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I am considering buying the Synology DiskStation DS115j after discussion at my previous question (how can NAS work if it is not connected to Internet?). Before I did that, I wanted to read through instructions about how to set it up with Mac's Time Machine, to make sure it would be easy. I found the instructions here: https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/DSM/tutorial/Backup_Restore/How_to_back_up_files_from_Mac_to_Synology_NAS_with_Time_Machine

The instructions are pretty straightforward but there is one unsettling part: search for "Enter the address of your NAS server." Basically it seems that to connect one's Mac to the Synology NAS, you have to provide an IP address.

First of all, they don't explain how to determine the IP address of your Synology NAS. How do you do that? Second of all, a bigger concern is that if I'm not mistaken, that IP address can change whenever the NAS reconnects to the router (for example, if you restart your router). Doesn't that mean that your Mac's connection to the Synology NAS would break whenever either the router or the NAS is restarted, since it is based on this IP address?

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Try find.synology.com from a browser and it should find the NAS for you.

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You have 3 options.

1) Check your router's DHCP table for the address assigned.

2) Configure the device with a static IP

3) Set up a static DHCP assignment on your router

You're right as to the fact that it's possible the NAS will grab a new IP address with method 1. But most likely that's not going to happen if you have a small network.

I'd say that best method is to use 2 and remember the address. Just be sure to give it an address outside of the DHCP scope.

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  • Do you know how I would be able to configure it with a static IP? Is that something that is typically available using NAS software?
    – Stephen
    Sep 19, 2018 at 1:07
  • It would be somewhere in the synology setup app / webpage. I don't have one of these devices so I cant specifically tell you. Just be aware that if you put in wrong settings you'll lose network communication with the device. You may want to email Synology support or check their site/manuals first.
    – Hefewe1zen
    Sep 19, 2018 at 1:23
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Synology provides a utility called SynologyAssistant (Windows and MacOS) that shows you all Syno devices connected to your network and their ip-addresses.
Through this utility you can also connect to the web-based management interface of the NAS and (in case the NAS isn't setup yet) push the latest firmware version to the NAS.

When you get into the NAS you can configure the ip-address to a static fixed ip-address.
Or you connect to your router and in the router you configure a so-called static DHCP mapping (refer to the manual of your router for how to do that) so the router always assigns the same ip-address to the Synology.
Static DHCP mapping is the method I use for my devices:

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