An Independent

Synology NAS Setup Guide for Home & Small Business

Based around DSM 5.2

Nicholas Rushton, BA Hons.

Callisto Technology And Consultancy Services

Fourth Edition © 2016

Fourth Edition. Updated 1st January 2016.

Copyright © Nicholas Rushton, 2016

The right of Nicholas Rushton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior permission of the author. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be left liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. An exception is granted in that up to 500 words in total may be quoted for the purpose of review. The information in this publication is provided without warranty or liability and it is up to the reader to determine its suitability and applicability to their own requirements. This book and its author are unconnected with Synology Inc. and this is an independently produced publication.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the author’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it was published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All copyrighted terms and trademarks of the registered owners are respectfully acknowledged.

Contents1 PREPARATION ............................................................................................................................................................. 7

1.1 Choice of Diskstation ............................................................................................................................................... 7

1.2 Choice of Hard Drives ............................................................................................................................................. 8

1.3 RAID ........................................................................................................................................................................ 9

1.4 Location ................................................................................................................................................................. 10

1.5 Electrical Considerations ....................................................................................................................................... 10

1.6 Infrastructure .......................................................................................................................................................... 11

1.7 Computers and Devices ......................................................................................................................................... 12

2 INSTALLATION OF DSM OPERATING SYSTEM ................................................................................................. 13

2.1 Installation Using Web Assistant ........................................................................................................................... 14

2.2 Installation Using Synology Assistant ................................................................................................................... 22

2.3 Quick Tour of DiskStation Manager ...................................................................................................................... 29

2.4 Configure Networking ........................................................................................................................................... 33

2.5 Creating Disk Volumes .......................................................................................................................................... 35

2.6 Power Management ............................................................................................................................................... 41

2.7 File Services ........................................................................................................................................................... 44

3 SHARED FOLDERS .................................................................................................................................................... 46

3.1 Creating a Shared Folder ....................................................................................................................................... 46

3.2 Deleting or Changing a Shared Folder ................................................................................................................... 49

3.3 Encrypted Folders .................................................................................................................................................. 49

4 USERS .......................................................................................................................................................................... 50

4.1 Naming Conventions ............................................................................................................................................. 50

4.2 Creating a User ...................................................................................................................................................... 51

4.3 Home Folder Issue ................................................................................................................................................. 56

4.4 Modifying or Deleting a User ................................................................................................................................ 56

4.5 Groups .................................................................................................................................................................... 57

5 ACCESSING THE DISKSTATION ............................................................................................................................ 61

5.1 Using a Browser ..................................................................................................................................................... 62

5.2 From Windows Explorer/File Explorer ................................................................................................................. 64

5.3 Accessing A Shared Folder Using the Run command ........................................................................................... 64

5.4 Mapping Drives Manually ..................................................................................................................................... 66

5.5 Using the Synology Assistant ................................................................................................................................ 69

5.6 Using A Batch File ................................................................................................................................................. 73

5.7 Using Finder (Mac) ................................................................................................................................................ 76

6 CLOUD STATION AND REMOTE ACCESS ........................................................................................................... 80

6.1 Remote Access Connectivity: Simple Method ...................................................................................................... 81

6.2 Remote Access Connectivity: Advanced Method ................................................................................................. 82

6.3 Configuring Cloud Station ..................................................................................................................................... 86

6.3.1 Using Additional Shared Folders with Cloud Station ..................................................................................... 87

6.4 Installation of Cloud Station Client On Computers ............................................................................................... 89

6.5 Cloud Sync ............................................................................................................................................................. 93

6.6 Setting Up And Using a VPN ................................................................................................................................ 97

6.6.1 Configuring Windows Clients ...................................................................................................................... 100

6.6.2 Additional Information for Windows 8/8.1 Computers ................................................................................ 106

6.6.3 Verify Connections from The Server ............................................................................................................ 108

6.6.4 Disabling/Enabling VPN Access for Users .................................................................................................. 109

7 MULTIMEDIA & STREAMING .............................................................................................................................. 110

7.1 Audio Station ....................................................................................................................................................... 111

7.2 iTunes Server ....................................................................................................................................................... 113

7.3 Media Server (“DLNA”) ...................................................................................................................................... 114

7.4 Video Station ....................................................................................................................................................... 116

7.5 Photo Station ........................................................................................................................................................ 119

8 BACKUPS .................................................................................................................................................................. 122

8.1 Backing Up The Server To An External USB Drive ........................................................................................... 123

8.2 Using an Internal Drive for Backup ..................................................................................................................... 130

8.3 Restrict User Access To Backup Drive ............................................................................................................... 130

8.4 Tips On Restoring Files To Server ...................................................................................................................... 130

8.5 Backing up the Server Configuration .................................................................................................................. 130

8.6 Backing up Windows 7 Computers to the Server ................................................................................................ 131

8.7 Backing up Windows 8/8.1 Computers to the Server .......................................................................................... 136

8.8 Backing up Windows 10 Computers to the Server .............................................................................................. 139

8.9 Backing up Mac Computers to the Server ........................................................................................................... 141

8.10 DiskStation to DiskStation Backups .................................................................................................................. 144

8.11 Synology Time Backup Package ....................................................................................................................... 150

9 PRINTING .................................................................................................................................................................. 153

9.1 Sharing USB Printers ........................................................................................................................................... 154

10 CONNECTING MOBILE DEVICES ...................................................................................................................... 158

10.1 DS File ............................................................................................................................................................... 159

10.2 File Browser ....................................................................................................................................................... 160

10.3 DS Audio ........................................................................................................................................................... 161

10.4 DS Video ............................................................................................................................................................ 162

10.5 DS Photo ............................................................................................................................................................ 163

10.6 DS Cloud ............................................................................................................................................................ 164

10.7 Using a Chromebook ......................................................................................................................................... 164

11 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................................................................................... 165

11.1 Security Advisor ................................................................................................................................................ 165

11.2 Antivirus Essential ............................................................................................................................................. 168

11.3 The Security Icon ............................................................................................................................................... 170

11.3.1 Security Tab ................................................................................................................................................ 170

11.3.2 Firewall Tab ................................................................................................................................................ 170

11.3.3 Protection Tab ............................................................................................................................................. 170

11.3.4 Auto Block Tab ........................................................................................................................................... 170

11.3.5 Certificate Tab ............................................................................................................................................ 171

11.4 Switch Off Occasionally Used Services ............................................................................................................ 171

11.5 Stop And Start Services According To a Schedule ........................................................................................... 171

11.6 Use Strong Passwords ........................................................................................................................................ 171

11.7 2-Step Verification ............................................................................................................................................. 172

12 HOUSEKEEPING & REPORTING......................................................................................................................... 173

12.1 Manually Checking The Diskstation Using Widgets ......................................................................................... 174

12.2 Using DS Finder On a Mobile Device ............................................................................................................... 175

12.3 Checking the Health Of The Disks .................................................................................................................... 177

12.4 Storage Analyzer ................................................................................................................................................ 180

12.5 Checking for DSM Updates ............................................................................................................................... 182

12.6 Setting Up Automatic Email Notifications ........................................................................................................ 183

13 MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS .................................................................................................................................. 185

13.1 Package Center ................................................................................................................................................... 185

13.2 Customizing The Desktop .................................................................................................................................. 187

13.2.1 Changing The Desktop Wallpaper .............................................................................................................. 187

13.2.2 Add Icons to The Desktop .......................................................................................................................... 187

13.3 Customizing The Login Screen ......................................................................................................................... 187

13.4 The Text Editor .................................................................................................................................................. 190

13.5 Resource Monitor ............................................................................................................................................... 191

13.6 Resetting the Admin Password if Lost ............................................................................................................... 192

13.7 Preparing the DiskStation for Disposal .............................................................................................................. 192

13.8 Internet router does not supply DHCP ............................................................................................................... 193

13.9 Internet Access Using a Proxy Server ............................................................................................................... 194

13.10 DiskStation with Multiple Network Adapters ................................................................................................. 195

INTRODUCTION If you are reading this, then chances are you already know what Network Attached Storage (NAS) is and may have purchased or are about to purchase a Synology NAS unit. But for those who do not, or by way of recap, it consists of a large amount of disk storage contained in its own box. Unlike most external hard drives, which connect to a single computer with a USB cable, a NAS connects to a router or network switch using an Ethernet cable. This enables it to be accessed and shared by any computers on the local network. In addition, the NAS is intelligent - you can think of it as like a computer but without a screen, keyboard and mouse - and this enables it to run apps that provide additional capabilities. What can a NAS do? Many things. Some popular uses are:

• To provide extra storage for computers • To be a backup system for the computers • To provide a shared, common area where a business or family can store their documents and other files • To act as a central library for music, photos and videos, with the ability to stream them to computers, tablets

and smartphones • To act as a private 'cloud' system providing controlled remote access to your data. Rather like Dropbox or

Google Drive, but totally under your own control and with effectively unlimited usage and no subscription charges

With superb functionality and ease of use through the acclaimed DSM operating system, Synology DiskStations are the NAS devices of choice for the discerning purchaser: they can do all of the above things with aplomb. But this power and flexibility comes at a price: setting up a DiskStation for the very first time can seem a daunting prospect for someone who has not done so before. This guide, based around the latest version of DSM, with copious illustrations, easy-to-follow instructions and based on years of real-world experience, will take you through it from start to finish and help ensure that your home or small business (or church, charity, school) network is a success. It is written according to the Goldilocks Principle: not too little information, not too much information, but just the right amount.

Chapter 1 is concerned with preparation and provides some useful background information about buying and preparing a DiskStation. Chapter 2 covers the initial installation of DSM and customizing the hardware options of the DiskStation. Chapter 3 describes how to create shared folders and Chapter 4 discusses the creation of users and groups. Chapter 5 covers the various methods for connecting PCs and Macs to the DiskStation in order to access data. Chapter 6 details the extensive range of options for remote access, including Cloud Station, Cloud Sync and VPNs. Chapter 7 covers the extensive multimedia and streaming options available in DSM. Chapter 8 is all about backups and Chapter 9 covers printing. Chapter 10 concentrates on connecting iPads and other mobile devices. Chapter 11 covers the all-important topic of security, whilst Chapter 12 is about housekeeping and reporting to ensure the DiskStation remains in good health. Finally, Chapter 13 discusses miscellaneous topics to help you get more out of your DiskStation.

