Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Discussion on setting up QNAP NAS products.
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Moogle Stiltzkin
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by Moogle Stiltzkin »

jdo872 wrote: Awesome! Didn't know you could do that. Thanks for the info!
your welcome :}

also some resources you can bookmark

https://www.qnap.com/en/security-advisory

https://www.qnap.com/en/releasenotes/in ... t_choose=5

https://www.youtube.com/user/qnapsys/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/SPANdotCOM/videos
NAS
[Main Server] QNAP TS-877 (QTS) w. 4tb [ 3x HGST Deskstar NAS & 1x WD RED NAS ] EXT4 Raid5 & 2 x m.2 SATA Samsung 850 Evo raid1 +16gb ddr4 Crucial+ QWA-AC2600 wireless+QXP PCIE
[Backup] QNAP TS-653A (Truenas Core) w. 4x 2TB Samsung F3 (HD203WI) RaidZ1 ZFS + 8gb ddr3 Crucial
[^] QNAP TL-D400S 2x 4TB WD Red Nas (WD40EFRX) 2x 4TB Seagate Ironwolf, Raid5
[^] QNAP TS-509 Pro w. 4x 1TB WD RE3 (WD1002FBYS) EXT4 Raid5
[^] QNAP TS-253D (Truenas Scale)
[Mobile NAS] TBS-453DX w. 2x Crucial MX500 500gb EXT4 raid1

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Qotom Pfsense|100mbps FTTH | Win11, Ryzen 5600X Desktop (1x2tb Crucial P50 Plus M.2 SSD, 1x 8tb seagate Ironwolf,1x 4tb HGST Ultrastar 7K4000)


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[Review] Moogle's QNAP experience
[Review] Moogle's TS-877 review
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jdo872
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by jdo872 »

Thanks for the links! Watched a few of the videos. Now that I have all the drives installed, am I supposed to keep them all in 1 storage pool with qtier enabled? or 3 different storage pools? (2x m.2 ssd's in raid 1, 4x 2.5 ssd in raid 5, and 4x 3.5 hdd in raid 6)

If they are kept in different storage pools, I assume I can't enable qtier but then would have to select cache drives?
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CodeBeing
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by CodeBeing »

This thread has been a tremendous help and really appreciate everyone's responses.

I'm about to click buy for a new QNAP TS-1277 for Plex from BH Photo and am grabbing a couple Samsung 500GB 860 EVO drives to start along with my Plex Pass 20% off at the Western Digital store for 8TB drives.

Main focus is Plex...with storage for personal files as a secondary.

If I understood Trexx correctly, you want to make sure the QNAP system has enough space for package storage (but some can be redirected to other storage pools) and I should probably keep my Plex database on the SSDs and ensure they are RAID 1.

I plan on filling the NAS with 8TB WD Reds and putting in these two Samsung SSDs as well.

I'll start with the SSDs in only, boot the NAS, setup the SSDs for RAID 1 and install everything there.

From there, put all the WD Reds in...boot the NAS and setup a massive pool for Plex media and my personal files.

Is this correct thinking?

Also, I know I need DDR4 2400 RAM...and I see the Kingston RAM in Trexx's signature, but I'm seeing Crucial RAM for a decent price. Does it matter what type of RAM I buy, as long as it's DDR4 2400? Compatibility of RAM in the TS-1277 isn't easy to find.

Appreciate this forum and responses! :D
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by CodeBeing »

Here is my purchase thinking (insanity) for reference (as I've not pulled the trigger just yet):

Copy Drive (to move files from a friends Plex box and stuff): $86
WD 4TB My Book Desktop USB 3.0 External Hard Drive
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... y_boo.html

NAS: $2518
QNAP TS-1277
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... ryzen.html

Boot (Plex DB) Drives: $88 x 2 = $176 - ??? Not sure if this is needed or if I need M.2's for any reason. They seem overkill for a NAS, as I'm only using this for Plex and file storage, not really VMs, as I use Microsoft's Azure (public cloud) for that.
Samsung 500GB 860 EVO SATA III 2.5" Internal SSD

