Active Backup for Business

DSM Version

Application component

Admin Console

General

Features

Specifications

Limitations

Personal Computer (Windows)

Specifications

Limitations

Personal Computer (Mac)

Specifications

Limitations

Physical Server (Windows)

Specifications

Limitations

Physical Server (Linux)

Specifications

Limitations

File Server (SMB)

Specifications

Limitations

File Server (rsync)

Specifications

Limitations

File Server (NetApp)

Specifications

File Server (Nutanix)

Specifications

Limitations

Virtual Machine

Specifications

Limitations

Synology NAS

Specifications

Limitations

Recovery Portal

Features

Specifications

Limitations

Affiliated Utility

Synology Active Backup for Business Agent

Features

Specifications

Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator

Features

Specifications

Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard

Features

Specifications

Application component

Admin Console

General

Features

  • Integrated backup solution for Windows and Linux physical servers, Windows and Mac computers, rsync and SMB file servers, and VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines
  • Centralized management interface to monitor the status of all backup tasks, storage consumption, and historical transmission
  • Various restoration methods including entire device restoration, instant restore, and granular file recovery
  • Maximizes backup and storage efficiency by adopting Changed Block Tracking (CBT), Resilient Change Tracking (RCT), and global deduplication
  • Minimizes service downtime by integrating the backup task with Virtual Machine Manager to replicate a production environment on Synology NAS
  • Flexible schedule and retention policies to customize the backup policy
  • Detailed logs and reports to keep track of backup statuses and troubleshoot problems

Specifications

  • A maximum of 10 file servers can be conccurently backed up on Active Backup for Business versions 2.2.0 and above
  • A maximum of 50 personal computers, physical servers, and virtual machines can be concurrently backed up on Active Backup for Business 2.2.0 and above. The actual number varies by RAM capacity:
    • Less than 8 GB: 10
    • Between 8 GB and 31 GB: 30
    • 32 GB or more: 50
  • Users with DSM admin permissions or delegated package permissions can use Active Backup for Business
  • Generates reports on customized schedule to track the overall backup status
  • Detailed logs and task history of device backup status, canceled tasks, backup failure, restoration migration, and device restoration
  • To choose which Synology NAS best suits your backup scenarios, you can refer to this article

Limitations

  • Compression or encryption at the backup destination is only available in Active Backup for Business 2.2.0 and above
  • Once compression or encryption at the backup destination is enabled, instant restore to Microsoft Hyper-V or Virtual Machine Manager isn't available on certain models
    • 19-series: RS1219+
    • 18-series: RS818RP+, RS818+
    • 17-series: FS3017, RS3617xs, DS1817+, DS1517+

Personal Computer (Windows)

Specifications

  • Supported platforms: Windows 11 (all editions), Windows 10 Creators Update (all editions), Windows 10 (all editions), Windows 8.1 (all editions), and Windows 7 SP1 (all editions)
  • Supports NTFS file system
  • Backup modes: Entire device, system volume, and customized volume backup
  • Restoration methods: Entire device restore, file/folder-level restore, and volume-based restore
  • Image-based backup backs up entire devices, including data and system configurations
  • Agent-based backup backs up and restores changed blocks found between snapshots (Download the agent from the Download Center)
  • Leverages Microsoft VSS-based Changed Block Tracking to perform incremental backups
  • Event-triggered backup events include locked device screen, users signing out, and device startups
  • Backup window for users to customize allowed and disallowed backup time
  • Supports inserting arguments (NAS IP address, username, password, and Active Backup for Business icon creation) to the .msi installer for mass deployment of Synology Active Backup for Business Agent

Limitations

  • Volumes larger than 64 TB cannot be backed up (Learn more)
  • The file system on the backup destination must be Btrfs
  • Supports backing up external hard drives only. Other external devices, such as floppy drives, thumb drives, and flash card readers are not supported
  • For backing up dynamic disks, only simple volumes are supported, while other types of volumes are not
  • Backing up personal computers with 4Kn disks is not supported
  • Restoring Windows storage space is not supported

Personal Computer (Mac)

Specifications

  • Supported platforms: macOS Catalina 10.15.7, macOS Big Sur 11, macOS Monterey 12, macOS Ventura 13, macOS Sonoma 14
  • Supports APFS file system
  • Backup modes: Entire device, system volume, and customized volume backup
  • Restoration methods: File/folder-level restore (via Recovery Portal only)
  • Agent-based backup backs up and restores changed blocks found between snapshots (Download the agent from the Download Center)
  • Leverages Apple Software Restore to perform incremental backups with the Changed Block Tracking feature
  • Backup window for users to customize allowed and disallowed backup times