The guide is supported with a growing website at: http://www.serverinstallationguides.co.uk - be sure to check it out on a regular basis for any updates and additional material. You should also familiarise yourself with the excellent support and training material on the Synology website and the built-in help system of DSM so as to get the most out of your NAS.

1 PREPARATION

1.1 Choice of Diskstation

Synology offer around 30 different models of their NAS hardware, designed to cater for everyone from home users through to the largest of enterprises. The models vary according to form factor, number of hard drives that can be used, performance and price:

Form Factor – DiskStations are standalone units designed to sit on top of a cupboard or desk. RackStations are designed to be mounted in standard computer cabinets (racks) that take devices that are 19” (48cm) wide. Home and small business users will typically use DiskStations, but some businesses may already have a cabinet in place (perhaps to hold other equipment), in which case a RackStation may be the better choice.

Number of Hard Drives – Synology NAS units can hold between 1 and 12 hard drives, depending on the model. Having more drives allows more storage capacity. Additionally, the use of more drives permits the use of RAID (discussed below) which can improve resilience and throughput.

Performance - Some DiskStations and RackStations have more powerful processors, hold more memory (RAM) and have multiple network adaptors. These are typically aimed at business users or home users with more demanding requirements.

Synology have a very logical naming convention for the DiskStations – they are all called DSdyy where d is the number of drive bays and yy is the year that the model was released (correspondingly, RackStations are named RSdyy). Many of them have a suffix, for instance the letter j indicates that it is a lower price version of another model whereas a plus sign signifies a more powerful variant. For instance, the DS415+ is an enhanced model with four drive bays, released in 2015.

Choosing the right model can be confusing as there is some overlap between them, but in general you want to buy the most capable one you can afford. If you have or are planning to have large amounts of data, consider buying a model with more than two drive bays.

1.2 Choice of Hard Drives

DiskStations are not supplied by Synology with hard drives already installed in them. Rather, the idea is that the customer buys the drives separately and installs them - which is very easy to do - else buys a ready-populated unit from a reseller. This approach is generally better because it offers more choice. Synology NAS units are very flexible in terms of the brand and type of hard drives that can be used in them. However, it is not necessarily the case that any drive or combination of drives can be installed; rather, there is a list of supported drives and it can be found on the Synology website.

Hard drives are manufactured in 3.5” and 2.5” form factors and either can be used, although some DiskStations require adaptor brackets to use the 2.5” ones. 3.5” drives offer higher capacities and better price performance but 2.5” drives use less power, generate less vibration, are generally quieter in operation and are increasingly becoming a popular choice. It is possible to buy drives that have been specifically optimized for use in NAS, such as the Western Digital Red series or the Seagate NAS line and these should be considered.

Although most of today’s hard drives are mechanical, solid state drives based around flash memory (known as SSDs) are increasingly being seen in laptop computers and elsewhere and will probably become the norm in all computing devices. At present, they are considerably more expensive than their mechanical counterparts for the high-capacity ones that would be of most use in NAS. The popular brands are supported by Synology; however, the main benefits are reduced power consumption and the absence of noise, rather than any performance improvements in typical usage.

Figure 1: Hard drive mounted inside DS214se

1.3 RAID

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks. There are various types of RAID, referred to using a numbering system e.g. RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5. The basic idea is to improve reliability and performance by using multiple disks to provide redundancy and share the workload. Synology support many different RAID levels; depending on the model and the physical drives installed, the following RAID levels might be available: JBOD; RAID 0; RAID 1; RAID 5; RAID 5+Spare; RAID 6; RAID 10; Synology Hybrid RAID or SHR. The most common scenarios in home and small business systems are RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, SHR and JBOD.

RAID 0 consists of two identical drives. When data is written, some goes on one drive and some goes on the other. As both drives are being written to (or read) simultaneously, throughput is maximised. However, as bits of files are scattered across the two drives, if one drive fails then everything is lost. Also, the speed of disk drives is not actually the bottleneck in many NAS systems. For these reasons RAID 0 should be avoided.

RAID 1 consists of two identical drives that mirror each other. So, when a file is saved there are actually two separate but identical copies behind the scenes, one held on each drive, even though you can only see one as the mirroring process itself is invisible. If one of the drives fails, the second one automatically takes over and the system carries on without interruption. At the earliest opportunity the faulty drive should be replaced with a new one; the system is then synced it so it becomes a true copy of the remaining healthy drive in a process known as ‘rebuilding the array’. In a RAID 1 system, the total usable storage capacity is half that of the total drive capacity installed. For example, if a DiskStation has two 2TB drives installed then the total amount of usable storage capacity is 2TB rather than 4TB.

RAID 5 uses at least three but preferably four drives. Data is written across all the drives, along with what is known as parity information. The benefit of this is that the system can cope with the failure of any one single drive. RAID 5 is considered to offer a good combination of price, performance and resilience. Whereas a RAID 1 system loses 50% of the total drive capacity in order to provide resilience, RAID 5 loses only about 25%. For instance, if a DiskStation has four 2TB drives installed then the total amount of usable storage capacity is 6TB rather than 8TB.

RAID 6 uses at least four but preferably five or more drives. It is similar to RAID 5, but uses two sets of parity information written across the drives. The benefit of this approach is that the system can cope with the failure of two of the drives, thereby making it more resilient than RAID 5, but it loses more capacity in order to provide that resilience. There may also be a performance hit compared with RAID 5 due to the additional parity processing. If a server has five 2TB drives installed in a RAID configuration then the total amount of usable storage capacity is 6TB rather than 10TB.

SHR and SHR-2 (Synology Hybrid Raid) is a more flexible approach to RAID. Whereas RAID systems require multiple drives of identical capacity, SHR can work with drives of differing capacities. It creates a mixture of usable space plus puts some aside for redundant storage, described as ‘protection’ by Synology. SHR is only really of relevance when there is a mixture of odd-sized drives, which might be the case for instance if you were using a mixture of old and new ones. To some degree, SHR and SHR-2 can be considered as analogous to RAID 5 and RAID 6. By way of example, if you had a pair of 2TB drives, a 1TB one and a 500GB one then SHR would give 3.5TB of usable space and use a further 2TB for protection.

JBOD stands for Just a Bunch of Disks and is not actually a RAID system at all. Rather, it aggregates all the drives together to create one large volume that provides the maximum amount of storage space, albeit without any protection. For example, with the same drives as in the previous example you would get 5.5TB storage with JBOD rather than just 3.5TB storage as with SHR.

What to do? If you have a DiskStation with a single drive then the question of RAID does not arise. If you have a DiskStation with two drive bays, then you should use RAID 1 if data protection is most important to you or use JBOD if you need the maximum amount of space. If you have a DiskStation with four drive bays, it should be configured as RAID 5 if protection is most important or JBOD if you need the maximum amount of space. If you have a DiskStation with five or more drives, it should be configured as RAID 6 if protection is most important or JBOD if you need the maximum amount of space.

Synology have a web page for calculating the amount of available storage for different RAID configurations on their website.

One thing to note is that a RAID system is not a backup system. It can help prevent data loss in the event of problems but it is still important to make separate provision for backup.

1.4 Location

The DiskStation should be attached to the physical network via a Gigabit Ethernet connection, for example by plugging it into the router. It should be placed away from direct sunlight and any source of heat, such as a radiator. Avoid locations that are wet or damp. As little physical access is required the unit can be located out of sight and reach, for instance in a cupboard or a locked room or generally out of reach. Most models generate very little noise and can usually be operated in an office or family room without too much disruption.

1.5 Electrical Considerations

It is possible that data loss can occur if the mains electrical power fails whilst the DiskStation is running. The best way to mitigate against this is to use an intelligent UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) with the DiskStation; in the event of power problems this will enable it to continue operating for short periods and then to shut it down in an orderly manner if necessary. Most popular brands work with Synology (e.g. APC, CyberPower) and a full list of supported UPS’s can be found on the Synology website. In a business environment, the use of an UPS should be considered mandatory.

If an UPS is not used - which is usually the case in a domestic environment - then the DiskStation should at least be connected to a clean electrical power supply via a surge protector.

1.6 Infrastructure

The term infrastructure is used here to describe the physical network, basically the boxes and wires that connect everything together and to the outside world. The difference between a home setup and a business setup tends to be one of scale, but the equipment and principles are basically the same.

In a home setup, a device called a combined wireless router is commonly used. This connects to the internet, which may be a cable, fiber or ADSL service, directly or possibly via a separate box (usually referred to, albeit incorrectly, as a modem). It has wireless capabilities for linking laptops, tablets and smartphones. There will be several Ethernet ports, used for connected wired devices such as desktop PCs. The NAS box needs to be wired directly to one of these ports.

A small business may be linked to the internet via cable, fiber or ADSL, or may have its own leased line connection, perhaps using a router. The router may be integrated with or be connected to a separate firewall. In turn this connects to a network switch, to which the NAS should be connected with an Ethernet cable. Desktop PCs, printers and wireless access points (WAPs) are wired into the switch; depending on the amount of kit and layout of the office there may be one or more additional switches also connected.

The above descriptions are generic but should bear some resemblance to your infrastructure. Some key points are:

• The NAS should be connected to the main network switch or combined wireless router using an Ethernet cable. • Use wired connections whenever possible as performance is so much better than wireless. Wired devices should

be of Gigabit specification. • For wireless devices such as laptops and tablets, make sure they operate at 801.11n or 801.11ac specification. • Check the specification of the combined wireless router if you are using one. Many ISPs (Internet Service

Providers) supply relatively low-cost models, often free of charge when you sign-up with them. These are often of average quality, for instance the Ethernet ports may not be Gigabit or the latest wireless standards may not be supported. Spending money on professional or prosumer (“professional consumer”) routers and switches will usually give better performance and reliability.

