Network Synology NAS setup

From NMTWiki

• A network share allows the NMT to stream/share media stored on network devices such as PC's, NAS devices, or servers. Currently, the NMT supports Samba (SMB), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Network File System (NFS & NFS-TCP). Your Synology NAS also supports those protocols and also has other built-in servers and applications itself.

• The Synology has its own inbuilt Multimedia server which uses DNLA/uPnP. Whilst this may be fine for most types of files/formats, you will not get the most out of your NMT unless you simply share the files with your NMT and let it process the files rather than the Synology. Personally I have the Synology multimedia app turned OFF. If you leave it turned ON then make sure that you access your Synology NAS through shared folders and not the Synology multimedia service.

• I will walk through the setting up of SMB/NFS services, setting up a User, creating/editing a shared folder, access rights/privileges, and finally the NMT Settings to access your Synology files/folders. I shall only select the required settings/options for quick and easy access to your Synology NAS. For more detailed information on exactly what each and every option does, checkout the DSM Help Guide by selecting the Green Help icon on the DSM webUI Home page.

• Quite often someone will say which is best SMB or NFS. This depends on a few variables and I have shown how to setup both so you can test either. If you have any part of your network that is not ethernet then NFS may be better. NFS is also quicker that SMB for streaming/sharing, the NMT and most NAS devices are Linux based with the NFS protocol being the native protocol.

• There are many with home networks that are based on Windows, which uses sharing via SMB usually. Don't confuse this with Windows Media Streaming/Windows Media Player which are not SMB shares. Windows users generally prefer SMB and with the 200 series, with it's more powerful chipset, SMB can stream even 1:1 Bluray content at 100/10 so there's no need to use NFS for any of the highest quality file streaming. Have a read of the WIKI articles on Network Share and Networking with Windows7 if you are coming from a Windows networking background. Some 100 series users may find it's worth testing NFS on high bitrate streaming.

• Personally I prefer a static internal ip setup for my network. It has enabled me to get a better understanding of the purpose of each settings and gain a better understanding when setting up network shares. Read this WIKI article if you are interested Network DHCP & Static IP.

Synology NAS Setup

• I have used DSM 3.1 to access the Synology NAS using my PC and Firefox.

Setting up SMB/NFS services

• Just like your NMT when the NMT Apps are installed your Synology has SMB and NAS serving abilities. You need to turn them ON and you need to ensure that your network devices are all on the same network with the correct settings.

• Access your Synology NAS as usual through your PC and the DSAssistant or saved bookmark and your favourite browser.

In Control Panel select the WIN/Mac/NFS icon

• The next Browser window that opens needs you to select the checkbox to enable Windows File Service. Without selecting this box the Workgroup/Domain tab will not be accessible.

In Control Panel select the WIN/Mac/NFS icon

• In the Workgroup/Domain tab enter the name of the Workgroup to which you wish your Synology NAS to join. This is NOT to be confused with a Homegroup that you may see on a Windows 7 PC. This is entirely different and your Workgroup can be obtained by entering your PC Control Panel and selecting System.

In Control Panel' select System, in this case the workgroup is called WORKGROUP the default on a Windows PC

• Enter the workgroup name exactly as you see it in your PC, note the upper case has been used:

Enter the exact name for the workgroup as displayed on your PC

• Finally for later on move to the NFS Service tab and enable the NFS service

On the NFS tab complete the checkbox to enable the NFS service

• Right that's the SMB and NFS sharing services enabled, we now need to setup a User and a Shared Folder.

Setting up a User

• You have your new NMT or Synology NAS and need to setup a User to access your NAS.

• First select the User icon from the Control Panel:

In Control Panel select the User icon

• We will add a new user called C200 but you can obviously call your user A300 or whatever you like. When in the User screen click on the Create button:

Select 'Create' in the newly opened browser window

• I will create a new User called C200 for my newly added PCH C200. I can call the User whatever I want but as in Settings > NMT Application on the NMT I change the name of my NMT from the default PCH-C200 to C200 I will use that. It's not mandatory as it is the user on the Synology NAS that we are creating to access and obviously there are many NAS users who wont have the NMT Apps installed.

Enter the User name. I use the same as the NMT Apps username from Settings > NMT Apps

• The C200 user details are completed with a description and also a password. NMJ requires read/write permissions so you should use a password. Remember though that like the NMT the Synology uses Linus and you must avoid using special characters

Username limitation: The user name is not case sensitive and should be from 1 to 64 Unicode characters, excluding the following symbols:

! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , / : ; < = > ? @ [ ] \ ^ ` { } | ~

The first character cannot be a minus sign or a space, and the last character cannot be a space. The user description can include up to 64 displayable Unicode characters.

