At first I would like to thank Synology for offering a sample of their DS412+ 4-bay NAS Server for testing and reviewing.

 

About Synology:

"Founded in 2000, Synology is a young and energetic company dedicated to developing high-performance, reliable, versatile, and environmentally-friendly Network Attached Storage (NAS) products. Our goal is to deliver user-friendly solutions and solid customer service to satisfy the needs of businesses, home offices, individual users and families."

Product Features:

Experience High Performance Data Throughput

With the Link Aggregation enabled, Synology DS412+ delivers an average 179.15 MB/sec writing speed under RAID 5 configuration in a Windows environment, and 202.36 MB/sec reading. Coming with USB 3.0 support which offers transmission speeds of up to 5 Gbps, namely 10 times faster than USB 2.0, DS412+ takes less time for data transfer for external hard drives and consumes less power. Synology DS412+ brings you the high performance that your data-intensive applications demand for a storage system.

Dependable and Reliable

Businesses need a strong foundation to face mission-critical tasks. Synology DS412+ deliver high data availability to ensure access when it’s needed. The 2 LAN with failover support and hot-swappable drives will ensure continual service uptime should the drives need replacement or the unexpected LAN failure.

CPU is the heart of any system, and DS412+ incorporates a passive cooling structure to avoid the dependency of a dedicated processor cooling fan, and mitigate any critical point of failure. When system detects fan fails, the built-in redundancy mechanism will spin up the functional fan to properly ventilate the system, and support continuous operations until the replacement fan arrives. Therefore, potential system damages are minimized and system availability is maximized.

Flexible Storage Management

The Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) automatically builds an optimal RAID volume with data protection based on the hard drives installed, eliminating the need to have hard drives of identical size, while still offering a manual setup option for advanced users.

Multiple Volumes on RAID allows you to create more than one volume on a RAID structure, providing a flexible and efficient way to manage your storage across all available hard drives. When the need arises to expand the volumes, simply allocate more storage space on the UI, and DSM does the rest for you without any service disruption.

Rich Business Applications

Synology DS412+ runs on the award-winning operating system, Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM), which offers comprehensive applications and features designed specifically for office and business workgroups.

Web Station with PHP/MySQL® support allows a single Synology DS412+ to host up to 30 websites and numerous 3rd party web applications, such as Content Management, Customer Relationship Management & e-Commerce system. The built-in mail server turns Synology DS412+ into a dedicated mail service provider, while the add-on package, Mail Station 2, provides a webmail interface for users to access emails stored on Synology DS412+.

Synology Surveillance Station offers a centralized interface to manage IP cameras deployed in your office or home, allowing users traveling miles away to safeguard the environment by watching live views, recording events, and taking snapshots with a computer or mobile device.

A wealth of add-on packages allows the Synology DS412+ to replace several pieces of network hardware. VPN Server offers an easy VPN solution that turns your Synology DS412+ into a VPN server, providing a secure way of connecting to a private LAN at a remote location. Directory Server allows Synology DS412+ to host LDAP service with centralized access control, authentication, and account management, further enhancing your office management efficiency.

Fit to Business Environment

Windows ADS integration allows the Synology DS412+ to quickly and easily fit in an existing business network environment with no need to recreate users’ accounts on the Synology DS412+. The User Home feature minimizes the administrator’s effort in creating a private shared folder for a large amount of users.

Windows ACL support on DS412+ provides much finer-grained access control and efficient privilege settings, allowing IT staffs to set up privileges to files and folders on DS412+ through their familiar Windows user interface. The privileges set on Windows ACL will be applied to all access entries, including AFP, FTP, File Station, NFS and WebDAV. The secure privilege offers IT staff peace of mind, no worries about any loopholes.

iSCSI and Virtualization Ready

With the iSCSI support in DiskStation Manager (DSM), the Synology DS412+ provides a seamless storage solution for virtualization servers, such as VMware, Hyper-V, and Citrix. It is the ideal alternative to SAN solution for businesses. Affordable and cost-effective, iSCSI allows SMB users to consolidate storage into data center storage arrays while providing hosts with the illusion of locally-attached disks.