Figure 2: Typical Networking Infrastructures

1.7 Computers and Devices

Just about any modern computer can be used with a DiskStation. The computers can be running any mixture of Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10, Windows Vista or Windows XP. Home or Professional versions of Windows are equally suitable. Apple Macintosh computers running most versions of Mac OS X can be connected, as can Linux PCs (although they are not specifically discussed in this guide). Devices running iOS (iPad, iPhone), Android (tablets and Smartphones) or Windows Phone can be connected, as can many smart televisions and gaming boxes. However, Chromebooks can only be connected in a relatively limited sense.

2 INSTALLATION OF DSM OPERATING SYSTEM DiskStation Manager or DSM, the operating system, is the key thing that differentiates Synology from all the other brands of Network Attached Storage. Typically, NAS devices are controlled using web pages - and sometimes old fashioned ones at that - making them clunky and clumsy to use. However, DSM is a proper operating system with such familiar features as a Desktop and a drag-and-drop interface, analogous to what people are accustomed to with a Windows PC or Apple Mac. Other NAS vendors have been playing catch-up, but with DSM 5.2 – the latest version – Synology have once again pushed ahead of the pack in the opinion of many people.

Having physically installed the hard drive(s) in the DiskStation and connected it to the network, the first thing to do is to install DSM. There are two ways of doing so: by using Web Assistant or Synology Assistant. Both are described in this chapter but what are the differences and how do you choose between them?

Web Assistant – this is the preferred method in most instances. All you need is a device with a browser, such as a computer or an iPad. You access a special website, answer a few simple questions and it does most of the hard work for you.

Synology Assistant – this is a piece of software that has to be first downloaded and installed onto a computer. There are four scenarios in which you might use it. Firstly, when setting up an older DiskStation as Web Assistant only works with DiskStations manufactured from 2013 onwards. Secondly, if you wish to load a specific version of DSM; Web Assistant assumes you want to install the very latest version but this may not always be the case. Thirdly, if you do not have a live internet connection for some reason (and provided you had earlier downloaded Synology Assistant and DSM to the computer you are using). Finally, there are a few odd situations in which Web Assistant simply does not work, in which case you will need to use Synology Assistant.

2.1 Installation Using Web Assistant

Web Assistant is invoked by typing the following address into the browser on a computer or other device connected to the same local network: find.synology.com. After scanning your network for a few seconds it should find the DiskStation and display the following screen. Note: if you receive a message from the browser about having to enable intranet settings, do so.

Figure 3: Web Assistant initial screen

Click Connect. On the next screen click the Set up button and the following screen is shown. Click the Install Now button:

Figure 4: Web Assistant second screen

A warning message is displayed, stating that any data on the hard drive(s) will be destroyed. Acknowledge this warning and click OK. The installation will now proceed, during which time the screen will appear as follows. Do not click the screen or close the browser whilst the installation is running:

Figure 5: Web Assistant progress screen

After installation is completed – which typically takes around 10 minutes – the following screen is displayed (your DiskStation may of course be a different model). Click Next:

Figure 6: Welcome screen

On the screen that appears give the server a name – it is suggested that you simply call it server, although if you have or envisage having further DiskStations you may want to use a scheme e.g. server1, server2 and so on. For the Username, use admin. Enter and confirm a password: use something non-obvious and preferably a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. DSM will provide feedback on the strength of the password: you want something that it considers to be ‘strong’. You may wish to remove the tick about sharing the location of your DiskStation with Synology. Click Next:

Figure 7: Create administrator account

On the subsequent screen you can specify the DSM Update Settings. For now, take the default setting (it can always be changed later – why and how to is discussed in section 12.5 Checking For DSM Updates). Click Next:

Figure 8: DSM Update Settings

The next screen is for setting up QuickConnect, which is Synology’s easy method for providing remote access to the DiskStation. It is suggested that you defer this step for now (we will return to it in section 6.1 Remote Access Connectivity: Simple Method) which you can do by clicking the Skip this step link at the bottom of the screen. There will be a warning message about the implications of this – just click Yes to continue.

Figure 9: QuickConnect screen (skip for now)

The next screen offers a selection of recommended packages (apps that provide additional functionality). To save time and allow greater control over the process it is suggested that you do not install them at this point; instead, click where it reads Skip this step on the screen (we will return to this topic later in this guide):

Figure 10: Install Recommended Packages screen (skip for now)

The following screen will then be shown; if you are concerned about sending ‘anonymous statistical information to Synology’ remove the tick from the box then click Go:

Figure 11: Ready to go screen

Now go to section 2.3 Quick Tour of DiskStation Manager.

2.2 Installation Using Synology Assistant

Download the latest version of the Synology Assistant software from the Synology website – it is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Install and run it on a computer. If you receive a message from the firewall on your computer, allow access for the Synology Assistant. After a few seconds it should find the DiskStation or RackStation. Note that if the DiskStation supports Web Assistant installation then you will be taken to that automatically, although you can cancel and continue with Synology Assistant:

Figure 12: Synology Assistant initial screen

Right-click on the DiskStation and choose Install. As the DSM operating system has not yet been installed it will prompt for a disk image, known as a “PAT file” in Synology parlance. If the DiskStation came with an installation CDROM (unlikely) it will be on that, but in any case it is always best to first download the latest one for the appropriate model from the Synology website. Click Next.

Figure 13: Synology Assistant Welcome screen

You will prompted to enter and confirm a password for the main admin user; choose something non-obvious and make a note of it (the best passwords consist of a mixture of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols). You can also give the server a name – it is suggested that you simply call it server. Remove the tick from the Create a Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) volume after installation option if present and click Next.

Figure 14: Synology Assistant enter server information

The subsequent screen is concerned with the IP address of the server. For now, tick Get network configuration automatically (DHCP) option and click Finish.

Figure 15: Synology Assistant – Setup network

The installation now runs, during which time a progress screen is shown. This stage typically takes around 10 minutes or so.

Figure 16: Synology Assistant progress screen

After installation has completed click on Close.

The DiskStation should now be accessible from a computer with a browser on the same network. Load up your preferred browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari) and enter http:\\server in the address bar to display the login page. Login as user admin with the password you defined above:

Figure 17: DSM Login screen

The first screen is simply a ‘welcome’ screen so just click Next. On the subsequent screen you can specify the DSM Update Settings. For now, take the default setting (it can always be changed later – why and how to is discussed in section 12.5 Checking For DSM Updates). Click Next:

Figure 18: DSM Update Settings

2.3 Quick Tour of DiskStation Manager

After clicking Go, the main Desktop is shown. First time round, a selection of tips are presented – just click anywhere on the screen to work through them. Finally a help screen is displayed; this covers a number of topics and can be read through if required or at a later date (or not at all – everything useful you need to know is in this book). Tick the box so it does not automatically launch every time you login, click OK and then close the help screen by clicking the cross (X) in the top right-hand corner:

Figure 19: DSM Help screen

Having closed the help panel, you will be presented with the main DSM screen, which will be straightforward to anyone who has used a Windows PC or Apple Mac. There is a Desktop area, which can be customized. There are a number of icons on the Desktop. There is something akin to a menu bar and task bar at the top of the screen:

Figure 20: Overview of Desktop

The Main Menu provides access to important programs. When it is clicked it expands to fill the entire screen, displaying icons that are clicked to run the underlying programs. The icons can also be dragged onto the Desktop for convenience and this has already been done for a number of them (Control Panel, File Station, Package Center and DSM Help). To close the Main Menu, click anywhere within it or click its icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen:

Figure 21: Contents of Main Menu

The Control Panel provides icons to setup and customize the DiskStation, grouped into four main categories (File Sharing, Connectivity, System and Applications) and again, these icons can be dragged onto the Desktop for convenience. The Control Panel has two views controlled by a toggle in the top right-hand corner: Basic Mode, which shows a subset of the available icons grouped (and one less category) and Advanced Mode, which shows all of them. Throughout this guide we will assume that you are viewing the Control Panel in Advanced mode. It isn’t really ‘Advanced’ so do not let the terminology put you off:

Figure 22: The Control Panel

File Station displays the contents of the disk volumes and folders and can be used for manipulating files, similar in principle to Windows Explorer/File Explorer on a PC or the Finder on a Mac. The first time you launch it there will be a message to advise that no shared folders currently exist and it will assist you in creating one. You can defer this stage for now as we will return to it shortly.

The Package Center is used for downloading and maintaining applications from Synology that provide additional capabilities, such as security and multimedia – you may recall that we skipped this topic during the installation process but it will be returned to in 13.1 Package Center.

The DSM Help icon does exactly what the name suggests. The help system operates in two modes: if the DiskStation is connected to the internet then the help is ‘live’ from Synology, meaning it is always up-to-date. However, if the DiskStation is not connected to the internet then it falls back to a version already built-in to DSM.

Notifications provide status information about events that have occurred (e.g. backup successfully completed or any system errors). The Options icon provides some configuration choices and is used for logging out, restarting and shutting down the system. Widgets are small panels that provide status information, many of which relate to the health of the system. These can also be dragged onto the Desktop to further customize it and by default some widgets for monitoring system status are already present. Widgets can be pinned, removed, moved about and so on.

2.4 Configure Networking

The first thing we need to do is make a decision about the IP address for the DiskStation. Every device has a number within a network to uniquely identify it, known as the IP address. The router itself will have a default fixed IP address decided by the manufacturer, for instance 192.168.1.1 is a common choice. It will then allocate numbers to computers and devices as they connect, for example the first computer might become 192.168.1.101, the second computer might become 192.168.1.102 and so on. A piece of software inside the router – known as a DHCP server – handles this process. The ‘D’ in DHCP stands for dynamic and indicates that the IP addresses are handled dynamically and recycled. So, for example, the next time the first computer is switched on it might be allocated a different number, say 192.168.1.108. The fact that the numbers change does not make any difference to computers but some devices prefer a fixed address, which is why routers have them.