Password limitation: The password is case sensitive and is limited up to 127 displayable characters, including letters, numbers, signs, and space.

• Next step is to select the users group to which the new user C200 will belong. here we select users as we dont want to give the new user administrators access:

Join the users group

• The List of Shared Folders opens in a new browser. select the Shared Folders that you wish to give the user access to. your folder may already be in the list in this case it is, its the multimedia folder. However if it is not and you need to add your files/folders to your Synology NAS don't worry just complete the ones you see correctly and move on as we will show how to create/add Shared Folder in the next part of the walk through:

Set the access rights/privileges to your Shared Folders

• The last two screens/steps are quick and painless:

Set any quota settings for the user, not needed

• The Quota screen can simply be skipped through before you get a screen displaying a summary of your selections that you then need to Apply:

Finally double check the settings and Apply

Setting up a Shared Folder including SMB/CIFS sharing

• You can store data in shared folders and share them with specific users by assigning different shared folder access rights to users. The maximum number of share folders is 100 (or 200*), including the system default shared folders.

• Shared folder naming rules include:

   System default shared folders: public(1), usbshare(2), satashare(2)
   Shared folder names reserved for system use only:
   global
   homes
   home
   printers
   .
   ..
   surveillance
   usbbackup

   Shared folder names are case insensitive and can be from 1 to 32 characters.
   The characters below are not allowed:

 ! " # $ % & ' ( ) * + , / : ; <= > ? @ [ ] \ ^ ` { } | ~ 

• The first character of a shared folder name cannot be a minus sign or a space, and the last character cannot be a space character either.
• The shared folder description is case sensitive and limited up to 64 displayable Unicode characters.
• On the 1-bay Synology NAS products, the "public" shared folder will be created automatically after configuring the system for the first time.
• A shared folder with the prefix "usbshare" or "satashare" will be created when the system detects an external USB drive or SATA drive with a valid file system. When the USB disk is ejected properly, the shared folder will be removed.

First select the Shared Folder icon in Control Panel

• Selecting the Shared Folder icon in Control Panel will display all of the Shared Folders on the NAS. The Shared Folders are top level folders that will usually have many files/folders in lower levels. All of those lower level files/folders will have the same access rights as the top level shared folder unless you alter them if you so wish.

A display of all of the Shared Folders

• The folder with all of my movie, music and tv files/folders called multimedia is displayed, as it was already created for other earlier NMT's. So I simply need to click on Edit and check for the new User C200 and assign it read/write access:

The user C200 has read/write access as NMJ requires write access. You can select the access rights from no access, read only and read/write to suit each of the shared folders

• If there was no folder than you simply add one, select Create and then enter the folder name, select Edit to assign access rights.

Adding lower level folders/files

• You obviously do not want all of your folders as top level shared folders. The setup is laborious in comparison with simply adding a folder on a PC. Don't worry as once you have your shared folder you can access it using File Browser straight from the Synology DSM webUI.

• Via File Browser you can see my multimedia folder has three folders tv, movies and finally music. Pressing Create here whilst in the multimedia shared folder in file browser allows my to create a new folder within the multimedia shared folder.

From within File Browser from Control Panel it is possible to add lower level folders and files

• Finally I add the folder photos:

Folder name of photos added

• Far simpler but not possible at top level of course. Those Shared Folders setup via Control Panel are only main folders that you should group your folders within bearing in mind who should have access and what type of access.

Setting up NFS Privileges

• To assign NFS privileges to a shared folder:

   Select the shared folder you want to edit from the shared folder list.
   Click NFS Privileges.
   Click Create to add an NFS rule.
   Enter Hostname or IP. You may specify a host in three ways:
       Single Host: The fully qualified domain name, or an IP address.
       Wildcards: *,* .synology.com
       IP networks: 203.74.205.32/255.255.252.0, /24
   Assign Privilege.
   Assign Root Squash.
   You can also select Enable asynchronous.
   Click OK to finish.
   Click OK to apply the NFS privileges.

Term Explanation

   Asynchronous: NFS servers will reply to requests before the changes on the file are completed.

