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Category: Synology

Basic Setup of Ubiquiti Wireless Controller on Synology NAS

This is the third in a series that documents the Tier 3 / Co-Managed IT work we did to setup a wireless test bed for a Linux based scientific device. The testing environment included two different wireless network hardware types (Ubiquiti and Cisco). There was also a Synology device used for various purposes including hosting the Ubiquiti controller inside a Kubernetes container, providing certificate services, providing LDAP authentication, and providing RADIUS authentication. Each article will detail a separate piece of the project. This article shows the basic setup of Ubiquiti Wireless Controller as a Docker instance on the Synology.

Setup Synology for Docker Container

  1. Login to Synology via HTTP
  2. Open Package Manager
  3. Search for Docker & InstallSynology Docker Package
  4. Open Docker
  5. Click on Container tab
    • Click Create
    • Select the image just downloaded and click Next
    • Select Use the same network as Docker Host and click Next
    • Give the container a name
    • Enable resource limitations (increase memory for larger installations)
    • Enable auto-restart then click nextSynology Docker General Settings
    • Click on Advanced Settings
    • Add environment variables
      • BIND_PRIV = false
      • RUNAS_UID0 = falseSynology Docker Advanced Settings
  6. Click Add Folder
    • Highlight the Docker folder and click Create folder then create a Unifi folder and then highlight it and click Select Synology Docker Add Volume
    • Change Mount path to /unifi then Next
    • Click Done

Configure Ubiquiti Controller

  1. Login to new controller – https://[IPAddressofSynology]:8443/manage
  2. Name the Ubiquiti Controller and Check the agree to terms box then click Next
  3. Change to Advanced settings
  4. Turn off remote and Ubiquiti account
  5. Create administrator user
  6. Create password
  7. Create admin email then click Next
  8. Enable Auto Backup and click Next
  9. Skip device setup by clicking Next
  10. Skip Wifi setup by clicking Skip
  11. Change time zone if needed and Click Finish

Setup Wireless Access Point

  1. Connect access point to same network
  2. Adopt in controller
    • Find IP address of access point
    • SSH into access point
    • Login with defaults ubnt / ubnt
    • Type: set-inform https://[IPAddressofSynology]:8080/inform
  3. Login to Controller – https://[IPAddressofSynology]:8443/manage
    • Click on Devices on the left
    • Click on access point and choose Adopt

If your company has highly customized setup requirements that you need consulting for, then contact us for assistance.

Basic Setup of Synology NAS

This is the second in a series that documents the Tier 3 / Co-Managed IT work we did to setup a wireless test bed for a Linux based scientific device. The testing environment included two different wireless network hardware types (Ubiquiti and Cisco). There was also a Synology device used for various purposes including hosting the Ubiquiti controller inside a Kubernetes container, providing certificate services, providing LDAP authentication, and providing RADIUS authentication. Each article will detail a separate piece of the project. This article shows the basic setup of Cisco Wireless Controller.

Setup of Synology NAS

  1. Physically install hard drives into bays
  2. Plug into network
  3. Plug into power
  4. Find IP address by pinging ‘Diskstation’ on network
  5. Start web browser and connect to IP address
  6. Run Setup Wizard
  7. Install Synology OS on drives
  8. Wait for reboot
  9. Start setup
    • Give it a name
    • Create admin account / password
    • Install only important updates automatically
    • Sign-In to or Create Synology Account
    • Create quickconnect ID
    • Enable DSM backups
  10. Create storage pool
    • If it states that no drives are available – check under HDD/SSD to see if there are required firmware updates. Install all available.
    • Use SHR-2 RAID
    • Choose all drives to be in the RAID (not m.2 cache drive)
    • Use Max Allocated size
    • Use Btrfs file system
    • Click Apply
    • Click OK to erase all drives
  11. Open Package Center App
    • Accept terms of service
    • Update any Installed
    • Install LDAP Server and RADIUS Server
    • Close Package Manager

If your company has highly customized setup requirements that you need consulting for, then contact us for assistance.

Synology Active Backup Restore to Hyper-V

Prerequisites:

  • Make sure Hyper-V Host has CPUs than the combined total of CPUs for all servers being restored as these static until after the VMs are completely restored. If there is not enough CPU resources then the VMs will not boot.
  • Make sure Hyper-V Host has more than the combined total of RAM for all servers being restored as these settings are static until after the VMs are completely restored. If there is not enough memory then the VMs will not boot. 
  • Create a SET NIC Team on the server (if you have multiple NICs)
    • Open Powershell as administrator
    • User the New-VMSwitch command to setup an external virtual switch to connect to for live connections
      • New-VMSwitch -name “SET team” -NetAdapterName “NIC1″,”NIC2” -AllowManagementOS $True
      • The AllowManagementOS is needed if you are using the same NIC team to access the VM host
  • Setup secondary Internal vSwitch to allow for testing before deploying
  • Setup Synology LUN targets for each VM to be restored. Make sure that they are big enough to hold all the full uncompressed size of the entire thick provisioned hard drives for the entire server. 
  • Connect each LUN to the iSCSI Initiator on the VM Host. Make sure to bring them online, initialize them, and give them a drive letter. Synology needs this because it uses the SMB protocol to transfer the files during restore.
  • Make sure to allow the File and Printer Sharing app through the Windows firewall and open port 5986 to allow HTTP traffic for WinRM to allow Synology to query the Hyper-V settings.
  • Add the Hyper-V Host to the Active Backup for Business app.

