Surveillance Station includes 2 free licenses. Connecting more cameras and devices requires additional licenses.

I have always been a big fan of the Synology Diskstation chassis for it’s minimalistic, yet attractive and efficient design. The absence of a USB copy button still irks me a little and the largely plastic design is not going to be to everyone’s taste, but you cannot fault the amount of R&D that has gone into the construction here. Let’s discuss the ports and connectivity of the DS423+ NAS. Passive airflow is definitely a big focus on the design of this chassis, with almost every side of the case featuring ventilation of one sort of around, with the Synology logo being vented. As this system will be in operation 24×7, it is heavily reliant on the rear fans to push air effectively through the system and over the assortment of internal heatsinks as effectively as possible and this chassis does that very well indeed. The Diskstation series at the 2/4 Bay level has always done a great job of melding modern design with necessary system temperature management and the DS423+ is no exception. #5 – Supports the Whole DSM 7 Catalogue of Applications and runs them well on 2GB Memory For more information on the most important terms to understand when discussing/researching a NAS as a Plex Media Server can be found in my video below:The DS423+ NAS was used in the default CPU+Memory state that the base model arrives in (no upgraded memory or upgraded caching media) This means that you can only officially upgrade the DS423+ via the single SODIMM slot towards 6GB with a single extra 4GB SODIMM module in the available bay. Aside from 6GB being an odd amount, people are most certainly going to make comparisons with the DS920+ having 4GB on Day 1 and 8GB max. They have tonnes of media that they want to ONLY access locally and on powerful media devices that support ALL File formats and/or have client side hardware transcoding supported

The ports and connections available on the Synology DS423+ NAS are not a huge leap from those found on the DS420+ and DS920+ that came before it (in fact, they are pretty much identical to the DS420+) and the rear is largely dominated by the 2x 92mm fans Passive airflow is definitely a big focus on the design of this chassis, with almost every side of the case featuring ventilation of one sort of around, with the Synology logo being vented. As this system will be in operation 24×7, it is heavily reliant on the rear fans to push air effectively through the system and over the assortment of internal heatsinks as effectively as possible and this chassis does that very well indeed. The Diskstation series at the 2/4 Bay level has always done a great job of melding modern design with necessary system temperature management and the DS423+ is no exception. Well (and this is going to get VERY ‘inside baseball’), those that have been following Synology these last few years will know that this is not the first time the J4125 has been used on a Synology Plus series NAS. Indeed, it has appeared several times in previous NAS systems (DS920+, DS720+, DS620slim, DVA1622 and DS1520+) love the last three years. In that time, not only has Intel moved on a couple of times to new cycles of processors (the N5105, N5095, J6415) which provide better power efficiency, PCI gen support and memory caps, but also competitor NAS brands have rolled out 1-2 more generations of hardware with configurations that capitalizes on Intel’s newer Celeron models. Now, it CAN be argued that because Synology have spent so much time and research exploring the capabilities of this processor, that they can get the most out of it for DSM. Equally, Synology has always been very clear that the jewel in their crown (and indeed the main selling point for their systems) is the DSM software and not the hardware. Then there is the fact that ‘at least it’s an Intel integrated graphics CPU, when Synology has been very ‘AMD Emb.Ryzen’ heavy of late! Finally, there is the argument that when the J4125 was featured previously, it was in their fully-featured ‘SMB’ tier – so the DS423+ in their more affordable Home/Prosumer tier is actually scaled up in having this quad-core Celeron processor. There are ALOT of different ways to look at Synology putting the Intel Celeron J4125 in the DS423+ NAS. But I think it would be fair to say that users of the DSx16+ and DS18+ generation that opted to skip the DSX20+ generation to ‘wait and see’, might be a little underwhelmed. #4 – The Synology DS423+ NAS cannot be Expanded ul>

