I did post a feature request on Synology forum to get support for custom shortcuts on the DSM’s desktop. But as I found a trick to do it myself, I have implemented a small .Net application to automate the configuration part. I named it “Mods – My Own DSM Shortcuts”.
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The trick is to create a Dummy Package which will, as any package, add a shortcut for itself into the Synology’s Start menu… This is a Dummy Package as it does nothing else (no installation of an actual application)..
You can find the source code of my App as well as binaries for windows here https://mods.codeplex.com/. Read the documentation for additional information, including how to create such a Dummy Package manually (E.g.: you don’t have Windows)…
On the screenshot here after, you can see both the Dummy Package “My Own DSM Shortcuts” installed via the “Package Center” and the Custom Shortcut that was created to open Net2Ftp – a php website I installed manually on my NAS (I.e.: copied into the webstation).
Many years ago, Parental Control was already a native feature of my previously favorite Media Library Manager: Media Browser – reason why, since I am using Plex (mainly because Plex Media Server runs on my Synology), the lack of efficient support for such Control has been really frustrating. A solution has fortunately been developed by iSh0w, early in 2014, as a plugin named “L0ck”. This plugin is now really pretty mature!
NB.: two days after this post, Plex released native Parental Control as part of their new Plex Home feature… But this is not yet available for Samsung so L0ck still makes sense for me.
[EDIT 12/2015] Later in 2015, a new version of Plex for Samsung has been released, which support user accounts (and hence, Parental Control).
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The only solution currently suggested by Plex to prevent Kids watching inadequate content is to create dedicated Plex Accounts for the kids and only share with those accounts the adequate content. This is totally inconvenient, especially when sharing the same player device such as a TV or a Tablet. Indeed, parents may not forget to “disconnect” the device from their account. Next, kids need to be able to connect with a login/password, which is far from easy for the youngest ones. Definitively, Plex is missing a a true Parental Control!
L0ck plugin for Plex, although(*) not yet the very best solution, should be loved by the thousands of users who voted for such a feature!
(*) You have to re-Lock the libraries before quitting your Plex Client. Libraries are not automatically re-locked after x hours or when Plex Client is restarted… Also, when unlocked, libraries are visible for all the Plex Clients, possibly for other devices that would start Plex! Next, the plugin is unl0cking/l0cking all the Controlled libraries at once (If there is a trick to protect distinct subsets of libraries with distinct passwords, I didn’t find it yet). Finally, restarting the Plex Client is usually required… But still, this is better than nothing or much better than Plex’s suggested approach.
Here is how to install this plugin for Plex on Synology:
Disable the “authentication on local networks” on your Plex Media Server (if enabled)
Go to your Plex Server Administration page http://<YourSynology>:32400/web/index.html#!/settings/server
Click on the entry “Connect”
Click on the button “Show Advanced“
Disable “Require authentication on local networks”
Go to the “L0ck” page to download the Plugin customized to lock/unlock some of your Libraries with a password
Type the local IP (LAN) of your Synology
Click “Search For Section(s)!“
Select the section(s) you would like control access to.
Enter next Password. Ex.: 4 digits
And click on “Generate Plugin!“
Finally click on “Download plugin!” on download a zip with your customized plugin (This is not working with all browsers! Use Chrome).
Deploy the plugin into Plex’s plugin folder after customization for Synology
Unzip the archive downloaded at step 2..F into a temp folder
Open within notepad++ the file <YourTemp>\L0ck.bundle\Contents\Resources\l0ck_support\l0ck.sh
Search and Replace “/var/lib/plexmediaserver” with “/volume1/Plex” and Save the file.
Open next the file <YourTemp>\L0ck.bundle\Contents\Resources\l0ck_support\unl0ck.sh
Search and Replace “/var/lib/plexmediaserver” with “/volume1/Plex” and Save the file.
NB.: No need to change the __init__.py as mentioned on L0ck’s webpage.
Finally Move the folder L0ck.bundle into the hidden Shared folder \\<YourSynology>\Plex\Library\Application Support\Plex Media Server\Plug-ins\
Grant access for plex onto the plugin
Open a Telnet console onto your Synology
Run “telnet” from Windows
Type: open <YourSynology>
Login as ‘root’ with your admin password
Execute the following commands
cd /volume1/Plex/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Plug-ins
chown -R plex:users L0ck.bundle
cd L0ck.bundle/Contents/Resources/l0ck_support
chmod a+x l0ck.sh
chmod a+x unl0ck.sh
chmod a+x sqlite3
Re-enable the “authentication on local networks” on your Plex Media Server (if it was enabled)
Restart now your Plex Clients and go to the “Channels” where you should see the L0ck” Icon:
L0ck Plugin
Et voilà 😉
NB 1: By default, the libraries to be “controlled” are all unlocked. So, enter the plugin and L0ck them.
