Can I use an SSD as Cache to a NAS?

There is a NAS with Raid 10 that holds resources.

At a time, around 24 machines try to access the same resource (3d rendering in a render farm).

Although the network is 1Gbps and NAS is fast, the speed is really reduced and there is a bottleneck phenomenon there.

I wonder if there is a hardware way to use an SSD as a Cache machine for a NAS (Raid 10).

Solution 1:

Yes, there are definitely solutions that can leverage SSD drives as read-cache for an active working set of data in a NAS solution. Are you using a hardware NAS appliance? If so, there probably isn't a good way to provide cache to your existing equipment. However, you could look into NexentaStor or any ZFS-based storage solution, as the L2ARC cache feature supports what you're looking for.

Solution 2:

Yes, there is. That said - it is likely your (likely cheap end user) NAS simply does not support that.

Adaptec enterprise RAID cards of the latest generation support that even with write cache (6805Q). ZFS file system supports level 2 caches.

Every higher level SAN supports significant caches and tiered storage.

Cheap end user level SAN? No ;)