During the installation the DiskStation received an IP address from the router’s DHCP server. However, servers and NAS boxes are generally better off with fixed addresses so we need to change matters. Click Control Panel followed by Network then click the Network Interface tab. There should be three entries: LAN, PPPoE and TSP IPv6 Tunnel. LAN should have a status of ‘Connected’ – click on it to highlight it then click the Edit button:

Figure 23: Setting the server’s IP address

On the IPv4 tab, click Use manual configuration and specify an IP address that is close to that of the router. You may have to refer to the router manufacturers documentation for its address but some common ones include: TalkTalk 192.168.1.1; Belkin 192.168.2.1; Buffalo 192.168.11.1; D-Link 192.168.0.1; BT 192.168.1.254; Billion 192.168.1.254; Linksys 192.168.1.1; Netgear 192.168.0.1; Apple 10.0.1.1). One method to determine the IP address of the router on a Windows PC is as follows:

Click Start then choose Run (in the case of Windows 8.1 right-click the Start button then choose Run). Alternatively, hold down the Windows key and press the letter R. In the small dialog box that appears, type in cmd and press Enter. In the black box that appears type ipconfig and hit Enter. Look for the entry that reads Default Gateway, which is another name for router.

In this example the internet router is 192.168.1.1 so we will choose 192.168.1.2 for the server. The ‘Subnet mask’ should be set to 255.255.255.0, then click OK. Note that having made a change to the IP address you may lose connectivity to the DiskStation and may have to refresh the browser.

In most cases that is all the networking configuration required. However, there are several scenarios that might apply, more so in business environments. One of these is where the router does not supply IP addresses through DHCP, which might be the case in a larger organization. A second is where internet access is via a proxy server, which is unusual but might be the case when the business is located in, say, managed or serviced offices or in an educational setting. Finally, some DiskStations have multiple network adapters in them to improve reliability and throughput. These three scenarios are covered in section 13 MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS.

2.5 Creating Disk Volumes

The hard drives in the DiskStation have to be prepared before they can be used, which means deciding upon your requirements, formatting them and creating one or more volumes. If you installed DSM using the Web Assistant and the DiskStation contains a single hard drive, then this will have happened automatically. Otherwise, it has to be done manually, likewise if you are not happy with the decision that Web Assistant made.

Go to the Main Menu and click Storage Manager. Click Volume, then Create and choose Custom (rather than the default of Quick) followed by Next:

Figure 24: Disk Volume creation – choosing a mode

There is a choice between creating a Single Volume on RAID or Multiple Volumes on RAID. Choose Single Volume on RAID and click Next. Note that there will be a reference to RAID even if there is only one disk in the server, when RAID isn’t even a possibility!

Figure 25: Choose Single Volume on RAID

On the subsequent screen select all of the disks then click Next. Note that this screen will vary depending what drives are actually in your system:

Figure 26: Choosing the disks for the volume

A warning message advises that any existing data will be deleted – click OK to acknowledge it. On the subsequent screen choose a RAID type. If you have a DiskStation with a single drive then the question of RAID does not arise and you can only specify Basic. If you have a DiskStation with two drives, then you should use RAID 1 if data protection is most important to you or use JBOD if you need the maximum amount of space. If you have a DiskStation with four drives, it should be configured as RAID 5 if protection is most important or JBOD if you need the maximum amount of space. If you have a DiskStation with five or more drives, it should be configured as RAID 6 if protection is most important or JBOD if you need the maximum amount of space:

Figure 27: Choosing the RAID type

DSM will suggest a disk check. This can take a long time depending on the number of drives and their capacity, potentially several hours, but is recommended so click Yes and Next:

Figure 28: Prompt for disk check

Click Next and a confirmation screen is shown. Click Apply. Note that it may take some time to create the volume, depending on the capacity of the disk(s). When the volume has been created the following screen is displayed (the actual details will vary according to your particular system):

Figure 29: Summary of volume screen

2.6 Power Management

DiskStations have various options related to power management. Some of these are concerned with energy saving and can be used to reduce power consumption and hence save money. To access, go into Control Panel and click Hardware & Power to display the following panel. Note that the options available vary depending on the model of DiskStation so there may be some differences with this screen:

Figure 30: Control Panel for Hardware & Power

On the General tab, tick Restart automatically after a power failure. Set the Fan speed mode to Quiet Mode or Low-Power Mode if the DiskStation is located in a quiet area (e.g. at home) or to Cool Mode is a small amount of noise is acceptable (e.g. typical office environment).

If there is a Power Schedule tab (there is on most models), the DiskStation can be scheduled to power itself on and off automatically. Doing this can save on energy costs and enhance security. However, note that if this is done then it is important to ensure that the DiskStation will not be powered down when an activity such as backup or an anti-virus scan is scheduled to take place.

To create a schedule, click the Create button on the Power Schedule tab. Specify whether the event is to Startup or Shutdown the server and whether it is to run daily, weekly or at weekends (it is also possible to specify particular days of the week). Then click on OK followed by the Save button. Make sure the task is Enabled (which it should be if it has just been created):

Figure 31: Power – adding a schedule

Using the HDD Hibernation tab, the hard disk(s) can be programmed to hibernate after a set period. This also saves energy, but may result in a short delay when someone attempts to access the DiskStation, typically in the order of about 15-30 seconds, whilst the disks spin up. The default hibernation time of 20 minutes is suitable in most cases; any external USB hard drives (e.g. backup drives) can also be made to hibernate. Again, note that there may be some minor variations in this screen depending on the model:

Figure 32: Hard Disk Hibernation settings

The final tab enables an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to be managed. There are two ways of connecting an UPS, using an USB cable or over the network, of which the former is most common in a small business environment so we will assume that. On the UPS tab tick the box to Enable UPS support. The default values for ‘Network UPS type’ and ‘Time before DiskStation enters Safe Mode’ can be left as is. Then click Apply.

Figure 33: Enabling UPS Support

2.7 File Services

File Services refers to the means by which DSM provides access to files and folders for different types of client computers. These clients can be Windows PCs, Macs, or Linux machines. Other devices (e.g. tablets) may be able to access files on the DiskStation if they understand the underlying protocols associated with these computer types.

By default the Synology installation assumes that you will be using Windows PCs and/or Macs and it is not generally necessary to change any of the settings for File Services. However, if any of the following conditions are true then you will need to do so:

• The Windows workgroup is not actually called Workgroup • You wish to disable file services for a category of computers e.g. prevent Macs connecting to the server • You wish to use Linux or other Unix-based computers • You want to backup Macs to the server using Time Machine • You need to make a shared printer available to Mac clients

To change settings, go to the Control Panel, click the File Services icon then click the Win/Mac/NFS tab. Then:

If your workgroup is not called Workgroup, under Windows File Service change the name of the Workgroup to match that of your computers. Note: having to do this would be quite unusual as Workgroup is the standard name.

If you wish to disable file services for Windows computers, remove the tick from Enable Windows file service. If you wish to disable file services for Mac computers, remove the tick from Enable Mac file service.

If you use Linux or other Unix-type variant computers, under NFS File Service click the Enable NFS tick-box.

If you want to Time Machine for backups, a shared folder will need to be specified in the ‘Mac File Service’ section. See section 8.7 Use of Time Machine for Mac Users for information on this topic.

If you are using a shared printer with Mac clients, tick the Enable Bonjour Printer Broadcast box in the ‘Mac File Service’ section. Also see section 9.1 Sharing USB Printers for general information on sharing printers.

Having made any changes, click the Apply button.

Figure 34: File Services

A range of other tabs enable other file services to be setup, although some of these may be of little interest to typical home and small business users:

FTP – used for configuring File Transfer Protocol, including secure versions using SSL

TFTP/PXE – used for configuring Trivial File Transfer Protocol and Pre-Boot Execution Environments (“Pixie boot”)

WebDAV – used for configuring WebDAV

3 SHARED FOLDERS The main purpose of a network is to provide an environment for users to store and share information. This is done by creating folders on the server, some shared and some private, then defining access rights to control who sees what. The structure of these folders will depend upon the requirements of the household or organization, but a typical starting arrangement might be:

• A shared folder that everyone has access to • Individual private home folders for each user • Folders for music, photos and videos (particularly so for a home system) • A location to store master copies of programs, drivers, utilities and so on

3.1 Creating a Shared Folder

To create a shared folder, go to Control Panel > Shared Folder and click Create. Give a name of shared to the folder. Tick the Hide sub-folders and files from users without permissions box. If you want to be able to recover files that have been deleted tick the Enable Recycle Bin option. Then click OK:

Figure 35: Creating a shared folder

The next screen defines permissions for the users, meaning who has access to the folder and what type of access. There are three basic types of access: Read/Write (do anything); Read only (access it but no changes allowed); No access. This is a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, as we have yet to create the users. For now, give admin Read/Write access give guest No access and click OK.

Figure 36: Shared folder permissions

Now repeat the process and create folders called music, photo and video. Then create a further folder called technical, this time with the Hide this shared folder in My Network Places box ticked as well as the Hide folders and files from users without permissions box.

The folders that have just been created are shared folders, potentially for the use of everyone on the network. It is also a good idea to create home folders, one for each user, where they can store things that nobody else needs access to. To do so, click Control Panel then User followed by the Advanced tab. In the User Home section tick the Enable user home service box followed by Apply. This will cause home folders to be created automatically for any users that are subsequently defined:

Figure 37: Enable user home service

Having enabled the User home service, go back to Control Panel and click on Shared Folder. Highlight the entry for the homes folder and click Edit. Tick the Hide this shared folder in My Network Places box and click OK. Then close the Shared Folder screen.