Energy Efficient Design

With 44 watts power consumption in operation, Synology DS412+ is designed with energy efficiency in mind. Not only does it provides two 92x92 mm fans and the smart airflow to keep the system running cool 24/7, its noise dampening design makes it really quiet compared to PC counterparts. The support of Wake on LAN/WAN, multiple scheduled power on/off and hard drive hibernation can further reduce power consumption and operation cost.

All Synology products are produced with RoHS compliant parts and packed with recyclable packing materials. Synology acknowledges the responsibility as a global citizen to continually work to reduce the environmental impact of every product produced.

 

Product Specifications:

 

 

Before starting the presentation, it’s good to mention that we will encounter some similarities between the previously reviewed product, Diskstation DS212 and the more advanced DS412+, aimed at another segment; the NAS comes shipped inside a medium-sized box, with a plastic handle, which helps a lot when transporting it:

 

 

 

Some of the product main functions are listed as icons on one side of the packaging:

 

 

 

By looking on one of the other sides, we can see a photo of the main product, along with details concerning the hardware, applications and package contents:

 

 

 

A bigger list of features can be also found on the exterior packaging:

 

 

 

While opening the top side of the box, we are instructed to read the Quick Installation Guide, located on the provided disk and to check the compatible HDD models from the website:

 

 

 

 

As on the previous reviewed model, the box is also modularized, so the available space is used optimally:

 

 

 

Most of the bundle is offered inside a plain cardboard box, except the power lead which is found separately:

 

 

 

All documentation, along with the installation disk are located inside a separate re-sealable plastic bag:

 

 

 

Along with the previously mentioned disk, we can also find a leaflet regarding the modules which use GPL licenses, necessary screws for installing 2.5’’ and 3.5’’ drives and also a “Read This First” Guide:

 

 

 

 

The power adapter is labeled “PGB” and is rated on the output 12V, 8.33A:

 

 

 

The connector shape has also been changed:

 

 

 

The unit is supplied with 2x 2M RJ45 LAN cables, packed separately:

 

 

 

The NAS casing is fully wrapped inside foam material:

 

 

 

At first look, the design lines of the DS412+ follow the ones of DS212; these mean an all-black plastic exterior chassis, with a rough texture:

 

 

 

The front features a shiny black transparent cover, which is initially protected by a transparent plastic film:

 

 

 

The name of the NAS can be located in the bottom left corner:

 

 

 

The LEDs are present on the top right corner, one for Status and also one for each installed drive; the DS212 also had as an extra the LAN activity LED:

 

 

 

Further down, we can find an USB 2.0 connector and the power button; the DS212 also had as an extra the card reader and the “C” button, which would have enabled the copy procedure:

 

 

 

On one of the sides, we can find the Synology logo, which also comes with ventilation holes:

 

 

 

The opposite side has identical features:

 

 

 

In the back of the device there are two low noise 92mm fans with fan guards, the extra ports and a sticker:

 

 

 

Besides the DC-IN port, we can find two LAN ports, an eSATA port, two USB 3.0 ports and a Kensington lock:

 

 

 

On the sticker we can find the DC input rating for the power supply, the MAC and product serial number:

 

 

 

The bottom side of the unit comes with several ventilation holes, which aid air circulation to the HDDs and, of course, to the units’ hardware:

 

 

 

Each corner has one small rubber foot for a better stability on the table:

 

 

 

By removing the frontal cover, we can expose the drive bays, which hold the 4 preinstalled plastic trays:

 

 

 

The bays are numbered with small white dots:

 

 

 

After removing all the trays, we can see the PCB in the back, which holds the Data/Power ports for each HDD/SSD:

 

 

 

While looking on the left side, we can see the ventilation holes through the Synology logo:

 

 

 

The right side is completely covered with a metallic plate, so we cannot see directly the internal hardware of the NAS:

 

 

 

The plastic trays can accommodate both 2.5’’ and 3.5’’ drives, by having pre-drilled holes:

 

 

 

In certain points, we can also find vibration-dampening materials:

 

 

 

 

The 3.5’’ HDD mounting holes are also provided with rubber grommets:

 

 

 

Here is an example of a 2.5’’ drive (SSD) installation inside the tray:

 

 

 

 

The manufacturer made sure to provide screws for all installable 2.5’’ drives:

 

 

 

The 3.5’’ drives can be also installed really easy:

 

 

 

 

The screws this time are a little different and prevent over tightening of the rubber grommets:

 

 

 

After the latest DSM version has been installed, we will be prompted to login inside the browser:

 

 

 

The desktop interface has been reworked and now looks much better compared to the DSM 3.2; on the desktop we can create additional shortcuts to the frequently used functions or applications; on the right side we have status information listed about the NAS like System Health, Resource Monitor, Recent Logs, Current Connections and Scheduled Backup. In the top right corner, there are some additional pictograms listed, like the Options menu, Search icon or Pilot View:

 

 

 

To configure most of the settings, we can access the Main Menu, by clicking the top left button:

 

 

 

Inside the Control Panel, we will be able to see thumbnails of the DSM settings, which are grouped into the following categories:

 

File Sharing and Privileges: Set up Win/Mac/NFS/FTP/WebDAV file sharing service.

Network Services: Manage and edit the settings for network services and Internet connection.

System: Edit the basic settings on your DiskStation.

Application Settings: Assign application privileges for user accounts, enable the services of built-in applications, create a VPN connection, and index multimedia files stored on your DiskStation for applications

 

 

 

Inside the User menu, we can specify the accounts that will be able to use the NAS, each with a different password:

 

 

 

The Shared Folder menu lets us create shared folders inside the already created volumes on the storage media:

 

 

 

 

For each shared folder, we can specify the permissions each user has:

 

 

If we want to host a website with the help of the NAS server, we must go and configure settings inside the Web Services menu:

 

 

 

If we are using a DDNS service provider, we can enter up the details inside the ezCloud menu:

 

 

 

Advanced Network settings can be customized inside the available Network menu:

 

 

 

The same menu also lets us join the two LAN connections, in case we want to use the Link Aggregation feature (we also need to have compatible hardware like a L2 switch with management which supports such function). The LAN ports can be also set in Network Fault Tolerance mode, in case our switch does not support Link Aggregation; this way, when LAN 1 becomes unavailable, the system will use the second link to provide service:

 

 

 

The Login screen can be customized by using the DSM Settings menu:

 

 

 

For managing the energy saving features, we can navigate to the Power menu; here we can also adjust the speeds of the included fans:

 

 

 

The DSM can be upgraded right from the interface, by using the automatic procedure, or by specifying the file manually:

 

 

 

The File Station application can be used as a regular file manager, by transferring data on the NAS from one location to another:

 

 

 

The Storage Manager application allows us to create multiple volumes on the storage drives we have installed:

 

 

 

We can also create a Disk Groups on the Diskstation:

 

 

 

The HDD Management tab in the same application allows us to see the health status of the currently installed drives:

 

 

 

Inside the Package Center menu, we can see the currently installed apps, and to enable them we only have to click on the “Run” button:

 

 

 

Additional packages are available for installation, if the initial ones are not enough:

 

 

The EZ-Internet is a wizard from Synology that guides us through several steps, for being able to make the Diskstation available remotely:

 

 

The Resource Monitor widget has maintained it’s appearance from DSM 3.2:

 

 

Additional information about the NAS operation can be found inside the System Information application, with its multiple tabs; inside the General tab we can see information like serial number, model name, installed memory, DSM version and so on:

 

 

The Network tab lets us see the current configuration, on both LAN interfaces:

 

 

The Storage tab informs us of the available capacity on each volume, but can also see the drive health status:

 

 

The Service tab also lets us enable or disable certain services on the spot:

 

 

Each operation that has been performed on the NAS is documented inside the Log tab:

 

 

The list of connected users can be found inside the Current Connections tab:

 

 

