Furthering our theme of Xeon D and 10GbE penetrating the SMB sector in 2016, Synology has two new RackStation NAS units based on Intel Xeon D processors. The Synology RS3617xs+ and Synology RS3617RPxS both feature Intel Xeon D processors with 10GbE onboard as well as 8GB of RAM (expandable to 64GB) and the option to use redundant power supplies. The Intel Xeon D processors mean that the Synology RS3617xs+ NAS units can take advantage of the SoC’s dual 10GbE MAC to provide higher speed networking without requiring add-on cards. Both units also feature 12-bay 3.5″ 2U designs that handle up to 10TB hard drives (currently the largest on the market.) That gives an internal raw capacity of 120TB maximum that can be expanded to 360TB using external disk shelves. This puts the units within striking distance of lower-end SAN storage such as NetApp FAS2520 arrays, yet at a much lower cost.
Synology RS3617xs+ Key Specifications
We wanted to highlight some of the key specifications for the Synology RS3617xs+ NAS:
- CPU: Intel Xeon D-1531 (6 core / 12 thread)
- RAM: 8GB (max 64GB)
- 3.5″ drive bays: 12
- RJ-45 1GbE Port(s): 4
- RJ-45 10GbE Port(s): 2
- Network Expansion PCIe: 2x PCIe 3.0 x8
- PSU: 2x 500W redundant power supplies
Synology RS3617RPxs Key Specifications
Here are the key specifications for the Synology RS3617RPxs:
- CPU: Intel Xeon D-1521 (4 core / 8 thread)
- RAM: 8GB (max 64GB)
- 3.5″ drive bays: 12
- RJ-45 1GbE Port(s): 4
- RJ-45 10GbE Port(s): 0
- Network Expansion PCIe: 2x PCIe 3.0 x8
Additional Hardware Commentary
With 1x 8GB UDIMM installed, and a maximum of 4x 16GB, we do wish Synology would have taken full advantage of the Xeon D’s ability to use RDIMMs and maximum memory capacity of 128GB RAM. In our Broadwell-DE hyper-converged servers we are using either 64GB or 128GB in the 6 core /12 thread units. Given Synology’s Docker and virtualization capabilities, 128GB would be a nice option and the Broadwell-DE SoC supports 4x 32GB RDIMMs. Also, with only one stick of RAM the Broadwell-DE chip will be limited to half of its potential bandwidth. Given the Intel Xeon D-1521 has an onboard Intel X552/ X557 MAC, we would have liked to see Synology add a PHY for the 10GbE ports, even if they used a lower cost and power SFP+ PHY. While one can use expansion cards, it would have been relatively trivial to add 10GbE networking to the unit given its capabilities.
