If you got a new Synology NAS from your holiday, here are some of the top 5 things you should do with your new NAS.
#1 Setup Quickconnect Account & Home Network
First thing first, you want to properly configure your NAS so you can have access at home and abroad. Synology made it easier for you to reach your NAS with their Quickconnect service. QuickConnect solves the dynamic IP problem most residential ISP suffers when trying to access any web service externally.
After you have setup the QuickConnect, you can access your NAS outside your home with a static web URL.
Next, we want to ensure the NAS access at home works across all devices with a static IP address (or via hostname). What you want to do is go to your home router’s admin panel and find the setting for DHCP reservation. This essentially provides a constant IP address while the router still serves IP address for other home devices via DHCP. Also, while we are updating the router’s setting you want to ensure port forwarding are turned on for the external QuickConnect, default Synology diskstation port is 5000. We need to make sure all the proper ports are forwarded from external access.
Once you have the above settings configured properly, all your home devices will not have a universal NAS attached.
#2 Setup Folders and User Permissions
Next step is to create shared folders for your need. This really depends on what you want your NAS to do. If you have Mac at home, you can configure your NAS as Time Machine for all Mac’s backup, but at the same time, you want to restrict the access to the backup folder. The same idea applies if you want to hook up IP cameras and use NAS to record daily surveillance footages.
If there are more than one user will be using the NAS then its best to create multiple accounts and appropriate permissions to each account that serve its own distinct function and purposes. For instance, if you are also planning to use your NAS as a Plex server, then the Plex account should only be contained and used for this purpose and this purpose only. You also want to avoid using one single admin account for all folders and permissions. If the one account is leaked, then you are putting your entire data in danger.
#3 Leverage Build-In IP Camera
Each Synology comes with some built-in licenses (2 channels) that allow you to connect to IP cameras for home surveillance. This is a very nice cost efficient solution compare to buying a sperate dedicated system for the same job. Synology is able to connect most IP cameras you can get from the market, it supports a range of manufacturer from consumer orientated to enterprise class hardware. Their surveillance station VMS (video management software) software is one of the best out on the market that’s web based.
#4 Power Management
Next, you should do is look into ways to save as much power as you can while you are not using the NAS. You are not only saving power but also prolong the life lifespan of the hard drive, hence protract your data integrity. Synology NAS itself is already extremely power efficient compared to traditional desktop machines. But there are more rooms to grow in terms of saving power. You can start off by going to the Hardware & Power section to check the appropriate setting for your need.
Next, you want to go to HDD Hibernation to turn on and save as much disk activity when idle as you can.
Lastly, one of the BEST features I love about Synology is the ability to send WOL magic packet to wake up other devices on the local network. This means I can use Synology as the go-to portal if I want to access my home desktops and doesn’t require the desktop to be constantly turned on.
#5 Download Companion Mobile App (iOS/Android/Windows)
One of the biggest advantage using commercial NAS like Synology is the support for other ecosystem and platforms. Synology offers companion apps across the board for easy of access to your files. Whether you are on iOS, Android or Windows platforms there are dedicated native apps you can download to enhance the experience of having all your file at your finger tip. The cloud access is truely your own cloud solution.
It’s funny but I’m about to give up on Synology Nas until I read your post. Does it really work that well with you? This thing gives me so many problems is that I’m thinking of going back to using Google Drive even despite the unsafe aspects of it.
Is there a website that really walks you through setting it up so it works. Right now, I can barefuly get netdrive2 to work. It’s always a hassle to get it to work. And occasionally, just connecting to the NAS via Window file explorerer has been a big pain in the butt.
Eddie, thanks for sharing your experience. It really depends on what you use that for, the Synology I got serve the exact function I need which is a bridge and server for both PC and Mac to access. If you have trouble access the drive you can always mount the network drive, and it should be always connected when you turn on your PC. I don’t have much need to access outside the local network, but when I do webDAV does require you some time to setup but it works as it advertises. The entire experience really depends on how fast your home ISP speed is for upload and deliver the files over the internet.
I use Synology has a backup of the backup of the important docs, all the photos are also backed up with unlimited storage Google Photos offers. And the rest are videos that are disposable. If you have IP cameras and hook it up, I found that’s the biggest value added, and the ability to go into the NAS via Quickconnect and wake up local PC is also great feature, IMO.
I just QuickConnect but it should be theoretically slower than going directly to your computer, no? QuickConnect means that computer #1 goes to synology servers verifies who you are and then determines your ip address and then connects you computer #2. Well, webDav should be faster since you are going from computer #1 to computer #2 directly, no? But, it ends up being about 20 hours slower, given the number of useless hours I’ve put into it and the 10 additional hours it took me to put my computer back together after I threw it against the wall.
interesting, could it be some kind limitation from your ISP?
QuickConnect only provide the initial lookup I believe, in terms of speed they both should be very similar.
Thanks for this guide, but could you please explain a little why under item #1, it would be good to setup the DHCP reservation? I’m totally new to the world of Synology and NAS so would appreciate if you can please explain this to me as simply as possible. 🙂
Thank you!
You have 2 options either static IP or DHCP reservation, in both case your goal is to ensure the NAS is always going to be live on the same IP address. Otherwise, if you happen to access the URL or mount any network drive via IP and one day it changes its IP you’d have to completely reconfigure all the network mount drive all over again.
This ensures your Synology NAS is always accessible on a predictable IP. I recommend DHCP reservation it’s simply much easier to configure than static IP. If you happen to move the Synology NAS to another network, it would still acquire a new IP from the DHCP server.
Hope this helps!
After reading comments….I would like to add….older models are really slow and are lacking good spec. I own such a box (ds213j) and its really slow…where installing new apps can take 20 minutes. But as a network drive and backup solution…..its gets the job done marvelously. Also…I used to use the internet features…primarily to stream my video collection to my phone…and when I moved and was forced to change ISP….this experience became imposable. Slow Upload speed can make certain features almost unusable. Just thought this might help.
Yes agreed. Streaming capability for outside your home network largely depends on your ISP’s upload speed.
Regarding the app install time, it depends on what you are installing and what you want your box to perform. I’d avoid anything that’s adding unnecessary load to the box. (ex. a web server, Python or Ruby support etc) Those boxes have limited RAM and that’s one of the biggest drawbacks for it to perform multitasks. I have a 2015 box 2-bay model, so far it functions just fine. The UI are all client-side rendered so it shouldn’t cause slowness as long as you have a fast computer/browser to load the UI.
Also, consider the length of support Synology provides. How many smartphones from 2013 are still supported?
Regarding #5 — Download Companion Mobile App (iOS/Android/Windows)
It would be nice to see a link to the apps here, as Synology has hidden them so well that I cannot find them. (And please fix the light grey text, it is so hard to read).
Thank you for this. I do have two questions: 1) how secure is quick connect over trying to setup a vpn? and 2) does the Plex account need to be an admin as well or can it be installed as a user?
Thank you!
#1 it’s definitely less secure compared to VPN, heck it even works over HTTP.
#2 pretty sure you don’t need to grant full permission to the Plex account, granted I don’t run Plex on my NAS anymore, but I don’t see any reason you can’t just have a regular user that only has permission to the directory it’s interested in.