Synology Active Backup for Business

Active Backup for Business backs up PCs, servers and virtual machines to the NAS, and DSM emails the result of each backup task. A notification rule with only those results keeps everything else the NAS reports out of BackupSentinel.

Written for DSM 7.2 or later, which has the Rules tab.

1. Create a notification rule

   In DSM, open Control Panel → Notification → Rules and click Add. Name the rule Active Backup.

2. Tick only the Active Backup for Business results

   Clear the checkbox in the header so nothing is selected, open the Active Backup for Business group, and tick the events that say how a backup task ended: completed, partially completed and failed. Leave the other groups empty, so disk, update and login notices never reach BackupSentinel.

3. Send the rule to the client address

   Save the rule, then open the Email tab. Set up the sender if DSM does not send email yet, add the client address as a recipient, and give that recipient the Active Backup rule. Your own address keeps its own rule, so you still receive everything else.

   • No subject prefix is needed: the built-in rule recognises DSM's own Active Backup for Business subjects, such as [NAS01] Active Backup for Business - backup task SRV01 on NAS01 was unsuccessful.

4. Apply and run a backup

   Click Apply. Then run the task once from Active Backup for Business so a real result is sent.

How reports find their backup

The built-in rule reads the backup task name from the subject ("backup task SRV01 on NAS01 was unsuccessful"), so several tasks on one NAS can all report to the client address. Give each backup in BackupSentinel the exact name of its task; Start monitoring from a task's first email suggests that name. An email for a task that has no backup yet waits in the Inbox instead of updating another task's backup.

Check it works

Run the job once, or wait for the next scheduled run. Within a minute the report appears under the backup, or in the Inbox when it could not be matched. A product's own "send test email" is not a backup result: expect it in the Inbox, where you can ignore it.

Good to know

• A failed task ("was unsuccessful", "encountered an error") shows as Failed, with the reason DSM gives in the email. A partially completed task shows as Warning.
• DSM sends a repeated failure for the same reason at most once every 24 hours, as its email says. A daily task that keeps failing for the same reason can therefore look Missing between two emails: the open problem stays listed either way.
• DSM 7.1 and earlier have no Rules tab: use Control Panel → Notification → Advanced and tick Email for the same Active Backup for Business events.

What BackupSentinel does with Synology Active Backup for Business reports