Recommended Free Tools
Incus does not build or manage a Silo object-storage cluster. PGSTY Silo is a separate service that you deploy on Linux hosts; Incus can run applications or other workloads that connect to its S3 endpoint. To build the system, choose a Silo topology, prepare persistent data filesystems and host networking, define each member in PGSTY’s inventory, deploy the Silo playbook, then expose a stable and secured S3 endpoint to clients.
Understand what Incus and Silo each do
Think of this as two infrastructure layers, not one Incus storage cluster. Incus manages containers and virtual machines. Silo runs independently as an object-storage service, and applications running in Incus can use it over the network through its S3 API.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Incus storage buckets and its Ceph storage drivers are separate integrations; the cited Incus documentation does not establish an Incus-native Silo storage driver. Incus’s Ceph RBD, CephFS, and Ceph object integrations depend on a separately prepared Ceph cluster. Ceph Object Gateway is another way to provide S3-compatible object storage, but it is not Silo.
Choose a Silo topology
PGSTY’s configuration guide describes four deployment patterns. Pick according to the failure you need to tolerate, available hosts and drives, and operational requirements—not simply because a topology has more disks.
#1 Best Overall
- Entry-level NAS Personal Storage：UGREEN NAS DH2300 is your first and best NAS made easy. It is designed for beginners who want a simple, private way to store videos, photos and personal files, which is intuitive for users moving from cloud storage or external drives and move away from scattered date across devices. This entry-level NAS 2-bay perfect for personal entertainment, photo storage, and easy data backup (doesn't support Docker or virtual machines).
- Set Your Devices Free, Expand Your Digital World: This unified storage hub supports massive capacity up to 64TB.*Storage drives not included. Stop Deleting, Start Storing. You can store 22 million 3MB images, or 2 million 30MB songs, or 43K 1.5GB movies or 67 million 1MB documents! UGREEN NAS is a better way to free up storage across all your devices such as phones, computers, tablets and also does automatic backups across devices regardless of the operating system—Window, iOS, Android or macOS.
- The Smarter Long-term Way to Store: Unlike cloud storage with recurring monthly fees, a UGREEN NAS enclosure requires only a one-time purchase for long-term use. For example, you only need to pay $459.98 for a NAS, while for cloud storage, you need to pay $719.88 per year, $2,159.64 for 3 years, $3,599.40 for 5 years. You will save $6,738.82 over 10 years with UGREEN NAS! *NAS cost based on DH2300 + 12TB HDD; cloud cost based on 12TB plan (e.g. $59.99/month).
- Blazing Speed, Minimal Power: Equipped with a high-performance processor, 1GbE port, and 4GB RAM on Board, this NAS handles multiple tasks with ease. File transfers reach up to 125MB/s—a 1GB file takes only 8 seconds. Don't let slow clouds hold you back; they often need over 100 seconds for the same task. The difference is clear.
- Let AI Better Organize Your Memories: UGREEN NAS uses AI to tag faces, locations, texts, and objects—so you can effortlessly find any photo by searching for who or what's in it in seconds. It also automatically finds and deletes similar or duplicate photo, backs up live photos and allows you to share them with your friends or family with just one tap. Everything stays effortlessly organized, powered by intelligent tagging and recognition.
| Pattern | Layout | PGSTY’s stated use or trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| SNSD | One node, one data disk | Development, testing, and demos. |
| SNMD | One node, multiple data disks | A compromise for constrained environments; it cannot protect against losing the server. |
| MNSD | Multiple nodes, one data disk per node | Compact node-level high availability. |
| MNMD | Multiple nodes, multiple data disks per node | PGSTY’s standard production deployment, with greater capacity, throughput, and drive-redundancy potential among these patterns. |
For its documented three-node MNSD example, PGSTY describes EC:1: two data shards and one parity shard, with read and write quorum of two. That example tolerates one unavailable node or data drive. With equal-sized drives, usable capacity is about two-thirds of raw capacity before filesystem and metadata overhead; the smallest drive limits the set. These figures describe that example, not a universal sizing guarantee.
Prepare hosts, filesystems, and network
Use persistent non-root data paths
Mount persistent storage for Silo data before deployment. PGSTY warns that a data directory on the root filesystem can be rejected as a root drive. For a multi-drive layout, configure paths that correspond to the intended mounted filesystems or disks on each host; do not assume that several directories on one filesystem provide separate-drive redundancy.