Launch File Station - it should look like this:

Figure 38: File Station

It will now be possible to view the folders from a Windows computer on the network by choosing Start > Run and typing in \\server (you may be prompted to enter the admin id and password for the DiskStation). Note that to view the

hidden technical folder it is necessary to type \\server\technical. If this does not work, type in the IP address of the server instead e.g. \\192.168.1.2\technical in our example.

3.2 Deleting or Changing a Shared Folder

Should it ever be necessary to change a shared folder, for instance, rename it or delete it, this has to be done from the Shared Folder option in Control Panel. Specifically, it cannot be done from File Station (this is a common thing which catches people out).

3.3 Encrypted Folders

When creating the folders you may have noticed that there is an option called Encrypt this shared folder. This provides a higher level of security by encrypting the contents of the folder; in the event that (say) the hard disks were removed from the DiskStation and loaded onto another computer system, it would not be possible to read the contents of the folder unless the other party had a copy of the encryption key. If you are storing very confidential information you may wish to encrypt the folders. However, first be aware of the following restrictions:

• There is no way to recover the data if the encryption key is lost • Access to encrypted folders is slower than to normal, unencrypted ones and this may be a consideration on less

powerful systems • Encrypted folders cannot be accessed by Linux machines • The name of any file or folder within an encrypted folder must be less than 143 characters or 43 Asian characters

To create an encrypted folder tick the Encrypt this shared folder box when creating or modifying the folder and enter and confirm the encryption key (use something meaningless, such as a mixture of random letters and numerals). Tick the Mount automatically on startup box. Upon clicking OK a warning message will be displayed about the restrictions as described above – click Yes to continue. The creation of the folder may take longer than usual. Upon completion you will be given the option to save a copy of the local key on your computer (the exact message varies depending upon which browser you are using) – do so and keep it in a safe place ‘just in case’.

In all other respects, encrypted folders behave exactly the same as unencrypted ones, subject to the restrictions described above.

4 USERS

4.1 Naming Conventions

In order to use the DiskStation it is necessary to create user accounts on it. This is one area where a different approach can be taken depending on whether it is a home or business network. In the case of a home network the user names can be just about anything you want, although there is some sense in following a scheme. For instance, you could use the first names of the family or household members.

In a business environment a more formal approach is often appropriate. As a general point, the greater consistency there is then the better things will be. For user names, two common conventions are to use the first name plus the initial of the surname, or the initial of the first name plus the surname, although in some parts of the world other conventions might be more appropriate. In the case of particularly long names and double-barrelled names it might be an idea to abbreviate them. For example:

Name of person User name Nick Rushton nickr Mary O’Hara maryoh Ian Smith ians Amber Williams amberw

Alternatively:

Name of person User name Nick Rushton nrushton Mary O’Hara mohara Ian Smith ismith Amber Williams awilliams

4.2 Creating a User

To create a user, go to Control Panel and click the User icon. On the User tab click the Create button. Note that the Create button is actually a drop-down with two entries: the first is to create a single user whilst the second is to import a list of names to be turned into users which is useful for, say, a larger organization. As a household or small business will have a relatively small number of users we will create them one at a time. Enter: the user’s login name; a description for them (e.g. their full name); a password and its confirmation. The best passwords are non-obvious and comprise a mixture of upper and lower case letters, mixed with numbers and symbols; DSM can also generate a random password if preferred. By default, DSM requires a password of at least six characters (to control this behaviour see section 11.6 Use Strong Passwords). Click the Disallow the user to change account password box. It is not necessary to specify the email address or send a notification to the newly created user. Click Next.

Figure 39: Creating a User

On the subsequent screen confirm they are a member of the users group and click Next:

Figure 40: Joining a Group

The following screen defines which folders the user has access to. The three choices are: Read only, meaning that the user can use the files in the folder but cannot update them or add to the folder; Read/Write, meaning they can do anything with the folder; No access, meaning they have no access at all to the folder. Set the appropriate permissions as follows: Read/Write to music, photo, shared, homes and video; No access to technical. Click Next.

Figure 41: Assigning shared folder permissions

The follow-on screen is for setting a storage quota i.e. how much disk space in Gigabytes (GB) the user is permitted. As disk space is cheap and plentiful this is not commonly done in a home or small business, so ignore this step by clicking Next. The subsequent screen controls which applications the user can access. Generally speaking, everyone should have access to File Station but other applications would only be if specifically needed. Click Next. Note that if applications are subsequently installed from the Package Center then this list of applications may gain additional entries and it may be necessary to revisit the users’ settings:

Figure 42: Assigning application permissions

The following screen is for controlling the speed of access to the applications. Again, this is not something that would usually be bothered with so just click Next to ignore it. Finally, a confirmation screen for all the setting is displayed. Click Apply to proceed:

Figure 43: User creation – confirm settings

This process should now be repeated until all the users have been created.

4.3 Home Folder Issue

There can be a problem accessing sub-folders inside a user’s home folder. If this is experienced, do the following:

• Login to the DiskStation as the admin user • Launch File Station • Find the user’s home folder • Right-click it and choose Properties • In the Owner section, make sure the user is indeed the owner, tick the Apply to this folder, sub-folders and

files box and click OK:

Figure 44: Settings for home folder

4.4 Modifying or Deleting a User

To modify a user go to Control Panel > User. Click on the user’s name to highlight it then click the Edit button. This provides access to the information that was specified when the user was created and which can now be modified. For instance, to change the user’s password click on the Info panel. Having made any changes click OK.

To delete a user go to Control Panel > User. Click on the user’s name to highlight it then click the Delete button. A warning message is displayed, advising that the user’s data will be deleted. Acknowledge it and click Delete.

4.5 Groups

Note: this section is more applicable to business users. Home users may wish to skip to the next chapter.

In an organization with a relatively small number of users, specifying who has rights to shared folders is fairly easy to manage. But as the number of users increases it clearly becomes more time consuming; for example, consider having to define the access rights for, say, 25 people. Such organizations are usually large enough that they contain departments or teams to carry out the different functions; for instance, there might be several people working in accounts, several in sales, several in marketing and so on.

To support these typical business structures, DSM features the concept of groups. A group consists of a number of users who have something in common within the organization, such as they are all members of the same team. Access rights can be specified for the group, which means they then apply to all members of that group. If a new person joins the team they just have to be defined as a member of the group, at which point they inherit all the relevant access rights. There is a built-in group in DSM called users, which all users are automatically members of, but you can create additional ones to reflect the specific needs of the organization.

In this example, we’ll create a group called accounts whose members alone have access to a corresponding folder of the same name (although it does not need to have the same name – we are just doing this for convenience). Begin by creating a shared folder called accounts. The method for creating shared folders is described in 3.1 Creating a Shared Folder, but in summary: Control Panel > Shared Folder > Create. Name the folder accounts and tick the Hide this shared folder in My Network Places and Hide sub-folders and files from users without permissions boxes. Give Read/Write access to the admin user only.

Launch the Control Panel and click the Group icon, followed by the Create button. Name the group accounts and click Next:

Figure 45: Group creation – initial screen

On the follow-on screen give Read/Write permissions to the accounts, music, photo, shared and video folders and No access to the homes and technical folders. Click Next.

Figure 46: Assign shared folder permissions

Skip the next three screens (User Quota Setting, Application Permissions and Group Speed Limit setting) and click Apply on the Confirm settings panel. After a few seconds you will be taken back to the Group section within Control Panel. Make sure that the accounts group is highlighted and click the Edit Members button. On the panel that appears click the Add button; a further panel is displayed from which you can select users (depending on how many users there are they may be on multiple pages). To do so, hold down the Control (Ctrl) key and click on the user names. When all have been selected, click OK. When the previous panel returns, click Finish.

Figure 47: Selecting users for a group

The effect of this is that the creation of additional users or changes to existing users becomes easier. For instance, when a user is created they just have to be specified as being a member of a particular group to automatically inherit all the rights associated with that group. The larger and more structured the organization, the more benefits accrue from this approach.

You may have noticed that there were already some groups in existence (administrators, http and users). These are built-in groups created by DSM and should not normally be modified in any way.

5 ACCESSING THE DISKSTATION There are multiple methods for accessing the DiskStation; some of these are available to Windows users only, some to Mac users only, whereas some work for both. Each approach has it merits:

Method 1 – Using a Browser (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Method 2 – Using Windows Explorer/File Explorer (Windows)

Method 3 – Accessing a shared folder using the Run command (Windows)

Method 4 – Mapping drives manually (Windows)

Method 5 – Using Synology Assistant (Windows and Mac)

Method 6 – Using a Batch file (Windows)

Method 7 – Using the Finder (Mac)

5.1 Using a Browser

This is the most universal method for accessing the DiskStation and works for Windows PCs, Macs and Linux PCs. Simply go to any computer on the local network, launch a browser such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome or Safari and type in the name or IP address of the server e.g. server, 192.168.1.2 etc. The standard DSM login screen is displayed; the user should enter their name and password and they will be presented with a fairly minimalist Desktop; in essence, all they can access is File Station (unless additional options have been granted to them) and which can be launched by clicking on its icon, which appears on the Desktop and also in the Main Menu. Within File Station they can see the folders and files that belong to them or to which they have been granted access, such as their home folder and any shared folders.

To work with a file or folder, right-click it and a pop-up menu will appear with the various available options. Alternatively, highlight it and click the Action button:

Figure 48: Using File Station

There are option to view documents, spreadsheets and presentations using Google Docs or Office Online (Microsoft). If it is required to edit a file, choose the Download option to first download it to the local computer. Make the changes to the document using Word, Excel or other preferred application, then use the Upload button in File Station to upload the new version back to the server. Most graphic files and photographs plus PDFs can be viewed by double-clicking them and from there they can be zoomed and manipulated. MP3 music files can be played. There are also common file manipulation commands for copying, renaming, deleting files and so on.

