Remote management options for Synology NAS

[Bingie 99]

Hi all,

I know this is a question for Synology not Emby, but I'm hoping somebody here can answer this.  I haven't yet gone looking for a Synology forum/discord yet.

I've been googling, and I get the impression the only ways to remote manage a Synology NAS are:

* secure shell (yay! I'm old school, I love the command line and ROOT!!!!! not a fan of sudo this and sudo that)

* remote desktop (run a big fat GUI and a remote desktop server on top of it)

* paid data center management services (not exactly for home use)

I don't consider "remote desktop" a remote management solution, because it requires the "headless" server to actually run a gui and desktop on it, then run a remote desktop server software on top of that, which to me, is a massive waste of memory and cpu.

I'm hoping I can run Synology as a headless server with GUI disabled, but have some kind of web server running on it, that serves up remote management/monitoring capabilities.  If it doesn't have that, then I can always install Webmin on it, and manage it that way.  I know, Webmin gets a lot of hate, but it is useful, and minimal ram/cpu footprint.  I'll take webmin over actually running a gui and remote desktop server on it any day.

Thanks

 

[Luke 37116]

@FrostByte may have some tips.

[FrostByte 5052]

I don't really do what I would call remote management and my usage is very basic.  My NAS also isn't reachable beyond my network and is only used for Emby and as a NVR for my IP cameras to feed into Emby.  I manage my server from a web page (nothing to install) or the Synology apps on my phone when connected to my wifi or WinSCP, but that's about it.  You could probably use those same tools outside your network, but someone a lot smarter than myself I'm sure would be more helpful.

The only person that comes to mind is @cayars who remotes into other people's Synology to look at their porn, I mean assist with their problems.

Edited July 3, 2021 by FrostByte

[Bingie 99]

5 minutes ago, FrostByte said:

I manage my server from a web page (nothing to install) or the Synology apps on my phone when connected to my wifi

I saw something about logging into the Synology site via web, then accessing your NAS that way.  That means giving them access to your NAS.  I'm not crazy about that, not sure how's it's configured, either you open a port on your router and forward it to the NAS, giving Synology access to it, which I don't like, or you run a client on the NAS that connects to Synology's site, which I don't like either.  I'd prefer a web server on the NAS that only I have access to.

I didn't know about the phone app that can access your NAS over local wifi, that sounds interesting.  A nice to have for sure.  Still want a local web interface though.

Thanks

 

[Carlo 4330]

Best bet if it fits your ability is to keep everything off the internet that doesn't need to be there (management wise) and instead run a private VPN.  This way if you need to access/manage your servers/NAS/Equipment outside of your LAN you can fire up the VPN connection, connect home and do what's needed without having all kinds of ports open on your router or using cloud software for management (not fond of this myself).

[Bingie 99]

Thanks, although I'm not actually talking about managing over the Internet, just over the local LAN. 

I'd like to point a browser to my local NAS to monitor it, and if available, manage it too, without running some kind of "remote desktop" software.  Just wondering what kind of management capabilities Synology has, that doesn't require me to connect a keyboard, mouse and monitor to the NAS.

[Bingie 99]

Nevermind I found it, thanks all.

 

[FrostByte 5052]

Cool, ya the best way to manage your NAS on a local LAN is just by using the web browser. or phone apps.