7 Greatest Enterprise NAS Software program Options for 2023

Though many enterprises are working onerous to virtualize and exchange their legacy community {hardware}, numerous corporations nonetheless depend on their on-premises instruments, notably within the realm of knowledge storage and file administration. Community connected storage (NAS) is one sort of on-premises storage that many corporations put money into due to its ease of use and implementation. In response to a examine by Mordor Intelligence, the NAS market is predicted to develop from a $21.55 billion worth in 2020 to $62.77 billion by 2026.

However NAS {hardware} could be nothing with out its working system, the NAS software program that makes information storage and file sharing potential. Whether or not you’ve already subscribed to the NAS mannequin and are in search of a brand new software program answer otherwise you’re in search of a straightforward solution to scale your storage capabilities on-premises, learn on to study a few of the prime NAS software program corporations and options available on the market in the present day.

Listed here are out prime picks for NAS software program in 2023:

High NAS software program comparability

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TrueNAS CORE

Greatest total NAS software program

TrueNAS CORE, beforehand generally known as FreeNAS, is among the longest-standing and hottest free, open supply NAS options out there for enterprise customers, with a number of million downloads because it began in 2005. 

This NAS answer goes past the fundamentals that many different instruments supply, together with its OpenZFS file system, the selection between thick and skinny provisioning, and different extremely customizable options which can be finest dealt with by an skilled sysadmin or energy consumer. 

TrueNAS CORE minimal {hardware} necessities embrace a community port and a minimum of one connected disk. Different necessities are:

• Processor: 2-Core Intel 64-Bit or AMD x86_64 processor.
• Reminiscence: 8GB reminiscence.
• Boot machine: 16GB SSD boot machine
• Storage: Though not obligatory, TrueNAS CORE recommends solid-state drive (SSD)

Since it’s the most well-liked answer available on the market, TrueNAS additionally gives a number of partnerships and integrations with cloud storage suppliers, media servers, and automation servers, making it a robust holistic answer for customers who’re already skilled with storage design and administration. 

Pricing

TrueNAS CORE is free and open supply. You possibly can obtain the TrueNAS CORE 13.0-U4 secure model or the TrueNAS CORE 12.0-U8.1 legacy model. 

Options

• Self-healing OpenZFS File System for information safeguarding.
• Constructed-in RAID safety and quantity supervisor.
• Limitless snapshots and clones.
• Information compression, thick provisioning, and skinny provisioning.
• LDAP and Lively Listing integrations out there.
• Supported OS shoppers embrace Home windows, MacOS, Linux, UNIX, iOS, and Android.
• TrueNAS CORE gives numerous plugins, together with Plex Media Server, PhotoPrism, NextCloud, Zoneminder surveillance, Netdata, Syncthing, Tarsnap, GitLab, and extra.

Execs

• TrueNAS gives virtualization, in addition to versatile operations and permissions, by its Jails characteristic.
• Provides self-encrypted drives (TCG Opal) and dataset encryption.
• Customers take pleasure in neighborhood assist.

Cons

• Some customers have skilled bugs with the beta model of the newest TrueNAS CORE model.
• Lacks commercial-grade assist.

NetApp NAS ONTAP

Greatest for hybrid cloud and multi-cloud customers

Many customers acknowledge NetApp for his or her information administration options on the cloud, however their scale-out NAS powered by the ONTAP ecosystem supplies an on-premises information storage connection that’s excellent for hybrid cloud and multi-cloud customers specifically. 

Due to its robust cloud basis, NetApp’s NAS answer is among the strongest contenders on this checklist for AIOps and different automated workplace operations that require robust information administration.

Pricing

This software program pricing isn’t marketed on the NetApp web site, you possibly can request a quote or ebook a free demo to study extra in regards to the software.