Limitations

  • The file system on the backup destination must be Btrfs
  • Backing up encrypted disks created by users is not supported
  • Enabling Full Disk Access is required to perform backup and restoration
  • Supports backing up external hard drives with APFS format only. Other external devices, such as floppy drives, thumb drives, and flash card readers are not supported
  • For backing up dynamic disks, only simple volumes are supported, while other types of volumes are not
  • A full backup will be performed once every 20 backups to free up the storage after backup versions are rotated
  • Devices that are booted from external devices are not supported

Physical Server (Windows)

Specifications

  • Supported platforms: Windows 11 (all editions), Windows 10 Creators Update (all editions), Windows 10 (all editions), Windows 8.1 (all editions), Windows 7 SP1 (all editions), Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022
  • Supports NTFS file system
  • Backup modes: Entire device, system volume, and customized volume backup
  • Restoration methods: Entire device restore, file/folder-level restore, volume-based restore, and instant restore to VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, or Synology Virtual Machine Manager
  • Image-based backup backs up entire devices, including data and system configurations
  • Agent-based backup backs up and restores changed blocks found between snapshots (Download the agent from the Download Center)
  • Leverages Microsoft VSS-based Changed Block Tracking to perform incremental backups
  • Backup window for users to customize allowed and disallowed backup time
  • Supports inserting arguments (NAS IP address, username, password, and Active Backup for Business icon creation) to the .msi installer for mass deployment of Synology Active Backup for Business Agent
  • The supported operating systems for instant restore to Virtual Machine Manager are listed here

Limitations

  • Volumes larger than 64 TB cannot be backed up (Learn more)
  • The file system on the backup destination must be Btrfs
  • Supports backing up external hard drives only. Other external devices such as floppy drives, thumb drives, and flash card readers are not supported
  • For backing up dynamic disks, only simple volumes are supported, while other types of volumes are not
  • Backing up physical servers with 4Kn disks is not supported
  • Restoring Windows storage space is not supported

Physical Server (Linux)

Specifications

  • Available in Active Backup for Business 2.2.0 and above
  • Supports kernel versions between 2.6 and 6.8
  • Supported platforms: CentOS 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.5; RHEL 6.10, 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4; Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04, 24.04; Fedora 38, 39, 40; Debian 10, 11, 12
  • Supports ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS file system
  • Backup modes: Entire device, system volume, and customized volume backup
  • Restoration methods: Entire device restore, file/folder-level restore, volume-based restore, and instant restore to VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, or Synology Virtual Machine Manager
  • Image-based backup backs up entire devices, including data and system configurations
  • Agent-based backup backs up and restores changed blocks found between snapshots (Download the agent from the Download Center)
  • Leverages Linux snapshot driver-based Changed Block Tracking to perform incremental backups
  • Backup window for users to customize allowed and disallowed backup time
  • The supported operating systems for instant restore to Virtual Machine Manager are listed here

Limitations

  • Only the following device types are supported: /dev/sdx, /dev/hdx, /dev/vdx, /dev/nvmex, /dev/mdx
  • Backing up external devices is not supported
  • Backing up physical servers using 4Kn disks is not supported
  • Application-aware backup is not supported
  • Inserting arguments (NAS IP address, username, password, and Active Backup for Business icon creation) to the .msi installer for mass deployment of Synology Active Backup for Business Agent is not supported

File Server (SMB)

Specifications

  • Supported SMB protocol: SMB1, SMB2, and SMB3
  • Agentless backup
  • Backup modes: Multi-versioned, mirroring, and incremental backup
  • Restoration method: File/folder-level restore
  • Supports backing up Windows ACL
  • Supports Windows VSS to ensure backup data consistency
  • Performs backup tasks concurrently

Limitations

  • The file system on the backup destination must be Btrfs or ext4

File Server (rsync)

Specifications

  • Supports rsync 3.0 or above versions
  • Agentless backup
  • Backup modes: Multi-versioned, mirroring, and incremental backup
  • Restoration method: File/folder-level restore
  • Supports backing up Linux POSIX ACL
  • Supports rsync module mode, rsync shell mode over SSH, and rsync module mode over SSH
  • Supports authentication with a password or an SSH key
  • Supports block-level transfer, encryption, and bandwidth control
  • Performs backup tasks concurrently

Limitations

  • The file system on the backup destination must be Btrfs or ext4

File Server (NetApp)

Specifications

  • Supports NetApp ONTAP 9.11
  • Active Backup for Business performs file server backups via SMB
  • To back up the server, make sure that the account used to connect to the NetApp server in Active Backup for Business has at least read permissions
  • To back up and restore the server, make sure that the account used to connect to the NetApp server has read and write permissions

File Server (Nutanix)