• Select in Control Panel Shared Folder to display all of the top level Shared Folders. Select the folder that you wish to share, known as mount but we'll stick to sharing, as Windows users are more familiar with the term

.

Highlight the Shared Folder, multimedia in this example. Then select NFS Privileges

• Select Create again to create an access right and again a further window appears.

Select Create, you can create many rules for the NFS share

• Complete the entries, you can do this more than once to create multiple privileges if you do not have a static internal ip setup. The default values for root squash etc. have been left:

From within File Browser from Control Panel it is possible to add lower level folders and files

• You can see a summary of the access right/privilege you have created. You may add as many rules as you wish:

Summary of the created NFS privilege for the Shared Folder multimedia

• A static internal ip setup brings advantages to your networking. To see how to setup this see the WIKI Network DHCP & Static IP article. Do not confuse a static internal ip with a static ip, a static ip is entirely different and only available from some ISP's. They usually cost and are not required. Setting up a static internal ip setup is free and the Guide is self explanatory.

Setting up User Groups and User Permissions for 300 series

• The 300 series allows a Read Only share to be scanned and the resulting nmj_database folder to be written to the 300 internal storage. So we add a new user group for NMT access. In that we make sure that the Guest account only has Read Access to our multimedia folder.

A300 has been setup as a user. Select edit privileges	Login Details
User Groups - select the user group to make sure that group permissions do not over ride individual permissions	Privileges Setup double check BOTH preview and group permissions reflect how you wish the folder and user to act
Guest guest account is selected	Login login details
User Groups notice that here the user Guest does not belong to the User Groups Administration or PCH.	Permissions here you can see that the preview has changed and reflects Read Only for Guest.

Folder Access clicking on the shared folder in DSM shows exactly which user has access to which folders and what type of access. Read Only or Read/Write. Remember though to check the preview as shown above as your users group may have different access which over rides individual user permissions.

How-to create SMB and NFS network shares between your Synology & NMT

100/200 Series

• Now we have setup the Synology NAS to offer certain folders for access by the NMT. With the example of the C200 we have enabled read/write access to the mulitmedia folder via CIFS/SMB, which contains further folders with Movies, Music, TV, and now photos that we added whilst in File Browser in the guide earlier.

• So we now need to enter the details in the Network Share page in settings. Access the page and then select Browse. You should see both the SMB/CIFS and NFS server icons after pressing Browse:

Click Browse

• The next screen shows the servers available. Shown here are SMB and NFS servers.

Next screen shows your Server options

SMB Network Share setup

• Enter the SMB server, shown by the slightly different network icon and also as it displays the WORKGROUP which are not part of NFS.

All devices on the same WORKGROUP will be shown. In the example we have the Synology NAS CS407, a W7 PC called STREAMER and of course the C200 SMB server

• Enter the Synology NAS CS407 and you will be shown the Shared Folders:

• Double click on multimedia and you will then be presented with the screen to enter the details to finally complete setting up the share:

The multimedia folder is the one we have setup earlier and need to enter. Remember that although it shows all of the Shared Folders each user will have different access privileges.

• When you click on the multimedia folder the next browser screen will require you to enter some details. The top half will be auto-populated with the SMB protocol, the shared folder, and the Host Name or the ip of the device. The bottom half are the user/password details you created in the DSM webUI and for you to give the network share a name. You can use the IP rather than Host Name if you so wish, simply delete the Host Name and enter the Synology NAS IP:

The top half will be auto-populated. You need to only give your Network Share a name of your choice and enter the NAS user and password details that you created when in the DSM webUI

• Click add to save the details. When next in the Main Sources screen if you highlight your Network icon you will see your saved network share name displayed:

NMJ SMB Network Share is displayed beneath the Network Browser

• Simply click on the saved network share and you are taken straight to your NAS SMB saved folder location. Pressing RED on your remote will then create the NMJ nmj_database folder within your multimedia folder:

Clicking on NMJ takes you straight to the NAS multimedia folder

NFS Network Share setup

• NFS share setup is very similar to SMB setup. Again go to Settings > Network Share and select Browse.

