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Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs. Synology DiskStation

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/ARed Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux distribution mainly used in commercial data centers.N/A

    DiskStation

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/ADiskStation is a line of network-attached storage (NAS) solutions from Synology headquartered in Taiwan.N/A
    Pricing
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)DiskStation
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)DiskStation
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)DiskStation
    Considered Both Products
    Red Hat
    No answer on this topic
    Synology
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    295 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    29 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    99%
    Delivers good value for the price
    253 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    29 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    289 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    29 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    188 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    26 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    253 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    27 Answers
    Features
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)DiskStation
    Operating System
    Comparison of Operating System features of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Synology DiskStation
    Feature
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    8.4
    78 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Synology DiskStation
    -
    Ratings
    File Management8.073 Ratings00 Ratings
    Software Application Management8.075 Ratings00 Ratings
    System Update Frequency8.276 Ratings00 Ratings
    Operating System Security9.378 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)DiskStation
    Small Businesses
    CentOS Linux
    Score8.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM AIX
    Score9.4 out of 10
    FreeNAS
    Score5.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Ubuntu
    Score8.2 out of 10
    FreeNAS
    Score5.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)DiskStation
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.8
    (302 ratings)
    9.2
    (30 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (194 ratings)
    9.1
    (9 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.2
    (9 ratings)
    9.7
    (7 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.1
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)DiskStation
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Red Hat
    There's a lot of things that can and can't be discussed. But as I mentioned earlier, cloud computing and on-prem, and very much like in the cloud, having a standard image ISO, deploying that, the configurations with Ansible or packages installed via Ansible, instead of just a Kickstart script, you have a set of scripts that run in a pipeline that deploy Red Hat. So I'd say the environments, every time I've used Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a computing solution has been, like I mentioned, reusable, scalable, positive. And I don't think I've ever found any situations where I wish I were using something other than Red Hat Enterprise Linux, because the support is not there for anything else as much as it is for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    The Synology DiskStation is well suited as a NAS solution, easy enough to mirror a Windows file server shares setup. Access to the Hyperbackup utility eliminates the need to purchase a tape backup solution. A portable USB drive can be used as the initial backup target. For air gap purposes can connect Hyperbackup to the various cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, GCP to copy backup data there. Utilizing it as a backup solution has also been great, instead of purchasing a tape solution, tapes and an offsite tape repository. Active Backup for Business is another excellent backup utility for physical servers, VMWare virtual machines, etc. Restoring files is fairly intuitive. Until Synology introduced the dual controller setup, using it as a SAN was less appropriate as there was occasional downtime when the controller had an issue but this was less important for the scenarios we were using it for. It would be more of a concern if we had used it for things that require more robust uptime requirements. Overall we are happy with the features of the Synology DiskStation.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Red Hat
    • Virtualization, like the operating system level task. I see this product is very good and it blends very well with the middleware components like all the JBoss and other things. And other than that, either you install it or a virtual machine or physical servers, it works seamlessly anywhere. And if you want to go further, like Red Hat OpenShift or those things also work very nice with it.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    • Synology DiskStation offers lots of options for creating links to share files or request that some uploads files. It makes it really easy to just share a link that can have an expiration or a set number of times it is accessed.
    • We always had enough storage on our Synology DiskStation, we never had to worry about something being too big to upload or share.
    • Love how you can create folders that are shared and also have some that are private. This makes it so easy to have shared collaborations with coworkers or clients, but also allows you to have a private place to save things that only you need.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Red Hat
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) needs better built-in developer-centric tooling.
    • The desktop experience is too barebones, which makes it less attractive for developer workstations.
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) needs to be integrated and available in GItHub Actions as a supported platform so code developed on GitHub can be tested and qualified there.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    • While BTRFS is a more advanced file system than ext4, it also is in a perpetual state of development, with many features not fully functional and a plethora of bugs. Synology has managed to overcome many of these limitations by placing BTRFS on top of a LVM, but there are much better file systems that Synology could have used, such as OpenZFS.