Options

• Public cloud, information middle, and edge entry to information with built-in caching capabilities.
• Computerized tiering for chilly information to public or non-public cloud places.
• AIOps automation of proactive look after NetApp environments.
• Automated safety from ransomware.
• Quantity and in-transit ranges of encryption, plus safe file purging.
• Capability and predictable low latency for high-metadata workloads.

Execs

• NetApp gives a number of native safety and information safety options and lots of integrations that spherical out their information safety choices.
• Compress and dedupe storage with out efficiency affect.
• Low latency for high-metadata workloads.

Cons

• Upgrades and jobs processing are typically disruptive to different community performance.
• In response to some consumer evaluations, the software is pricey.

XigmaNAS

Greatest for options and compatibility

XigmaNAS is an open supply, BSD-based NAS answer that prides itself on offering customers with updates and enhancements over time, not simply on the time of deployment. The XigmaNAS crew focuses on offering common upgrades and updates based mostly on neighborhood suggestions, which implies that bug fixes, new options, and part upgrades are part of their common scope of labor. 

Maybe much more considerably, XigmaNAS’s open supply setup and their developer crew have created the software program to be extremely suitable with most protocols, transportable {hardware}, and different working techniques available on the market.

Pricing

XigmaNAS is on the market without cost. You possibly can obtain the software without charge and it’s out there in 4 completely different file codecs, together with LiveCD file (.iso file), LiveUSB file (.img.gz file), embedded firmware replace file for improve embedded installations (.img.xz file), and a  full replace file for improve full installations (.txz file).

Options

• Sharing is on the market throughout Home windows, Apple, and UNIX-like techniques.
• Could be put in on compact flash or onerous disk or booted from a stay location for configuration storage.
• Open Supply Storage NAS distribution based mostly on FreeBSD.
• Disk encryption, electronic mail reporting, and RAID options.
• Operational on CIFS/SMB (Samba), Lively Listing Area Controller (Samba), FTP, NFS, TFTP, AFP, RSYNC, Unison, iSCSI (initiator and goal), HAST, CARP, Bridge, UPnP, and BitTorrent protocols.

Execs 

• Customers praise the software program’s compatibility with all kinds of USB drives and different transportable {hardware}.
• Customers discover this software straightforward to put in and configure.

Cons 

• The newest variations of XigmaNAS take an prolonged time period to develop into out there for some pc techniques as they’re launched, akin to Raspberry Pi 4.
• Steep studying curve for brand spanking new customers.

Hitachi NAS Platform

Greatest for information migration

Hitachi’s NAS platform supplies lots of the similar core options as different NAS options on this checklist, however lots of its further options are designed to help in virtualization and cloud migration initiatives. A number of the key differentiators in Hitachi’s product embrace cluster rolling upgrades, EVS failover choices, superior cloud integration, clever tiering, and policy-based information migration. 

With their mix of cloud and on-premises focus, Hitachi and their NAS platform supply an important answer for organizations which can be solely dipping their toes into the cloud or who’re dedicated to sustaining key functions and information on-premises for the long term.

Pricing

Hitachi gives a variety of buy and lease choices for his or her NAS software program as a part of their EverFlex service.

Options

• Help for global-active machine metro clustering.
• Automated deduplication with excessive consumer visibility.
• Synchronous catastrophe restoration characteristic.
• Unified level of knowledge entry by way of Namespace.
• Coverage-driven migration instruments for cloud migrations.

Execs

• Migration and deployment are simplified by way of Hitachi’s cluster rolling upgrades and EVS failover choices.
• Options tiered file system to boost efficiency and optimize customers disk utilization throughout a number of tiers of storage.
• Excessive compatibility vary.

Cons

• Some customers discover the consumer interface and total format of the platform to be considerably dated.

Rockstor

Greatest for DIY NAS

Rockstor is an open supply NAS answer that works with each Linux and BTRFS, additionally providing the flexibleness to energy a mixture of NAS and cloud storage sources. This open supply venture is among the most UX/UI-centered NAS options available on the market, providing a useful internet UI for open supply improvement. Customers are capable of resize volumes, schedule snapshots and scrubs, replicate shares, and conduct different information administration operations from the central internet UI. 

