Knowledge Center

Hotspot*

Your Synology NAS device supports creating a hotspot to share its Internet connection with other devices wirelessly if you have installed a Wi-Fi USB adapter or your Synology NAS has built-in Wi-Fi. You can set your Synology NAS to be a wireless access point (AP) or wireless router, depending on how you would like to use the Internet.

Hotspot Mode Description
Wireless AP
  • Bridges your LAN and Wi-Fi network together.
  • Your LAN and wireless clients will be on the same local network.
  • Applicable when you already have a router and want to use your Synology NAS as an additional access point to an existing network.
  • Allows the sharing of network resources, such as DLNA devices, printers (not applicable to Grantley platforms, to see if your model supports this fuction, please refer to this article), Synology Web Assistant or other services relying on network broadcasts.
  • DHCP server will be disabled on Synology NAS devices that act as wireless APs. To reactivate DHCP server for your Synology NAS, remove Wi-Fi dongles and restart Synology NAS.
  • For models with multiple LAN ports, only LAN 1 will be used to bridge with wireless AP.
Wireless Router
  • Sets up a wireless network where devices are on a private subnet.

Note:

  1. Some models require connecting wireless dongles in order to create hotspots. For a complete list of supported wireless dongles, visit www.synology.com.
  2. For non-DS213air models, the Wireless Hotspot option in DSM 4.3 is renamed to "Wireless Router" in DSM 5.0 and onward.

Managing Hotspot Settings

This section explains how to enable and manage hotspot settings of your Synology NAS.

To turn Synology NAS into a hotspot:

  1. Go to Control Panel > Wireless > Network Map. Choose Wireless AP or Wireless Router.
  2. Go to the Wi-Fi tab and click Edit to manage the following settings:
    • Name (SSID): Enter a name for the wireless network.
    • Show/Hide: Choose whether or not the wireless network is visible to other devices.
    • Wireless mode: Select a wireless standard. Each standard supports various bandwidths and frequencies.
    • Channel width: Select a channel width (only available when using 802.11n wireless mode).
    • Channel: Select a frequency for the wireless network. For better performance, choose a frequency different from those used by nearby networks.
    • Transmit power: Choose a signal strength of the wireless network.
    • Max connections: Choose how many client devices can connect to the network. The highest connection setting is 256.
    • Enable WMM QoS: Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) QoS (Quality of Service) over Wi-Fi. This option allows the wireless network to prioritize traffic and optimize how resources are shared among applications.

To set up a wireless schedule:*

Enabling a wireless network schedule allows you to control when the wireless network of your Synology NAS is active and accessible.

  1. Go to the Wi-Fi tab and click Edit.
  2. Check the box Enable schedule.
  3. Click Set schedule.
  4. On the schedule screen, select when the wireless network will be active.

Security Settings

Control Panel > Wireless > Wi-Fi provides options to edit the security settings of your wireless network.

To set up wireless security:

  1. Click Edit.
  2. Choose one of the following security protocols from the Security Settings drop-down menu:
    • WEP: A basic security protocol that requires users to enter a password to access the wireless network, but provides minimal protection.
    • WPA/WPA2 Personal: Recommended. Requires users to enter a password to access the wireless network, and is more secure than WEP.
    • WPA/WPA2 Enterprise:* A security protocol designed for enterprises, which requires authenticating users with an external authentication server.

To enable Wi-Fi Protected Setup:*

Wi-Fi Protected Setup is a standard promoted by the Wi-Fi Alliance to simplify wireless security settings for users. You can use a Push button or a PIN number to keep your Wi-Fi network safe. Click WPS to enable Wi-Fi Protected Setup.

Guest Network*

In addition to creating a host wireless network, your Synology NAS also supports creating a guest wireless network. The settings of the guest network can be limited to restrict users' access, which is useful for enterprises or other institutions who want to provide a wireless network for visitors, but keep them from accessing the host network.

To enable the guest network:

  1. Go to Control Panel > Wireless > Wi-Fi.
  2. Click Edit to manage the following settings on the Guest Network tab:
    • Name (SSID): Enter a name for the wireless network.
    • Show/Hide: Choose whether or not the wireless network is visible to other devices.
    • Max connections: Choose how many client devices can connect to the network. The highest maximum connection setting is 256.

To set up guest network security:

Choose one of the following security protocols from the Security Settings drop-down menu:

  • WEP: A basic security protocol that requires users to enter a password to access the wireless network, but provides minimal protection.
  • WPA/WPA2 Personal: Recommended. Requires users to enter a password to access the wireless network, and is more secure than WEP.

To set up a guest network schedule:

Enabling a guest network schedule allows you to control when the guest wireless network of your Synology NAS is active and accessible.

  1. Check the box Enable guest network schedule.
  2. Click Set guest schedule.
  3. On the schedule screen, select when the guest wireless network will be active.

Note:

  • This feature is available on DS213air only.
  • The guest wireless network cannot be active during time periods when the host wireless network is deactivated.

MAC Filter Setting*

MAC filter (at Control Panel > Wireless) specifies which MAC addresses are permitted to access the wireless network, allowing you to block or grant access to specific devices. This feature only controls network access, not other encryption settings.

To create MAC filter rules:

  1. Enter the description and MAC address of a device.
  2. Choose an access policy:
    • Deny: Restricts the specified MAC address from accessing the wireless network.
    • Allow: Allows the specified MAC address to access the wireless network.

Parental Control*

The parental control feature allows you to control when each client device connected to the Synology NAS's local network can access the Internet. For example, if your kids' computers or mobile devices connect to the Internet through the Synology NAS, then you can configure parental control settings to restrict their Internet usage according to specific devices and times.

To enable Parental Control:

  1. Go to Control Panel > Wireless > Parental Control Settings.
  2. Click the Add button to add a client device.
    • Client Name: Choose a device that is connected to the Synology NAS or enter a name manually (e.g. Louisa's laptop).
    • MAC Address: Enter the MAC address of the device whose Internet usage you wish to control.
    • Set schedule: Choose what time the specified device will be allowed to access the Internet through the Synology NAS.

Connection List*

The connection list (at Control Panel > Wireless) displays information regarding devices connected to the Synology NAS. Devices can be directly added to the MAC filter list from here.

To add devices to the MAC filter list:

  1. Check the box beside the device which you want to add to the MAC filter.
  2. Click Add to MAC Filter List.

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* Available on specific models only.

Managing Hotspot Settings
Security Settings
Guest Network*
MAC Filter Setting*
Parental Control*
Connection List*