I've realized I need a NAS to back up my file server. Small size and low noise are worth a premium because it'll be sitting in a relative's house. Remote access is important. Performance isn't (for now); the only thing it'll have to run is Windows Server 2019 (ideally) and Resilio Sync (which I'm assuming won't shit the bed when I ask it to sync 30TB). 4 drives should be enough (I'm thinking a 14TBx4 R5 should be fine for a system that only has to live long enough to restore to another one, though an economical 6 or 8-bay I could use with R6 or RAIDZ2 would be even better.)
It costs about the same to buy a decent Synology or QNAP as it does a Gen8 Microserver with a lot of RAM and a CPU that didn't come out a cereal box. The MS is small enough, quiet, and would be more flexible for whatever years from now.
My concern is that none of the used models I see have a support contract. Few seem to have an iLO license. Are the service packs accessible from whatever source without these? Can you install Server 2019 (by USB stick or whatever) or is that a trial? I'm feeling a bit 'devil you know' relative to the prebuilt machines; I have no experience with Synology et. al. or if it's possible to get around the limitations I'd inevitably encounter.
It costs about the same to buy a decent Synology or QNAP as it does a Gen8 Microserver with a lot of RAM and a CPU that didn't come out a cereal box. The MS is small enough, quiet, and would be more flexible for whatever years from now.
My concern is that none of the used models I see have a support contract. Few seem to have an iLO license. Are the service packs accessible from whatever source without these? Can you install Server 2019 (by USB stick or whatever) or is that a trial? I'm feeling a bit 'devil you know' relative to the prebuilt machines; I have no experience with Synology et. al. or if it's possible to get around the limitations I'd inevitably encounter.