Rank #2
- 【Advanced Home Data & Media Hub】For advanced home users who need phone backup, file storage, and centralized data management. Centralize family photos, 4K videos, movies, computer backups, and personal files in one place while running multiple apps for home entertainment and everyday data management. Suitable for households with growing digital libraries and multiple NAS use cases.
- 【Built for Creators, Media Servers & Advanced Apps】Powered by the Intel N100 Quad-Core CPU, 8GB DDR5 RAM, 2.5GbE networking, and dual M.2 NVMe slots, DXP2800 handles large files and heavier workloads with ease. Run Docker, virtual machines, and media server applications compatible with Plex—ideal for content creators, tech enthusiasts, and advanced home users managing 4K videos, RAW photos, personal media libraries, and multiple NAS apps.
- 【Up to 80TB for Growing Digital Libraries】 Supports up to 80TB of storage using two HDD bays and two M.2 NVMe SSD slots for family photos, movies, RAW photos, 4K videos, work files, and device backups. AI photo management supports recognition of people, objects, scenes, and locations, album organization, and duplicate photo detection. HDDs and SSDs are not included.
- 【AI-powered Home Surveillance】Turn DXP2800 into a centralized home surveillance hub by connecting compatible network cameras and storing recordings locally on your NAS. AI-powered features include Face Recognition, People Detection, and Pet Detection, helping advanced home users review important events more efficiently while managing home surveillance and personal data in one place.
- 【One data Center Across Your Devices】Keep files from desktops, laptops, phones, tablets, and other devices together instead of scattered across cloud accounts and external drives. Access, back up, organize, and share data across Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, web browsers, and compatible smart TVs—ideal for creators and advanced home users working across multiple devices.
The configuration guidance does not prescribe CPU, memory, bandwidth, drive interface, or endurance targets. Size those for the workload and validate capacity and performance under representative conditions rather than treating the topology name as a sizing specification.
Make members reachable by name and port
For a multi-node cluster, make sure every member can resolve and reach the other members using the configured node names and service ports. Plan a stable service name for clients. PGSTY recommends placing a load balancer or equivalent highly available access path in front of multi-node S3 listeners when clients need one dependable cluster address.
Rank #3
- Your Personal Streaming Server - Build your own Netflix-style media library and stream 4K movies, shows and photos to any device without monthly fees
- Create Your Own Cloud - Store your entire photo, video and music collection; access from anywhere with fast 282 MB/s transfer speeds
- Creator-Grade Backup Solution - Protect your irreplaceable content with automated backups to cloud services, external drives and remote NAS
- Multi-Layered Data Protection - Combine RAID redundancy, automated backups and snapshot technology to prevent data loss from any cause
- Smart Home Surveillance - Support up to 30 IP cameras with AI detection, instant alerts and secure remote monitoring
Define the PGSTY inventory
Each member needs a unique minio_seq; all members share the same minio_cluster and use minio_type: silo. Here is PGSTY’s documented inventory shape for three nodes with one data drive each:
minio:
hosts:
10.10.10.10: { minio_seq: 1 }
10.10.10.11: { minio_seq: 2 }
10.10.10.12: { minio_seq: 3 }
vars:
minio_cluster: minio
minio_type: silo
minio_data: /data/minioOn every host, /data/minio must point to a persistent non-root filesystem. For multi-node, multi-drive deployments, PGSTY’s cluster model shows an expanded path such as /data{1...4} and a node pattern such as ${minio_cluster}-${minio_seq}.pigsty. The generated volume endpoints combine node names, ports, and data paths. Adapt the pattern and paths to the actual names and mounts in your environment; the example is not a substitute for verifying the generated endpoints against your inventory.
Rank #4
- Entry-level NAS Home Storage: The UGREEN NAS DH4300 Plus is an entry-level 4-bay NAS that's ideal for home media and vast private storage you can access from anywhere and also supports Docker but not virtual machines. You can record, store, share happy moment with your families and friends, which is intuitive for users moving from cloud storage, or external drives to create your own private cloud, access files from any device.
- Smart Photo Backup & AI Album: Automatically back up photos and videos from your phone in real time and keep growing family memories organized with AI-powered photo albums. Semantic search, custom learning, and recognition of people, objects, pets, and similar photos help you quickly find the moments you want. Duplicate photo removal also helps keep your library organized—ideal for families and users with large photo collections.
