Synology NAS beginners guide | Part 1 | Prepare your network

The speed of your internet connection will be important, if you intend to access your NAS remotely. So we recommend that before configuring your new NAS, you check both the upload and download speeds of your internet connection. While download rather than upload speeds tend to be highlighted by Internet Service Providers (ISP). If you intend to access your NAS remotely, make sure that you have good upload speeds.

WiFi speeds are also important if you intent to access your NAS wirelessly. So before you setup your new NAS check that you have no WiFi dead zones, and that data transfer speeds are in line with what you expect from your wireless network.

While no device can be truly secure when connected to the internet, you need to make sure that the router you are using is as secure as you can make it. An important area to check is that the administrative credentials for your router are in line with modern security best practise. So as a minimum we recommend that the admin password to your router is at least 10 characters in length, uses lower and upper case letters, contains numbers and at least one no letter character.

We also recommend that you check that the firewall on your router is working correctly. While by default your router should be blocking all incoming traffic. If you do have open ports on your firewall, this may not necessarily be a bad thing, as long as you understand why they were opened in the first place.

In order to configure your new NAS, at some point in the future you will need to make changes to the following router settings: DNS, DHCP, UPnP, and Port Forwarding. While at this stage you do not need to worry too much about what these network settings are for. It can be useful to be aware of where specific settings are located and check that you have the access privileges to change them.

If your router is not able to automatically receive security fixes and updates, you should be manually updating it yourself. Also if your router is over 5 years old, check that your router is still being supported by the manufacturer. If it is not, we recommend that you replace your router before you start configuring your new NAS.

As Internet of Things (IoT) devices often are not kept up to date with security patches and fixes. It is now considered best practise not to have IoT devices on the same network as your NAS and computers. So an easy way to isolate IoT devices from your main network, is to move them to your Guest WiFi network.

Note: Not all wireless routers will create a Guest network that is fully isolated from your main network. However by placing your IoT devices on your Guest wifi network, if an IoT device is hacked, it will be harder for that hacker to access computers or your NAS.