Though some customers really feel that the BTRFS and Linux focus may make it difficult for first-time customers and non-developers to work with this NAS product, Rockstor supplies a number of assets as a information, akin to their Wiki, concern tracker, and on-line discussion board.

Pricing

Rockstor is a free and open supply software. The software has numerous downloads and set up choices, together with Generic, RaspberryPi4, and ARM64EFI.

Options

• Linux BTRFS NAS software program equipment.
• Upkeep carried out by Rockstor Net-UI.
• Help for NFS, Samba, AFP, and SFTP protocols by default.
• Open supply software program with community-driven assist and improvement.
• CentOS 7 or openSUSE improvement out there.

Execs 

• This answer gives a big library of plugins or “Rock-ons” that may be containerized by way of Docker.
• Copy on Write (CoW) Snapshots functionality allows customers to take a snapshot or schedule snapshots at intervals by way of the Rockstor’s web-ui.
• The software is installable on commodity {hardware} like X86_64 and ARM64.

Cons

• Rockstor is run on the BTRFS file system, which is newer and fewer examined than most different file system choices.

Synology DiskStation Supervisor

Greatest for information safety 

Synology’s DiskStation Supervisor is a modular NAS answer that focuses most closely on information safety and safety. They provide their security measures and different functions by Synology packages, permitting for a light-weight construction by which customers can granularly handle all the things from multimedia to virtualization to consumer administration. 

Synology additionally supplies a big selection of self-service options on its web site, offering customers with selector and calculator instruments, an internet neighborhood and beta applications, and a data middle.

Pricing

Pricing for this answer range based mostly on clients’ desired merchandise. As an example, Synology C2 Storage has two customizable plans: 

• Primary: 100GB – 1TB for $9.99 – $59.99 per 12 months. Consists of each day backup, mounted retention, and AES-256 encryption.
• Superior: 1TB – 200TB for $69.99 – $11,073 per 12 months. Consists of hourly backup, customizable retention, information deduplication, Hybrid Share, and AES-256 encryption.

Customers can use Synology NAS Selector software to find out the very best product for his or her use circumstances and call their gross sales crew for personalized quotes, together with information limits past 200TB.

Options

• Centralized platform for file and multimedia administration.
• Non-public collaborative workspace instruments out there for groups.
• Virtualization with the direct deployment of digital machines and containers.
• Centralized monitoring and configuration.
• Listing providers for consumer administration.
• Customers can entry Synology NAS by way of browsers, SMB, NFS, AFP, FTP, and WebDAV.

Execs

• Synology supplies all kinds of security measures, akin to granular permissions and multifactor authentication (MFA).
• Monitor and handle storage with use evaluation.
• Multi-site file entry.
• Helps Home windows, Linus, and macOS.
• Its NAS selector software helps customers tailor plans to their particular wants.

Cons

• Distant entry, particularly cell entry, is taken into account considerably tough.
• Help could possibly be improved.

OpenMediaVault

Greatest for small workplaces or dwelling workplaces

OpenMediaVault is an open supply, Linux-based NAS answer that’s most incessantly utilized in dwelling workplace and small workplace settings. Nonetheless, enterprises can scale the venture to satisfy their wants by third-party plugins built-in into the bottom system and the OMV-Extras repository. 

Like many different NAS options, OpenMediaVault gives file sharing, storage monitoring, and disk administration to customers, although it gives bare-bones variations of those options to make it simpler to arrange and use at dwelling. 

Though its options could also be restricted, OpenMediaVault’s open supply flexibility and Debian-based setup with documentation make it easy for customers of various experiences to handle this answer.

Pricing

OpenMediaVault is on the market without cost. Customers can obtain both the outdated secure model or the newest secure model.