- User-Friendly App & Easy Setup: Connect quickly via NFC, set up simply and share files fast on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, web browsers, and smart TVs. You can access data remotely from any of your mixed devices. What's more, UGREEN NAS enclosure comes with beginner-friendly user manual and video instructions to ensure you can easily take full advantage of its features.
- More Cost-effective Storage Solution: Unlike cloud storage with recurring monthly fees, A UGREEN NAS enclosure requires only a one-time purchase for long-term use. For example, you only need to pay $629.99 for a NAS, while for cloud storage, you need to pay $719.88 per year, $1,439.76 for 2 years, $2,159.64 for 3 years, $7,198.80 for 10 years. You will save $6,568.81 over 10 years with UGREEN NAS! *NAS cost based on DH4300 Plus + 12TB HDD; cloud cost based on 12TB plan (e.g. $59.99/month).
- Your Data, You Control：No third-party clouds, no hidden access, UGREEN NAS provides a more secure and private data storage solution. It stores data locally on your private hard drives and does automatic backups. Thus, you can keep full control over it. The advanced encryption is TRUSTe certified in the United States and is awarded the first (and only) ETSI EN 303 645 certification mark for NAS products by TÜV SÜD Group.
Deploy the Silo group
-
Review the inventory and confirm every host has a unique sequence number, the shared cluster name and Silo type, and the intended mounted data paths.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy. -
From the PGSTY project directory, deploy the group with the documented command:
Best Value
BUFFALO LinkStation 210 2TB 1-Bay NAS Network Attached Storage with HDD Hard Drives Included NAS Storage that Works as Home Cloud or Network Storage Device for Home- Value NAS with RAID for centralized storage and backup for all your devices. Check out the LS 700 for enhanced features, cloud capabilities, macOS 26, and up to 7x faster performance than the LS 200.
- Connect the LinkStation to your router and enjoy shared network storage for your devices. The NAS is compatible with Windows and macOS*, and Buffalo's US-based support is on-hand 24/7 for installation walkthroughs. *Only for macOS 15 (Sequoia) and earlier. For macOS 26, check out our LS 700 series.
- Subscription-Free Personal Cloud – Store, back up, and manage all your videos, music, and photos and access them anytime without paying any monthly fees.
- Storage Purpose-Built for Data Security – A NAS designed to keep your data safe, the LS200 features a closed system to reduce vulnerabilities from 3rd party apps and SSL encryption for secure file transfers.
- Back Up Multiple Computers & Devices – NAS Navigator management utility and PC backup software included. NAS Navigator 2 for macOS 15 and earlier. You can set up automated backups of data on your computers.
./minio.yml -l minio -
Check the deployment output and service health on the hosts before directing production clients to the cluster. PGSTY says this playbook validates cluster identity and installs and configures Silo and
mcli.
PGSTY notes that its full deploy.yml may already create predefined clusters. Check what has run before invoking the Silo playbook, so you do not deploy the same cluster twice.
Connect Incus workloads and other S3 clients
PGSTY documents port 9000 for the S3 API and port 9001 for the administration console. Configure clients to use the S3 API endpoint—not the administration console—and use the load-balanced service name when you have one. An Incus-hosted application reaches Silo as a network service; its ability to connect depends on the network and name-resolution configuration between that workload and the Silo hosts.
Before adopting or migrating workloads, test the actual client operations and S3 features they depend on against the exact Silo release you plan to run. “S3-compatible” alone does not establish identical behavior for every API operation or client-specific feature.
Harden the service before production use
- Pin a Silo release. Verify the release and PGSTY module version you intend to deploy rather than assuming instructions or behavior are unchanged across versions.
- Use unique credentials and TLS. Do not carry demo credentials into production. Configure client access and encryption for the deployment you operate.
- Monitor the service. Include the object-storage service and its hosts in operational monitoring.
- Keep independent backups and test recovery. Cluster redundancy is not a backup; maintain a separate recovery path and exercise it.
- Validate failure behavior. Confirm that the configured topology and the actual host, disk, and network failure domains match the availability your applications require.
When to consider Ceph instead
Choose based on the service you need to operate. Silo is an independent S3 object-storage service. Incus’s Ceph integrations are relevant when you want Incus-managed storage resources and already operate—or are prepared to operate—a separate Ceph cluster. Ceph Object Gateway exposes S3 and Swift APIs over Ceph. Compare the application’s required S3 behavior, failure domains, drive redundancy, operational complexity, and plan for a stable endpoint before choosing; none of these options becomes resilient merely by running inside Incus.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
