB/s reading and 222 MB/s writing1 . With AES-NI hardware accelerated encryption, DS918+ delivers encrypted data throughput at over 225 MB/s reading and 221 MB/s writing1 . DS918+ newly supports M.2 NVMe 2280 SSDs, allowing fast system cache creation without occupying internal drive bays. DS918+ can support up to 9 drives when connected to one Synology DX5172 expansion unit. Storage capacity can be expanded according to your business needs with minimal effort.
DS918+ features Btrfs, the Next Generation Storage Efficiency
DS918+ introduces the Btrfs file system, bringing the most advanced storage technologies to meet the management needs of modern businesses. Built-in data integrity check detects data and file system corruption with data and meta-data checksums and improves the overall stability. Flexible Shared Folder/User Quota System provides comprehensive quota control over all user accounts and shared folders. Advanced snapshot technology with customizable backup schedule allows up to 1,024 copies of shared folder backups in a minimum 5-minute interval without occupying huge storage capacity and system resources. File or folder level data restoration brings huge conveniences and saves time for users who wish to restore only a specific file or folder. File self-healing: Btrfs file system can auto-detect corrupted files with mirrored metadata, and recover broken data using the supported RAID volumes, which include RAID1, 5, 6, and 10.
Comprehensive Business Applications available on the DS918+ NAS
Powered by the innovative Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM), DS918+ comes fully-equipped with applications and features designed specifically for small or growing businesses. Windows® AD and LDAP support allow easy integration with existing business directory services, without needing to recreate user accounts. Windows ACL support provides fine-grained access control and efficient privilege settings, allowing DS918+ to fit seamlessly into current infrastructure. Internet file access is simplified by the encrypted FTP server and Synology File Station, a web-based file explorer. HTTPS, firewall, and IP auto-block support ensure file sharing over the Internet is protected with a high level of security. Application Privileges controls access to applications and packages based on each individual account, user group, or IP address. MailPlus allows your business to set up a secure, reliable, and private mail server while giving your employees a modern mail client for receiving and sending messages. The powerful Collaboration Suite integrates Synology Office, Calendar, and Chat, ensuring secure and effective private communications and allowing your organizations to easily manage and control relevant contents.
The Synology DS918+ Diskstation NAS is the perfect Virtualization Solution
Synology’s Virtual Machine Manager opens up abundant possibilities, allowing you to set up and run various virtual machines, including Windows, Linux, and Virtual DSM. You can also test new software versions in a sandbox environment, isolate your customers’ machines, and increase the flexibility of your DS918+ with reduced hardware deployment and maintenance costs.
Synology iSCSI storage fully supports most of the virtualization solutions, enhancing work efficiency with an intuituve management interface. VMware vSphere™ 6.5 and VAAI integration help offload storage operations and optimize computation efficiency. Windows Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) speeds up data transfer and migration rate, while OpenStack Cinder support transforms your Synology NAS into a block-based storage component.
Built your 4K Ultra HD Multimedia Library on the DS918+ NAS Server
Synology DiskStation DS918+ features real-time transcoding for up to 2 channels of H.264/H.265 4K videos at the same time, bringing more powerful support to the latest multimedia formats and contents. With Video Station, you can organize personal digital video library with comprehensive media information, and watch 4K Ultra HD movies and films. The intuitive design of Photo Station allows you to effortlessly organize photos into customized categories, smart albums and blog posts, and link them to social networking websites within a few clicks. Audio Station comes with Internet radio and lossless audio formats support, and provides music playback via DLNA and AirPlay®-compliant devices.
The Synology DS918+ – £450+ without VAT and HDD media
Expected Release Date – Late Sept ’17
New Chassis – from a distance, looks a little like a dice. I definitely prefer this compared with the removable front panel and non-lockable trays of the DS916+
4-Bay NAS – Expandable to 9 with DX517 (spread/expand RAID across them as needed)
Intel Celeron J3455 Quad Core 1.5 GHz (up to 2.3 GHz) – Apollo Lake architecture replacing the previously used Intel Pentium N3710. Although they are both Quad-Core Intel Based CPUs, the J3455 consumes more power (10W vs. 6W compared with the N3710), but is noticeably 1.3 times faster than the N3710 in practice.
4GB DDR3 Memory, Expandable to 8GB across two slots
BTRFS support and SHR / SHR-2 Support
Two M.2 2280 NVMe slots for SSD caching built into the base of the unit
In terms of connectivity, this NAS has 3 USB 3.0 ports (including 1 on the front), 2 Gigabit network ports and 1 eSATA port.
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