UPS: $145
CyberPower Intelligent LCD CP1500AVRLCD Uninterrupted Power Supply
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... r_lcd.html

RAM: $308 - ??? I'm getting 16GB to start in the NAS but heard I should get MORE RAM to support the drives and possible transcoding needs with my planned drive capacity.
Crucial 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 UDIMM
CT12584770
DDR4 PC4-19200 • CL=17 • Dual Ranked • x8 based • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR4-2400 • 1.2V •
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/ts-877/CT12584770

8, 8TB WD Red WD80EFAX drives from shop.wdc.com with PLEX pass discount code
$1,664

$4721 total. And yes, I have looked at building my own FreeNAS server, but didn't want to fuss and I LOVE my Synology so much, I'm willing to trust QNAP in the same mindset.
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by P3R »

CodeBeing wrote:I'll start with the SSDs in only, boot the NAS, setup the SSDs for RAID 1 and install everything there.

From there, put all the WD Reds in...boot the NAS and setup a massive pool for Plex media and my personal files.

Is this correct thinking?
That's how I would (and did) do it. I'm not a Plex user though and know nothing about that.
Does it matter what type of RAM I buy, as long as it's DDR4 2400?
Yes, that's by far not enough. There are several other factors affecting compatibility as well.

I'm using Kingston KVR24N17S8K2/16 in my TS-X77.
RAID have never ever been a replacement for backups. Without backups on a different system (preferably placed at another site), you will eventually lose data!

A non-RAID configuration (including RAID 0, which isn't really RAID) with a backup on a separate media protects your data far better than any RAID-volume without backup.

All data storage consists of both the primary storage and the backups. It's your money and your data, spend the storage budget wisely or pay with your data!
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by CodeBeing »

Ended up with a TS-877 and 6, 10TB WD Reds instead (plus everything else listed), but I'm super excited to get it setup. This will be Plex and personal file storage. Nearly $5K, but worth it, I hope. :D
CodeBeing wrote:Here is my purchase thinking (insanity) for reference (as I've not pulled the trigger just yet):

Copy Drive (to move files from a friends Plex box and stuff): $86
WD 4TB My Book Desktop USB 3.0 External Hard Drive
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... y_boo.html

NAS: $2518
QNAP TS-1277
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... ryzen.html

Boot (Plex DB) Drives: $88 x 2 = $176 - ??? Not sure if this is needed or if I need M.2's for any reason. They seem overkill for a NAS, as I'm only using this for Plex and file storage, not really VMs, as I use Microsoft's Azure (public cloud) for that.
Samsung 500GB 860 EVO SATA III 2.5" Internal SSD

UPS: $145
CyberPower Intelligent LCD CP1500AVRLCD Uninterrupted Power Supply
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... r_lcd.html

RAM: $308 - ??? I'm getting 16GB to start in the NAS but heard I should get MORE RAM to support the drives and possible transcoding needs with my planned drive capacity.
Crucial 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 UDIMM
CT12584770
DDR4 PC4-19200 • CL=17 • Dual Ranked • x8 based • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR4-2400 • 1.2V •
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/ts-877/CT12584770

8, 8TB WD Red WD80EFAX drives from shop.wdc.com with PLEX pass discount code
$1,664

$4721 total. And yes, I have looked at building my own FreeNAS server, but didn't want to fuss and I LOVE my Synology so much, I'm willing to trust QNAP in the same mindset.
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by P3R »

CodeBeing wrote:I'm getting 16GB to start in the NAS but heard I should get MORE RAM to support the drives and possible transcoding needs with my planned drive capacity.
Heard where? Transcoding is mainly taxing for the CPU I think and why would you need much RAM to support the drives?

Maybe you've been looking at RAM-recommendations for FreeNAS but Linux RAID is no way near as RAM-hungry as ZFS is.

If not really using VMs, I don't see why you would need to expand the RAM. Unless of course Plex requires obscene amounts of it...

