Active Backup for Business Technical 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

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 9.11.1, 9.12.1, 9.13.1, 9.14.1, and 9.15.1
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, and 7.0.0
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 and 2019
Supported Microsoft System Central Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM): System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2016, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2019
Supported Microsoft Hyper-V failover clusters: Hyper-V 2016 and Hyper-V 2019
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 512MB of free storage space is required to install a data mover
Image-based backup to back up the entire device, 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 (e.g., modified time, created time, and ACL permissions) can be restored when restoring Windows PCs, Windows/Linux physical servers, and virtual machines
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