Maximum Local User Accounts: 2,048

Maximum Local Groups: 256

Maximum Shared Folder: 512

Maximum Concurrent SMB/NFS/AFP/FTP Connections: 500

Important Terms to Understand in Plex/NAS/Multimedia that will make the DS423+ NAS Plex Tests Easier to Understand. From the server side, Plex is more refined. That is to be expected from a paid app, but it is surprising how good Jellyfin is. Transcoding is easier to set up in Plex, but if you have the space you can do the transcoding in advance for the devices you intend to use and that’s no longer an issue (which is what I do). Plex is also more tolerant when setting up Metadata.. if you inadvertently name a folder “Season Two” instead of “Season 2” Plex didn’t seem to notice, but Jellyfin absolutely got lost and I had to correct a lot of those kinds of errors. I didn’t find either of the servers difficult to manage, but you definitely need to be more aware and intentional when setting up Jellyfin. This means that you can only officially upgrade the DS423+ via the single SODIMM slot towards 6GB with a single extra 4GB SODIMM module in the available bay. Aside from 6GB being an odd amount, people are most certainly going to make comparisons with the DS920+ having 4GB on Day 1 and 8GB max. Synology does not allow upgrading that memory beyond 6GB in this configuration (so, you cannot work around the 6GB limit by installing a 8GB in the SODIMM slot and hitting 10GB with 8GB+2GB), stating that using the system in an unsupported fashion can lead to weakened/invalidated support by the brand when you need it (as you are using the device in a configuration they did not verify and/or cannot replicate). This also includes using 3rd party memory, instead of their own branded modules I can partially see their point – they want to run a smooth, reliable and stable platform. Just a shame that Synology Memory modules are a noticeable degree more expensive than alternatives from Crucial and Kingston. Next, we need to discuss the CPU inside the DS423+ NAS – something of a hot point for some. The DS423+ arrives with the accessories you would expect. The NAS unit itself, an external 90W PSU, Screws for 2.5″ media (3.5″ media installation is toolless), RJ45 Cat 5e ethernet cables, keys for the storage bays, first-time setup document and information on your warranty. All fairly standard stuff, though I am always surprised by the fact that Synology never include heatsinks for the M.2 NVMe SSD bays, given the high priority of the brand towards caching on these storage bays – something that can get those M.2 SSDs pretty hot. Staying with 1080p but pushing them down to 720p will still result in a great performance and show how this machine is more than a capable media server.

Without any additional RAM, VMM (Virtual Machine Manager) was also not an option, so VM speeds were also not an option, but the DS423+ does indeed support that particular hypervisor and will give a decent one-VM machine experience if needed. Personally, I would not recommend using this NAS as a VM machine, as it will be an "expensive" hypervisor with not much to offer in that department. Also, running a VM will take quite a big performance hit on any other service that might be running on the same device. Well (and this is going to get VERY ‘inside baseball’), but those that have been following Synology these last few years will know that this is not the first time the J4125 has been used on a Synology Plus series NAS. Indeed, it has appeared several times in previous NAS systems (DS920+, DS720+, DS620slim, DVA1622 and DS1520+) love the last three years. In that time, not only has Intel moved on a couple of times to new cycles of processors (the N5105, N5095, J6415) which provide better power efficiency, PCI gen support and memory caps, but also competitor NAS brands have rolled out 1-2 more generations of hardware with configurations that capitalizes on Intel’s newer Celeron models. Now, it CAN be argued that because Synology have spent so much time and research exploring the capabilities of this processor, that they can get the most out of it for DSM. Equally, Synology has always been very clear that the jewel in their crown (and indeed the main selling point for their systems) is the DSM software and not the hardware. Then there is the fact that ‘at least it’s an Intel integrated graphics CPU, when Synology has been very ‘AMD Emb.Ryzen’ heavy of late! Finally, there is the argument that when the J4125 was featured previously, it was in their fully-featured ‘SMB’ tier – so the DS423+ in their more affordable Home/Prosumer tier is actually scaled up in having this quad-core Celeron processor. There are ALOT of different ways to look at Synology putting the Intel Celeron J4125 in the DS423+ NAS. But I think it would be fair to say that users of the DSx16+ and DS18+ generation that opted to skip the DSX20+ generation to ‘wait and see’, might be a little underwhelmed. Lets discuss the Synology DSM software and what the DS423+ can do for you and your data. Powered by the versatile Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) operating system, DS423+ offers comprehensive solutions to protect and manage business data, facilitate collaboration on documents, provide remote file access, and serve as the core of an IP camera-based surveillance system, all within a compact desktop format. I have roughly 75 tb of music & videos combined (both are in the MP3 & MP4 formats) . I’ve been doing a lot of research over the past year or so. Do you have any recommendations on which model you’d recommend?

In terms of speed, this NAS can deliver enough when it comes to network transfers with 1GbE (100MB/s) or with the use of the new SMB multichannel option up to 200MB/s between compatible platforms. Do note that multi-channel is still not supported via DSM's File Station and remote share, so to utilize it there will be a need to run it against a compatible OS like Windows, or macOS that support it. [ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Synology Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) – An intuitive hypervisor that supports Windows, Linux, and Virtual DSM virtual machines. Its powerful disaster recovery tools help users achieve maximum service uptime. I don’t think either one is difficult to set up or manage. I honestly expected less from Jellyfin, being an open source project, but was very pleasantly surprised. There are a few services it doesn’t offer or do as well, such as music management and streaming, but I didn’t really take advantage of those in Plex so their loss wasn’t a big deal to me. If all you want to do is stream your personal video collection on your own network Jellyfin is the way to go in my opinion. The whole process (without the reboot) took less than 2 min, so even with 2GB of RAM, the DS423+ is a nicely balanced device that will feel very fast. The DS423+ is also designed with ease of use in mind. With support for Windows® Access Control List (ACL) and application permissions, users can easily manage permissions and access control. Additionally, the DS423+ connects to Windows® AD/LDAP servers, allowing domain users to log in via SMB/NFS/AFP/FTP/File Station protocols using their existing credentials.