I'm sorry that I missed this post so not being to tell you this earlier... :oops:
RAID have never ever been a replacement for backups. Without backups on a different system (preferably placed at another site), you will eventually lose data!

A non-RAID configuration (including RAID 0, which isn't really RAID) with a backup on a separate media protects your data far better than any RAID-volume without backup.

All data storage consists of both the primary storage and the backups. It's your money and your data, spend the storage budget wisely or pay with your data!
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by CodeBeing »

Chock it up to me being confused, as I was looking at FreeNAS and ZFS. Oh well. $300 not needed, but it won't hurt either. I could still return the memory to Crucial.

Thanks for clarifying. I may just run a VM or two as well, for fun, but again, I use Microsoft Azure for that purpose mainly.

Excited to get the NAS next Monday along with the drives and start loading it up! Thanks for the time to respond.
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by Freway01 »

jdo871/CodeBeing/P3R/Trexx,

As a Newbie to the QNAP world, I've been trying to read up on everything I can so when I start up my new TS-1277 (TS-1277-1700-16G) and configure everything, I do it right the first time. I'm coming from a Windows Home Server & Server 2016 Essentials environment so QNAP is a whole new world for me. Based on what I've read, this is probably a good time to be jumping in with all of the advancements QNAP has made with its hardware, QTS, and storage management.

I've already got an additional 16GB of 2400 ram, an approved GPU, four 500GB SSD's, and six 4TB Seagate IronWolf HDD's installed in the 1277, and once the M.2 SSD's (2 x 1TB) come in, I'll be ready to go (I think). My NAS will be primarily used as a Plex server, a backup server for the PC/laptops in my home, and to dabble a little with VM's.

My plan is to setup the two M.2's in Raid1, setup the four 500GB SSD's in Raid5, and the six 4TB HHD's in Raid6. I'm thinking of having two storage pools (SSD's & HDD's) and was planning on being able to use the new Snap feature. I'd like to use the M.2's for caching.

So far does this look good? If so, where should I let QNAP QTS install to? I'd like a faster startup so should I put it on the M.2's of the SSD's? Do I really need to use QTier? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Tom

Model: TS-1277-1700 FW: 4.5.2.x
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 32GB Kit DDR4-2666
m.2 (SSD): 2 x WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD [RAID-1]
HDD: 6 x Seagate 10TB NAS [RAID-5]
2.5" SSD: 4 x Plextor 512GB [RAID-5]
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, Dual fans
UPS: CyberPower AVR1350
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by P3R »

Freway01 wrote: Thu Dec 06, 2018 1:20 am My NAS will be primarily used as a Plex server, a backup server for the PC/laptops in my home, and to dabble a little with VM's.
Having the VM disks on a SSD volume is often good for performance. For your other usage, I don't really see any need for all those SSDs.

What does your network look like end-to-end? How many clients will be using the NAS concurrently?
I'm thinking of having two storage pools (SSD's & HDD's)...
What do you intend to have on the SSDs?
...and was planning on being able to use the new Snap feature.
Do you mean snapshots?
I'd like to use the M.2's for caching.
Then you can't at the same time have them in a pool.
I'd like a faster startup...
On a system designed to run 24/7, why would that be important? Most experienced users consider it a waste to have the system on SSDs. I have my system on SSD but the reason is I want to be able to experiement and easily change the configuration of the mechanical disks.
RAID have never ever been a replacement for backups. Without backups on a different system (preferably placed at another site), you will eventually lose data!

A non-RAID configuration (including RAID 0, which isn't really RAID) with a backup on a separate media protects your data far better than any RAID-volume without backup.

All data storage consists of both the primary storage and the backups. It's your money and your data, spend the storage budget wisely or pay with your data!
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by Freway01 »

P3R,

For my Windows Server 2016 Essentials server, I used two M.2 128GB SSD's in Raid1 for my system drive. I had the four 2.5" 500GB SSD's setup for fast storage (Plex DVR recordings that come & go) and caching to the HDD's. The six 4TB HDD's were used for the saved Plex files (almost 6TB of data), shared folders, PC back-ups, etc. Other then the new TS-1277, the GPU and the two larger (1TB) M.2 SSD's, I'm reusing everything else from the old Windows server.