    • DSM's built-in backup software, HyperBackup, while robust, oftentimes runs into issues. Specifically, backups can be working fine for months or years, and then suddenly the backups will fail. Sometimes these failures can be resolved, but oftentimes the backups need to be completely restarted. Fortunately, even when the backup fails, the existing backups are still accessible, it is just that new backups can not be performed.
    • The underlying Linux OS provides significant benefits, but also adds a fair amount of complexity. Most of that complexity is wonderfully hidden by the DSM interface, but when certain problems arise, delving into the Linux command line is not out of the question.
    • Perhaps the biggest issue with Synology DiskStation is Synology's support. The issue isn't that the support is bad, but it can be frustratingly slow when dealing with a major issue. Synology does have a very active community that is always willing to help, but nothing beats first-party support.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Red Hat
    We find RHEL to be a superior OS with stable operations and long life. It is also easier to use and fix then most other OS's.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    As long as Synology give us support for our hard drivers we will not change. I know Synology has now forced their hands to buy their own hard drivers and their new line of products. But if we still have support for old hard drivers from other manufacturers then we will still use Synology Nas. Otherwise we change manufacturers
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    Usability
    Red Hat
    It's pretty intuitive and easy to use. Everything is adjustable; everything is customizable through a set of yaml's and everything can be undone and re-done. Doing items such a modification and restarting the single app doesnt take down the whole operating system like one of the more popular GUI based operating systems. We can work on live production systems without breaking into a sweat.
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    Synology
    The Synology DiskStation is easy to set up and manage. The interface is clean and features are well documented. These units are reliable and can be set up to do scheduled integrity checks so failures can be mitigated before they halt business operations. The available packages for expanded roles makes these devices versatile.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Red Hat
    Product support and regular patches.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Red Hat
    As with any OS enhanced testing will need to be done prior to application integration.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Red Hat
    Red Hat support has really come a long way in the last 10 years, The general support is great, and the specialized product support teams are extremely knowledgeable about their specific products. Response time is good and you never need to escalate.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    Unfortunately, the one time I've had to reach out to DiskStation support, it did not go well. My NAS appliance wasn't appearing on the network, and no matter what the support team tried, they could not get it back online. Instead of offering to send me a new unit, they told me to go buy a new one - obviously, this was a disappointing response and not very eco-friendly either! Fortunately, through some internet research of my own, and some ingenuity, I figured out I could restore my NAS to factory settings by removing all the drives and resetting. Only then did I realize I had a bad disk. I had to experiment for a while to figure out which one it was. Once I had done that, though, I was able to get the latest DiskStation loaded back on, no thanks to the DiskStation support crew. If notifications were rock solid, I suspect I would have caught the bad disk before it because an OS problem, but I never received a bad-disk notification.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Red Hat
    Don't be afraid of it, its easy to install and configure for the tasks needed.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Red Hat
    Windows Server can take a long time to patch, waiting for the patch to install, then waiting to apply, after the OS is rebooted it can also take additional time to apply the update. Often times Windows Server patches can fail, leading to long troubleshooting times and application outages. Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Patching is extremely quick, I've honestly not seen a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) update fail to install in many years of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) patching.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    Synology DiskStation packs a punch with the latest and greatest feature set which goes above and beyond many other vendors. It allows for a turn-key solution to cover almost every use case in the SMB market leaving other vendors behind.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Red Hat
    Operational ease of use backed by support
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Red Hat
    • It has done wonders for my career because I come from a Linux background, HPUX, Solaris and AIX. So made this transition to Linux 20 years ago. So it has really put my career at the forefront of what we do in the company. We're still primarily a window shop, but with Red Hat and what they're doing with the Kubernetes integration with OpenShift, with the East Satellite Management, the Ansible stuff, all based on Red Hat. It's taken off at my company and we're very happy about it.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    • Minimal investment in the hardware, big return on productivity
    • Streamlined IT needs, we no longer have to hire our IT vendor to assist us as regularly as we did when we were running servers
    • Productivity on the road through web access has increased productivity and billable hours for remote employees
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots