Synology HD6500 is a solution for next-generation data storage for high-density applications. A high-performance, scalable server ideal for organizations looking to consolidate their hot and cold data storage into a single, reliable, high-capacity platform to handle multi-petabyte applications for backup, video post-production, mass surveillance systems or other scenarios.
To insist that the amount of digital data to be stored, protected and managed has not stopped increasing in recent years, especially in large companies. Furthermore, threats that come from both cyberattacks and hardware failures can cause data loss at incalculable cost. Hence the need to use advanced techniques such as Backup 3-2-1 for disaster prevention and in general as advanced mass storage and data management solutions.
Synology has a huge variety of NAS products in its catalog to cover any need, a high-impact operating system, native applications and everything that comes from the Synology C2 set of cloud solutions capable of expanding hardware features and reinforcing the strategy in hybrid environments.
Synology High Density HD6500
It is one of Synology’s most advanced storage servers by performance and capacity. This high-density SAS offers 60 bays in a 4U rack-mountable enclosure, which can be expanded on the fly with up to 300 units thanks to support for four Synology RX6022sas expansion units. Two additional SATA solid-state drives act as system drives.
To its enormous capacity, it adds impressive performance, reaching data transfers of 6,688/6,662 Mbytes per second in sequential read/write. This is possible with two 10-core Intel Xeon Silver processors, capable of running at frequencies of up to 3.2 GHz. The CPUs are accompanied by 64 Gbytes of integrated DDR4 ECC RDIMM memory, which can be expanded up to 512 Gbytes.
As to connectivity, it has two integrated 10 GbE RJ-45 ports and three Gigabit Ethernet ports. As in storage capacity, the manufacturer offers the client remarkable scalability and the mentioned ports can be complemented with up to 10 additional network interfaces using 10 GbE SFP+/RJ-45 and 25 GbE SFP28 NICs, as well as network adapters. Fiber Channel in all four available PCIe slots.
The Synology HD6500 additionally features a dedicated Gigabit Ethernet port for out-of-band (OOB) management that helps system administrators maintain and troubleshoot. Additionally, it offers two USB 3.2 ports and two expansion ports (Mini-SAS HD).
Finally highlight the redundant power supply units, which reduce the possibility that power interruptions in a single distribution channel affect the availability of the service or the loss of data. In this sense, support for automatic failover between network ports and redundant links to expansion units thanks to multipath SAS, prevent hardware failures at single points.
The Synology HD6500 is backed by a 5-year limited warranty, which includes technical support and hardware replacement services to maximize the return on investment and high-quality performance of this scalable storage server.
operating system and applications
All hardware, however powerful it may be, needs an operating system and a set of applications and services capable of taking advantage of it. Synology has this section covered with DiskStation Manager (one of the best NAS operating systems on the market) and an ecosystem of applications to cover any type of task.
Furthermore, fully integrated with Synology’s technology, its NAS and software, the manufacturer offers the cloud solution suite Synology C2. It is designed to meet the storage, backup, data protection, file sharing and password management needs of any type of user or company, and shows its advantages for customers seeking maximum guarantees in data availability. , storage expansion and disaster prevention capacity.
A few days ago we had the opportunity to attend live the presentation in Madrid of the Synology 2023 AND BEYONDthe annual event where the company announces its new solutions, which for the coming year include the data management, file protection and IT infrastructure security. Among its objectives are to establish a higher level of reliability, security and scalability, increase the productivity of companies and the flexibility of hybrid cloud architectures.
However, the launch at the beginning of 2023 of the new version of the operating system DiskStation Manager 7.2, was one of the main announcements of the Synology event. It will be freely available for all of the firm’s NAS (from the most powerful ones like the Synology HD6500 that we have reviewed in this article to the most modest ones for home environments) and will launch important new features as support for its entire ecosystem.
Security, WORM and volume encryption
The secure data management It will be a central point of the news presented by Synology and will include three different solutions to guarantee the security in the databases that allow easy collaboration and file sharing, as well as storing large volumes of information.
Perhaps most interesting is that DiskStation Manager 7.2 will incorporate the full volume encryption and a 48?% storage performance improvement compared to shared folder-based encryption. will also introduce folders with worm-like storagewhich prevent the modification or deletion of data during a certain period.
In this way, like the new immutable backup copies in Hyper Backup, any changes are prevented after their creation, helping to protect data against cyberthreats as dangerous as Ransomware.
Synology Drive
Another novelty will come from the update of this application, one of the most interesting in the Synology ecosystem since it allows transform a company NAS into a private cloud, with 100% data ownership at no additional cost and full customer control. This private cloud access and management solution enables remote data access, sync, on-demand file restore, and backup via desktop and mobile apps.
The new version will make it easier to collaborate and share files, keeping files more secure when sharing them across teams by applying watermarks and download policies. Remote wipe capabilities, with folder synchronization on Windows and macOS systems, will minimize the risks of file loss, while automatic logon with AD credentials and provisioning of backup and synchronization tasks will facilitate mass deployments.
Hybrid Share
Is hybrid cloud solution It was released with the release of version 7 of the DiskStation Manager 7 operating system and allows you to integrate and combine cloud storage with local storage for greater data security. It combines the performance of a Synology NAS with the scalability of the C2 Storage cloud storage service, which offers additional backup by keeping data off-site on the NAS itself.
Freely served as an integrated package in DSM 7.0 and later, Hybrid Share allows customers to mount their cloud storage on a NAS such as the Synology HD6500 and thus gain local, low-latency access to remote data stored in the cloud.
C2 Transfer
It is another of the tools included in the powerful set of Synology C2 cloud solutions. As its name indicates, it is intended for transfer files comfortably and safely without the size limitations or failed connections of chat or email applications.
All data served through this service is protected by AES-256 encryption even before leaving the device. Data transmitted to and stored on C2 servers is fully encrypted, allowing complete protection throughout the entire process. The used key is stored on client devices and is never shared with Synology servers.
File control is complete by restricting access with expiration dates and download limits, and watermarks with text, an image or the recipient’s email address, while user administration and privilege assignment is done from a single unified console. Synology offers a free trial of C2 Transfer before contracting any of its versions, professional or for companies.
Scale-out NAS
The Synology HD6500 we’ve reviewed in this article offers considerable base storage capacity (60 bays expandable up to 300) and performance that enables it to handle multi-petabyte applications, but even scalability is limited by the physical capabilities of the hardware. This is where this type of horizontal scalability solution comes in, allowing increase capacity and performance by adding more servers in a flexible and transparent way.
Especially indicated for the management of unstructured data that does not stop growing, this scale-out network attached storage (NAS) architecture It is a very interesting solution since it eliminates hardware limitations and allows handling huge amounts of data with the necessary flexibility, controlling complexity and costs and optimizing resources.
Another of its advantages is visibility, which allows each connected node to see all the files stored in the cluster, without the need to create additional storage groups and managing the cluster as a unified storage system. Additionally, the architecture requires no downtime to add capacity and performance to the array, since the process is carried out without interruptions. A clear alternative for solutions of big data to traditional NAS, which of course also supports Synology in a comprehensive ecosystem of solutions for mass storage and data management.
