Mini Product Reviews

Mini Product Reviews

SYNOLOGY DS723+ NAS Mini-Review

Network Attached Storage solutions

DISCOVERY
My nearly 10 year old NAS in the office was on its last legs and needed to be replaced. I read various reviews online and determiend that the NAS units from Synology had the features that would work the best for my needs. Synology has both home and business models ranging from 2 bay to 24 and beyond. In my case, I'm more interested in features and operational speed than capacity. The Synology DSM723+ won the selection.

INSTALLATION
The equipment hookup is very simple. Just connect one or both of the ethernet jacks to your network. Optionally you can install a 10GB NIC for faster transfer speeds. For starters I installed a pair of 4TB drives that I had on hand and cofigured the NAS for simple mirroring. Eventually the plan is to replace these larger drives in the future. A single 1 TB Samsung NVME drive was installed as a cache drive to improve performance. There is also a slot for a second NVME if desired.

UPDATE: Installing a pair of 12tb Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives now gets a consistent 237mb/s over 2.5g Ethernet. These drives have a larger cache and it seems to eliminate the fluctuating transfer speeds.

ETHERNET NETWORK CONNECTIVITY
This NAS unit can be hooked up to the network in multiple ways and I have tried all of them.
   #1 A single 1 Gig ethernet cable. (Standard connection)
   #2 A bonded pair of 1 Gig ethernet cables (Provides a very steady consistent speed and redundancy.)
   #3 a single 2.5 Gig ethernet cable. (Faster but the speed varies greatly,)
   #4 Combinations of the choices above.

UPDATE: Installing a pair of 12tb Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives now gets a consistent 237mb/s over 2.5g Ethernet. These drives have a larger cache and it seems to eliminate the fluctuating transfer speeds.

MEMORY UPGRADES
A nice feature of a Synology NAS is that it can be easilly upgraded. One of the first things would be to install more memory. It comes with 2G of Dual Rank ECC RAM standard but is expandable to 32. Just be careful that the new RAM is compatible with the NAS. The Synology website says it has to be Synology branded (expensive) memory but that just isn't true. However, Dual rank memory is a MUST.

PLEX APP (IN USE)
This NAS is capabable of running a Plex media server and does it quite well. It's a single click installation but you will need to configure Plex itself which is a topic for another article.

SYNOLOGY DOCKER CONTAINER MANAGER APP (IN USE)
Synology has a custom version of Docker that will allow a user to virtualize any of hundreds of applications. I successfully used it to run a Pi-Hole. Docker is a single click installation but you will need to configure. Please reference the Docker and Pi-Hole sections found on this page for separate mini-reviews of these apps.

IPERF3 APP (REMOVED)
This simple app runs under Synology Docker Container manager and is used to monitor the performance of the NAS. It has the capability to monitor CPU usage, network bandwidth, and memory usage in real time. It is somewhat similar to using the performance monitor within Windows. It's something that you would only use for occaisional monitoring or troubleshooting and not leave it running 24/7. On the downside, it does NOT monitor disk activity. The app duplicates the Resource Monitor thats already a part of the DSM software.

SYNOLOGY DHCP SERVER APP (REMOVED)
This NAS is capabable of running a DHCP server. It has the standard settings that you would expect to find. The server DOES allow the configuration of DHCP options which is a welcome adddition. The Synology DHCP server will support a Proxy server via a WPAD.DAT configuration file. Unfortunately, I was unable to get SYNOLOGY DHCP to work successfully in conjunction with my Pi-Hole. I went back to using the DHCP on the Pi-Hole.

SYNOLOGY PROXY SERVER APP (REMOVED)
This NAS is capabable of running a Proxy server. The app itself installs with a single click and has very little configuration. However, you will need to edit your DHCP server to make use of the Proxy.
   #1 The DHCP found in most consumer routers lacks the option to specify a proxy.
   #2 The DHCP found in Pihole also lacks the option to specify a proxy.
   #3 Windows server does support DHCP via option #6.
   #4 Synology DHCP will support the Proxy via a WPAD.DAT configuration file.
NOTE: We have NOT been successfull in getting the Synology Proxy server working. More testing is planned and this review will be updated.

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OOMA Mini-Review

Low-cost VOIP solution for home and small business

DISCOVERY
I had been using VOIP services via Comcast. My goal was to reduce the monthly bill. There were a few different services available so i settled on OOMA as it was available in my area-code. Additionaly, I could port my existing business phone number from Comcast to OOMA.

INSTALLATION
The equipment hookup is simple. Just connect it to your Internet service via wi-fi or Ethernet. After that go t o the OOMA website with your user account and go from there.
You can use your existiung telephones or purchase an OOMA phone. It took about a week to get my number ported over.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Ooma works like any other telephone but offers additional features.
Call quality is great!
Voice mail can be accessed 3 different ways. 1) Via email, 2) via the button on the OOMA device, and 3) via webpage. (My favorite!)
Using the web page will give you the option to block telemarketers and other unwanted calls. They will go directly to voicemail and never bother you again.
NOTE: If you lose power, the OOMA system wont work unless you have some sort of battery backup in place for your network devices (Modem, Router, Ooma device etc..)

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Eufy Security Mini-Review

Low-cost home surveilance system

DISCOVERY
My goal was to find a camera system that did NOT require monthly subscription fees, was wireless and affordable. I used Google and YouTube to research quite a few systems and settled on EUFY. I wanted to start with a doorbell camera and gradually add more cameras as needed.