Synology Active Backup Restore to Hyper-V

  1. Open the Active Backup for Business app
  2. Click on the Physical Server tab on the left
  3. Select the server and click the Restore button
  4. Select the point in time to restore from Graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message Description automatically generated
  5. Choose Restore to Microsoft Hyper-V
  6. Choose Full Virtual Machine Restore
  7. Change the Restore Name
  8. Select a folder on the Hyper-V Host to place the configuration files Graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message Description automatically generated
  9. Select a folder on the Hyper-V Host to place each of the restore VHD files
  10. Select a Virtual Switch on the Hyper-V Host to connect the VM to Graphical user interface, text, application Description automatically generated
  11. Confirm the settings by clicking on the Done button.

After:

  • The VMs will boot with a single NIC and no network settings. Keep them offline and add additional NICs as needed to match the original setup. Then configure the NICs as before upon reboot. Make sure to connect to Internal Test Switch for initial steps. 
  • Check hardware configuration of CPUs and RAM to determine if adjustments can be made. In particular, the RAM settings can be changed to startup, minimum, and maximum to allow for distribution of resources to VMs that have heavier workloads.
  • Boot VM to make sure it is functioning correctly.  (first bootup can take upwards of 15 minutes)
  • Convert the VM from Gen1 to Gen2
    • Download Windows 10 ISO – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
    • Add Windows ISO to IDE controller as CD 
    •  Set boot to CD in VM Settings 
    • Boot VM to repair section of CD 
    • Boot to command prompt
      • diskpart 
      • list disk   (Make boot disk is in 0 spot)
      • exit
      • X:\>mbr2gpt /validate /disk:0 (select proper disk) 
      • X:\>mbr2gpt /convert /disk:0 
    • Create new VM with Gen2 setting
      • Give the VM a name and Store in appropriate iSCSI LUN drive then Click Next 
      • Select Gen 2 and click Next
      • Give the VM as much startup memory as needed and Use Dynamic Memory then Click Next Graphical user interface, text, application, email Description automatically generated
      • Select the Internal Test Switch and click Next
      • Select an existing hard drive and point to boot drive that was converted to Gen 2 then click Next Graphical user interface, text, application, email Description automatically generated
      • Click Finish to create
      • Modify to match old VM
        • Check Dynamic RAM settings to make sure the Max / Min is set properly
        • Check Hard drives and add additional as needed
        • Turn off Secure Boot function
  • Boot new Gen 2 VM and configure static IP address.
  • If booting successfully then delete Gen 1 VM 
  • Turn of old server as needed
  • Change Gen 2 VM to use SET Team vSwitch 
  • Test connectivity to network resources. 

If your company is looking to migrate from physical to virtual servers, then contact us to make the transition easy.

RMM Automation: Synology Resource Monitoring

As our business continues to focus on providing white labeled Tier 3 IT support services, RMM as a service, and co-managed IT services this blog will be highlighting tips for Synology resource monitoring. We have developed best practices for alerting on a Synology device for resources like CPU, Memory, and Disk Usage. When these Synology resource monitoring alerts are consistently triggered it show that the device is over utilized or if they remain triggered for long periods of time then it shows there is an issue on the device itself. We also setup weekly Storage Reports to get an accurate view of the changes and growth going on with client storage.

Setup Notifications

Make sure that Notifications are setup on the Synology first

  1. Open Control Panel
  2. Click on Notifications
    • Check enable email notifications
    • Choose Service Provider
    • Login to Gmail or use Custom SMTP server for Office 365 as the sender
    • Change Subject to indicate name of device
    • Add recipient email (Best to use one that ties into a PSA or RMM)
    • Click Apply
    • Send a Test Email

Setup Synology Resource Monitoring

  1. Open Resource Monitor app
    1. Click on Performance Alarm to the left
    2. Click on Rules tab
    3. Click Create
    4. Create the following Rules one by one
      1. Volume Critical
        1.  Select which volume [create multiple rules if more than one volume]
        2. Select Disk I/O utilization
        3. Greater than 90%
        4. Level Critical
      2. Volume Warning
        1.  Select which volume [create multiple rules if more than one volume]
        2. Select Disk I/O utilization
        3. Greater than 75%
        4. Level Warning
      3. System Memory Critical
        1. Memory Usage
        2. Greater than 90%
        3. Level Critical
      4. System Memory Warning
        1. Memory Usage
        2. Greater than 75%
        3. Level Warning
      5. System CPU Critical
        1. CPU Usage
        2. Greater than 90%
        3. Level Critical
      6. System CPU Warning
        1. CPU Usage
        2. Greater than 75%
        3. Level Warning
    5. Click Settings and check box to Enable usage history then click Save

Setup Storage Reports

  1. Open Storage Analyzer
    1. Select new location
    2. Create new shared folder named Log Files – hide from network
    3. Go back to Storage Analyzer and select new folder
    4. Set volume usage data to be collected Daily at 2am 
    5. Create report task
      1. Send to email (Best to use one that ties into a PSA)
      2. Generate reports at Monday 4am
      3. Keep 60 reports then click Next
      4. Select report items
        1. Volume Usage
        2. Shared Folders
        3. Potential Duplicate Files
        4. Large Files
        5. Least Recently Modified Files then click Next
      5. Analyze all folders then click Next
      6. Leave duplicate file defaults then click Next
      7. Click Done
    6. Close App

Once this is setup you will start getting email alerts sent to you or better yet your PSA / RMM for ticket creation and review.

If your company is a MSP or wants to become one and automation just seems out of reach, then contact us to run your RMM for you.

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