Specifications

  • Supports Nutanix Files 3.6.5
  • Active Backup for Business performs file server backups via SMB
  • To back up the server, make sure that the account used to connect to the Nutanix server in Active Backup for Business has at least read permissions
  • To back up and restore the server, make sure that the account used to connect to the Nutanix server in Active Backup for Business has read and write permissions

Limitations

  • The Active Backup for Business Portal does not support restoring atime and mtime of files to Nutanix DFS

Virtual Machine

Specifications

  • Supports VMware vSphere platforms: VMware vSphere 5.0, 5.1, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 6.7, 7.0, and 8.0
  • Supports VMware vSphere versions: VMware free ESXi, VMware vSphere Essentials, VMware vSphere Essentials Plus, VMware vSphere Standard, VMware vSphere Advanced, VMware vSphere Enterprise, and VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus
  • Supports all types and versions of VMware virtual hardware, including 62TB VMDK
  • Supports Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors: Hyper-V 2016, Hyper-V 2019, and Hyper-V 2022
  • Supports Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM): System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2016, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2019
  • Supports Microsoft Hyper-V failover clusters: Hyper-V 2016, Hyper-V 2019, and Hyper-V 2022
  • Supports Hyper-V Generation 1 and 2 virtual machines, including 64 TB VHDX disks and virtual hardware versions from 5.0 to 9.0
  • For backing up Microsoft Hyper-V, a host's system volume with at least 512 MB of free storage space is required to install a data mover
  • Image-based backup to back up the entire devices, including data and system configurations
  • Agentless backup
  • Leverages VMware Changed Block Tracking and Hyper-V Resilient Change Tracking to perform incremental backup
  • Backup window for users to customize allowed and denied backup time
  • Restoration methods: Entire device restore, guest OS file/folder-level restore, and instant restore to VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, or Synology Virtual Machine Manager
  • For guest OS file level restoration, the supported Windows file systems are NTFS and FAT32 and the supported Linux file systems are NTFS, FAT32, ext3, and ext4
  • Application-aware backup for VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines running on Microsoft Windows 2003 SP1 or later (excluding Nano Server due to the absence of the VSS framework)
  • Supports backing up operating systems and applications supported by VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V
  • The supported operating systems when performing instant restore to Synology Virtual Machine Manager are listed in here

Limitations

  • The file system on the backup destination must be Btrfs
  • VMware vSphere
    • For VMware free ESXi, setting up pre/post scripts and restoring guest OS files through Active Backup for Business Portal are not supported
    • Encrypted virtual machines (available in VMware vSphere 6.5) are not supported
    • Fault tolerant machines (available in VMware vSphere 6.0) are not supported
    • VMware does not support taking snapshots of the following types of disks, so they will be skipped automatically when processing: Raw Device Mapping (RDM) disks in physical mode, independent disks, disks connected via in-guest iSCSI initiator, and disks engaged in SCSI bus sharing
    • Guest OS file level restore is not supported on virtual machines with the UFS file system
  • Microsoft Hyper-V
    • Only the backup of failover clusters and Hyper-V hosts under SCVMM is supported. vSphere hypervisors under SCVMM should be added as hypervisors directly
    • Pass-through virtual disks and guest disks connected via in-guest Fibre Channel or iSCSI are not supported and will be skipped automatically when processing

Synology NAS

Specifications

  • Supported models: Available on specific Synology NAS models
  • Backup modes: Entire device
  • Restoration methods: Entire device and file/folder-level restoration
  • Backup window for users to customize allowed and disallowed backup time

Limitations

  • Backing up external devices such as thumb drives and flash card readers is not supported
  • Encrypted volumes can only be backed up when the volumes are unlocked
  • Compatibility limitations for the source and destination Synology NAS servers during system recovery:
    • System recovery can only be done if the destination NAS model is identical or a successor to that of the source NAS (e.g., DS218+ can be restored on another DS218+ or DS220+)
    • The number of drives installed on the destination NAS should be more than or equal to that of the source NAS
    • The drives on the destination NAS must be installed in the exact same slot positions as the source NAS
    • The destination NAS must be comprised of drives of the same type. That is, the destination NAS cannot contain a mix of SSDs and HDDs

Recovery Portal

Features

  • Individual file/folder restoration to save the restoration time
  • Keyword searching for users to find the desired data easily

