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NAS as web server and apps variety - Enquiries - 09-02-2022
Hi mate! I’m a developer and security consultant. I’ve been using an Airport Time Capsule 5th gen to store mostly movies and series and I use Infuse on Apple TV 4K to watch them, it’s worth to mention that 90% of that media is 4K HDR and it streams without lagging; I also use it to store software, transfer speed is slow (25MB/s average) but for the things I’m using it for it's enough.
A few days ago I started to look for NAS devices on Amazon, exclusively thinking about storing media and software and came upon Sinology and QNAP devices; I’ve never payed special attention to NAS devices, I knew that some had a sort of App Store but I’ve never checked to which extent that went; then I found out about both Sinology and QNAP devices being able to host websites and that’s when it really picked my interest because I’ve developed some php sites (MYSQL Databases) to a few clients that manufacture shoes.
Since those websites are really basic and lightweight I’m installing them in each client’s computer and they simply use any browser to access their localhost; so I’m seeing the opportunity to host all my clients sites on these NAS devices, installing Apache, PHP, MYSQL database and PhpMyAdmin. The sites are really light and although I would serve to ~20 clients, not everyone will be logged in at the same time; maybe 5 or max 10 clients will be logged in and connected to the MYSQL database at any given time, and even so they wouldn’t be hitting the DB at a high rate or doing heavy data management.
In particular, the two options that are within my budget are Sinology DS118 (179.99 USD) and QNAP TS-133 (139.00 USD). I’m more inclined for QNAP because it has 2GB RAM and its processor it’s slightly faster, and it’s 40USD cheaper; but I’m not sure if QNAP’s App ecosystem is better than Sinology’s, I mean, the 2GB RAM trumps the 1GB RAM of my Sinology option but I keep thinking about how rich and flexible is QNAP’s app ecosystem vs Sinology’s.
I would be very thankful if you can shed a light on my conundrum.
RE: NAS as web server and apps variety - ed - 09-07-2022
Yes, both NAS models are Realtek based systems which is great for multimedia. You can also run a web server and host multiple websites.
https://www.synology.com/en-uk/dsm/packages/WebStation?os_ver=7.1&search=web
https://docs.qnap.com/nas-outdated/4.1/SMB/en/index.html?web_server.htm
You can also link your NAS with infuse as a media source location.
Having more RAM will indeed be beneficial if you intend to run websites.
You will need to get a static IP or dynamic DNS + domain.
I hope this helps.