Today Synology DSM 5.2 was released. Synology does an excellent job adding new features with each upgrade and DSM 5.2 is no exception. Synolgy regularly updates its DiskStation Manager (DSM) software to incorporate new features. At this point, Synology NAS appliances can offer a wide range of features beyond traditional backup and storage roles. With features such as DNS servers, media servers, e-mail servers, and development repository servers these low power machines can often take the place of many traditional low-end server appliance roles.
This Synolgy DSM 5.2 update brings highly requested features from the community such as improved SSD caching and single file restoration on backups. This is a great feature for restoring previous versions of files that have been accidentally deleted.
Other new features are now available such as Docker integration which is awesome. Synology DiskStation units tend not to have processors as fast as many low-end general purpose servers so using Docker versus a virtual machine management solution will save on space and provide more performance.
One very important note is that Docker support is limited and Synology lists the following models as being compatible with the Docker package:
15-series : RS815(RP)+, DS3615xs, DS2415+, DS1815+, DS1515+, DS415+
14-series : RS3614xs+, RS3614(RP)xs, RS2414(RP)+, RS814(RP)+
13-series : RS10613xs+, RS3413xs+, DS2413+, DS1813+, DS1513+, DS713+
12-series : RS3412(RP)xs, RS2212(RP)+, RS812(RP)+, DS3612xs, DS1812+, DS1512+, DS712+, DS412+
11-series : RS3411(RP)xs, RS2211(RP)+, DS3611xs, DS2411+, DS1511+, DS411+II, DS411+
10-series : RS810(RP)+, DS1010+, DS710+
That leaves some Synology users (such as yours truly) unable to use new features. Still, for many users, this is a fantastic upgrade.
Certainly users who are interested can update to Synology DSM 5.2 today. Others that are more cautious may want to wait until a maintenance release. Check your DiskStation Manager interface for the upgrade package and more information.
