File Server
In the File Server page, servers communicating with SMB or rsync protocol 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 different backed up format of file servers, 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.
To add a file server:
Before creating a backup task for a file server, you will need to connect to a file server first. Please follow the instructions below to add a file server.
- Go to File Server > File Servers and click Add Server to connect to a file server.
- Select your server type and click Next.
- Enter the following information of the server depending on the server type you selected and click Apply.
- For SMB server: Enter your Server address, Account, and Password.
Note:
- Please ensure My Network Places is enabled on the SMB server.
- Please ensure the file server permission settings are properly configured. You can refer to this article for more information on the required file server permissions.
- For rsync server: 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.
To create a backup task:
- In File Server > File Servers, select the file server you wish to back up and click Create Task.
- 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.

- Click Next to continue.
- Indicate what you wish 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 Retention 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.
- Apply the following methods:
You need to set at least one policy if you check Apply the following methods.
Keep only the latest versions means the maximum number of the recent versions you may keep. The exceeding versions will be rotated based on the Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) retention policy or will be deleted when no other retention policy is configured.
Synology employs the Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) retention policy. You can configure the time ranges of backup versions to be retained for the following time ranges respectively: daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. If more than one backup version exists within a time range, only the latest one will be kept. For example, if you set a policy as Keep the latest version of the day for 1 day for the backup task which will be run every hour per day, only the version backed up at 23:00 will be kept.
Please note that every configured policy overlaps with each other. For example, if you would like to set the policy as keeping daily backup versions in the first three months, weekly backup versions in the second three months, and monthly backup versions in the third three months. Please tick the checkboxes and insert the numbers as the below picture displays.

The duration of 24 weeks includes the previous daily backup versions of 90 days, and the first weekly backup will be equal to the seventh daily backup. The duration of 9 months also includes the previous weekly backup versions of 24 weeks and daily backup versions of 90 days, and the first monthly backup will be equal to the fourth weekly backup.

- 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 an 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 List tab, 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 wish 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 the backup task.
- File extension: Create custom filters with file extensions. Files with designated file extensions will be excluded from the backup task. 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 the 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 wish 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 wish to restore and click Next.
- If you wish to restore to a custom location, please select the destination folder you wish 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 wish to delete.
- Click Delete.
To enable email notification:
Go to Control Panel > Notification > Advanced, and select the events you wish 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.