I have a wired gigabit home network attached to an Orbi router that my Smart-home devices and cell phones attach to. The three PC's (two Surface Pro 4's and an older Lenovo Twist) are attached to the network via wire 90% of the time. I also have a couple of external 8TB Seagate external HDD's I use for backups and two UPS's that my Windows server and back-up drive plug into. Don't think I have a need for a 10G network yet seeing the gig network is doing the job, and I only have 10 meg upload speed for remote Plex users.

I like your idea of installing the QNAP QTS on the HDD's, makes perfect sense. As for Snapshots, in my reading, there is a new SNAP feature in QTS 4.3.4 (https://www.qnap.com/hu-hu/how-to/tutor ... -qts-4-3-4) that allows you to reserve space in storage for Snapshot backups. I plan on implementing that to make recovery faster when I do a stupid like delete the wrong file.

That that said, how would you recommend I utilize the hardware I have?
Tom

Model: TS-1277-1700 FW: 4.5.2.x
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 32GB Kit DDR4-2666
m.2 (SSD): 2 x WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD [RAID-1]
HDD: 6 x Seagate 10TB NAS [RAID-5]
2.5" SSD: 4 x Plextor 512GB [RAID-5]
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, Dual fans
UPS: CyberPower AVR1350
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by P3R »

Freway01 wrote: Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:27 am That that said, how would you recommend I utilize the hardware I have?
I'm not a Plex user so wouldn't know the best way to configure the system for it. Hopefully someone else will guide you further.

I'm curious of the GPU, what's the intended use for it?

If possible I would return the 1 TB M.2s because I see no need for them. If the 128 GB M.2s are not used elsewhere, you could use them as a SSD cache if you want but I doubt that you will see any benefit at all from a cache.
RAID have never ever been a replacement for backups. Without backups on a different system (preferably placed at another site), you will eventually lose data!

A non-RAID configuration (including RAID 0, which isn't really RAID) with a backup on a separate media protects your data far better than any RAID-volume without backup.

All data storage consists of both the primary storage and the backups. It's your money and your data, spend the storage budget wisely or pay with your data!
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by Trexx »

Will pop in an answer later tonight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Paul

Model: TS-877-1600 FW: 4.5.3.x
QTS (SSD): [RAID-1] 2 x 1TB WD Blue m.2's
Data (HDD): [RAID-5] 6 x 3TB HGST DeskStar
VMs (SSD): [RAID-1] 2 x1TB SK Hynix Gold
Ext. (HDD): TR-004 [Raid-5] 4 x 4TB HGST Ultastor
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 64GB DDR4-2666
UPS: CP AVR1350

Model:TVS-673 32GB & TS-228a Offline[/color]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018 Plex NAS Compatibility Guide | QNAP Plex FAQ | Moogle's QNAP Faq
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by Trexx »

Freway01 wrote: Thu Dec 06, 2018 5:27 am P3R,

For my Windows Server 2016 Essentials server, I used two M.2 128GB SSD's in Raid1 for my system drive. I had the four 2.5" 500GB SSD's setup for fast storage (Plex DVR recordings that come & go) and caching to the HDD's. The six 4TB HDD's were used for the saved Plex files (almost 6TB of data), shared folders, PC back-ups, etc. Other then the new TS-1277, the GPU and the two larger (1TB) M.2 SSD's, I'm reusing everything else from the old Windows server.

I have a wired gigabit home network attached to an Orbi router that my Smart-home devices and cell phones attach to. The three PC's (two Surface Pro 4's and an older Lenovo Twist) are attached to the network via wire 90% of the time. I also have a couple of external 8TB Seagate external HDD's I use for backups and two UPS's that my Windows server and back-up drive plug into. Don't think I have a need for a 10G network yet seeing the gig network is doing the job, and I only have 10 meg upload speed for remote Plex users.