NB 2: The display is not the same within Plex Home Theater and Plex Web Client. E.g.: in the Plex Home Theater (for Windows), you see both the icon “L0ck” and “Unl0ck”. In the Plex Web Client, instead, you see only the “L0ck” icon. In the Plex Home Theater, when you click on “L0ck”, nothing seems to happen while in the Plex Web Client, you see an “Locked” icon replacing the “Lock” icon. But you will quickly find your path…
NB 3: Once your have clicked on “L0ck”, you have to restart your Plex Home Theater or refresh your browser if using Plex Web Client. On the opposite, with Plex for Samsung, I don’t have to quit and restart Plex after Unl0cking/L0cking my libraries, even if e.g. unl0cking via the Web Client…
NB 4: To Unlock the libraries with the Plex Web Client (where the “unl0ck” icon is missing), go to the “Channels” page and enter the “L0ck” channel. Then type your password in the Search box and simply hit “enter”.
NB 5: Once a movie started from an unl0cked Controlled library, the libraries can be rel0cked immediately. This is not stopping the movie as you could see when playing a movie within Plex Home Theater and re-locking the libraries via a Web Plex Client. So, based on that finding, I have customized the L0ck plugin to add a new button: “Short Unlock“. This one unl0cks the libraries for 2 minute and then re-locks them automatically. If you are interested in such a feature, you can simply add the following line in unlo0ck.sh, before the last line (with “exit;”):
[shell](sleep 120 ; sh ./l0ck.sh) &amp;amp;amp;[/shell]
I have submitted this idea to the creator of the plugin (See here). So far, adding a new button does not offer the best user experience with the Plex Web Client due to some technical limitation…
On Synology, L0ck plugin’s log file is named “com.plexapp.plugins.l0ckunl0ck.log” and located in \\<YourSynology>\Plex\Library\Application Support\Plex Media Server\Logs\PMS Plugin Logs. It has better be opened with notepad++.
I had 2 x 2TB disks in a RAID 0 Volume on my DS713+ and wanted to replace them with 2 x 3TB… My first idea was quite simple: move the 2TB disks from the DS713+ into my PC, next to the 3TB disks, clone those 2TB onto the 3TB disks and resize the data partition… Unfortunately, googling for users’ feedback on such an operation, I finally felt that it could possibly be no such a real piece of cake… So, I used my second idea: “Backup” the DS713+ into a Virtual Synology, replace the 2TB with the 3TB in the DS713+ and “Restore”.
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I decided to not try the “partition resizing” approach because it seems that expanding next the Volume to use the free space on the partition could be difficult (if possible at all). I will for sure try that idea later with dummy data. But for now, I wanted a peace-of-mind-solution. So, I did:
Create a Virtual Synology (a DS3612xs with DSM 5.0-4528) with enough space,
Enable the Network Backup Service on that DS3612xs
Clean-up as much as possible on the DS713+ (DSM 5.0-4528 update 1)
Disabled the camera in Surveillance Station and deleting all the recordings
Stopping Plex, Video Station, Audio Station and Photo Station
Deleting all the movies from \\<DiskStation>\video (As those are anyway backuped on my main server)
Deleting all the musics from \\<DiskStation>\music (As those are anyway backuped on my main server)
Keeping however the photos to not loose albums’ settings and thumbnails (as those would require days to be recreated!)
Backup as much as possibly from the DS713+
Using the native “Backup & Replication” feature, but also
“Exporting” the Configuration of the “Surveillance Station” and Copying the extra licences (not the default one)
“Exporting” all the complete zones’ settings from the “DNS Server”
Taking note of the information not backuped:
“QuickConnect”
“External Access”
“Network”
“Security”
“Notification”
“Application Portal alias”
Taking note of:
All the Packages installed:
The custom “Package sources” configured in the settings of the Package Center
Backuping Wordpress
Stopping first WordPress
Taking a Backup of the database wordpressblog via a full “Export” with phpMyAdmin
In addition, to be 100% safe,I also took a full copy of
the Plex’s configuration & settings: \\<DiskStation>\Plex\Library\Application Support\Plex Media Server
the WordPress installtion: \\<DiskStation>\web\wordpress
All my “customized” stuff
Replace the 2 x 2TB with the 2 x 3TB in the DS713+
Reinstall DSM 5.0 on the DS713+ with the same name and admin’s password as previously
I reinstalled WordPress, Plex, DNS Server and PhotoStation, but I did not configure them and stopped them! (Actually, I don’t know yet if installing them before the restore was required… — to be checked).
Enable the Telnet Service in “Terminal & SNMP”
Restore manually the information for
“QuickConnect”
“External Access”
“Network”
“Security”
“Notification”
Restore the Backup made on the DS3612xs. It included:
All the Shared Folders selected to be backuped
Shared Folders recreated when installing a Packages are renamed!
The “File Services” settings
The “Users”
The “Groups”
(I don’t use the Directory Services)
The “Regional Options”
The “Task Scheduler”
The “Application Portal” alias
Reinstall the other Packages.
Import manually the DNS zones exported previously (via “Create” > “Import zone”).
Fix issues with “Surveillance Station” if any.
I had to delete the camera restored with the Backup in “Surveillance Station” (weird as I successfully restored such backups in the past…)
Add manually my extra licences
Import manually the Configuration settings I exported previously.
Restore manually the database of WordPress via phpMyAdmin and start next WordPress. It should not prompt you anymore to configure it.
Check that the expected content has been restore in the various Shared Folders: photo, Plex (music and video if not cleaned-up), etc…
Delete all Plex’s plugins (hidden folder \\<DiskStation>\Plex\Library\Application Support\Plex Media Server\Plug-ins). They will be reinstalled automatically when you will start Plex. I have indeed noticed that various features do not run fine anymore in the Administration site otherwise. Ex.: choose language when editing libraries or fixing incorrect match, choosing providers, etc…
Start all Packages currently stopped.
Here after, the steps to create a Virtual Synology:
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Take the latest Boot Image iso available to start a “DSM” in a VMWare (Nanoboot-5.0.3.2 DSM 5.0-4528 x64) here.
Take next the latest DSM pat Image (DSM 5.0-4528) here.
Get the Synology Assistant from here and install it.
Use VMWare Workstation 10 to create a new VM (You may create a Shared one to be able to run it remotely if you want):
Create a “Custom (Advanced)” virtual machine
Linux, version “Other Linux 2.6.x kernel 64-bit”
With 1 processor, 2 cores
1024MB Memory
Using a Bridged network
LSI Logic Controller
SCSI Disk Type
And a large new virtual disk fully allocated (for performance reason)
Instead of starting the new machine immediately, edit the settings: the CD/DVD must be changed to use the Iso Boot Image donwloaded at step 1.
Next, edit the “.vmx” file created by VMWare next to the VM: Add this line just after the first one: bios.bootOrder = “cdrom”
Now start the VM. It shows a menu with various entries named “Nanoboot-5.0-4528 xxx”. Pick the one to “Install/Upgrade”.
Run next the Synology Assistant. It will find a “DiskStation” not yet installed. Select that one and right-click to “Install” it.
When prompted for the Installation File, pick the pat file downloaded at step 2.
Proceed until the installation is completed (Give a name to you new Synology. No need however to setup a QuickConnect ID).
Enable the Backup https://www.synology.com/en-us/support/downloadService via the Start Menu > Backup & Replication > Backup Service > Enable Backup Network Service.
You are now ready to backup your actual Synology.
And icing on the cake, here is how to access the DSM and data still available in the old RAID 0 Volume (I.e.: on the two old 2TB):
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I did create a second Virtual Synology with the RAID 0 volume still available on the two old 2TB! Doing so, I will still be able to access all my data and settings if by any chance some have not been correctly restored.
Take the latest Boot Image iso available to start a “DSM” in a VMWare (Nanoboot-5.0.3.2 DSM 5.0-4528 x64) here.
Get the Synology Assistant from here and install it.
Use VMWare Workstation 10 to create a new VM (You may NOT create a Shared as those do not support physical disks. Also you better have to run VMWare as Administrator otherwise adding physical disks could be disabled):
Create a “Custom (Advanced)” virtual machine
Linux, version “Other Linux 2.6.x kernel 64-bit”
With 1 processor, 2 cores
1024MB Memory
Using a Bridged network
LSI Logic Controller
SCSI Disk Type
And add the two old physical disks. Notice: the order is important. If they are not in the correct order, the DSM won’t start and report a disk access failure. No panic: simply swap the disks and retry 😉
Instead of starting the new machine immediately, edit the settings: the CD/DVD must be changed to use the Iso Boot Image donwloaded at step 1.
Next, edit the “.vmx” file created by VMWare next to the VM: Add this line just after the first one: bios.bootOrder = “cdrom”
Now start the VM. It shows a menu with various entries named “Nanoboot-5.0-4528 xxx”. Pick the one to “Install/Upgrade”.
Run next the Synology Assistant. It will find your old Synology “Migratable”. Select that one and right-click to “Migrate”. The RAID 0 Volume is detected automatically and the DSM should load. If it fails around 50%, swap the physical disks and restart the VM. They are probably not in inserted in the correct order (I did swap them physically in my PC – as using bays- but I could have removed them from the VM configuration and re-added them in the right order).
NB: installing with the option to download the latest DSM version failed. I had to download and use the pat file DSM 5.0-4528 available here.
Give this new Synology a unique name and disable any service that would conflict with one already running somewhere else.
This is a simple note to remind me how easy it is to send a notification message to another user on my NAS, from a telnet prompt, using the command: synodsmnotify user/group “Title” “Message”
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Ex.: synodsmnotify valery “Hello” “Don’t forget to post a note about such findings on your blog”
Where “valery” is a valid user, defined on my Synology… Notice that if the user does not exist, you will get an error like this:
I have just applied the latest service pack for DSM 5.0. Soon after, I started to experience connection issues to my own blog from my Intranet. This was due to some (???) issues with the DNS Service running on my Synology.
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Issue confirmed: executing a “ping beatificabytes.be” in a CMD prompt was returning the internet IP of my ADSL Modem, instead of the IP of my NAS.
As a reminder: I did configure my Router and my Synology’s DNS Service to be able to access my blog on my intranet with it’s actual FQDN (See here). And after the upgrade from DSM 4.0 to DSM 5.0, I had to enable the “Resolution Service” in the “DNS Server”.
Now, to solve the connection issue experienced after updating DSM 5.0:
On the Synology, in the “DNS Server” configuration pane, I had first to:
Disable the “Resolution Service” and clicked Apply
Re-enable the “Resolution Service” and clicked Apply
Wow, what a fancy look & feel !!! That’s my first impression 😀
But what I really care about, is that all the services I was using on DSM 4.3 are still running fine… And it seems to be the case once a few issues fixed…
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After the upgrade, various packages had to be updated. Unfortunately, the updates did not all passed successfully. I got errors like “failed to download” (notice: I did an update of all my packages before upgrading from DSM 4.3 to 5.0 as recommended by users on Synology’s forum)
I discovered soon that I was actually unable to download and install any other packages. And looking into Control Panel > Update & Restore, I saw the Status “Connection failed. Please check your Internet connection“.
