Configure iSCSI and Fibre Channel connectivity, authentication, and access control for Synology storage systems.

Fibre Channel service requires a compatible FC adapter and a supported Synology model.

• Virtualization compatibility:
  • VMware vSphere
  • Microsoft Hyper-V
  • Citrix XenServer
  • OpenStack Cinder
• Storage connectivity:
  • Dedicated network interfaces for iSCSI services
  • Initiator grouping for simplified LUN access management
  • iSNS-based iSCSI target discovery
• Authentication and access control:
  • CHAP and mutual CHAP authentication
  • Global iSCSI CHAP authentication
  • IQN-based access control

Provision and manage LUNs with flexible storage allocation, data protection, and performance optimization.

• Thin Provisioning and Thick Provisioning for space allocation
• Online LUN capacity expansion
• LUN migration across volumes
• Low-capacity protection
• Snapshots and cloning:
  • Schedulable snapshot tasks with customizable retention policies
  • Fast cloning of snapshot-enabled LUNs and legacy advanced LUNs within the same volume
• Performance and data integrity:
  • Configurable I/O queue depth
  • Buffered I/O and direct I/O principles
  • LUN defragmentation for performance improvement
  • Space reclamation
  • CRC checksum for error detection during data transmission
  • FUA and Sync Cache SCSI commands to reduce the risk of data loss and file system crashes

Integrate Synology storage systems with VMware and Microsoft virtualization platforms.

• Supported VMware VAAI features:
  • Thin Provisioning Stun
  • Hardware Assisted Locking
  • Full Copy
  • Block Zero
• VMware VASA for storage type awareness (HDD or SSD)
• Windows Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX)

Improve storage availability and business continuity through backup, replication, and high availability.

• Snapshot Replication for offsite replication and recovery
• Hyper Backup for scheduled LUN backups to:
  • Local shared folders
  • External storage devices
  • Another Synology storage system
• Synology High Availability for storage reliability
• VMware Site Recovery Manager integration for disaster recovery directly through VMware vCenter Server

• Resource limits:
  • Up to 256 iSCSI targets per system
  • Up to 512 LUNs per system
  • Up to 256 snapshots per LUN
  • The exact limits vary by model. For details, refer to your Synology product's software specifications.
• Capacity limits:
  • Maximum concurrent LUN backup tasks: 1
  • Minimum LUN size: 1 GB
  • Minimum legacy advanced LUN size on ext4 volumes: 10 GB
• Requirements and limitations:
  • CHAP authentication is not supported for iSCSI discovery.
  • LUN provisioning
    • Thick Provisioned LUNs do not support snapshots or space reclamation.
    • Instant snapshots and instant restore require Thin Provisioned LUNs on Btrfs volumes running DSM 6.2 or later.
    • LUN defragmentation requires Thin Provisioned LUNs on Btrfs volumes.
  • Snapshots and cloning
    • LUN snapshot and cloning features are available only on supported Synology models.
    • Converting a legacy advanced LUN deletes all existing LUN snapshots.
  • Only legacy advanced LUNs support three modes for space reclamation:
    • Prioritize I/O Consistency
    • Balanced
    • Prioritize Reclamation