One of my favorites and one that I started using as soon as I got my first Disk Station is the Cloud Station Server, which allows you to use your Disk Station as a private Dropbox-like service.

The servicesįile sharing is a fairly obvious use for a Synology Disk Station, but there are over 90 other service apps you can install, most of which are free as a part of DSM, and which also offer clients for macOS, iOS, Windows, Linux, and Android devices. You also use the control panel to create share points, folders on your disk station used for file sharing, and to create users and groups. You can enable AFP using DSM’s control panel, but if you’re running current versions of macOS, SMB is the default file sharing protocol and can be used by both Macs and PCs. Synology servers support Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) which, in the past, was the default file sharing service and, pre-macOS Sierra, was required for using a Synology Disk Station as a Time Machine backup location. File sharing is turned on by default and as soon as users are created and you’ve granted them access to specific folders they will be able to log in to the server and begin using the file server. (If you want to give DSM a try you’ll findĪ live online demo here.) You use the initial account you create during the setup process to log into the DSM and begin creating Groups, Users, and setting up services. MacOS Server 5, including file, mail, calendar, contact, and chat services as well as dozens of other services that I’ll talk about a little later.ĭisk Station Manager 6.0 (DSM), which is a browser-based interface to the server’s management features and the operating system that powers every Synology Disk Station. The DS416play is, first and foremost, a server that offers many of the services available in Synology offers over 90 service apps you can install on the DS416play.

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