I was unable to play Internet radio within the Audio Station and trying to “Update Now” the DDNS service (Control Panel > External Access > Update Now), I was receiving a message like “Network error occurred. Please check your DNS and network settings.“
As Download Station was still able to download, the internet connection was not the issue. So, based on the hypothesis that it should be a DNS issue, I did force a DNS address manually in Control Panel > Network > General > Manually configure DNS Server. I did set the IP of my Adsm Modem as it’s configured to forward DNS request to my provider. But I could have tried with Google’s DNS: 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.8.4
And it solved all the issues above ?!
As a reminder, my DHCP server is configured on my Buffalo Router to provide the IP of my NAS as a DNS Server (I run the “DNS Server” package of Synology) and the IP of my ADSL model as a fallback. It used to work fine before the upgrade and as I didn’t change anything else in my infra, I thought that some behavior could have change in some Syno’s services. I did try various changes and found one that was solving the issues without manual configuration of a DNS IP on my Syno:
I had to “Enable resolution services” in my Synology’s “Control Panel > DNS Server > Resolution” settings. Simple, no ?
But I discovered then another issue: my Plex Server was not accessible anymore (when opened from DSM’s start menu). It was trying to start on the IP address of an unused Ethernet port – There are two Ethernet ports on the DS713+ and only the second one of mine was plugged on my Switch. The IP used by Plex Server was therefore a default one: 169.254.x.x. So, I did connect the first Ethernet ports on my Switch and did a reboot. I was next able to access the Web UI on the IP assigned now to my NAS’s first Ethernet port.
But it was not solving everything. Indeed, plex.tv was still not able to reach my NAS since my ADSL Modem was forwarding the default port of Plex (32400) onto the IP of the second Ethernet port and not on the first one (I.e.: on the IP Plex Server was actually listening on). As my NAS is only connected to one LAN, I decided to enable the Link Aggregation to merge the two ports into a “virtual single one”. Doing so, I would have only one IP assigned to my NAS and both Ethernet port used together to increase a bit the bandwidth: Control Panel > Network > Network Interface > Create > Create Bond > IEEE 802 Dynamic Link Aggregation. I did complete the Wizard (using DHCP the get an IP) and went to reconfigure my DHCP server (on my Buffalo Router): I.e.: I did update the static leases and assigned the static IP wanted for my NAS on the MAC address currently used by the Dynamic Link Aggregation (It’s available in the Control Panel > Info Center > Network > Bond 1).
Once the DHCP server and the Synology reconfigured, I did reboot both (to avoid caching effect). Unfortunately, when accessing my server via plex.tv, it was still not displayed as “online” 🙁 Also, in the “Plex Media Server”‘s settings “myPlex”, I was unable to connect with my login/password and worst, I was unable to change any settings in my Plex Server: Saving changes was always failing… I found a note about a known issue on the Synology website:
DSM 5.0: Known Issue – Plex Media Server
Users need to manually set read permission for the “plex” user at the User page in Control Panel to allow Plex Media Server to read the shared media folder content.
But trying this fix didn’t solve my issues.
I thought then that there could be a more recent version of the Plex Server on plex.tv than on Synology… And indeed. The version I had was 9.8 and there was a 9.9 on Plex.tv. I did download the spk for my processor (DS713+ = Intel) and did install it manually. And Bingo, my Plex Media Server was now able to connect to myPlex and it appeared as “Online” in plex.tv !!!
So, to conclude, the following services are now running fine:
Download Station (it resumes the download of your the torrent without any issue)
Surveillance Station (the time line is not broken)
DNS Server (once the “Resolution Service” enabled as mentioned above)
Video Station (has been updated)
Photo Station (has been updated)
Webalizer (has been updated)
Plex (After a manual update as mentioned above and some reconfiguration of the IP/Ethernet port used)
WordPress (has been updated)
phpMyAdmin
Changes I noticed:
As usually, after the upgrade of WordPress (If you do so), you will have to reset the permalinks’ format (via Dashboard > Settings > Permalinks > Common Settings > re-select your structure and “Save Changes”). Otherwise, links to your posts (E.g.: found via google or kept as favorites by readers) won’t work anymore..
The DDNS service is now named “External Access”. Nothing has changed and nothing needs to be reconfigured.
MySQL has been replaced by MariaDB (a fork of the original project). Start it once to finalize the update (you will have to provide your password). phpMyAdmin still runs fine and connects automatically to MariaDB with your current root login and password.
You will now get a monthly report by email with the status of the disks. Ex.:
Dear user,
The following is your monthly report regarding the health of disks on <serverName>. You can also check the health of individual disks at Storage Manager > HDD/SSD > Health Info.
When trying to watch a movie streamed by the Plex Server of my DS713+, I used to get an error “Cannot load M3U8: 404 not found” (only on mobile devices or within a browser). This was due to a wrong “temp” directory configured (out-of-the-box) for transcoding purpose.