Options

• Provides providers like SSH, (S)FTP, SMB/CIFS, DAAP media server, RSync, and BitTorrent consumer.
• Modular framework with plugin availability.
• Debian bundle administration for system updates.
• Electronic mail notifications and file sharing.
• Hyperlink aggregation out there.

Execs 

• The OpenMediaVault venture gives a robust assist neighborhood with in depth documentation.
• Net-based administration.
• Helps a number of RAID ranges.
• Customers can improve the software by way of numerous plugins together with ClamAV, Onedrive, USBbackup, Shairport, and extra. 

Cons

• As a result of OpenMediaVault focuses on small and residential workplace use circumstances, it falls behind different NAS options in consumer interface updates and file sharing choices.
• Restricted enterprise functionality.

What’s NAS?

Community connected storage (NAS), is on-premises information storage {hardware}. Though it will possibly and is commonly used for private and residential community setups, NAS performs an enormous position in on-premises information administration for enterprise networks as nicely. 

In partnership with NAS software program and different information storage places on the community, NAS {hardware} acts as a supply for information retrieval and file sharing throughout the information middle. Due to its specialised concentrate on information administration and sharing, NAS is commonly in comparison with a specialised file server, or a server that focuses on the one activity of file sharing whereas bypassing different server tasks.

What’s NAS software program?

NAS software program is the operational software program embedded in NAS {hardware}, enabling actions like file and information sharing on the community from that central level. It handles community requests for 2 major features: information storage and information sharing. 

Shoppers on the community are capable of entry and make requests of NAS by way of information switch protocols, however from the consumer perspective, anybody on a consumer machine can seamlessly entry NAS information assets.

NAS vs. SAN

NAS gives related functionalities to the storage space community (SAN), one of the generally used kinds of community storage for business-critical functions. Each NAS and SAN are kinds of centralized storage administration that focus solely on sharing information with hosts and shoppers on the community. 

Nonetheless, NAS relies solely on an ethernet connection, whereas SAN depends on ethernet and fiber connectivity to enhance latency instances. SAN higher suits organizations that require greater efficiency and low latency for his or her information administration wants, however NAS is often extra inexpensive, and simpler to arrange and handle in the long term.

Enterprise advantages of NAS software program

NAS gives many key benefits to enterprise networks, particularly people who need scalable storage with a low studying curve:

Added information safety

NAS usually consists of built-in security measures, including an extra layer of safety to your information. Some necessary safety and catastrophe restoration options supplied by NAS embrace information snapshots and backups, encryption, and information replication.

Easier configuration

In contrast to many different storage setups, NAS permits customers to tack on storage options without having to alter their community structure for set up and setup. 

The general design and performance of a NAS system are easy and targeted on information motion, so even when issues come up over time, it’s simpler to pinpoint and resolve the problem due to its easy construction.

Decrease prices

With a lot of free and open supply options available on the market, NAS is among the most inexpensive options for enterprise-level storage administration. Though some organizations might want or want the add-ons that include paid NAS options, most NAS merchandise accrue little to no further price after preliminary setup.

Scalability and accessibility

The construction of NAS storage makes it work loads like a personal cloud, although solely targeted on information administration and sharing. The cloud-like setup makes NAS extremely versatile and scalable, permitting customers to share information, collaborate on initiatives, and keep distant entry to information from that central location.

Key options of NAS software program

NAS software program usually solely gives a number of easy functionalities because it pertains to information storage, retrieval, and administration. Nonetheless, another safety and information high quality options are usually included by default, akin to RAID assist, centralized administration, and distant entry, in addition to information backup, restoration, replication, and automatic tiering.

RAID assist

RAID controllers are the {hardware} or software program applications used to handle drives inside NAS so all of them work as a unit. RAID, which stands for redundant array of unbiased disks, permits customers to make the most of a number of onerous drives to retailer information and hold it protected from drive failures. 

There are numerous kinds of RAIDs, together with RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10. Consultants usually suggest RAID 5 as the very best and essentially the most extensively used configuration for NAS gadgets, because it supplies redundancy and nonetheless allows customers to make the most of most of their onerous drives for space for storing. However, RAID 0 has quite a lot of efficiency advantages however with excessive dangers of knowledge loss. 

Centralized storage administration

NAS helps consolidates file storage and sharing. It allows a number of customers to entry recordsdata saved on the NAS machine over the community, making it straightforward for groups to collaborate on initiatives and to share and entry necessary recordsdata from a central location. 

With NAS software program, directors also can allocate space for storing, arrange entry controls based mostly on roles and handle information backups and restoration from a single interface. This makes managing and sustaining information safety simpler and ensures that storage capability is optimized and utilized effectively.

Distant entry

NAS software program gives customers a handy solution to entry their recordsdata by way of the web utilizing numerous protocols like FTP, HTTP, or SFTP. This makes it straightforward for distributed groups to do business from home, entry recordsdata whereas touring, or share recordsdata with shoppers or companions in several places. 

Information backup and restoration

Some NAS options supply information backup and restoration capabilities to reduce downtime and defend in opposition to information loss. This consists of computerized backup schedules, snapshots, and replication options. Information backup and restoration functionality ensures information is backed up frequently and that there are a number of copies of necessary recordsdata. 

Information snapshots take digital footage of your information at a sure time limit, guaranteeing that in case your techniques expertise a knowledge breach or different sort of knowledge loss, a earlier model is on the market for retrieval. Information backups are extra sturdy variations of knowledge snapshots, not solely taking a picture of the information at a sure level, however backing up all related variations and historic cases of that information.

Information replication and automatic tiering

Information replication makes it potential to tug information snapshots and backups into use if the supply information goes offline for any cause. With information replication, the NAS can create a duplicate based mostly on what the snapshot information illustrates. Automated tiering is commonly included in NAS setups, permitting overflow information or information of various precedence ranges to be shifted to the cloud, edge, and different storage environments.

Scalability

With NAS software program, directors can add or take away storage capability as wanted, making it straightforward to adapt to altering necessities and accommodate rising storage wants. 

Safety

Organizations that deal with delicate information, akin to monetary or private info, will discover NAS software program security measures indispensable. It usually gives superior safety to guard in opposition to information breaches and unauthorized entry, akin to information encryption, entry controls, and authentication mechanisms. 

Who wants NAS software program?

Information storage isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. Each enterprise community requires storage assist for various use circumstances based mostly on completely different budgets and ranging ranges of inner experience. 

NAS storage could not work nicely for organizations that require ultra-low latency and fast outcomes when retrieving or sharing information. Nonetheless, it’s a aggressive answer within the following situations:

• An enterprise in search of information storage that’s straightforward to configure and arrange. A “set-it-and-forget-it” strategy is its excellent type of community storage.
• An enterprise desires the distant entry and versatile advantages of the cloud, nevertheless it’s not able to decide to a public or non-public cloud migration but.
• An enterprise desires to keep away from third-party administration and ongoing charges with regards to storage administration. It desires one thing it will possibly handle for itself at little to no price.

NAS is a viable answer for a lot of company networks, particularly when utilized in mixture with different storage methods for extra time-sensitive information processing wants. When researching the best NAS answer to your group, you’ll want to speak to potential distributors about how one can optimize NAS and join it to different core functions for optimized information administration and entry.

Methodology

To find out the very best NAS software program in 2023, we evaluated lots of of options for several types of customers and firm sizes. We used 5 information factors to pick the very best NAS software program: standout options or key differentiators, affordability, buyer satisfaction, consumer evaluations/scores, and buyer assist. We additionally reviewed the newest tendencies in NAS software program to make sure our chosen options are up-to-date and meet trade requirements.

Unsure if NAS is correct for your enterprise? You may need to contemplate different storage choices, like decentralized storage and block or object storage.