Synology DS918+ Storage Configuration for VMware Homelab

Overview

This guide documents the complete storage configuration for the Synology DS918+ NAS in support of VMware VCF deployment and Intel NUC/MS-A2 infrastructure.

Hardware Configuration

Synology DS918+ Specifications

• Model: DS918+ (4-bay NAS)
• CPU: Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core 1.5 GHz
• Memory: 4GB DDR3L (expandable to 8GB)
• Network: 2x 1GbE ports

Drive Configuration

Bay Layout:
├── Bay 1: 4TB WD Red Pro 7200 RPM (Storage Pool 1)
├── Bay 2: 4TB WD Red Pro 7200 RPM (Storage Pool 1)
├── Bay 3: 8TB Seagate IronWolf NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD (Storage Pool 2)
└── Bay 4: 8TB Seagate IronWolf NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD (Storage Pool 2)

Current Storage Pools

Storage Pool 1 (RAID 0 - High Performance)

• Drives: 2x 4TB WD Red Pro
• Capacity: 7.4TB usable
• Current Usage: 680GB used, 6.4TB available
• Mount: /volume1
• Purpose: High-performance workloads

Storage Pool 2 (RAID 1 - Redundant)

• Drives: 2x 8TB drives
• Capacity: 7.4TB usable (mirrored)
• Current Usage: 18MB used, 2.0TB allocated to volume2
• Mount: /volume2
• Purpose: Production storage with redundancy

Volume Implementation Plan

Phase 1: Create Additional Volumes on Storage Pool 2

Current Volume Layout:

1. volume1: Storage Pool 1 (RAID 0) - High-performance storage (7.4TB)
2. volume2: Storage Pool 2 (RAID 1) - VCF Content Library (2TB) - Already created

Volumes to Create:

1. volume3: Storage Pool 2 (RAID 1) - Backup/Archive Storage (2TB)
2. volume4: Storage Pool 2 (RAID 1) - MS-A2 Shared Storage (2TB)
3. volume5: Storage Pool 2 (RAID 1) - Tanzu Storage (1297GB - full remaining capacity)

---

Implementation Log

Phase 1: Volume Creation - COMPLETED ✅

Date: July 27, 2025 Status: All volumes created successfully

Created Volumes:

• ✅ volume1: Storage Pool 1 (RAID 0) - High-performance storage (7.4TB)
• ✅ volume2: Storage Pool 2 (RAID 1) - VCF Content Library (2TB)
• ✅ volume3: Storage Pool 2 (RAID 1) - Backup/Archive Storage (2TB)
• ✅ volume4: Storage Pool 2 (RAID 1) - MS-A2 Shared Storage (2TB)
• ✅ volume5: Storage Pool 2 (RAID 1) - Tanzu Storage (1297GB)

Phase 2: NFS Configuration - COMPLETED ✅

Date: July 27, 2025 Status: NFS shares configured successfully

NFS Shares Created:

• ✅ vcf-content (volume2): VCF Content Library with async, subfolders enabled
• ✅ Storage (volume3): Backup storage with async, subfolders enabled

Phase 3: iSCSI Configuration - COMPLETED ✅

Date: July 27, 2025 Status: iSCSI LUNs created successfully

iSCSI Target Configuration:

• Target Name: vmwcluster-target
• Authentication: CHAP (one-way)
• Username: vmwcluster
• Settings: Header/Data digest disabled, Single session per LUN

iSCSI LUNs Created:

• ✅ NUC-High-Performance: 4TB (volume1, RAID 0, Thick provisioned)
• ✅ Development-Testing: 1TB (volume4, RAID 1, Thin provisioned)
• ✅ Archive-Storage: 900GB (volume4, RAID 1, Thin provisioned)

Phase 4: ESXi Integration - COMPLETED ✅

Date: July 27, 2025 Status: ESXi hosts configured for shared storage access

esxi-nuc-01 Configuration:

• ✅ iSCSI software adapter enabled and configured
• ✅ CHAP authentication configured (vmwcluster user)
• ✅ iSCSI LUNs discovered and connected:
  • NUC-High-Performance: 4.4TB VMFS6 datastore (naa.6001405c6045e3cdae12d4bb7d9913d3)
  • Development-Testing: 1.1TB VMFS6 datastore (naa.60014055ae90980dc514d40c4d8a75d2)
  • Archive-Storage: 966GB VMFS6 datastore (naa.60014050fe87884dccc3d485bdbe1bd0)

esxi-nuc-02 and esxi-nuc-03 Configuration:

• ✅ iSCSI software adapters enabled and configured
• ✅ CHAP authentication configured (vmwcluster user)
• ✅ Static iSCSI targets configured (separate targets per host)
• ✅ Shared VMFS6 datastores successfully mounted:
  • NUC-High-Performance: 4.4TB VMFS6 datastore (naa.6001405c6045e3cdae12d4bb7d9913d3)
  • Development-Testing: 1.1TB VMFS6 datastore (naa.60014055ae90980dc514d40c4d8a75d2)
  • Archive-Storage: 966GB VMFS6 datastore (naa.60014050fe87884dccc3d485bdbe1bd0)

Solution Implemented:

• Issue Resolution: Created separate iSCSI targets in Synology SAN Manager for each host
• Configuration Method: Used static target configuration instead of sendtarget discovery
• Result: All three Intel NUCs now have full access to shared storage

Deployment Summary:

• Total Shared Storage: 8TB+ available across Intel NUC cluster
• Storage Types: High-performance (RAID 0), Development/Archive (RAID 1)
• Multi-host Access: Successfully configured for vMotion and HA operations
• Network Configuration: Management network (192.168.10.x) for iSCSI traffic