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Watching movies was working fine with the Plex Theater on my PC.
I had the error message “Cannot load M3U8: 404 not found” only when trying to play movies within Chrome (on a PC or on a tablet).
I read on the web that this error could be due to the NAS struggling with transcoding the movie (which is done or not depending on the client’s spec). Plex clearly states that one needs a dual-core NAS to be able to do transcoding. But I have a DS713+. So it should have been fine
I also read that Plex Theater (on Windows) does not need any transcoding. As it was working fine, I definitively though there should be something wrong with the configuration of the transcoding…
I did look at the logs of Plex Server (in \\<MyNas>\plex\Library\Application Support\Plex Media Server\Logs) and found that error:
[code]ERROR – Exception handled: boost::filesystem::temp_directory_path: Not a directory: “/volume1/Plex/tmp_transcoding”[/code]
Checking directly on the NAS via telnet, I found that the right path should have been /volume1/Plex/Library/tmp_transcoding (Notice: “Plex” starts here with a upper case although the related shared folder accessible via SMB starts with lower case!!!)
So, I did force that correct value via the Plex server web interface > Settings > Transcoder > Show Advanced Settings > Transcoder temporary directory.
I have just moved my blog from my Synology DS209+ to my new DS713+.
If you see this, it means that the migration is successful 😉
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The setup of the new DS713+ was straightforward and really easy using the setup Wizard of Synology. It took more time to screw the two drives (WD SE 2TB WD2000F9YZ) in the trays. Those trays look cheap (plastic) and fragile, but they are really easy to use, plug and unplug.
1/ I did use http://find.synology.com to search for my new DS. It worked fine and found both the 209+ and the 713+. From there I did start the setup on the 713+. It automatically download the latest version of DSM and install it.
2/ Once installed, a wizard opens within DSM to configured the most important features:
Create a volume with the disks (I didn’t create the default “Hybrid RAID (SHR)” as already suggested during the setup. I did a RAID 0 using the wizard instead).
Users and Shared Folders
File Station
Other Packages (I did re-install all my favorite packages): Audio Station, Cloud Station, CouchPotato Custom*, DNS Server, Download Station, Git, Mail Server, Mail Station, Media Server, Photo Station, phpMyAdmin, Plex Media Server, Python, Python 3, Surveillance Station Time Backup, Video Station, Web Console*, Config File Editor*, Webalizer, WordPress
…
3/ In the Package Center, I did reconfigure the custom “Package Sources” (required for * above):
http://packages.missilehugger.com : ‘Config File Editor’ and ‘Web Console’
4/ Via the Control Panel > Terminal, I did enable “telnet”
5/ I did next set a fix IP for the DS713+ on my DD-WRT router (under “static leases” in the “Service” tab) and did connect on the DS713+ via telnet to force it to renew its IP with the command “/etc/rc.network restart”
6/ I did also reinstall the package Perl, BootStrap Installer (Install Ipkg) and iPKGui (manage ipkg packages) – both from packages.quadrat.de – and configured the following package source: http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/syno-e500/cross/unstable (name ‘cross’, type ‘scr/gz’, file ‘cross-feed.Conf’)
7/ I did install the “web-Console” package and logged in with admin/admin. Then I did restart the web-console after changing the password via the command (typing also the #) : #users modify admin
Notice: I didn’t use Synlogy’s migration wizard to backup and restore the full “configuration settings” as I wanted to clean a bit my NAS and restore/reconfigure only what I really still need. More details on migration methods are provided on Synology’s wiki.
Click to Read ‘Wordpress’ PartClick to Close
1/ Regarding WordPress, once the package installed, I did:
Export the ‘wordpressblog’ database from my DS209+
I did copy the following folders from the DS209+ on the DS713+
\wordpress\wp-content\icons
\wordpress\wp-content\themes
\wordpress\wp-content\uploads
\wordpress\wp-content\plugins
I did restore that backup on the DS713+
I had to reset the “Header Image” via Appearance>Themes>Customize.
I did check that all the plugin’s where enabled. All settings where correctly recovered from the backup restored previously.
I didn’t re-install the plugin MultiDomain as I am now using the DNS package of Synology to solve the issue I had in the past when accessing my blog from my intranet or from internet.
2/ I did copy the other webpages in /web from the DS209+ onto the DS713+
3/ I did reconfigure the port-forwarding on my DD-WRT (via the tab “NAT/QoS”) to forward the traffic on port 80 to the DS713+ instead of DS209+. I also configured “Wake on Lan” on the DD-WRT (via the “Administration” > “WOL”) to be able to wake-up my new NAS although it should run 24/7.
Et voilà… the “web part” of the DS713+ is up and running 😛
Click to Read ‘Photo Station’ PartClick to Close
1/ To move the Photo albums, I did use Synology’s “Main menu” > “Backup and Restore” feature on the DS209+.
On the DS713+, enable the “Network Backup” service (without rsync) via “Main Menu” > “Network Backup”. This is going to create a Shared Folder ‘NetBackup’.
Back to the DS209+, In the “Backup” tab of the “Backup and Restore” wizard, click create and select “Data Backup type”.
