File Server
In File Server, servers communicating with SMB or Rsync can be protected.
For Active Backup for Server users:
Since Active Backup for Business is the upgraded version of Active Backup for Server, the previous backup tasks created and run on the Active Backup for Server will remain, and continue to be protected in Active Backup for Business under the category, File Server.
Note:
- For more information on how to share folders on a Microsoft Windows server, please refer to Microsoft’s TechNet official website. For more information on how to set up rsync on a Linux server, please refer to this website.
- To use SMB to transfer files, please make sure that port 139 (netbios-ssn), 445 (microsoft-ds), 137 (Nmbd), or 138 (Nmbd) is enabled on your source server.
- To back up another Synology NAS using SMB, please log into the source Synology NAS, go to Control Panel > File Services > SMB/AFP/NFS, tick the Enable SMB service checkbox, and then click Apply.
- Due to diffrent backed up format of file server, the size shown in Overview is the size of the source data instead of the size after deduplication. Users can only go to Storage Manager > Volume to view the actual usage.
Create Backup Tasks
Depending on your source, you can create SMB Backup or Rsync Backup tasks in the corresponding tabs.
To create a backup task:
- Click Create to start the wizard.
- Select your backup mode:
- Multi-versioned: each time the task runs, a new version of the changes at the source will be copied in its entirety to a new folder at the destination.
Note: For Linux sources, block transfer can be configured at a later stage in the setup.
- Mirroring: each time the task runs, all changes made in the source folder will be copied to the destination and overwrite the existing file, making the destination folder a complete mirror copy of the source.
- Incremental: each time the task runs, newly added and modified source files will be copied to the destination, overwriting the previous version of the file.
Please see the table below to learn the variations of final backup files on DSM with three different types of backup modes.

- Do the following to configure your backup task:
- For SMB Backup: enter your Server address, Account, and Password.
- For Rsync Backup: enter your Server address, Port, and Account, and select Connection Mode and Authentication method from the drop-down menus.
- Rsync backup offers three connection modes: rsync module mode (which offers data transmission without encryption), rsync shell mode over SSH, and rsync module mode over SSH.
- Rsync backup offers two authentication methods: by password or by SSH key.
- Click Next to continue.
- Indicate what you want to transfer using the following four states:
All subordinate folders and files in this folder will not be backed up.
All subordinate folders and files in this folder will be backed up.
Only the subordinate folders you have selected in this folder will be backed up.
The files in this folder and the subordinate folders you have selected will be backed up.
- Click Next to continue.
- Enter your Task name and Local path, and set a Schedule for your backup task.
- If you are configuring Rsync Backup, you have the option of configuring Bandwidth as well as enabling compression and block transfer.
- If you selected Multi-versioned as your backup mode, you will have the option to set up a Rotation policy to manage backup versions by automatically deleting unwanted versions and potentially freeing up storage space.
- Keep All Versions: All the backed-up versions will be preserved.
- GFS(Grandfather-Father-Son) Retention Policy:
At least one rule needs to be configured if select the GFS retention policy.
Every configured rule overlap with each other. You may choose how many days, weeks, months or years of versions will be kept. Different retention policies can be set up to customize your own retention policy.
For example, if you want to keep all versions for the first 30 days and the latest version of each day for the second 30 days . You should insert 30 days for Keep all versions for how many days and insert 30 days for Keep the last one version of the day for how many days.
- Check your task settings and click Apply to finish creating your backup task.
Note:
- Files will not be backed up by Active Backup for Business under the following circumstances:
- The file/folder path is longer than 4096 characters.
- The file/folder name is longer than 255 characters.
- The file/folder name is " . " or " .. "
- The file/folder name contains @ActiveBackup or target.db.
- The file/folder under encrypted share, names longer than 135 characters.
- SMB Backup does not support Microsoft accounts.
- SMB Backup does not back up junction points.
- SMB Backup supports Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to ensure data consistency. Windows VSS is supported on Windows Server 2012 and above. By enabling VSS on the Windows server, Active Backup for Server can create a volume shadow copy of VSS-aware server applications that store data on remote SMB file shares.
- Administrative shared folders (E.g. C$, D$) do not support Windows VSS by default.
- Authentication by SSH key will require a SSH key. Supported key types include rsa2, dsa, ecdsa, and ed25519, while rsa1 and SSH keys with a passphrase are not supported.
Manage Backup Tasks
In the task view, you can see a list of all the backup tasks that have been created. You can also manage them with the buttons at the top of the tab.
To edit backup tasks:
- Select the backup task you want to edit and click Edit.
- Here you can modify remote server information, connection mode and authentication method, adjust backup folder and file filter settings, enable and disable backup schedule, and configure other settings.
- If you selected Multi-versioned as your backup mode, you can also edit backup rotation settings.
To manage file filters:
- Select the backup task and click Edit > File Filter.
- You can exclude specific files from backup jobs based on their file types, or create custom filters with the following methods:
- Filenames: Create custom filters with filenames. Files with designated filenames will be excluded from backup.
- File extension: Create custom filters with file extensions. Files with designated file extensions will be excluded from backup. You can specify file extensions by adding *.extension (e.g. *.iso).
- Wildcard characters: You can use wildcard characters (*) for more advanced filename filters.
Note:
- File Filter only filters out files and not folders.
- The wildcard represents zero or more non-space characters. Please see examples below:
- a* can represent any word starting with a, such as account, apple.
- *e can represent any word ending with e, such as apple, table.
- *12* can represent any word that contains 12, such as 2012, 1220, 341256.
To run backup tasks:
You can set up a backup schedule during setup so your backup tasks will run regularly according to your schedule, or you can click Back up to run your task immediately.
To restore backup tasks:
- Select the task you want to restore and click Restore.
- Select a restoration method you prefer:
- Custom location - overwrite
- Custom location - skip
- Original location - overwrite
- Original location - skip
- Select the folders or files you want restored and click Next.
- If you want to restore to a custom location, please select the destination folder you want the data to be restored in and click Next.
- Check your settings and click Restore to commence restoration.
Note:
For information on how to back up and restore a Microsoft SQL or Exchange server, please refer to the following tutorials.
To delete backup tasks:
- Select the backup task you want to delete.
- Click Delete.
To enable email notification:
Go to Control Panel > Notification > Advanced, and select the events you want to be notified of.
To enable Recycle Bin:
Go to Control Panel > Shared Folder, and select the shared folder that stores the backup data, then click Edit > General > Enable Recycle Bin.
Note:
- Backup and restoration tasks cannot be run at the same time.
- By designating specific paths, multiple backup tasks can be set up with each source server.
- To restore tasks, Synology NAS requires write permission to the source server.
- If Synology NAS does not have access permission to files on the source server, those files will be skipped during backup.
- Remote shell mode only supports transfer encryption.
- Backup/restore tasks cannot be resumed if they are stopped or disconnected. To lower the chances of tasks being disconnected, please make sure your internet connection is stable and your bandwidth is sufficient before running your task.
- Recycle Bin is not supported on Rsync Mirror Backup.