Some of the work I do builds tools to automate processes. Mainly using scripts... and then sometimes those scripts are fed into other tools. Large corporations run tools like FireEye, McAfee EPO, Tanium, etc... and these tools have the ability to perform tasks based on input such as a script.

One of those things you might want to do with a script is to collect data based on an event. So take FireEye as an example: FireEye detects a callback (this is malware trying to talk) and sends a command to the computer to run a NETSTAT output to a file and then copy the file to a network location. The NAS would be that location... but scripting can get complicated when trying to also perform interactive logins.

So there are some reasons to have shares available that are not locked down.

This issue is very straight forward. When you create your shares or edit them after they are created you need to check the access for Guest.

I thought that was it and had issues because I forgot the other most important step. I should have said to do this first but this is how troubleshooting works... the most important is usually the last thing we try. You MUST enable the Guest account by un-checking the Disabled box. DO NOT CHANGE THE PASSWORD.

That is it. Super simple.

Reference

https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?p=167925#167925

One of my smaller Synology's seems to be having some strange connectivity issues all of the sudden. I cannot connect to it via SMB/NBT any more even though the firewall clearly allows it and it will not longer send emails via the notification settings. Normally I would troubleshoot this but today I'd rather see if I can reinstall the DSM OS without affecting my 16TB of data.

The reason this is going to be a short post is because the process is simple and already documented at https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/DSM/tutorial/General/How_to_reset_your_Synology_NAS

Currently this Synology 1815+ is running DSM 5.2 and I would like to go to DSM 6.0. I will be posting more about the issues with going to DSM 6.0 later but I can tell you that it handles virtual web sites WAY WAY better than DSM 5.x almost to the point where you no longer need HAPROXY.

Update: I decided I was going to take the plunge and move my main NAS (1815+) from DSM 5.2 over to DSM 6. I have already done this once on my baby NAS (which runs this site) and other than some Mono package issues it was about as rough as expected. Not everything came over doing a straight upgrade. Because of this I decided to do a fresh install of DSM 5 and then do an upgrade to DSM 6 without any packages or configurations to complicate the process.

To do this the question is, how do I reinstall the operating system without destroying my massive amount of data? Luckily Synology has an answer. Not the best answer, but an answer. You can find the instructions in the link below.

https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/DSM/tutorial/General/How_to_reset_your_Synology_NAS

Basically you hold down the Reset button for 4 seconds, let go for 2 seconds, hold down for 4 seconds again. This resets to factory default WITHOUT touching your data. This also means that your application data from old applications are still on the volumes you chose to install them on so some applications such as MariaDB will get loaded back on and be just like before version 6.

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For the most part version 6 has been much better. Performing the upgrade had no impact on my data however I am a bit OCD so I re-organized all my data any ways when I went from 16TB to 40TB. 

Synology is clearly trying to head more towards corporate customers than home consumers with things such as their Presto File App and other subscription based apps.

The biggest losses I found going from version 5 to 6 where:

1. No more VirtualBox in the App Store
2. Limited support for Plex
3. IDS/IPS was here and then was gone.

It isn't that big of a deal though. You still have DOCKER which means you can run VirtualBox in a Docker. You can also run lots of IDS/IPS type of systems such as Bro so that isn't a requirement but it was nice to see the logging go into Log Center... which you can still also do with some configuration tweaks. And Plex still works even though it isn't supported.

Most people who own Synology NAS appliances will probably only utilize the DiskStation Manager (DSM)'s interface. However for those who like CLI administration and are used to it from using *nix Synology supports that as well. There are a lot of files and information that are hidden from the DSM view. If you ever have an issue running a package you most likely will not resolve it WITHOUT using the command line.

You need to configure SSH access in the control panel. If you go into the control panel you are looking for Terminal & SNMP.

Couldn't find it? It is considered an advanced option so you have to click the Advanced Mode link to display the icon.

Once you have it open you need to check the box next to Enable SSH service and click OK.

Ok, so up until this point everything is the same between DSMv5 and DSMv6. Now the differences begin...

Logging In As Root

Version 5 - Using a SSH client such as PuTTy connect to your Synology on the port you set in the control panel. Login as root and use the same password as what you have for the admin account.

Version 6 - This version added some additional security so it doesn't allow a direct SSH login using the root account. In more advanced topics we will talk about how to change this but for now we can still do everything we need to do by logging in with the admin account (or any account in the administrators group). Then once logged in you can switch user over to the root account in order to complete any required administration. Type this command and when prompted put in the password for the admin account you logged in with.

admin@SynoNAS:~$ sudo su -
Password:
root@SynoNAS:~#

Using my clairvoyance I know I will refer to this process many times in my future posts.