In the wizard, type a name for the backup and select “Network Backup (Synology Server)”. Let the DS209+ find the DS713+ (clicking into the “server name” combo-box) and use this one as server name for the backup destination (fill manually the password for the username and pick “NetBackup” as shared folder. Keep in mind the name of the “folder” to be created in “NetBackup” to store the backup).
In the tab where you can select application data, configuration, etc… pick
In the “Application” part, select “Photo Station”
In the “Shared folder” part, select “photo”
And finally “Back up immediately after the wizard finished”
2/ Next, on the DS713+, using the same “Main menu” > “Backup and Restore” feature, I did the restore
In the “Restore” tab, click on “Restore” and select “data”.
In the wizard, select “Local Restoration” and keep next “NetBackup” and select the name of the “folder” where the DS209+ stored its backup.
Do not select any “configuration settings to restore”
Select however all “items to restore” in the next screen. You will see that there is a “conflict” for the Shared Folder “photo”. No matter, the existing folder on the target will be overwritten.
Et voilà. It’s magic: all the photo and thumbnails are restored, including the albums, smart albums, covers, etc…
One thing is however not restored via this process: the users’ privileges… I presume that this is because I didn’t restore the users table. I had to grant access to the users to each album manually via the “Parameters” > “User accounts” menu of Photo Station.
Click to Read ‘Surveillance Station’ PartClick to Close
1/ To move the Surveillance Station settings, I did use also Synology’s “Main menu” > “Backup and Restore” feature on the DS209+.
First, I did disable all my camera in the Surveillance Station of the DS209+ via the “Main Menu” > “Surveillance Station” > “IP Camera”
Next, I did delete all the records as I wanted to only migrate the “settings”
Finally, I did a backup of ‘surveillance’ as I did for the Photo Station here above. I only had to provide another folder-name under ‘NetBackup’ than for the photo
2/ Next, on the DS713+, I did
“Stop” the Surveillance Station, via “Package Center” > “Surveillance Station” > Action “Stop”.
Restore the ‘surveillance’ following the same procedure as for the Photo Station.
Once the restore completed, “Run” the Surveillance Station, via “Package Center” > “Surveillance Station” > Action “Run”.
Go to the “Main Menu” > “Surveillance Station” > “IP Camera” and re-enable the camera. You can see that not only the camera are restored, but also the patrol settings, etc…
Notice: the paid licences have been transferred !!! What is weird: I was able to re-enable the camera also on the DS209+. Both NAS were then consuming stream from all the camera… I was not expecting the licenses to be usable on several devices ?!
Click to Read ‘Audio and Video Station’ PartClick to Close
1/ Simply copy the content of the Shared Folders “music” and “video” from DS209+ to DS713+. Audio Station and Video Station will re-index the files.
2/ Reconfigure Video Station (Collections and Custom Libraries must be redefined)
3/ Recreate your favorite Web Radio Station in the Audio Station
This is a bit of work but I didn’t find a backup/restore similar to the one available for the ‘photo’ and the ‘surveillance’. And I didn’t want to restore the full configuration of my DS209+ as-is.
Click to Read ‘Other’ PartClick to Close
1/ Reconfigure the other port-forwarding rules on the DD-WRT to transfer all required traffic to the DS713+:
Admin: 5000
WebDav and WebDav https: 8000 and 8443
Enable WebDav via “Main Menu” > “Control Panel” > “WebDAV”
Configure the port 8000 and 8443 resp. for http
CouchPotato: 5050
2/ Reconfigure the WorkGroup via “Main Menu” > ” Configuration Panel” > “Win/Mac/NFS” > “Windows File Service”
3/ Enable “Recycle Bin”, “Windows ACL” and “File Indexing” on required shared folders via “Main Menu” > ” Configuration Panel” > “Shared Folder” > (select a folder) “Edit”.
4/ Reconfigured the “DNS server” as made on DS209+. Or, use the “Export Zone” > “Complete Zone settings” menu of the “DNS Server” on DS209+ and then “Create” > “Import Zone” menu of the “DNS Server” on the new DS.
5/ Recreate the MySQL Backup Task and the reconfigure Time Backup’s tasks.
Click to Read ‘DDNS’ PartClick to Close
I also had to register my DDNS’ domain name olympe.diskstation.me for my new DS713+ instead of for my DS209+.
1/ Log in https://myds.synology.com
2/ Click on the “Unlink” icon on the row of your old DS.
3/ Select the old DS and click on “Delete” on the right side of the “DDNS status” header.
4/ Go now to the “Control Panel” of the new DS and click on “DDNS”.
5/ Click on “Add” and re-register the DS with the domain name that used to be linked to the old DS.
My blog is hosted at home on my NAS and accessed using the fully qualified domain name www.beatificabytes.be. Configuring adequately the Synology’s DNS service and my Buffalo router running DD-WRT, I can access it both from Internet and my Intranet using that url.
Click to Read MoreClick to Close
To make my blog accessible from Internet, I have configured the “DDNS” service of my Synology. Thanks to this “DDNS” Service, “Synology” links a hostname like “myNas.Disktation.me” to the dynamic IP I get from my Internet Provider – currently “Belgacom”. Next, I have configured a CNAME “www.beatificabytes.be” at my Domain Provider “Servage.net” as an alias of this hostname “myNas.Disktation.me”.
My VDSL Modem being the device physically accessible with the dynamic IP obtained from my Internet Provider, it is configured to forward incoming Internet traffic to my Buffalo router. And this one is forwarding the traffic for my blog to my NAS.
It obviously works fine for accesses from Internet. But if I try to access my NAS with that hostname from my home network (my intranet), the VDSL Modem does not forward me to the NAS via the router. Instead, I am redirected by the DNS of my Internet Provider to a page (http://Intranet IP of my Modem/dns_error) displaying:
Your internet connection is up, please close your browser and restart it again.
Uw internetverbinding is hersteld, gelieve uw browser eerst te sluiten en
daarna opnieuw te starten.
Votre connection internet fonctionne correctement, veuillez fermer votre
navigateur et le redémarrer.
My previous solution was to define the hostname www.beatificabytes.be in the host file (under C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc) of my PC. So, instead of being resolved into the dynamic IP got from my Internet Provider (reason why I was reaching my VDSL Modem), that hostname was resolved directly into the IP of my NAS.
Using the host file is however a real pain as it must be completed and maintained manually on all the devices. Also, it only works fine for Windows machines and not for my Phone, my Tablet, etc… So, I wanted a more global solution.
I could also simply configure my Buffalo Router to provide each DHCP client with the IP of the ppen DNS of Google (8.8.8.8. and 8.8.4..4) instead of the DNS of my Internet Provider.
But I was interested in testing the DNS Server package of Synology. And I found that it’s not that hard to configure it to resolve the hostname locally instead of querying the DNS of my Internet Provider.
First, configure the NAS like this:
Install and run the DNS Server Package via the Package Center
Open the DNS Server Panel via DSM Start > DNS Server
Select the “Zones” tab
Click on “Create” and select “Master Zone”
Select a “Domain type”: forward zone
In “Domain name”, enter the domain name used by the blog
In “Master DNS server”, enter the IP address of the NAS
Keep other settings as by default and click “Ok”.
Double click the new entry to edit its content. You should see two prefilled records respectively of type “A” and “NS”.
Click on “Create” and add a new record of type “A”
Name: (leave blank)
TTL: (use the default)
IP address: type the IP address of the NAS
Also add another record of type “A” with Name “www”.
And that’s it for the DNS Server configuration. I didn’t change anything else, including in the “Resolution” tab, …
Next, configure the DD-WRT like this:
Go to the tab Services
Set “Used Domain” = WAN
Set “LAN Domain” = Any name you want. It does not need to be the domain name of the blog. I am using my “Workgroup” (Yes, I still use a that)
Check that the NAS has a static IP configured in the “Static Leases” table
Set “DNSMasq” = Disabled
Go to the tab Setup > Basic Setup
Set “Connection Type” = Automatic Configuration – DHCP
Set “Router Name” = SomeName
Set “Hostname” = Same name as above
Set “Domain Name” = (I kept it blank as I am not really working with a domain at home)
Set “Local IP Address” = x.x.x.x (E.g.: 192.168.0.1)
Set “Subnet Mask” = 255.255.255.0
Set “Gateway” = local IP of the VDSL Modem (E.g.: 192.168.1.1)
Set “Local DNS” = local IP of my NAS
Set “DHCP Type” = DHCP Server
Set “DHCP Server” = Enabled
Set “Static DNS 1” = 0.0.0.0 (Later, I did set here the IP of my Adsl Modem which is configured to forward the DNS request to my Internet provider. I could also have use Google DNS: 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4)
Set “Static DNS 2” = 0.0.0.0
Set “Static DNS 3” = 0.0.0.0
Set “WINS” = 0.0.0.0
Set “Use DNSMasq for DHCP” = unchecked
Set “Use DNSMasq for DNS” = unchecked
This is working for me but DNSMasq being disabled, there is no caching on the DNS name resolution or even on the NetBios name (DNSMasq can intelligently add DHCP leases to its DNS database, providing local name lookups for any DHCP client, static or dynamic). And solving names seems to me precisely quite slow for the Browsers. So, I decided to try to enable DSNMasq.
Back into the Tab “Services”,
Set “DNSMasq” = Enabled
Set “Local DNS” = Disabled (If I enable it, I lose access to the Synology DSN ?!)
Set “No DNS Rebind” = Enable
Set “Additional DNSMasq Options” = (I kept it blank but was hesitating to enforce a strict order on the DNS to be used to resolves name):
strict-order
dhcp-option=6,<NAS IP comes here>,8.8.8.8,8.8.4.4 (ex.: I use here the open DNS of Google).
Finally, in the tab Setup > Basic Setup
Set “Use DNSMasq for DHCP” = checked
Keep “Use DNSMasq for DNS” = unchecked (If I check it, I lose access to the Synology DSN ?!)
Set “DHCP-Authoritative” = checked.
I am actually not convinced this is correct and improving the resolution in any way. So,”to be continued”… But in the meantime, I can access my blog with its fully qualified domain name from both my Intranet and Internet and now a bit more about DNS configuration :p
Notice: You can have a lot of troubles while testing the various settings on the DD-WRT as many values are cached either on the Synology, or on your PC. Ideally, you should reboot all the devices after each change in the router settings. At least, reset the network interface of your NAS (telnet as root and execute /etc/rc.network restart) and renew your PC network settings (ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew). Best would be to do that after a Router reboot (telenet as root and execute reboot)
I just bought 3 x Philips Fidelio SoundAvia wireless speaker AD7000W/12 with AirPlay. This model is must cheaper than any other AirPlay device and fully compatible with my Synology DS209+ running the Audio Station of DSM 4.2.
