Cloud Station Server

Note: Cloud Station Server will now be succeeded by a new application, Synology Drive Server, which covers all of the original key functionalities. We recommend upgrading to Synology Drive Server for optimal performance and various new features. Please visit this tutorial to learn more about the feature differences and how to upgrade before you start.

Cloud Station is a file sharing service that allows you to synchronize files between a centralized Synology NAS and multiple client computers, mobile and Synology NAS devices. To seamlessly sync your data among these devices, a Synology NAS has to be chosen as the host server, and the rest of the paired computers, mobiles and Synology NAS devices will act as the client devices. Before syncing files with client devices, Cloud Station Server package is required to be installed on the host server, while a client utility has to be installed on each client device you want to sync with.

Enable Cloud Station Server

Once Cloud Station Server is enabled, (and if you have enabled the QuickConnect service), you can see your QuickConnect ID on the overview page. Client computers, Synology NAS devices and mobile devices can use this information for creating connections.

Manage User Privileges

You can specify which users can access Cloud Station Server service. Permitted users have the following privileges:

• Sync files with your Synology NAS
• Launch Cloud Station Server from DSM Main Menu
• Cloud Station Server is default enabled for all users.

Manage Client Connections

Click Client List to see the list of client computers that have been set up to sync files with your Synology NAS using the Cloud Station Server service. You can see the client's computer name, the device name used for service authorization, IP address, syncing status, and the start time of file syncing between Synology NAS and the client.

To manage client connections, do any of the following:

• Click Refresh to update the list.
• Select a client on the list, and then click Unlink to stop the client's connection.

Manage Cloud Station Server Files with File Station

The Cloud Station files are saved in your home/CloudStation folder or shared folders that have Cloud Station Sharing. You can browse and download Cloud Station files (or their previous versions) with File Station or view historic versions.

To manage Cloud Station files:

1. Go to File Station, and then browse to home/CloudStation or shared folders.
2. Right-click the file and then choose Browse previous versions. Here you can see and download the previous versions of the file.

Manage Cloud Station Files with Version Explorer

You can use Version Explorer to view and manage previous versions of the modified or deleted files in your sync folders. Version Explorer allows you to view the history of your data on a timeline, allowing you to restore them to a point in time altogether.

To manage Cloud Station historical files:

1. In Overview, click Version Explorer to launch Version Explorer.
2. You can browse your data in different historical points by dragging and focusing the timeline to your desired point in time. You can also use the calendar to quickly jump to a specific date.
3. Choose a file or a folder, and click any of the following buttons:
   • Copy to ...: Recover this file or folder to the time specified on the timeline, and copy the result to a selected folder.
   • Download: Download this file or folder.
   • Restore: Recover this file or folder to the time specified on the timeline.
4. You can do more by clicking Action and choose any of the following from the drop-down menu:
   • Show deleted files: make deleted files visible in Version Explorer.
   • Hide deleted files: hide deleted files from Version Explorer.
   • Browse previous versions: View, download or restore previous versions of this chosen file.
   • Delete permanently: Delete this file from the version history. Note that the file will be permanently removed and cannot be recovered.

To remove all the deleted files:

To remove all deleted files and previous versions, click Action > Clear version database. Please note you will not be able to recover the files that are deleted permanently. Please proceed with caution.

Log

The Log allows you to keep track of what actions have been performed by users within a certain length of time. You can view the log in its entirety with all events or you can view events in relation to different folders, which can be selected from the drop down menu at the top.

To search through the log with a specific filter:

1. Click the arrow in the search bar on the top right hand corner.
2. In the drop down menu, you can filter events by:
   • Keyword: enter the name of any user to find events related to the user.
   • Date Range: choose from Today, Yesterday, Last week, or Last month or Customize to enter a start and end date to find logs within a specific range.
   • Type: in the drop down menu you can select the type of event you want to view. You can also select Customize to select several different types of events at once.
3. To reset your filtered log, click the Reset button and then Search again.

Settings

On the Settings page, Cloud Station Server allows users to customize and fine tune their settings.

Manage Cloud Station Server sharing feature

Click Sync Settings to enable/disable shared folders for the Cloud Station Server syncing feature. If a shared folder is enabled, then a user with read write permissions to this shared folder can sync the files within.

To enable shared folder syncing feature:

1. Use the search field at the top-right corner of Cloud Station Server to find shared folders.
2. Select the folder you want to enable, and then click Enable.

Manage Historical Versions of Shared Folders

Cloud Station Server saves historical versions of each modified file. Every time you modify a file, a backup version is created, just in case you make mistakes or wish to revert to an older version.

1. Go to Settings > Sync Settings.
2. Select the shared folder for which you want to edit historical versions and click Versioning.
3. Enter a value between 0 and 32 in the Maximum Versions field.
4. Select a Rotation Policy.
5. Click OK to save your settings.

Manage Sync Settings

Cloud Station Server allows admin users to configure different Sync profiles for each user, and use this function to further refine user privileges.

To manage detailed sync behaviors and privileges:

1. Go to the User Sync Profiles tab and click Create.
2. In the File Filter tab, give your sync profile a name and specify the file sizes and types you don't want to sync.
3. Go to the Applied User tab and tick the box next to the users you want to add to your sync profile.
4. Click Apply and then Save to save your settings.

Specify the database location and log delete rules

To specify the database location:

1. Go to Settings > Others and under Database select a volume in the Database Location drop down menu.
2. Click Apply to save your settings.
3. While the database is being moved, Cloud Station Server will stop running.

To check database space usage:

1. Go to Settings > Others > Database.
2. Click Calculate to calculate real-time database space usage.
3. Click Cancel to cancel the calculation.

To set log delete rules:

1. Go to Settings > Others and under Log Delete Rules, tick the box next to Number of logs is greater than to enable the rule and in the drop down menu, set the number of logs you don't want to exceed.
2. Tick the box next to Log time is older than to enable the rule and set the length of time you want to keep logs.
3. Click Apply to save your settings.

For Advanced Users

If you would like to know more about the way Cloud Station Server works to keep your data safe and synced, please see Synology Cloud Station White Paper.

Storage space utilization:

Cloud Station Server keeps historical versions of every change in your Cloud Station folder. If you conduct a bad modification, or if the file has been damaged or deleted by accident, you can easily restore the file to an older version. However, it requires at least one full copy of any given file as the base version for file history, so the selected shared folders will need doubled disk space. Only the differential data will be kept among different historical file versions.

What properties are actually synchronized?

• Cloud Station is able to completely synchronize 7 known file properties:
  • File data
  • Mac extended attributes, such as label and colors on Mac OSX
  • Execution bit
  • Last modified time
  • UNIX permissions, including owners and file modes
  • Synology ACL
  • Shared folder privileges
• Clients of different platforms have different policies:

Default action for file conflicts:

If two users change the same file at the same time, Cloud Station Server will compare last modified time of the two clients and retain the newest version.