ts-h973ax ram and Amazon sku

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kal326
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ts-h973ax ram and Amazon sku

Post by kal326 »

So I am looking at this unit and I know that the single 8GB model is not ECC ram. I have not seen anything indicating that the 32GB 2x16GB model is ECC ram or not, but I am leaning towards not. The unit it listed as supporting 64GB 2x32GB with or without ECC. However QNAP does not sell 32GB SODIMMs that I have found nor is there any indication that the 16GB modules they do sell are ECC.

I am leaning towards the 32GB model as it is only $160 more than the 8GB and I only plan on running 3 2GB VMs on it 24x7 at this point. I can get 64GB non ECC for just under $300. Crucial DDR4 2666 CL19. However if the unit from the factory in 32GB form isn't using ECC I am not really losing much. I haven't found any ECC 32GB modules of the few mentioned that people have tried in stock anywhere unfortunately.

Configuration wise I am looking to use 5x2-4TB drives in RaidZ1 for the main storage pool. With 2x480GB Intel DC SSD for the OS/Apps volume and 2x960 Intel DC SSD for VMs on another volume. Both of these are high endurance DC SATA drives with capacitor protection. I have run FreeNAS before with usually 64GB+ ECC registered ram without jails in whatever the ZFS version of RAID10 is. So I am use to using ZFS with way more memory than it would ever need usually. So that is where I am on the fence on the get the 32GB and make do or just go ahead and get the 8GB and go straight to 64GB. If VMs down the road use maybe 16GB of ram, ZFS has plenty of ram to cache with. I realize that the Ryzen in this is not meant for heavy VM use, but 2 of them will be a Ubiquity controller and one Minecraft/Murmur server for intranet use. So not heavy hitters there. Plex runs off a dedicated machine with GPU transcode so the NAS will just be handling bulk storage.

The unit will be a replacement for what I am currently using a TS-328 for which is machine backups, VM host backup target, Plex archive, and Windows file share. I know this unit will trigger a protected mode on UPS power after a specified duration. I know I can run regular QTS or Hero on the TS-H973AX, but I haven't seen if Hero has this same on UPS safe mode or if it just gracefully shuts down the NAS. Honestly this is fine as I have a separate UPS for the core network equipment modem, router, main switch.

However, I am down to enough VMs now that running rack mounts no longer makes sense. So moving a few VM work loads to the NAS and reducing storage and power foot print significantly. I do have the option of using the 10Gb connection but given the majority of external access will be going to the 5x rust I probably would only need that on the read side maybe if multiple 1Gb clients are hitting it at the same time. Still nice to have. I don't think my use case warrants a larger Xeon model and no other model does VMs and is significantly cheaper. The TS-932X won't do Windows VMs. There are 4 and 8 bay Ryzen based models as well, but the 4 bay is only a few hundred less, but lacks 10Gb as well. The 8 bay has NVME as well as the 8 sleds, but also isn't much less than the H973 either.

The only other question is does my use case more line up with QTS which isn't is ram intensive and should I run that and just stick with the 32GB? Also QTS wouldn't benefit as much from ECC ram as well as far as I know as it is not ZFS storage based. I get that ECC would still help with overall system stability regardless.

Edit: One last thing. I noticed Amazon lists their own sku of the 8GB and 32GB as (New) with it first being sold in June of this year I believe. The original SKU being from Nov 2020 first sold. Anybody know what that is about? Hardware revision, packaging change? I just found it weird they list two different SKUs of each unit.
TS-328 3x4TB 2x1Gb LAG
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dolbyman
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Re: ts-h973ax ram and Amazon sku

Post by dolbyman »

If you are looking for small form factor virtualization performance .. go with a NUC (VM storage can remain on the NAS) ... with in 10th gen I7 NUC, you get 2-3x the passmark performance for 200-300 bucks (bare bone) less than the NAS.
kal326
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Re: ts-h973ax ram and Amazon sku

Post by kal326 »

dolbyman wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:06 am If you are looking for small form factor virtualization performance .. go with a NUC (VM storage can remain on the NAS) ... with in 10th gen I7 NUC, you get 2-3x the passmark performance for 200-300 bucks (bare bone) less than the NAS.
Currently I run my VMs and basically my network off a single R620 with 2x960GB SSD and 6x1TB 7200 SAS with 2x2620V2 and 256GB of ram. This is my smallest most efficient box short of pulling one chip and halving the ram. The current T-328 NAS is just a Veeam backup target basically and a basic file share for low access importance stuff. Like ISOs, old decommissioned hard drive images, and other machine backups. I'm down to 2-3 non utility VMs on the R620 so it is completely overkill for what my current and projected future work load will be. Hence why I am looking for a single box solution to do bulk storage as well a small VM host.

Using a NUC is great for VMs with a lower power usage footprint, but I wouldn't run my VM storage on the TS-328 RAID5. Even moving to a RAID 1 and a hot spare isn't really going to help. It has enough trouble with the current work load and has no way to host the SSDs without moving the existing volume to a USB enclosure if even possible. This would also put me at a NUC, the TS-328, and now expansion storage off the TS-328.

A TS-932PX and a NUC maybe if I could find a NUC with a good 10Gb solution for one would be about the price assuming I can find a SFP+ ThunderBolt3 NIC.
TS-328 3x4TB 2x1Gb LAG
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