When the user has finished the remote session, they should logout. To this, click on the Options icon in the top right-corner of the screen and choose Logout:

Figure 49: Options icon

5.2 From Windows Explorer/File Explorer

A simple way to access the server directly is by going into Windows Explorer (called File Explorer in Windows 8/8.1/10). Expand the left-hand panel to view the Network and down the left-hand side the server should be visible. Click on it and the list of shared folders will be displayed:

Figure 50: List of folders from Windows Explorer/File Explorer

To access a shared folder, double-click it – you will be prompted to enter a user name and password as defined previously on the server. If you wish, tick the option box to remember the login details, although you should only do this if you are the sole user of the computer. Although many shared folders may be visible, you can only access the ones to which you have privileges.

5.3 Accessing A Shared Folder Using the Run command

To access a shared folder from a Windows PC click Start then choose Run (in the case of Windows 8.1 right-click the Start button then choose Run). Alternatively, hold down the Windows key and press the letter R. In the small dialog box that appears, type in the name of the shared folder using the format \\server\name_of_folder e.g. \\server\shared then click OK.

Figure 51: Accessing a shared folder

The contents of the folder will be displayed in Windows Explorer/File Explorer, from where the files can be used in the standard way.

5.4 Mapping Drives Manually

The techniques considered so far provide access to shared folders by referring to them using what are called UNC or Universal Naming Convention names, which take the form of \\server\shared. However, many Windows users are accustomed to and prefer to use drive letters, such as C:, D: and so on. The process by which a UNC name can be turned into a drive letter is known as mapping and there are several ways to go about, discussed in the following sections.

Network drives can be mapped manually using Windows Explorer/File Explorer:

• If using Windows 10 open File Explorer, which usually appears on the Taskbar by default (you can also click the Start button and launch it from there). Click on the shared folder to highlight it. On the menu bar click Home followed by the Easy Access icon and then Map as drive.

• If using Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 open File Explorer, which should appear on the Taskbar by default (in Windows 8.1 you can also right-click the Start button and launch it from there). On the menu bar click This PC then click the Map network drive icon on the ribbon, followed by Map network drive on the dropdown.

• If using Windows 7, open Windows Explorer, which usually appears on the Taskbar by default, else click My Computer on the Start menu. If the menu bar is not displayed, click Organize > Layout > Menu bar to display it. From the Menu bar choose Tools > Map Network Drive.

• If using Windows Vista, run Windows Explorer by clicking Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer, else click Computer on the Start menu. If the menu bar is not displayed, click Organize > Layout > Menu bar to display it. From the Menu bar choose Tools > Map Network Drive.

• If using Windows XP, run Windows Explorer by clicking Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer, else click My Computer on the Start menu. From the menu bar choose Tools > Map Network Drive.

On the resultant panel choose a drive letter from the drop-down. For the Folder, click on the Browse button and navigate through the network to find the server and the desired folder. Alternatively, just type in the name of the folder:

Figure 52: Mapping a drive

If the computer is only ever used by one person tick the Reconnect at sign-in box – this will cause Windows to remember the mapping. Then click Finish. You will be prompted to enter the user’s name and password that were defined earlier on the DiskStation. Again, if the computer is used just by one person tick the Remember my credentials box. Then click OK.

Figure 53: Entering network credentials

Upon a successful connection, the contents of the newly mapped drive will be displayed. The process now needs to be repeated for each folder that the user needs access to.

Note that you can use whatever drive letters you wish, as long as they are not already in use (for instance you cannot use C as that is always in use on a computer). However, using sensible letters makes things easier. For example, map music to M, photo to P and video to V. Here are some suggested mappings:

Drive Folder H \\server\home M \\server\music P \\server\photo S \\server\shared V \\server\video

5.5 Using the Synology Assistant

The Synology Assistant can be used when initially setting up a DiskStation (as described in section 2.2 Installation Using Synology Assistant) but it is a flexible piece of software that can do several other things as well, one of which is mapping drives. One possible advantage of using it is consistency; when drives are mapped manually in Windows as described in the previous section there are small variations in the process depending on what version of Windows is being used. However, using the Synology Assistant it is the same process regardless of the Windows version.

Download and install the Synology Assistant on each computer. If you receive a message from the computer’s firewall, grant the Synology Assistant access. An icon will be placed on the computer’s desktop – double-click it to run it. The following window is displayed:

Figure 54: Finding the server using the Synology Assistant

The server should be listed, although the Synology Assistant may take a few seconds to find it. If it does not appear click the Search button; if it still does not appear then there is a problem of some sort, such as: computer not connected to network; DiskStation not powered on; firewall needs configuring on computer. Click on the server entry – it will then become possible to click the Map Drive button. Do so and you will be prompted to enter logon details for the user. Then click Next:

Figure 55: Mapping a network drive using the Synology Assistant

The subsequent screen shows the folders to which the user has access:

Figure 56: Choosing a folder

Choose a folder and click Next. On the subsequent screen choose a drive letter for the folder from the drop-down; the default is Z but you can use any free letter. If the computer is only ever used by one person tick the Reconnect at logon box then click Next.

Figure 57: Mapping a network drive

You may receive an additional logon prompt from Windows; enter the login details, tick the Remember my credentials box if only one person uses the computer, then click OK.

Figure 58: Enter network credentials

The drive will be mapped – click Finish on the confirmation screen. Repeat the process for as many times as is necessary to provide access to all the desired folders. When complete, close the Synology Assistant (in fact, it will continue to run on the Taskbar unless explicitly shutdown) and open Windows Explorer/File Explorer to verify that the folders have been mapped to drives, for example:

Figure 59: Viewing the available drives in Windows Explorer/File Explorer

Note that the drive mappings are permanent - assuming the Reconnect at logon and Remember my credentials boxes were ticked - and hence will survive reboots of the computer. It is not necessary to run the Synology Assistant again unless it is required to make changes to the mappings.

You can use whatever drive letters you wish, as long as they are not already in use (for instance you cannot use C as that is always in use on a computer). However, using sensible letters makes things easier. For example, map music to M, photo to P and video to V. Here are some suggested mappings:

Drive Folder H \\server\home M \\server\music P \\server\photo S \\server\shared V \\server\video

The Mac version of the Synology Assistant has similar functionality, with the proviso that it does not assign drive mappings to shared folders as these have no meaning in the OS X environment.

5.6 Using A Batch File

Setting up a batch file is a more advanced technique for Windows PCs, but can be useful when a particular computer is used by more than one person. As such, it is probably of more use in a small business environment rather than in a home system. Start off by creating a plain text file called Connect to NAS.cmd using a tool such as the DSM Text Editor (see 13.5 The Text Editor), else download it from the http://www.serverinstallationguides.co.uk website. The contents of the file may need to vary depending on the folders to be mapped. In this example each user has a personal home folder and there are four shared folders called music, photo, video and shared:

@echo off ping server -n 1 > nul if errorlevel 1 goto offline :online : remove drive mappings if already present net use * /delete /y > nul : map the drives net use h: \\server\home /persistent:no net use m: \\server\music /persistent:no net use p: \\server\photo /persistent:no net use s: \\server\shared /persistent:no net use v: \\server\video /persistent:no goto end : :offline cls echo You are not connected to the network. echo If you are outside the office then this is expected. echo If you are inside the office then it means there is a problem. echo Data stored on the network is not currently available. pause :end

The file should be placed on the Desktop of the computer. After the computer starts up, the user should run it by double-clicking on its icon. A window is displayed prompting for the user name, followed by a prompt for the password:

Figure 60: Enter user details

After the user has successfully entered their details, the mapped drives will be available until the computer is shutdown or they logoff using the Start menu. The drive mappings can be verified by launching Windows Explorer/File Explorer, which appears by default on the Taskbar in Windows 7 and later versions.

If the DiskStation is not available then rather than mapping the drives a warning message is displayed:

Figure 61: Warning message if not connected

It is to be expected that this message will appear if using, say, a laptop computer outside of an office, but if it appears inside then it indicates a problem. This could be a connectivity issue on the computer e.g. network cable unplugged or wireless disabled. If everyone in the office is receiving it then it would suggest that the DiskStation may be powered off or otherwise out of action.

When a particular user has finished with a computer, they should logoff or restart the computer.

Ideally, computers should be setup with only one Windows user defined on them. If this is not the case, then the Connect to NAS.cmd file needs to be placed on the Desktop for each individual user. More efficiently, it can be placed in the following location where it will appear on the Desktop for all users:

Windows XP C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop Windows Vista C:\Users\Public\Public Desktop Windows 7 C:\Users\Public\Public Desktop Windows 8 C:\Users\Public\Public Desktop Windows 10 C:\Users\Public\Public Desktop

Note that the Public Desktop folder is a hidden folder on Windows 10, 8, 7 and Vista and will therefore first need to be made visible before it can be accessed. To do this, go to Control Panel on the computer and choose Folder Options. Click on the View tab, enable Show hidden files, folders and drives and click OK:

Figure 62: View hidden files

Copy the Connect to NAS.cmd file to the Public Desktop folder, then make the Public Desktop folder hidden again.

Unfortunately, Connect to NAS.cmd is not very forgiving of errors. If the user enters the wrong logon details there will be a brief error message and the drives will fail to map. The user will need to run the file and try again.

5.7 Using Finder (Mac)

There are numerous iterations of the OS X operating system and some minor differences between them; however, the following technique should work with all versions. Before starting, make sure that the Mac File Service is enabled on the DiskStation; this is the default on a new DSM installation but can be verified by going to the Control Panel and checking File Services (also see section 2.7 File Services).

On the menu bar of the Mac, click Go followed by Connect to Server. Alternatively, press Command K:

Figure 63: Connect to server

A dialog box is displayed. Enter the name or IP address of the DiskStation preceded with afp://

e.g. afp://192.168.1.4 or afp://server

To add the server to your list of Favorites for future reference click the + button. Then click Connect:

Figure 64: Specifying the address of the server

Specify the user name and password as defined on the DiskStation and click Connect:

Figure 65: Enter the user name and password

A list of shared folders is displayed, referred to as volumes in Apple parlance. Choose the volume to mount and click OK. Note: to mount multiple volumes in one go, hold down the Command key and click on the required folders in turn:

Figure 66: Select the folders to mount

Icon(s) for the folder(s) will appear on the Desktop - click an icon to display the contents. They behave exactly the same as any standard OS X folder:

Figure 67: Example of mounted folder

A slight variation on the above is to click on the Mac’s hard drive icon on the Desktop, navigate to the Server (DiskStation), click the Connect button and then login and mount a volume (shared folder).