Specifications

  • Data restoration
    • Batch restoration of file/folder under the same directory
    • File/folder restoration to new devices (same operating system)
    • Backup data of Windows/Linux physical servers, file servers, and virtual machines belonging to partially successful backup versions can be restored
    • File/folder metadata that can be restored varies based on the restored systems:
      • Windows: Data Modified Time (mTime) and Accessed Time (aTime)
      • Mac: Data Modified Time (mTime), Accessed Time (aTime), File owner, File permission (ACL permission), and Extended Attribute
      • Linux: Data Modified Time (mTime), Accessed Time (aTime), File owner and File permission (ACL permission)
      • Virtual Machine: Data Modified Time (mTime), Accessed Time (aTime), Created Time (cTime), File permission (ACL permission), UID, and GID
  • Data download
    • Batch downloading file/folder under the same directory
    • File/folder downloaded in batch will be compressed to a single file
    • Backup data of Windows/Linux physical servers, file servers, and virtual machines belonging to partially successful backup versions can be downloaded

Limitations

  • Data restoration
    • For backup data of Windows PCs/physical servers that are encrypted by Windows Encryption File System (EFS), restoration is not supported
    • For backup data on Windows Server 2019 physical server/virtual machine disks with data deduplication enabled, restoration is not supported
    • Active Backup for Business Portal does not support file-level restorations for Fedora 40 systems that use the XFS file system
  • Data download
    • For backup data of Windows PCs/physical servers that are encrypted by Windows Encryption File System (EFS), download is not supported
    • For backup data on Windows Server 2019 physical server/virtual machine disks with data deduplication enabled, download is not supported
    • Active Backup for Business Portal does not support downloading data from Fedora 40 systems that use the XFS file system

Affiliated Utility

Synology Active Backup for Business Agent

Features

  • Required to be installed on the target device for Windows PCs, Mac, Windows/Linux physical servers to perform backup and restoration

Specifications

  • System requirements
    • Windows
      • Supported platforms: Windows 11 (all editions), Windows 10 Creators Update (all editions), Windows 10 (all editions), Windows 8.1 (all editions), Windows 7 SP1 (all editions), Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022
      • Supports Windows models with x86-64 processors
    • Mac
      • Supported platforms: macOS Catalina 10.15.7, macOS Big Sur 11, macOS Monterey 12, macOS Ventura 13, macOS Sonoma 14
      • Supports Intel and Apple processors
    • Linux
      • Available in Active Backup for Business 2.2.0 and above
      • Supported platforms: CentOS 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.5; RHEL 6.10, 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4; Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04, 24.04; Fedora 38, 39, 40; Debian 10, 11, 12
      • Supports Linux models with x86-64 processors
      • The kernel version must be above 2.6 and below 6.8
  • Only users with DSM admin permission can log out from the service and change the backup type

Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator

Features

  • Facilitates the creation of the recovery media automatically for volume-based/bare-metal restoration for Windows PC, Mac, and Windows/Linux physical server

Specifications

  • System requirements
    • Windows
      • Supported platforms: Windows 11 (all editions), Windows 10 Creators Update (all editions), Windows 10 (all editions), Windows 8.1 (all editions), Windows 7 SP1 (all editions), Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022
      • Supports Windows models with x86-64 processors
    • Mac
      • Supported platforms: macOS Catalina 10.15.7, macOS Big Sur 11, macOS Monterey 12, macOS Ventura 13, macOS Sonoma 14
      • Supports Intel and Apple processors
    • Linux
      • Available in Active Backup for Business 2.2.0 and above
      • Supported platforms: Supported platforms: CentOS 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.5; RHEL 6.10, 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4; Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04, 24.04; Fedora 38, 39, 40; Debian 10, 11, 12
      • Supports Linux models with x86-64 processors
  • Supported media types: USB/ISO images
  • Requires at least 2.5 GB local system volume storage capacity for temporary files
  • Requires at least 1 GB capacity for the USB drive and the volume to store ISO images
  • For Linux, recovery media can be downloaded directly from the Download Center (Learn more)

Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard

Features

  • Allows users to perform volume-based/bare-metal restoration for Windows PCs, Macs, and Windows/Linux physical servers with the recovery media users create

Specifications

  • System requirements
    • Windows
      • Supported platforms: Windows 11 (all editions), Windows 10 Creators Update (all editions), Windows 10 (all editions), Windows 8.1 (all editions), Windows 7 SP1 (all editions), Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022
      • Supports Windows models with x86-64 processors
    • Mac
      • Supported platforms: macOS Catalina 10.15.7, macOS Big Sur 11, macOS Monterey 12, macOS Ventura 13, macOS Sonoma 14
      • Supports Intel and Apple processors
    • Linux
      • Available in Active Backup for Business 2.2.0 and above
      • Supported platforms: CentOS 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.5; RHEL 6.10, 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4; Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04, 20.04, 22.04, 24.04; Fedora 38, 39, 40; Debian 10, 11, 12
      • Supports Linux models with x86-64 processors
  • Supported media types: USB/ISO images