Software

Synology didn't include a software disc in the bundle to make sure owners download the latest versions of their software packages off their Download Center. The latter hosts all with the DS415+ compatible software packages, and we highly recommend you download and install all of them since they provide a host of useful features.


The Synology Assistant provides you with the ability to find the NAS' IP address on your network, and it can assist you in configuring everything if need be.


The Data Replication application allows you to easily and quickly backup and restore files.


The Synology Cloud Station software allows you to synchronize files between your NAS and your workstation, or all client PCs.


Synology states that the Evidence Integrity Authenticator will allow third-party investigators or law enforcement authorities to validate and review videos captured by the Synology Surveillance Station. Videos which have not been tampered with will be verified as original recordings via an authentication procedure since all recorded videos and Live View snapshots by Surveillance Station include an invisible watermark.


Photo Station Uploader allows you to upload photographs to your photo album.

Initial Setup

All you have to do to start the initial setup procedure is to install the disks, connect your power and network cables, and power on the NAS. Now, open a web browser on a client PC on the same network for Internet access and type in "find.synology.com". Open diskstation:5000 and follow those instructions instead if you don't have access to the Internet.


Here is the Web Assistant in action. The whole process can take a while, but after a certain point, everything is fully automated.


The DSM login page looks nice and can provide you with the date as well as a weather forecast based on your location. You will have to enter your credentials to log into the administrative interface.

Web Interface

DSM is a windowed operation system, so it includes icons and widgets and a taskbar. You can add shortcuts of your favorite applications to the desktop by dragging their icons from the main menu to the desktop. You can also remove shortcuts by right-clicking on them and picking the Remove Shortcut option. The "start" button reveals the main menu and is in the top-right corner, on the taskbar. Next to it are icons of all open applications. The notification button and all notifications are on the right (you will recognize this button by its exclamation mark).


The DSM taskbar hides a lot of functionality:
1) Show Desktop: Minimizes all open applications and packages.
2) Main Menu: View and open applications and packages installed on the NAS. You can also click and drag to create desktop shortcuts.
3) Open applications:

• Click an icon to show or hide its window on the desktop.
• Right-click the icon and pick from the menu to manage the application window (Maximize, Minimize, Restore, Close) or its taskbar icon (Pin to Taskbar and Unpin from Taskbar).

4) Upload Queue: Appears when you start uploading files to the Synology NAS. Click to see more details, like progress and upload speed.
5) Notifications: Displays notifications, like errors, status updates, and package installation notifications.
6) Options: Shutdown, restart, logout, or Modify Personal Account options can be found here.
7) Search: Quickly find specific applications, packages, or DSM Help articles.
8) Widgets: Show or hide widgets.
9) Pilot View: See a preview of all open applications and packages.


All pre-installed applications are depicted above; creating application shortcuts on the desktop is very easy.


The most important icon on the desktop is that of the Control Panel because it provides you with access to all settings and functions. All choices are categorized into four main categories: File Sharing, Connectivity, System, and Application. All icons are also quite self-explanatory and nicely designed.


Info Center's first tab sheds a light on all important hardware-specific aspects. A green icon under "Thermal Status" denotes a normal state, while orange stands for high internal temperatures that will cause the NAS to shut down at any moment to prevent components from overheating. Hover over these icons with your mouse to display CPU temperatures. The Report tab through which you could collect data to generate reports on disk-usage trends isn't available any more because it is now its own dedicated application. You will find the application, named Storage Analyzer, in the main menu.


The DS415+ supports the Synology High Availability (SHA) technology. The technology conjoins an active and passive server into a cluster, the former always mirrored to the latter. According to Synology, their Heartbeat mechanism detects regular "heartbeats" between these two servers to immediately have the passive server take over should the main server cease to work. This is a killer feature for SMB environments.