Knowledge Center

Migration Wizard

The Migration Wizard will be automatically launched when no migration tasks had ever been performed on the destination Synology NAS. The Migration Wizard will guide you through the migration task setup process. If you have executed migration tasks before, you can choose Run New Task from the main page to set up and start a new migration task.

Before You Start

Before you start, check the settings on both of your Synology NAS:

  • On the source device:
    • High Availability cluster, MailPlus cluster, and Time Backup must be removed first.

      • Note: High Availability cluster does not need to be removed if your source device is RC18015xs+ or SA3200D.

    • Requires DSM 6.0 or above. However, we recommend updating to the latest version.
    • Please note that if the source device is the destination of Snapshot Replication and is running 6.1.2-0173 or earlier version, the replicated shared folders and LUNs will be deleted from the source device after migration. If you want to retain the Snapshot Replication data on the source device, you must upgrade to at least DSM 6.1.3 and Snapshot Replication 7.0.3-0310.
  • On the destination device:
    • Set up storage pools in Storage Manager first, as data will be migrated on a volume/block-level basis. The total capacity of storage pools must be larger than the total capacity of all volumes on the source device. Alternatively, if the destination device supports SHR, you can keep the storage empty, and the system will create a storage pool and migrate the volumes automatically. Refer to Migration Assistant's Rules for Creating Storage Pool below for more information.

      Tip: You can also create volumes on the destination device first, and the system will migrate volumes on the source device to the same location on the destination. The volumes must be fully identical (including volume number and file system) to the ones on the source device, or identical but with a larger capacity.

    • Please make sure that the data on the destination device does not need to be retained, and then go to Control Panel > Shared Folder or SAN Manager on the destination device to manually remove shared folders or LUNs first.
    • The DSM version required for the destination device is DSM 7.0 or above and must be the same or newer than the DSM version on the source device.
    • We recommend setting up the destination device in the same local network as the source device.
  • To ensure a stable and fast migration, we recommend connecting the two devices directly via 10G interface and cable.
  • Ports between 7400 and 7499 are reserved for migration. If the source and destination devices are connected to different routers, you must set up port forwarding first, and make sure that there is no firewall blocking the ports.
  • Migration Assistant will not transfer your Synology Account and licenses, and the following services require manual configuration after migration. Refer to this article to manually configure them after the migration is complete:
    • Services such as Active Insight, QuickConnect, DDNS, DHCP Server, SSO Client, domain clients
    • Server-related packages such as Central Management System, Synology Directory Server, VPN Server, MailPlus
    • Sync-related and backup-related packages such as Synology Drive Server, Cloud Station Server, Active Backup for Business, Hyper Backup, Shared Folder Sync, Snapshot Replication, Cloud Sync, Glacier Backup
    • Other packages such as Surveillance Station, Docker, Virtual Machine Manager

Migration Assistant's Rules for Creating Storage Pool

If there's no existing storage pool on the destination device, the system will automatically create one. The following explains how Migration Assistant creates storage pool.

  • The system will utilize all installed drives on the destination device to create a higher flexibility storage pool with SHR.
  • The system will not use drives installed in expansion units or drives in critical , failing, or incompatible status.
  • The system will not automatically create storage pool on models supporting RAID group.
  • If the installed drives include different drive types (e.g., HDD, SSD, SATA, SAS, etc.), the system will not automatically create a storage pool.

Choose Source Device

In Migration Wizard, enter the following information to connect to the source device and click Next:

  1. Enter the Source server name, IP, or IP:custom port number. If the source device has set up HTTP or HTTPS custom ports, please enter the source device's IP address and custom port directly (e.g., 10.12.1.1:24300). You can also use the drop-down menu to search for Synology devices within the same LAN.

    Tip: You can simply copy the URL of the source device and paste it here.

  2. Enter the credentials of an account belonging to the administrators group of the source device.

Note:

  • Migration Assistant does not support inputting IPv6 and QuickConnect for connecting to the source device.
  • Migration Assistant does not support logging in with Domain/LDAP accounts.
  • Please DO NOT input a dynamic domain name or IP for connecting to the source device. This may cause connection failure during migration.
  • After successfully connecting to the source device, Migration Assistant will automatically enable the SSH service on the source device. The connection and transfer from that point onward will be through SSH protocol.
  • By default, Migration Assistant does not encrypt the data during migration to optimize the transfer performance. If you want to transfer data encrypted, please choose the VPN interface or create a VPN interface if you do not have one.
  • After the migration is complete, the destination device will mount the Hybrid Share folder of the source device. We recommend going to Control Panel > Domain/LDAP on the destination device to join the destination device to the same domain or LDAP as the source device. Doing so prevents permission conflicts between user accounts.

Confirm Settings

Confirm the migration summary on this page and click Apply to continue. There will be a table showing a preview of volume allocation on the destination device, including capacity, file system, and location. The data in the volumes on the source device will be migrated to the same location on the destination device. For example, data in volume 1 on the source device will be migrated to volume 1 on the destination device.

Note:

  • After you click Apply, the following will take place:
    • All services on the source device will be stopped temporarily until the syncing environment is ready.
    • All volumes, packages, system configurations on the destination device, including administrator credentials, will be deleted and replaced by the ones on the source device.
  • When the migration process begins, the encrypted shared folders on the source device will be unmounted.
  • If the system automatically creates storage pool, all data on the drives will be erased.

The following actions CANNOT be performed during the migration process:

  • On the source device:
    • Disabling the SSH service.
    • Editing or removing the user account named Migration Assistant. This account was automatically created by Migration Assistant for the migration task and will be removed after the migration task is completed.
    • Changing the storage location of packages.
  • On the destination device:
    • Changing any settings.
    • Editing the administrator account (such as disabling the account or changing the password) which is being used to connect to the source device.
  • On either device:
    • Adding or removing volumes.
    • Creating or deleting Bond.
    • Enabling or disabling Open vSwitch.

Troubleshooting

This section explains the errors and alerts you may encounter when creating a migration task.

  • If you have set up the destination device with SHR or SHR-2 storage pool, and the capacity is larger than or equal to the capacity of all volumes on the source device, Migration Wizard may still display a message about insufficient storage capacity. This indicates that the size of storage pool metadata on the destination device is greater than that on the source device. In this situation, we recommend setting up the destination device's storage pool with Basic, RAID 5, or RAID 6 and try again.

    Example: If the source device and the destination device both have a 1 TB drive inserted, but the source device uses Basic RAID while the destination device uses SHR RAID, the available capacity on the destination will be smaller. Please use Basic RAID instead or insert more drives on the destination device.

  • If you have set up the destination device with higher flexibility storage pool, and the capacity is larger than or equal to the capacity of all volumes on the source device, Migration Wizard may still display a message about insufficient storage capacity. This may be the result of higher flexibility storage pool using more metadata. In this situation, we recommend creating the destination device's storage pool with better performance or a bigger capacity.

    Example: If the source device and the destination device both use four 1 TB drives to create a RAID 5 storage pool, but the source device uses better performance storage pool while the destination device uses higher flexibility storage pool, the available capacity on the destination device will be smaller. Please change the destination device's storage pool to better performance or change to a RAID type with bigger capacity, such as RAID 0.

  • If the system cannot automatically create storage pool on your destination device, this may indicate that the capacity of the RAID type selected by the system is not sufficient to accommodate all volumes on the source device. Please manually create storage pool with less data redundancy RAID type or insert more drives on the destination device. Refer to the RAID calculator to choose a suitable RAID type for your destination device.
Before You Start
Choose Source Device
Confirm Settings
Troubleshooting