'Key improvements' to the storage management experience
Synology has announced the Beta release of DiskStation Manager 7.1, giving system admins a chance to test out the expanded functionality. DSM 7.1 builds further on the massive platform upgrade introduced with DSM 7.0 and introduces many innovative enhancements designed to address IT challenges.
DSM 7.1 brings key improvements to the storage management experience. Starting with the introduction of file aggregation portals, it adds SMB DFS capability to enable administrators to link together multiple Synology systems, providing more convenient file access for end users by removing the need to remember separate addresses.
The new user interface introduced in 7.0 has been further optimised by consolidating background tasks into an administrator-friendly overview that provides greater transparency into what is happening on the system, even across different user accounts. For Synology High Availability clusters, users can now view and manage drives on both systems from a single instance of Storage Manager for easier maintenance and management.
On the performance side, DSM has long supported flash caching to boost random I/O performance cost-effectively. This new version will further economise SSD caching with the ability to speed up multiple storage volumes at the same time.
DSM 7.1 introduces complete, bare-metal level backups of the entire system. Powered by Synology Active Backup for Business, the ability to clone and replicate the entire Synology system greatly accelerates recovery time objectives (RTO) in the event of a total site failure. Full system restoration capability also introduces a quick and convenient way to deploy identically configured systems.
"Our constantly evolving DSM platform keeps adding capabilities to both new and existing deployments," said Weili Lu, product manager for DSM. "The pre-release program provides a chance for us to work closely with our customers, providing early access to new features and obtaining valuable feedback in return."