Synology Active Backup Suite

Score9.3 out of 10

12 Reviews and Ratings

What is Synology Active Backup Suite?

Synology Active Backup Suite is software that allows users to consolidate backup tasks for physical servers, file shares, virtual machines, and SaaS applications. It also allows users to replicate and archive data to remote servers or public cloud and can rapidly restore files, entire machines, or VMs. Active Backup Suite is license-free and available on compatible Synology NAS models.

Data Backup

Integrated backup solution for personal computers, physical servers, file shares/file servers, virtual machines, and SaaS applications
Maximizes backup and storage efficiency by adopting Changed Block Tracking (CBT), Resilient Change Tracking (RCT), and global deduplication
Flexible schedule (e.g, GFS) and retention policies to customize the backup policy
Detailed logs and reports to monitor backup tasks and troubleshoot any problems

Restoration

Various restoration methods including entire device restoration, instant restore, and granular file recovery
Minimizes service downtime by integrating the backup plan with built-in virtual machine to replicate a production environment

Infrastructure management

Centralized management for monitoring the status of multiple Synology appliances s and allows users to receive alerts when unexpected events occur
Control user management and delegation
Secondary backup and archiving to remote servers/public cloud with customized setting

Categories & Use Cases

Media

Screenshot of Active Backup for Business PC interface

Recovery verification
Recovery verification is automated testing and verification of backups
Category average: 8.6
Incremental backup identification
Incremental backup identification is the ability to identify incremental changes since last backup
Category average: 9.3
Deduplication and file compression
Integrated deduplication and compression capabilities
Category average: 9

Ransomware Recovery
The ability to recovery data in a timely manner after a ransomware attack
Category average: 9
Instant recovery
Instant recovery is the ability to restore operations very rapidly
Category average: 8.7
Flexible deployment
Deployment on any servers with full support for all applications being used
Category average: 8.9

#1 most frequent

Manufacturing

21.1%

4 installations of 19

#2 most frequent

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

15.8%

3 installations of 19

#3 most frequent

Educational Services

15.8%

3 installations of 19

Clive Francis

ICT Network Manager in Information Technology at Leicester Partnership School (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I've been using the Active Backup Suite for over 3 years now at the school where I work. I use the 3 modules for 'Business', 'Google Workspace' and 'Microsoft 365'. The Business module is used to back up a standalone VEEAM server PC. The other two for Google and Microsoft are used to backup cloud data from the respective providers onto encrypted disk storage on the local Synology Box.

This forms part of my school's backup strategy - backing up the data backup server and backing up cloud data to local storage.

Pros

The interface to browse and restore files from the cloud backups is super-easy. As in drop-down boxes to select which account and then files and be exported for restore - no training needed to use it.
The Synology device is fast on the network - 4 x 1Gbps NICs
Updating itself
Being Reliable as a permanently on 24/7 device

Cons

Can't think of any currently.

Return on Investment

Positive is obviously being a main part of the backup strategy along with quick data restoration.

Usability

Other Software Used

Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows

Verified User

C-Level Executive in Information Technology (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Synology Active Backup Suite in my organization to activate backups. Make them in a specific time, synchronize them and make everything available on our Cloud without having to worry about scheduling about notifications and about errors. It is very simple to install and set up once you have the nest pointed to the computer. It's a automatic functionality that we will run in a specific time and you get a notification every time there is a problem

Pros

Notification
Scheduling
Synchronization

Cons

Setup
Remote control
One click setup

Return on Investment

I was able to store more data for less money
I was able to keep more backup versions
I was abe to cut costs from cloud backup by keeping only the newest backup online instead of several versions

Usability

Alternatives Considered

QNAP NAS, TrueNAS and Raspberry Pi OS

Other Software Used

Windsurf, Cursor, Anthropic Claude, Microsoft Copilot

Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology (501-1000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our organization currently uses both Active backup and Active backup for Microsoft 365.
Active backup:
We use active backup to backup Synology devices on remote sites.To backup a few physical servers. Backup an Dev ESXI environment to avoid extra licensing costs with Veeam.

Active backup for Microsoft 365:All user mailboxes, shared mailboxes, contacts and calendars. All sharepoint online data and Teams data. Onedrive data for certain VIPS.

Pros

intuitive UI for both managing backups and restore jobs.
Compression and deduplication, to reduce to storage needs and costs.
Easy to install and setup backup agent on windows, linux and of course synology

Cons

For our use case managing multiple public entities, it would be nice to have a breakdown of total storage used by job/task after deduplication/compression.
Restoring of SharePoint online data can only be done to the root of the SharePoint site, it’s possibly a Microsoft limitation not the Synology software.
Updates can be slow for the linux kernel support for the Linux version of the agent, it seems to have gotten better over the past year.

Return on Investment

Cut down on Veeam costs, for non-critical infrastructure.
No monthly or recuring costs due to no subscription or cloud fees
Easy to use and installation, doesn’t require outside consultations or experts to install and setup.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Veeam Data Platform

Verified User

Manager in Information Technology (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Backup critical Computers and Servers with critical services, i have already used the recovery process, and worked correctly, and was fast to use.

Pros

Backup Computers
Backup Server
Restore worked

Cons

Agent Download more easily
More detail information's on dates, and what was backup

Return on Investment

Recovery of small critical Systems
Fast and relyability

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows

Other Software Used

Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows

Veeam Data Platform

IDrive Online Backup and Object Storage e2

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud

Synology Active Backup Suite

What is Synology Active Backup Suite?

Categories & Use Cases

Media