Setting up a Static IP Address on Synology allows for your NAS to stay at same IP address on your network. This alleviates the headache of having to find the new IP address of your NAS every time it reboots when you want to connect to it from your computer.
Background:
There are two different ways to get a static IP address from your router: either through the NAS itself or using DHCP reservations. This tutorial will show you how to do the setup through the NAS itself. DHCP reservations are setup via your router and will be the subject of a future tutorial.
Static IP addresses are easy to setup, however they can cause issues if the IP address you choose is not available on the network. There are two possible reasons why it would not be available:
- The router has given the IP address away to another device that DSM is requesting
- The networks subnet has changed
To combat the first case, you should set your router never to give away the IP you will be setting. The way that I do this is I set my router to give away addresses between 192.169.1.2-192.168.1.100, and then I set my static IP address above 192.168.1.100. Most routers will allow you to setup your network like this, and it is most likely under “DHCP” in your routers settings.
The second case is not likely to cause an issue unless you decide to change your router’s subnet. It tends to be an issue primarily with mobile devices such as laptops, which will be connecting to many different network setups. If you do decide to change your network’s subnet, just be sure to enable DHCP first.
How To:
In order to setup a static IP address, first login to DSM and open up the Control Panel. From Control Panel, select “Network” as shown below:
From within network settings, navigate to the tab “Network Interface” where you should see a list of your network interfaces. Select the interface to which you would like to assign a static IP address. Click Edit.
You will then see a menu where you can edit the connection properties. Select “Use manual configuration”, and set your static IP address as well as the configuration. If you are not sure what your settings should be, DSM pre-populates them with what it used for the DHCP connection, so they should be correct. Once you’ve set your static IP address, select OK.
If you are changing the IP address, the web server for DSM will restart and become unresponsive. You should navigate to the IP address that you just setup, where you will find your DSM login screen. Note this can take up to 5 minutes. You now have an assigned static IP address.
Conclusion
Setting up a static IP address on Synology is a great way to ensure that your NAS is always at the same address on your network! But they can easily become a headache if you allow your router to give away the address your NAS plans to take. Be sure to tell your router not to give away the IP address you want!
Thanks for reading! I hope this was helpful! Leave any comments, questions, or tutorial suggestions below!