BASE INSTALLATION
The first component you typically work with is the base unit which holds the storage and connects to your wifi. In turn, the base will connect with its own wifi to the doorbell. Configuring the base involves using the Eufy app from the Google app store. Create your free account and follow the instructions in the app to connect your base unit. Easy peasy.

DOORBELL INSTALLATION
The doorbell must be charged by connecting it via the supplied cable to the base unit. Once charged, you can go into the app and add the device to your free account. There are several self explanitory options such as video length, motion sensitivity, night mode etc. The last part is to mount the doorbell by your door - a mere 2 screws. When motion is detected, you will get a notification on your phone and you can watch the video. The videos are stored on the base and the number that can be stored depends on length and recording quality.

CAMERA INSTALLATION
I picked the S220 with the solar panel on top. The unit was unboxed and had very little documentation. I charged the unit with the USB-C cable. Then I used the app to add the camera device just like I did with the doorbell. That's it! I was getting video within a few minutes. All that was left was to mount it using the 2 screws in the desired location and within wifi range.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Video quality seems to be quite good. The doorbell will do its best to capture facial shots for identifications. We do have a tree in our front yard thats directly in the line of sight of the camera. On windy days the tree sway's just enough to fool the camera into thinking its a person. I quickly discovered that I needed to reduced the sensitivity so that it wouldn't catch every car going down our busy road. The first day the camera triggered over 700 times! Its also funny when mowing the yard. It will trigger as we go back and forth across the yard. Otherwise, it works as intended. Everyones situation is unique and it will require some adjustment to get the results you desire.

BIGGEST DRAWBACKS
#1) No continious recording of video. The motion sensor triggers a short recording up to 1 minute in length. It will not record to a DVR.
#2) No ability to connect to cameras directly without the EUFY app or website. Internet is REQUIRED for vieweing videos.
#3) There is a several second delay before between real life and receiving the video on your device.
#4) EUFY recently had a class-action lawsuit for storing videos despite claiming the opposite.
HINT: You should never put cameras in areas where you desire privacy such as bedrooms & bathrooms.
If any of these drawbacks are an issue, you may wish to look into a closed circuit system with DVR.

CONCLUSION
Eufy is not a perfect system, but it provides good value for the price.

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Visual Studio Code Mini-Review

A versatile code editor for programmers and web designers

DISCOVERY
I needed a new code editor as the software that I had been using was hopelessly obsolete. I researched and watched YouTube Videos to determine a good alternative. I was also hoping to find something similar to the old Multi-Edit software from the DOS days. VSCode by Microsoft was by far and away the #1 recommendation anywhere I looked. This choice was a simple one.

INSTALLATION
The software can be downloaded FREE from the Microsoft VSCode website. It installs on Windows 10 just like anything else. Nothing special is required and it could not be easier. Installing the Linux version is slightly more challenging, depending on your distro. I do believe there is a Mac version as well.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I admit that this editor appears a bit overwhelming at first because it has so many features. It's quite slick! VSCode does resemble my old Mult-Edit software! Yay! The left-hand side shows your working folder with the various files withing your project. The center and largest pane (editor) is tabbed and contains the whatever file(s) you have opened for coding. On the far-right is a narrow pane that indicates your relative position in the current file. I picked the dark color scheme as it seems to be easier on my eyes when coding for long periods of time.

HTML & CSS (EXTENSION)
This extension has everything you need for working on web pages. Everything is color coded, which makes things easier to read and understand. The syntax checker will show your mistakes in red to prevent simple errors. FOR EXAMPLE: HTML tags are checked to confirm that both the opening and closing tag are present.

PYTHON (EXTENSION)
Everything you need to code in Python is in this extension. All code is color coded, which makes things easier to read and understand. The syntax checker will show any mistakes in red to prevent simple errors. Code can be debugged and executed.

REMOTE EXPLORER & REMOTE SSH (EXTENSIONS)
These two extensions allow you to connect to other computers or virtual machines to perform remote work. I used it with a pair of Linux VM's and a physical Linux to make a simple Python automation script that would run software updates and OS updates.

SFTP/FTP (EXTENSION)
This extension allows a person to connect via Secure FTP to another computer such as a webserver. A simple configuration file contains the login information. You're able to sync the entire website with your local copy or upload individual files as you work on them.

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Other Linux Distros Tested

POP! OS
Intended to be used as a gaming environment and easy graphics drivers. Unable to install in a Hyper-V environment after multiple (6) attempts using various options. This OS will require testing on dedicated hardware. This has become a back-burner project.

ZORIN OS
Intended for users switching from Windows. Unable to install in a Hyper-V environment after multiple (5) attempts using various options. This OS will require testing on dedicated hardware. This has become a back-burner project.

RETRO-PI OS
This is a console game players dream! This emulator allows a person to play thousands of console games from over 2 dozen different consoles. It includes support for, Atari, Coleco, Sega, Nintendo, PlayStation, XBox, Commodore, Amiga & more. I installed it on an older HP desktop with 8 Gig of memory and an SSD. Install was easy, but I haven't had the chance to do much with it yet. Retro-Pi requires some type of game controller. I use a newer XBOX controller with bluetooth. This has become a back-burner project.

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