• Then select the NFS Server option rather than the SMB Server:

NFS Server should be selected

• All of your network devices that are serving NFS shares/mounts are displayed. In the example we have the Synology CS407 NAS on 192.168.1.176 and the C200 NFS Server on 192.168.1.123. We obviously want the Synology on 192.168.1.176:

Check the ip's and select the correct one for your Synology NAS

• Any Folders on your NAS that have NFS setup will be displayed. Here two folders multimedia and test files. Note the full path is shown /volume1/multimedia. Most NAS devices will have RAID arrays so your RAID volume name is part of the path:

NFS shares are displayed

• Selecting the /volume1/multimedia NFS folder then opens the same browser window as for SMB shares. Again the top half is auto-populated. Note the Protocol is NFS, there is an additional option of NFS-TCP. The Share Name is one to create, I call it NMJ NFS to distinguish between the SMB share created earlier simply called NMJ. The user/password are from your NAS created user/password from the DSM webUI and detailed earlier:

Network Share settings entered.

• Now when in the Sources/Home Screen and on the Network icon you can see the saved SMB and NFS network shares. Simply clicking on one will open a direct share to the multimedia folder:

Both SMB NMJ share and NFS NMJ NFS saved shares are available for direct access

300 Series

• There are two ways to save shares on the 300 series. You can browse and then use the yellow button to save a share or you can manually enter the share via the Settings > Network Share option. We shall use the browse and add via yellow button method as that method automatically enters the correct protocol SMB/NFS and the share leaving you only to name the folder on the player and enter the user name and login for your share.

NFS Network Share setup

• On the main screen move the cursor so that Networked Media icon is highlighted

Select the Networked Media icon

• Then select the Network Browser option from the top of the list.

Select the top option

• Then select the NFS Server option rather than the SMB Server which shows as the WORKGROUP name.

NFS Server should be selected

• All of your network devices that are serving NFS shares/mounts are displayed. In the example we have the Synology CS407 NAS on 192.168.1.176:

Check the ip's and select the correct one for your Synology NAS

• Any Folders on your NAS that have NFS setup will be displayed. Here two folders multimedia and test files. Note the full path is shown /volume1/multimedia. Most NAS devices will have RAID arrays so your RAID volume name is part of the path:

NFS shares are displayed

• Highlight the /volume1/multimedia and press the yellow key on your remote opens the same browser window as you see when you manually add a network share via the Settings menu when using the main player menu options.

Network Share windows opens

• The top half is auto-populated as we used the network browser and added a share via the yellow button. Note the Protocol is NFS, there is an additional option of NFS-TCP. The Share Name is one to create, I call it multimedia-nfs to distinguish between the SMB shares. The user/password are from your NAS created user/password from the DSM webUI and detailed earlier:

Network Share settings saved.

• Now when in the Sources/Home Screen and on the Network icon you can see the saved SMB and NFS network shares. Simply clicking on one will open a direct share to the multimedia folder:

Both SMB NMJ share and NFS multimedia-nfs saved shares are available for direct access

SMB Network Share setup

• As with the NFS share choose the Network Media icon and enter the Network Browser.

• Select the SMB server, shown by the display of the WORKGROUP name which is the default name WORKGROUP on our player.

Select the WORKGROUP

All devices on the same WORKGROUP will be shown. In the example we have the Synology NAS CS407, a W7 PC called STREAMER and of course the A300 SMB server

• Enter the Synology NAS CS407 and you will be shown the Shared Folders:

The available shared folders will be shown

• Highlight the multimedia folder and press the yellow button on your remote and you will then be presented with the screen to enter the details to finally complete setting up the share:

Enter your name for the share and your user and login details for the folder

• When you click on the multimedia folder the next browser screen will require you to enter some details. The top half will be auto-populated with the SMB protocol, the shared folder, and the Host Name or the ip of the device. The bottom half are the user/password details you created in the DSM webUI and for you to give the network share a name. You can use the IP rather than Host Name if you so wish, simply delete the Host Name and enter the Synology NAS IP:

The top half will be auto-populated. You need to only give your Network Share a name of your choice and enter the NAS user and password details that you created when in the DSM webUI

• Simply click on the saved network share and you are taken straight to your NAS SMB saved folder location. Pressing left you can enter NMJ Manager and create a NMJ Jukebox for example. This will then create the NMJ nmj_database folder within your multimedia folder unless the share is Read Only in which case it will write the folder on the internal local storage.

Clicking on muiltimedia takes you straight to the NAS multimedia folder

References

• Network Share for how to setup PC shared folders/drives.
• Network DHCP & Static IP for details on how to access your network details.
• Networking with Windows7 extra tips for W7 users.
• Synology Download Centre for Synology Software, Firmware, and Manuals.
• Synology Official WIKI
• Synology Tutorials and DSM 3.1
• NMJ and NMJ FAQ