Click to Read MoreClick to Close
Philips Fidelio AD7000W/12
I paid only 109€ (instead of the official price: 149€) for this device, which is reported as a good one (Look for reviews on the web). It’s especially much cheaper than any other devices except the Philips DS3800W/10. But this last one, which actually used to be more expansive than the AD7000W/12 in the past, is not as good although better designed. I took 3 AD7000W/12 (for the price of one single Soundlink Air, the cheapest Bose AirPlay device). I will use them respectively in the bathroom, in the kitchen and in my room.
It’s perfect for a Synology as there is not useless feature, like a docking for iStuff that don’t need, no remote control as I have my mobile phone, etc… So I paid only for what I really need: a basic AirPlay Speaker.
Take note that there is no need for an iPad, iPod or iPhone to configure the Philips Fidelio AD7000W/12. It’s presumed to be configurable auto-magically via WPS but I didn’t succeed to do so (I.e.: using the PBC – Push-Button Configuration – which is the WiFi setup button on the back of the device). Fortunately, it is really easy to configure the AD7000W/12 with a browser from any wireless client device such as a tablet, a laptop, a mobile phone, …
Notice: when unwrapping the device, on the connectors at the back of device, there is a sticker explaining that one has to push the physical WiFi setup button for 5 sec to configure the network for the first time. This could be confusing if you read next the Quick Guide. Indeed, this one explains two ways to connect the device to the WiFi router: a first method using WPS and a second method using an iStuff. In both cases, you have to press the physical WiFi setup button. But the mistake would be to press this button for 5 seconds when using the WPS method. It must only be pressed for 5 seconds if you want to use the second method. So, here is my experience:
Switch on the device. The button is on the back, close to the top, next to the Volume + and – buttons.
On the back too, there is a green led blinking rapidly in the middle of the WiFi setup button, at the bottom, on the right of the USB connector. Wait for 35 sec until it starts to blink slowly. The device is then ready to be configured.
To connect the AD7000W/12 to a WiFi router using a browser (Connect the devices one by one if you have several):
Press the WiFi setup button for 5 sec (= blinks 5 times). The led will then start to blink alternatively green and orange.
Soon after you should see, with your wireless client device, a new opened WiFi network named like Philips_Fidelio_AirPlay. Connect to that network.
Open a browser and navigate to 192.168.1.1 to access the network configuration page of the AD7000W/12. If you are using a laptop, althoug configured to get an IP via DHCP, you could have to reconfigure it to use a fixed IP like 192.168.1.2, gateway 192.168.1.1, mask 255.255.255.0. I had to do even after I didn’t succeed with a simple “IPConfig /renew”. With a mobile and a tablet, it worked out of the box.
In the configuration page, edit the name of the device to make it unique and select the SSID of the WiFi network on which it will have to connect. It works fine with my network configured to use WPA2.
Type the Passphrase of the WiFi network and Apply the configuration.
The led will restart to blink rapidly in green.
As soon as device is connected on the selected WiFi network, it produces a clear “Beep” sound and the led stops blinking.
Philips Fidelio Configuration
To connect the device using WPS:
Press the WPS button on your WiFi router. It has better be configured to use WPA2
Press the WiFi setup button on your device (a simple click of less than 1 sec). The led will start to blink alternatively red, green and orange.
Wait for up to 2 minutes. The device should auto-magically connect on the WiFi router and produce a clear “Beep” sound once connected.
This second approach didn’t work for me ?!
As soon as the Philips Fidelio AD7000W/12 is connected on the WiFi network, it becomes available as a target device for the Synology Audio Station (either in the Web UI or in the Apps for mobile). One can see targets like “XXX( DLNA)”, “XXX (AirPlay)” and “Multiple AirPlay Device” where XXX is the name you gave to the device (“Philips Fidelio ####” by default). All those targets work but you will possibly have to be patient for the music to arrive with DLNA targets (?). I takes a few seconds more than with AirPlay on my infra.
If you don’t want to see the speaker as both an AirPlay device and a DLNA device, you must tick “Do not Search for DLNA devices” in the “options” tab of your Audio Station’s settings.
Notice that the feature “Multiple AirPlay Device” only works if turned on from Audio Station “browser based”. It means that you must first select that target in the Audio Station’s web based UI. You will then be prompted to select which AirPlay devices must be used. Once this is done, you can use the “Multiple AirPlay Device” target also within the Audio Station Apps for tablets and mobiles. There is no support (today) to select via the mobile App which devices are part of the target “Multiple AirPlay Device”.
Notice also that selecting the target device is really easy on a mobile phone via the App. First select the music to be played in a library. Then, on the next screen you will be able to select the target:
Audio Station Apps
For an unknown reason, it’s not as obvious with the App on my tablet ? To select the target on my table I have indeed to open the settings of the App. This is really not convenient at all!
Notice finally that each device has its own queue. So you can then switch between target devices and manage their queues independently.
