DS3612xs (left); DX1215 (lower right); Bilbo (upper right)
Varda is one of the few systems I didn't build from scratch, it is a sourced storage system that needs little more than adding hard drives to make it useable. Of course I couldn't resist making a few modifications... Varda is a Synology DS3612xs NAS. This was purchased after some experience with a Synology DS412+ that was originally intended to be my media server.
While the DS412+ is a fine NAS, its' Atom processor is barely capable of doing real time transcoding which proved to be an issue. Another was the limit of only 4 drives, which even with 4TB drives quickly proved to be insufficent. After obtaining the DS3612xs, I soon came to realize much of what had been handled by Tulkas, could be transfered to the DX3612 and I could potentially retire Tulkas. While the DS412+ could be repurposed to store IP camera video.
DS3612xs (left); DX1215 (lower right); Bilbo (upper right)