Synology^® launches advanced monitoring platform Active Insight

Taipei, Taiwan—August 24, 2022—Synology today announced the official release of Active Insight, its cloud-hosted server monitoring and management platform that lets admins protect their Synology deployments around the globe against the risks of hardware failure, data loss, suspicious activities, software vulnerabilities, and more.

"Hundreds of thousands of users have tested Active Insight during the Beta period and experienced how improved oversight, management, and security for large deployments helps businesses and IT service providers keep their Synology servers worldwide safe and secure," said Angel Huang, Product Manager at Synology Inc. "As we launch the service officially, we are working on several new functionalities to be announced in the near future."

Securely monitoring large distributed deployments

Active Insight is a new Synology cloud service that brings together the most important system performance metrics, status info, activity logs, and security warnings on a clear and intuitive dashboard, whether customers manage just a couple, or hundreds of Synology systems. The new platform provides an instant overview of important data and helps users effortlessly pick out bottlenecks and problematic devices in their deployment.

Making it easy to check in on hundreds of systems is an important advance, but there is more. Reports, warnings, and notifications are an essential part of Active Insight and allow the service to provide 24/7 round-the-clock protection. When admins have no time to proactively check in on their systems, Active Insight continues to scan for signs of trouble and collect data for real-time threat identification or later analysis.

Addressing risks before they become problems

Custom reports in Active Insight allow IT teams to periodically assess the health and security of their deployment through structured summaries that can be exported and emailed for easy sharing and archiving purposes. Available in document and spreadsheet formats, reports provide more insight on performance, update and backup status, and user activity throughout a deployment.

Meanwhile, when Active Insight assesses that metrics indicate a risk to systems or data, it notifies admins while suggesting probable causes and remedial steps. System-defined events can be supplemented with custom set thresholds according to individual needs or assessments. And with the Active Insight mobile app, relevant staff can choose to be kept up-to-data on all potential issues and relevant activities through push notifications.

Login, backup, and update management from the cloud

In addition to system performance monitoring, Active Insight also allows admins to wield the power of the cloud to protect Synology servers around the world against out-of-date software, gaps in data protection, and unauthorized user activity. Admins can view aggregate data to review overall deployment security, check the situation per device, investigate detailed records, and undertake steps in response, all from the same web console or app.

A look at the login activity overview can reveal if numbers of failed authentication attempts are especially high, while Active Insight sends real-time notifications in case login patterns give grounds for suspicion, allowing admins to further inspect accounts and IP addresses involved and possibly pursue further action against problematic sessions.

An overview of backup statuses per device helps customers guard against gaps in the protection of data on Synology systems due to failed or incomplete backup tasks in Hyper Backup and makes it easy to further inspect affected devices. Finally, Active Insight's update management feature offers active version management for the Synology DSM operating system as well as other Synology packages, allowing admins to detect outdated firmware and software and force updates directly from the online interface.

Benefits for deployments of all sizes

Active Insight has proven a powerful tool in widely different use cases. Automated and centralized monitoring holds obvious benefits for large, distributed deployments. However, even managers of small deployments benefit from the reliable access and high availability provided by a cloud-hosted platform.

Active Insight relies on telemetry data provided by host devices and does not require any additional setup or maintenance. Users can monitor and manage deployments for different clients by adding multiple Synology Accounts to their Active Insight account. This also makes it a highly convenient tool for organizations and teams seeking to outsource device monitoring to service providers or other parties.

Availability

Active Insight is officially available in markets worldwide starting today. Free and Premium plans are available. Active Insight services require a Synology Account.

Interested users are invited to test all Premium features during a 60-day free trial, and early bird discounts of up to 50% are available for those who subscribe by the end of 2022.