6 CLOUD STATION AND REMOTE ACCESS The ability to access data remotely is an important consideration for many people and there are several ways of doing so with Synology NAS. Firstly, there is Cloud Station – a private cloud system that works in a similar fashion to public services such as Dropbox. Secondly, there is Cloud Sync, which integrates the DiskStation with popular cloud-based file sharing services such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and others. Thirdly, it is possible to setup a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which may be of particular interest to business users.

In order to access the DiskStation remotely it first needs to be connected securely to the internet and configured in such a manner that it can be ‘seen’ from outside the home or office. There are two ways of doing so; a simple method that will suit most home and many small business users, plus a more advanced method for more demanding requirements and which requires a certain amount of technical knowledge.

6.1 Remote Access Connectivity: Simple Method

QuickConnect provides an easy, straightforward mechanism for remote access. It works as a relay service, passing data to and from computers and the DiskStation over the internet via Synology. No data is stored at Synology itself – it remains your data on your computers. Because the service uses standard web protocols it avoids the need for techniques such as port forwarding, router configuration and domain services. This also means remote access is often available in many places where there is no option to make technical changes to the underlying environment, such as in schools, colleges, workplaces and so on. QuickConnect is suitable for most home and small business users. However, for larger setups there may be performance considerations. For instance, if there are 3 concurrent external users syncing over Cloud Station then it should be fine, but if there are, say, 30 users then the techniques described in 6.2 Remote Access Connectivity: Advanced Method will need to be used instead.

Launch QuickConnect by clicking on its icon in the Control Panel. To use the service you need something called a MyDS account with Synology, which you can obtain instantly and freely by clicking Log in to or register a MyDS account. Note: if you already have a MyDS account and QuickConnect ID (for example, this is not your first Synology) you can re-use them rather than have to register for new ones.

Figure 68: Register for a MyDS account

Having registered, tick the Enable QuickConnect box and enter a QuickConnect ID of your choosing. The QuickConnect ID must begin with a letter and can contain a mixture of letters, numbers and dashes e.g. acme1234. Click Apply. Assuming all is well, after a few seconds the QuickConnect screen will update and give you an external internet address - known as the hostname - for the DiskStation.

Assuming all is well you can now test the system. Go to a computer, launch the browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox) and enter the hostname that you were assigned e.g. http://QuickConnect.to/acme1234 or whatever it is. You should be greeted with the main DSM logon screen after a few seconds. You can now proceed with section 6.3 Setting Up Cloud Station.

6.2 Remote Access Connectivity: Advanced Method

The way remote access is conventionally done is through a combination of dynamic DNS (DDNS) and port forwarding on the router. DiskStations can do this too, as an alternative to QuickConnect, and it is more efficient when handling a larger number of users. A further possible consideration for some people is that this technique does not use the Synology relay servers at all; although no data is actually stored at Synology when using QuickConnect, some people do feel ‘nervous’ about such matters. From a technical perspective, the basic requirement is to forward external internet traffic on ports 5000, 5001, 6690 etc. to the internal IP address of the DiskStation, and DSM can be used to configure the router accordingly.

The first step is to sort out DDNS. It is easy to find a website on the internet – you simply enter its name e.g. www.ctacs.co.uk, www.synology.com or whatever you are interested in. But what is the name (hostname) of your DiskStation on the internet? The answer is: it doesn’t have one; it just has a number in the form of an IP address; you might not be aware of what that number is; that number may be changed from time-to-time by your internet service provider. DDNS services address this by giving you a unique name and automatically updating what goes on behind the scenes if the underlying IP address changes. Numerous organisations provide DDNS services, some on a free basis and others on a commercial basis. Examples of suppliers include No-IP, DynDNS and FreeDNS. Synology also offer free hostnames and signing up for one will be the best option for many small businesses as the process is quick and straightforward.

To specify DDNS go to Control Panel and choose External Access. Click the DDNS tab followed by Add. On the resultant panel set the Service Provider drop-down to your DDNS provider (if you do not have one choose Synology from the list, click the Log in to or register a MyDS account button and follow the instructions). Enter the DDNS details (in this example some information has been obscured for privacy purposes):

Figure 69: Panel for configuring DDNS

The next step is to configure the router. Sticking with Control Panel > External Access, click the Router Configuration tab. The first time this is done there will be a message about needing to setup the router first, so click

the Set up router button. The wizard will now interrogate the router and in most cases should correctly identify it (this may take a minute or two). Click Apply:

Figure 70: Router configuration panel

You will be returned to the previous screen. Now click the Create button to display the following. Make sure that Built-in application option is selected:

Figure 71: Port forwarding

Click Next to proceed, which will result in the following display. Scroll down until you find the two entries for ‘Management UI, File Station etc.’ with DSM (HTTPS) and DSM (HTTP) protocols, tick the boxes then click Apply:

Figure 72: Port forwarding details

You will be returned to the previous screen. Click Save – a warning message will be displayed, just click OK to continue. When processing has finished, click the Test Connection button and check that the status is ‘OK’.

Assuming all is well you can now test the system. Go to a computer, launch the browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox) and enter the hostname that you registered e.g. ourcompany.synology.net or whatever it is. You should be greeted with the main DSM logon screen after a few seconds. If it cannot be found, don’t panic: some routers do not support a feature called NAT Loopback which is required for internal testing. So, the next step is to check if the server can be accessed from outside the premises; if it can then everything is working.

If things are not working, then the most likely cause is that DSM has been unable to configure the router properly, in which case it will have to be done manually. This consists of forwarding ports 5000 and 5001 to the internal IP address of the server and instructions for doing so with most popular routers can be found at the www.portforward.com website.

6.3 Configuring Cloud Station

Most people will be familiar with cloud-based syncing services such as Dropbox, OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), Google Drive and so on. The basic idea is simple: somewhere on the internet is an amount of private space for your usage – think of it as like a USB memory stick or hard drive in the sky. On your computer is a folder corresponding to that space. Anything you put in that folder is automatically copied (‘synced’) to that space on the internet. If you then install the sync software on another computer it will have a copy of whatever is on the first one. Whenever anything changes on one computer, the change is reflected automatically on the other.

Figure 73: Cloud Computing

Whilst incredibly useful and deservedly popular, these services do have some drawbacks. Firstly, although they usually give some free space it may not be very much and if you need more you have to pay for it e.g. Dropbox gives 2GB free but charges US $119.88 / UK £95.98 a year for 1000 GB. Secondly, most services have restrictions on file sizes and how much data you can store on them. Finally, some people are just not comfortable with the idea of their data being held by Microsoft or Google or whoever. Synology’s Cloud Station gets round all of these issues: it is free to obtain and use; there are no practical restrictions on space and usage; data is stored on your own server, meaning everything is under your control. Put simply – Cloud Station is a “private cloud”. It is thus particularly suitable for people who travel away from home or the office where their DiskStation is located.

Cloud Station uses QuickConnect, so if you have not already done so setup a QuickConnect ID as described in 6.1 Remote Access Connectivity: Simple Method. Then, download and install Cloud Station from the Package Center. After it has installed launch it from the Main Menu by clicking on the Cloud Station icon. It should pick-up your QuickConnect ID, enable itself and display the following panel:

Figure 74: Cloud Station screen

In rare circumstances Cloud Station may generated a new, random QuickConnect ID, which rather defeats the purpose of having specifically created one earlier. To correct this, go back to the QuickConnect settings in the Control Panel. Make sure the Enable QuickConnect box is ticked, wait a minute or so and it should retrieve your preferred QuickConnect ID.

Individual users have to be authorized to use Cloud Station; to do so click on the Privileges tab and place ticks against the names of those allowed to do so then click Save. It is also possible to enable every user in one go by using the Batch Edit button at the top of the panel.

By default, each authorized user will have a Cloud Station folder created inside their individual Home folder on the server. If this is sufficient for your needs then proceed to 6.4 Installation Of Cloud Station Client On Computers.

6.3.1 Using Additional Shared Folders with Cloud Station

To share additional folders click Settings. On the Sharing tab is the list of shared folders on the server. To use a folder with Cloud Station, click on it to highlight it then click the Enable button. Avoid the temptation to share everything – in this example it is just the folder called shared that will be synced. Note the warning message that users must have full read/write access to these folders, otherwise the synchronization will be in one direction only i.e. from the server to the computer:

Figure 75: Choosing folders on server for Cloud Station

The Client List and Log tabs enable you to monitor who is using Cloud Station and how. The Version History tab can be generally ignored as the default settings are fine in most scenarios.

6.4 Installation of Cloud Station Client On Computers

The synchronization software – the Cloud Station Client - needs to be installed on a computer in order for it to connect to Cloud Station. It is available from the Download Center section of the Synology website for Windows, Mac and popular Linux distributions; this walkthrough uses the Windows version but the others are similar.

Upon running the Cloud Station client for the first time the following panel is displayed:

Figure 76: Cloud Station client opening screen

Click Start Now. On the following screen enter the QuickConnect ID or DDNS name that was registered with MyDS, Username and Password, then click Next. If a warning message about SSL Certificates is given click Proceed Anyway:

Figure 77: Setting up the Cloud Station client

The system will check the details and after a few seconds will display the following panel:

Figure 78: Choose Quick or advanced setup

There is a choice of Quick setup or Advanced setup. Quick setup is exactly what it says; all you have to do is click Next and then Done on the subsequent screen and setup will be complete. A folder will be created on the computer called CloudStation and it will be synced with a corresponding folder of the same name located within the user’s home folder on the server (crucially, it is not the same as the home folder). This is largely identical to the way in which products such as Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive and others operate on a client computer and is usually the best approach for personal or home usage.

