Expansion Port Feature On TrueNas (Does This Exist?)

[CISCO_UC_GUY]

I'm in the process of choosing a new NAS platform for my small business and I've come down to either TrueNas Mini Xl+ or Synology DS1621XS+.

I noticed that the Synology brand offers E-SATA expansion port capability via the Synology DX517 off the back of the unit for storage expansion:

(Expansion discussion begins at 8:39) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBRx7pH_XEc

Does TrueNas offer a similar capability or is this capability of drive expansion done across the network via another process in TrueNas?

Thanks in advance...

Jay

 

[jgreco]

No. eSATA expansion typically requires port multipliers, which are catastrophic under ZFS.

Multiply your problems with SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers

In the last year or two, we've had a resurgence of users asking about SATA Port Multipliers and cheap SATA controllers. Please, do NOT use port multipliers, and use cheap SATA controllers only after extensive research. SATA controllers and SATA...

www.truenas.com

If you want to add storage, you're better off with rack mounted gear than a Mini XL.

TrueNAS storage expansion, for either the Mini or a regular server, is best handled via SAS. You add an SAS HBA to the system such as the 9300-8e, and you can then add up to hundreds of hard drives. The current Mini XL is apparently limited to 64GB RAM, so this places a practical limit on how much storage you can actually connect to it; things will start performing poorly past 100TB and may be untenable beyond 200TB. What sort of chassis you could use to expand a Mini is also a big question mark.

If you think you're going to need more than 8 drives, it may be better to go for a nice 2U 12 drive chassis to begin with.