Synology sits at the centre of the Realm Labs storage environment.

Rather than using the NAS simply as somewhere to store files, it provides shared storage, backups and persistent data for systems running across the lab. It also acts as one of the key points connecting Windows, Linux, Proxmox, Docker and the wider home network.

The current primary system is a Synology DS224+, running DSM and providing storage to both everyday devices and homelab services.

The Role of the NAS

The NAS has gradually become one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in Realm Labs.

It currently handles:

  • central file storage
  • Windows SMB shares
  • Linux and Raspberry Pi storage
  • application and container data
  • system backups
  • project files
  • shared media
  • website and development data
  • persistent storage used by other lab systems

This means the NAS is less of a standalone appliance and more of a central data layer for the rest of the environment.

Current Hardware

The main Realm Labs NAS is a Synology DS224+.

It is a two-bay system, but for the current environment that provides a good balance between storage capacity, redundancy, power consumption and simplicity.

The drives are configured with redundancy so that a single disk failure does not immediately result in data loss.

RAID is useful for availability, but I do not treat it as a backup. Important data is backed up separately as well.

Shared Storage

Most general file access is provided using SMB.

This allows Windows PCs, virtual machines and other devices around the network to access central shares without having separate copies of the same files scattered across multiple systems.

Examples include:

  • software
  • project data
  • shared resources
  • backups
  • scripts
  • website files
  • wallpapers and other centrally managed assets

Some of these shares are also used by domain-managed Windows systems.

Linux and Raspberry Pi Access

Linux systems and Raspberry Pis also use the NAS for persistent storage and backups.

Depending on the workload, this may be accessed using SMB or NFS.

For example, Raspberry Pi backups can be written directly to the NAS rather than being retained only on the Pi’s SD card or local storage.

That makes recovery much easier if a device fails or needs to be rebuilt.

Docker and Application Data

The NAS is also useful for storing persistent application data.

Containers themselves can be recreated fairly easily, but their configuration and data are usually the valuable part.

By keeping important application data on central storage, services can be rebuilt without starting completely from scratch.

This is particularly useful for self-hosted tools, dashboards and services that form part of the Realm Labs environment.

Backups

The backup strategy has changed as the lab has grown.

The NAS itself provides drive redundancy, but that only protects against a disk failure. It does not protect against accidental deletion, corruption, malware or complete NAS failure.

For that reason, important NAS data is also backed up separately.

An external 4 TB USB drive is currently used with Synology Hyper Backup for scheduled backups.

The backup includes the important shared folders and Synology application data, with version rotation enabled so previous versions can be recovered when required.

This gives the storage environment another layer of protection without relying entirely on cloud storage.

NAS Storage and Proxmox

Proxmox remains primarily responsible for running virtual machines and containers, while Synology provides central storage and backup capacity.

Keeping those roles separate has worked well.

The compute host can be rebuilt or changed without the main data necessarily living on the same physical machine.

It also means the NAS can continue serving files even when other parts of the homelab are offline.

Networking

The DS224+ connects directly into the Realm Labs network infrastructure.

Because it is accessed by a mixture of Windows systems, Linux machines, Raspberry Pis, containers and virtual machines, reliable DNS and network connectivity are important.

A surprising number of apparent storage problems have actually turned out to be network, DNS or permission issues rather than faults with DSM itself.

That is one of the reasons the NAS is treated as part of the infrastructure rather than simply as another device on the network.

Why Synology?

I could build a storage server using standard PC hardware and a platform such as TrueNAS.

For Realm Labs, however, Synology has been a good fit because DSM removes much of the day-to-day maintenance while still exposing enough functionality for a homelab.

The parts I value most are:

  • straightforward storage management
  • good SMB support
  • built-in backup tools
  • permissions management
  • easy monitoring
  • low power consumption
  • a relatively small physical footprint
  • reliable operation without constant maintenance

That leaves more time for experimenting with the systems using the storage rather than continually maintaining the storage platform itself.

What I Would Change

The main limitation of the DS224+ is obvious: it only has two drive bays.

For the current setup this is fine, but a larger system would provide more flexibility for future storage expansion and RAID layouts.

If the amount of locally stored data continues to grow, moving to a four-bay or larger Synology would probably be the next major storage upgrade.

For now, the DS224+ remains more than capable of supporting the lab.

Related Realm Labs Projects

This NAS appears throughout many other Realm Labs projects because it provides storage and backup services behind the scenes.

Related areas include:

  • Proxmox virtualisation
  • Docker and self-hosting
  • Raspberry Pi systems
  • Windows domain infrastructure
  • network monitoring
  • website hosting
  • automated backups

That is really the point of the NAS in Realm Labs: it is not the most visible system, but an awful lot stops working properly when it is unavailable.