Requirements and Limitations

This section will explain the preliminary requirements and limitations to quickly get you familiar with Virtual Machine Manager, as well as help you configure your Synology NAS before you start creating the virtualization cluster.

Host

A host is a Synology NAS server that contributes computing or/and storage resources in the virtualization cluster. In Virtual Machine Manager, you can have up to 7 hosts in a cluster.

Virtual Machine

In Virtual Machine Manager, you can create multiple virtual machines. A virtual machine can run on one host, and you will be prompted to choose its host the first time you power on the virtual machine. Its operating system, also known as the guest OS, can be chosen from the system images, and it will be automatically installed upon creation. You can also migrate computing resources of a virtual machine from one host to another. Live migration refers to the process of moving a running virtual machine between hosts without disrupting its availability and connection.

Note:

High Availability

You can enable High Availability on the virtual machine if there are at least three hosts in the cluster. To enable High Availability, you must choose one host as the active server and another as the passive server. If the active server malfunctions while the passive server is functioning normally, the system will automatically perform a switchover without disrupting the availability and connection of the virtual machine. On the other hand, if the active server is inaccessible or the virtual machine is unexpectedly offline, the system will perform a failover.

Synology High Availability

Virtual Machine Manager works with Synology High Availability for better availability. However, you must set up an SHA cluster before installing and using Virtual Machine Manager. For further information, please refer to Synology High Availability

Note:

Virtualization Cluster

A virtualization cluster contains the following resources:

Before You Start

Before you start setting up the virtualization cluster, please note the following information and configure your Synology NAS servers accordingly: