• Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) lets Synology NAS servers run, manage, monitor, migrate, protect, and recover virtual machines across a cluster of Synology NAS hosts.
• Virtual Machine Manager can run Windows, Linux, and Virtual DSM virtual machines. (Learn more about the complete list of supported operating systems and the Virtual DSM license)
• Supports up to 7 Synology NAS hosts in a cluster.
• The maximum number of virtual machines varies by Synology NAS model.
• Supports real-time CPU, memory, and network usage monitoring for virtual machines.
• Privilege control can be configured per virtual machine.
• Virtual machines can be shared and accessed through browser URLs.
• Virtual machines can be instantly cloned.
• Virtual machines can be suspended and resumed.
• Virtual machines can be exported as OVA files.

Requirements and Limitations

• Refer to this page for the list of Synology NAS models supporting Virtual Machine Manager.
• Virtual machines can run only on Synology NAS devices with more than 2 GB of memory.
• Virtual machine data can be stored only on Btrfs volumes.
• Each host in the same cluster must have a unique static IP address.
• Importing or exporting virtual machines with vDisks larger than 2 TB is not supported.
• When virtual machine firmware is UEFI, maximum resolution is 800x600.
• Web VNC console browser requirements:
  • Chrome
  • Firefox
  • Edge
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Safari 10 or above
• Running Virtual Machine Manager runs in a Synology High Availability cluster:
  • Virtual Machine Manager 2.5.0-9432 or above is compatible with Synology High Availability version 2.0.3-0140 or above.
  • Virtual Machine Manager is not compatible with hybrid high-availability clusters.
  • The Virtual Machine Manager cluster can contain only one host.
  • Virtual Machine Manager reserves at least one CPU thread for the host.
  • SR-IOV is not supported.

• Supported image types:
  • Virtual DSM: *.pat
  • ISO: *.iso
  • Disk: *.img, *.vmdk, *.vdi, *.vhd, *.vhdx, *.qcow2
• CPU:
  • Compatibility mode for live migrations when CPUs on two hosts are different.
  • Hyper-V Enlightenments function for I/O performance optimization.
  • Virtual machine priority for CPU resource reservation.
  • Maximum number of virtual CPUs varies by Synology NAS models.
• RAM:
  • Minimum RAM:
    • Virtual machine: 128 MB
    • Virtual DSM: 1 GB
  • The maximum amount of RAM varies by model.
• Disk:
  • Supported disk controller: IDE, SATA, VirtIO.
  • Maximum number of disks per virtual machine/Virtual DSM: 8
  • Supports storage Quality of Service (QoS) with virtual machine priority.
  • Supports maximum and minimum IOPS for each virtual disk.
• Network:
  • Supported network interface: virtio, e1000, rtl8139
  • Supports SR-IOV.
  • Maximum number of virtual interfaces per physical network adapter: 8
  • Supports MAC address modification.
  • Minimum vNIC per virtual machine/Virtual DSM: 1
  • Maximum vNIC per virtual machine/Virtual DSM: 8
• Schedulable snapshots for each virtual machine:
  • Maximum number of snapshots per virtual machine: 32 (255 with a VMM Pro license)
  • Maximum number of snapshots per host: 65,536
  • Supports file-system consistent snapshots (Synology Guest Tool required on the guest OS)
  • Maximum number of virtual switches: 4 (4,096 with a VMM Pro license)
  • Maximum share links per host: 2 (16 with a VMM Pro license)
• Others
  • Supports USB 2.0/3.0 passthrough (not supported on Virtual DSM).
  • Supported video card: cirrus, vga, vmvga
  • Supported boot modes: UEFI BIOS, Legacy BIOS
  • Supports running virtual machines instantly restored from Active Backup for Business with compression or encryption at backup destination enabled.
  • Supports up to 4 IDE devices.

• Virtual machines can be moved to another host through live migration without interrupting ongoing services.
• Virtual machines can be protected using protection plans with schedulable snapshot and replication tasks.
• Supports High Availability for virtual machines.
• Supports running virtual machines on a remote host.
• Supports storage migration to a remote host.
• Learn more about the VMM Pro license.

Requirements and Limitations

• The High Availability feature is supported only in VMM clusters with more than 3 hosts.
• When the High Availability feature is enabled, virtual machines can be moved only between active and passive servers.

• Virtual DSM provides DSM features as a virtual machine.
• Without a Virtual DSM license, each host can run only 1 Virtual DSM.
• The recommended number of Virtual DSM instances per host varies by model.

Requirements and Limitations

• Virtual DSM does not support the features below:
  • USB passthrough
  • Control Panel: External Device, Hardware & Power
  • Network functions, including wireless dongles, MTU, and LACP