If your requirements are more demanding – for instance, you work in a business or other organization and need to sync with a shared folder on the server – then you should choose Advanced setup. A more detailed panel is displayed, which operates as follows:

Any shared folders on the server that have been marked for CloudStation usage have to be explicitly linked to corresponding folders on the computer. To do this: on the right-hand side of the panel - the server side - click the folder to be synced (the shared folder in this example). On the left-hand side – the computer side – click what you want to be the corresponding folder. This can be one of the built-in ones, or you can first explicitly create one. In this example we first created a folder within My Documents called shared from server and we will sync with that. Then click Next:

Figure 79: Choosing the folders to sync

Click Done on the subsequent screens and the computer will commence syncing in the background.

The synced folders can be viewed using Windows Explorer/File Explorer; for convenience there is also a shortcut to the Cloud Station folder placed on the Desktop. There will also be an icon on the right-hand side of the computer’s Task Bar that looks like a small cloud; clicking on it will display a status panel (which will seem very familiar to anyone who has used Dropbox) and from where the Cloud Station folder can be accessed and the various settings that control syncing can be adjusted:

Figure 80: Using the Cloud Station icon

6.5 Cloud Sync

Services such as Dropbox and Google Drive are public clouds, whereas Synology Cloud Station is a private cloud. One powerful option in DSM is Cloud Sync, which gives you the ability to combine the two, creating a sort of “hybrid cloud”. Why would you want to do this? One reason might be familiarity: you’re part of a household or business that uses Dropbox or Google Drive and wish to continue doing so. Another reason is to provide additional backup: it becomes possible to backup local data to another, offsite location, providing an extra level of contingency. Intriguingly, this can also be viewed the other way round: as a mechanism to backup your public cloud data to your own premises.

Begin by downloading and installing Cloud Sync from the Package Center. It will install a new icon in the Main Menu; click to run it and the first time it will ask which public cloud service you wish to sync with. There is a choice of ten spread over two screens, including such popular ones as Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box:

Figure 81: Pick a Cloud, any Cloud

If you do not currently have an account with one of these providers, sign-up first at their website before proceeding (note that access to these services varies in some parts of the world). Select your service by clicking to highlight it, followed by Next. You will be prompted to confirm that you wish to grant access to Synology Cloud Sync by the provider’s website, the specifics of which may vary slightly depending on the provider. Having done this, Cloud Sync will prompt for: a Task name; the folder on the DiskStation to be synced (the Local sync folder path), which can be done by clicking the Select button and making a choice from the drop-down list; the Sync direction, for which most people would choose Bidirectional. Click Next:

Figure 82: Specify the main folder for Cloud Sync

You will then receive an additional screen asking which sub-folders should be synchronized. Make a choice and click Apply:

Figure 83: Specify the sub-folders for Cloud Sync

That is all that needs to be done – syncing should begin immediately. A new icon will appear on the menu bar/task bar that allows the service to be monitored:

Figure 84: Icon for monitoring Cloud Sync

To further control the process, click on Launch Cloud Sync. The Cloud Sync panel consists of five tabs that can be used to monitor and manage the status of the syncing. You can add more public cloud accounts by clicking on the plus sign (+) that is displayed in the bottom left-hand corner of the main Cloud Sync panel. For instance, you could use (say) Dropbox for access to files and Google Drive for offsite backups.

Figure 85: Main Cloud Sync screen

One important consideration is that you have sufficient space in the public cloud account. For example, a free Dropbox account only has 2GB of space (plus any additional space gained through referrals). This may not be enough so you

may want to consider a paid account; for instance a Dropbox Pro account provides 1000 GB space for $9.99 US equivalent per month.

An additional consideration is what happens if you are in a business environment and an employee leaves. If he or she has the cloud service installed on a home computer then they will still have access to company information. In such circumstances you will need to change the main cloud service password, update it on the DiskStation plus advise remaining employees of the new password.

6.6 Setting Up And Using a VPN

Note: this section is aimed mainly at business users.

The purpose of a Virtual Private Network or VPN is to securely extend a network to users who are offsite, such as home workers or those in a remote office. Think of it as the equivalent of having a very long network cable that reaches out from the office for 10, 100, 1000 miles or more. However, instead of an actual cable the connection goes over the internet, with powerful encryption and other techniques used to maintain security. One advantage of a VPN is that it allows proper access to files and folders for editing, just as if in the office. One caveat: VPNs can be notoriously difficult to setup, configure and diagnose. DSM goes a long way towards making it easy and it usually works, but if it doesn’t then be prepared for some pain.

Start off by downloading and installing the VPN Server from the Package Centre. Having done so, open the Main Menu and click VPN Server:

Figure 86: VPN overview screen

VPNs come in a variety of ‘flavors’, based around different protocols and the Synology VPN Server supports the popular ones of PPTP, OpenVPN and L2TP/IPSec. These have varying qualities; PPTP is widely supported on many different types of clients but has the weakest security of the three. OpenVPN is popular, but requires a third party piece of software to be installed on Windows PCs. L2TP/IPSec has good security and is supported natively by modern versions of Windows so will be used here as an example.

Click the L2TP/IPSec tab on the left hand side of the screen to display the following panel:

Figure 87: VPN configuration screen

Tick the Enable L2TP/IPSec VPN Server box. Accept all the defaults that are offered unless you have specific technical knowledge about VPNs. The only item that needs to be specified is the Pre-shared key for IKE authentication (a password to all intents and purposes) and you should choose something non-obvious, enter it twice and click Apply.

After a few seconds a message is displayed, advising that UDP ports 1701, 500 and 4500 need to be forwarded by the router. To do this go to Control Panel, click External Access and click the Router Configuration tab. Click the Create button and on the resultant panel choose Built-in application followed by Next. Find and tick the two entries relating to VPN Server with ports 1701, 500 and 4500 and click Apply:

Figure 88: Port forwarding for VPN

Having been returned to the previous screen, click Save. A message will be displayed about the port forwarding rules for the router being updated – click OK. After a few seconds control will be returned - click the Test Connection button to make sure everything seems okay. If it is, then you can proceed to configure the client computers.

6.6.1 Configuring Windows Clients

Go into the Control Panel and choose Network and Sharing Centre. Click on Setup a new connection or network. On the panel that pops up choose Connect to a workplace then Next:

Figure 89: Setup a new connection

On next screen click Use my Internet connection (VPN):

Figure 90: Setup a new connection – second screen

You will need to enter the external IP address or hostname of the server (instructions on creating a hostname using DDNS can be found in 6.2 Remote Access Connectivity: Advanced Method). Click Create. Note: there are some minor cosmetic differences in this screen depending on whether Windows 7 or Windows 8 is being used:

Figure 91: Specify internet address of server

What happens next depends upon which version of Windows the client computer is running:

Windows 8/Windows 8.1

After a little while the Networks panel will pop up on the right-hand side of the screen, showing that a VPN connection has been defined:

Figure 92: List of network connections in Windows 8

Click on the newly created VPN Connection – enter the user name and password and after a few seconds the user will be connected. The next stage is to test the computer, which should be done outside the office.

The usual way to start the VPN connection is by click the network icon on the Taskbar; the list of available networks will appear on the right-hand side of the screen thus:

Figure 93: Choose VPN Connection

Click the VPN Connection and a button labelled Connect will appear - click it. You will then be prompted to sign in using the normal network username and password:

Figure 94: Sign-in to VPN

A few seconds later you should be connected. You can now access resources on the Server as though you were in the office. For instance, press the Windows key and the R key simultaneously and in the run box type \\server\shared to display and access the shared folder.

When you have finished, click the network icon on the Taskbar to again display the list of network connections on the right-hand side of the screen. This time click the VPN Connection and then click the Disconnect button.

Windows 7

On the following screen enter the user name and password (note that there is no Domain name):

Figure 95: Enter user name and password

Assuming all is well, a few seconds later a confirmation screen will be shown. Click Close. The connection should now be tested from outside the office. Click the network icon on the Taskbar:

Figure 96: List of available connections

A list of available network connections appears in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Click the VPN Connection and then the Connect button that subsequently appears. A logon panel is shown; enter the user name and password (there is no Domain name) and click Connect:

Figure 97: Enter user name and password

A few seconds later you should be connected. The first time you connect you may receive a prompt asking to choose the network location; a choice of Home, Work and Public is given - Choose Work.

You can now access resources on the Server as though you were in the office. For instance, press the Windows key and the R key simultaneously and in the run box type \\server\shared to display and access the shared folder or \\server\home to access the user’s home folder.

When you have finished, click the network icon on the Taskbar to again display the list of network connections on the right-hand side of the screen. This time click the VPN Connection and then click the Disconnect button.

6.6.2 Additional Information for Windows 8/8.1 Computers

If the VPN connection does not work, try this. Right-click the Start button and choose Network Connections. The newly created VPN connection should appear alongside the computer’s normal network connection(s):

Figure 98: List of connections

Right-click the newly added VPN Connection and choose Properties. Click the Security tab. The ‘Data encryption’ dropdown needs to read Optional encryption (connect even if no encryption) and the Allow these protocols button should be enabled, such that the panel appears as follows. Then click OK.

Figure 99: VPN Connection properties

6.6.3 Verify Connections from The Server

The status of the VPN and the connections in use can be monitored from the server. From the Main Menu choose VPN Server and click on Connection List:

Figure 100: Display of active VPN connections

If required, a user can be disconnected from the VPN by highlighting their name and clicking the Disconnect button.

6.6.4 Disabling/Enabling VPN Access for Users

By default, newly created users are automatically given permissions to use the VPN. To change this behaviour, click on the General Settings tab in the VPN Server application and take the tick off the Grant VPN privilege to newly added local users box. To disable or enable VPN access for individual users click on the Privilege tab. Tick or un-tick the boxes for the users as required then click Save.

Figure 101: Control VPN access for individual users