How to create and connect subdomain to Synology

Question

I have a Synology DS1812+ and a domain from Hover, let's call it example.com.

How can I create a subdomain, like nas.example.com, connect it to my Synology, then use it outside my home network?

What I want:

• Access Synology DSM by typing in nas.example.com in a browser
• Connect to my Synology to sync contacts/calendars/etc. using the same nas.example.com

Details:

• Synology DS1812+ is running DSM 6.2.2-24922 Update 4.
• Apple AirPort Extreme
• The devices I will use with this configuration are a MacBook Pro and an iPhone 6s, both running their most recent operating systems.

Solution

I can describe how to configure the Synology to respond to "nas.example.com", but not how to configure calendar, contacts etc for use with Apple stuff.

Do you already heave setup the Synology to be connected from the internet? eg do you have a steady public IP address to your internet connection, have setup port forwarding on your modem/router to your NAS?

In my configuration at home, I can connect to my Synology using "https://dsm.mydomain.com". I have a steady IP for my home internet connection and have forwarded port 80 and 443 to my NAS LAN IP address. I have setup a Let's Encrypt certificate for dsm.mydomain.com and configured this to be the default certificate. Result is that when I type the url in my browser, the connection is encrypted and the DSM login page appears.

Is this what you want and can configure, with some help?

Edit:

You mentioned that you are using Synology QuickConnect, which is a kind of propriatary VPN to connect to your NAS from internet. It's a nice solution to quickly setup a connection without too much technical knowledge.

You also mentioned that you don't have a static IP address. You can use a (sub)domain name to access your NAS, but there are some more steps to configure the connection:

1. Firstly, you have to setup a Dynamic DNS (DDNS) provider on your NAS. Synology has a DDNS offering, but there are others.
2. Point the "nas.example.com" subdomain at your domain registrar (Hover) to the DDNS address.
3. You may have add portforwards on your home router to your NAS.

On your NAS management site, if you go to Control Panel > External Access > Tab DDNS and click the "Add" button, the "Add DDNS" dialog appears with a list of service providers. Selecting "Synology", you could hostname "SOMEPERSONALPREFIX" with the "myDS.me" domain to form "SOMEPERSONALPREFIX.myDS.me". Now, your NAS can be reached from internet using this DDNS domain name.

Second part is to point "nas.example.com" to the selected DDNS domain name. Open the domain registration page at Hover and add a registry record "nas" (or "nas.example.com") with record type "CNAME" and target host "SOMEPERSONALPREFIX.myDS.me". It takes a little while to propagate the new record, so be patient when trying to access your NAS using "nas.example.com".

Now your browser knows how to resolve "nas.example.com" to your DDNS name, to your NAS, but the router at home may block access. If that is the case, you'll have to add port forwards to your router that forwards traffic for a specific port on your public IP address to the LAN IP of your NAS. If your NAS has LAN IP address 192.168.0.100, then "http://nas.example.com:5000" resolves to "http://SOMEPERSONALPREFIX.myDS.me:5000" and your router must allow to forward traffic for port 5000 to "192.168.0.100:5000". I can't assist you with port forwarding as each router has different stept to accomplish this.

Common ports that are forwarded are:

• website: http://www.example.com:80 -> http://SOMEPERSONALPREFIX.myDS.me:80 -> 192.168.0.100:80
• website (https): https://www.example.com:443 -> https://SOMEPERSONALPREFIX.myDS.me:443 -> 192.168.0.100:443
• Synology DSM: http://nas.example.com:5000 --> http://SOMEPERSONALPREFIX.myDS.me:5000 -> 192.168.0.100:5000
• Synology DSM (https): https://nas.example.com:5001 --> https://SOMEPERSONALPREFIX.myDS.me:5001 -> 192.168.0.100:5001

https connections will yield a certificate error, though, because default the Synology uses a self-signed certificate that doesn't match your domain name. You can setup (free) Let's Encrypt certificates on your NAS. See Ruth Martinez has described the above steps on her site: https://synoguide.com/2016/04/14/map-your-synology-address-with-your-own-domain-and-dynamic-ip-address/ and even how to secure the connection using Let's Encrypt certificates on a DDNS setup: https://synoguide.com/2016/04/14/secure-your-synology-with-https-ssl-certificate-from-lets-encrypt/

I can't help you with setting up calendar and contact syncing, becauase I don't use my Synology this way.

Comments

[Dillon]

Yeah, this is exactly what I'm looking for. I do have the Synology connected to the internet, and use QuickConnect to get to DSM outside of my local network. I don't think I have a static IP at home and am not familiar with how to forward ports. I want to do just like you have and use DSM from my subdomain.