Photo Station is a service we have also seen in the previous DSM version and allows us to easily share photos, videos and blog over the Internet; multimedia content from this service can be also watched on our iPhone, iPad and Android mobiles, by using the respective apps:

 

 

By using the available buttons, we can create albums:

 

 

 

The thumbnail creation process is a little bit quicker than on the DS212 in High Quality mode, but it still needs some improvement, since the CPU is barely used during this activity:

 

 

 

 

Audio Station is a web-based audio application, allowing you to access the music library on your Synology DiskStation, choose available audio sources on the local area network, and add your favorite music to playlists for playback:

 

 

 

In case we want to playback audio content from inside the NAS, we have to copy the audio files in a separate “music” folder, which is automatically created when this service is started:

 

 

After the audio files have been indexed, they will appear sorted inside the Audio Station interface:

 

 

The application is also able to playback audio content from Shoutcast™ servers or another Media Server from the network:

 

 

Download Station application is also available and through it we can get files from the Internet on protocols like BT, FTP, HTTP, NZB or Emule:

 

 

 

Test Setup

 

CPU : Intel I5 2500K Retail

CPU Cooler: Noctua U12P SE2

Motherboard : ASRock P67 Extreme6

RAM : G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM

Video : Sparkle X460 Calibre 1GB

Power Supply : Cooler Master 850W

HDD : Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200.10

Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840

 

To test the NAS performances, the DS412+ was populated with two SSDs, one the S599 from ADATA and the other one a Patriot Torqx, in RAID 0, formatted with a single volume and the NAS was connected directly to the computer, to avoid any limitations by implying additional hardware like a router. The first simple test was performed by loading the test file onto a RAM drive and then it was copied to the NAS, at its shared folder. The speed was recorded with Total Commander:

 

 

 

The second test was to copy the same file back to the computer; for eliminating any HDD speed limitations, the file was copied back to the RAM drive:

 

 

 

For performing a more advanced test, the Intel NAS Performance Toolkit was used, for performing 5 different test runs; here are the results:

 

 

 

The DS412+ NAS from Synology has a lot of similarities on the exterior when comparing it with the previously reviewed DS212 model, but this stops here; the product is dedicated to Small and Medium Business, so the manufacturer saw fit to remove the frontal card reader along with the “C” button. The number of connectivity ports has been improved, so now we have besides the frontal USB 2.0 port and the two USB 3.0 ones in the back, an eSATA port and two LAN interfaces.

 

The unit was designed to fit a maximum of 4 HDDs/SSDs in 3.5’’ or 2.5’’ formats and they can be installed with ease, thanks to the plastic frames with vibration dampening properties. If all trays are populated with the maximum available capacity, we have a lot of storage space for backups, videos and a lot of other services that can run on the NAS like Mail Services, FTP Server, Web Station, Photo Station and more.

 

The device boots in about the same time as the DS212, but the interface is much more responsive, thanks to the improved hardware. DSM has been reworked in the new 4.0 version and is more pleasant to the eye. In the LAN performance tests with one cable connected, the unit seems to max out the Gigabit interface many times. For obtaining the speeds reported by Synology, we have to use the “Link Aggregation” feature, more useful in enterprise environments, because we can practically double the bandwidth. For this we also need to use a switch that supports the technology, and not of models are listed on the Synology support page.

 

Mobile devices can also access the NAS, through applications like DS Finder, DS Cam, DS Audio, DS File or DS Photo+.

 

The thumbnail creation process is still slow when set to “High Quality”, in the Photo Station application, using only 25% of the available CPU power, but this more likely will be fixed in the future versions of the DSM.

 

The unit is equipped with not one but two 92mm fans, which are silent during normal operation, but in case we need more cooling power, Synology lets us choose their rotating speed by selecting a different profile in the DSM interface.

 

The price is listed as being 475 Euros before VAT, so it is not very affordable for home users, but in small business environments, this should not be an issue.

 

Synology DiskStation DS412+ 4-bay NAS Server Recommended For:

 

I would like to thank again to Synology for offering the sample for review.