I like your idea of installing the QNAP QTS on the HDD's, makes perfect sense. As for Snapshots, in my reading, there is a new SNAP feature in QTS 4.3.4 (https://www.qnap.com/hu-hu/how-to/tutor ... -qts-4-3-4) that allows you to reserve space in storage for Snapshot backups. I plan on implementing that to make recovery faster when I do a stupid like delete the wrong file.

That that said, how would you recommend I utilize the hardware I have?

Ok.. here is what I would do.

System Volume (CACHEDEV1): (2) 1TB m.2 SSD's Raid-1, 10% over provision, Storage Pool / Thin volume, 10-20% snapshot.

This will give you plenty of speed for Plex (APP/Library), plus snapshots for easy recovery if needed

Data Volume (CACHEDEV2): (6) 4TB HDD's, Raid-5/6 stripe... (depending on how good your External backups are... if no backups, then definitely Raid-6), Storage Pool, Thin Volume, 10-20% snapshot depending on if you have any critical data on here or not. If ONLY for Plex Media, then probably can go with 0 snapshot if you have way to recover from external backups.

VM Data Volume (CACHEDEV3): (4) 2.5 SSD's Raid-5, 10% over provision, Storage Pool / Thick Volume, 0% snapshot. This will give you near max performance, but flexibility as well. I don't see volume snapshots as important on the VM volume as Virtualization Station has VM level snapshot/backup options. Could go static volume for max speed, but should be good enough with 4xSSD Raid-5. if you end up getting tight on space, you could hold less important VM's on your CACHEDEV2 data volume to maximize space for critical VM's.

Use external HDD's for backup, use UPS (w/USB connect to NAS) for power resiliency.

If your wired GB NW switch supports 802.3ad LACP, I would enable that with probably at least 2x1GbE to give you bandwidth to support multi-user heavy loads. Another option would be if your switch also supports VLANs would be to run a separate IOT subnet VLAN on 2x1GbE LACP, and then "Public" VLAN on the other set of 2x1GbE.

This helps cuts down on chattiness of the WiFI smart home products in the normal PC/user space.
Paul

Model: TS-877-1600 FW: 4.5.3.x
QTS (SSD): [RAID-1] 2 x 1TB WD Blue m.2's
Data (HDD): [RAID-5] 6 x 3TB HGST DeskStar
VMs (SSD): [RAID-1] 2 x1TB SK Hynix Gold
Ext. (HDD): TR-004 [Raid-5] 4 x 4TB HGST Ultastor
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 64GB DDR4-2666
UPS: CP AVR1350

Model:TVS-673 32GB & TS-228a Offline[/color]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018 Plex NAS Compatibility Guide | QNAP Plex FAQ | Moogle's QNAP Faq
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Re: Help setting up QNAP TS-1277

Post by Freway01 »

P3R,
One of the M.2 128 SSD's went bad. Got a great Cyber Monday deal on the two WD 1TB M.2's (if they ever get here), so bought them. The GPU is to help with Plex and any trans-coding.

Trexx,
I like your recommendations. I have a couple of 8TB Seagate external drives with USB 3.0 connections I plan to use for backups (eventually I'll look at a small NAS), so I'm good there. I don't think the switch in my office has LACP so that will be a future enhancement. Been out of town fro a few days, and leave again tomorrow for two weeks, so I'm trying to get as much done on the 1277 today as I can so when I get back, if my M.2 SSD's ever get delivered, I can add them to get the last of the storage configured before I start creating volumes and moving data and apps to it.

Thanks guys. - Tom
Tom

Model: TS-1277-1700 FW: 4.5.2.x
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 32GB Kit DDR4-2666
m.2 (SSD): 2 x WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD [RAID-1]
HDD: 6 x Seagate 10TB NAS [RAID-5]
2.5" SSD: 4 x Plextor 512GB [RAID-5]
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, Dual fans
UPS: CyberPower AVR1350
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