How to Set Up a Daily Health Report Email from Your Synology NAS
A daily health report email from a Synology NAS can reveal failing drives, degraded storage pools, missed backups, high temperatures and unusual system activity before these issues become data-loss events. It is especially useful when the NAS runs unattended in a home office, small business or media room.
The exact menus vary between DSM 6 and DSM 7, and some features depend on the model and installed packages. The general process is to configure reliable email delivery, enable storage and system notifications, schedule routine checks, and send a test message before relying on the report.
| Reporting approach | Best for | What it provides | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| DSM notifications | Most home and small-business NAS devices | Drive, volume, backup and system alerts | May send event alerts rather than one combined daily digest |
| Active Insight | Several Synology devices or remote monitoring | Centralised health, performance and alert reporting | Requires account setup and compatible DSM support |
| Hyper Backup notifications | Backup-focused monitoring | Job success, failure and skipped-task messages | Does not replace storage-health monitoring |
| Scheduled task and script | Advanced users needing a true daily summary | Custom checks and a fixed daily email | Requires scripting and careful testing |
Choose The Reporting Path
Start by confirming the DSM version installed on the NAS. Open Control Panel > Update & Restore or Control Panel > System > Update & Restore, depending on the interface, and install current security and maintenance updates. The labels may differ slightly on older systems, so use the DSM search field if a menu is difficult to locate.
For most households, DSM notifications combined with Storage Manager are sufficient. Storage Manager can expose drive health, S.M.A.R.T. results, storage-pool status, SSD wear information and volume capacity. Enable notifications for degraded pools, crashed volumes, high drive temperatures, bad sectors and insufficient free space.
If you operate multiple devices, Active Insight is worth considering. It can consolidate monitoring for NAS systems located in different offices or homes. A Sydney business with a second NAS in Brisbane, for example, can review both systems from one dashboard rather than depending on a local email account at each site.
Users specifically wanting one message at a fixed time should first check whether their DSM build offers a health-report or report-scheduling option in Storage Manager, Notification or Active Insight. When that option is unavailable, event-based notifications are safer than installing an unverified script. A custom Task Scheduler job is possible, but it should be treated as an advanced alternative.
Prepare Reliable Email Delivery
Open Control Panel > Notification > Email in DSM 7, or the equivalent notification settings in DSM 6. Enable email notifications, enter the recipient address, and choose an SMTP provider. A dedicated mailbox for NAS alerts is often better than using a personal address because it keeps infrastructure messages separate from everyday correspondence.
Many modern providers require an app password or SMTP authentication rather than a normal account password. Use SSL or TLS, the provider’s current SMTP port, and a sender address permitted by that provider. Gmail commonly uses an app password with two-step verification enabled; Microsoft and business mail providers may have their own authentication requirements.
Enter the recipient address carefully and send DSM’s test message. If it does not arrive, check junk mail, confirm the NAS time zone, and verify that the gateway and DNS settings are correct. Australian users should also account for occasional NBN outages and ISP mail restrictions. A test performed while the NAS is on a mobile hotspot can help distinguish a DSM configuration problem from a home internet issue.
Set the DSM time zone to the correct Australian location, such as Australia/Sydney, Australia/Melbourne, Australia/Brisbane or Australia/Perth. Sydney and Melbourne observe daylight saving, while Brisbane and Perth do not. Correct time settings ensure a daily report arrives when expected and that drive-test and backup logs have meaningful timestamps.
Configure Daily Storage Checks
In Storage Manager, inspect every storage pool, volume and physical drive. Review the S.M.A.R.T. status, temperature, bad-sector count and estimated drive health. Run an extended S.M.A.R.T. test when the NAS is not busy, then create a recurring schedule if DSM offers one. Extended tests can place additional load on disks, so overnight scheduling is sensible for a home system.
Enable notifications for storage-pool degradation, volume crashes, read-only changes, low capacity, abnormal drive temperature and SSD lifespan warnings. A report that says “no critical events” is useful only when these underlying checks are active. Include alerts for backup packages such as Hyper Backup, Snapshot Replication or Active Backup so a healthy-looking NAS cannot hide a failed protection job.
For a practical daily threshold, set low-capacity warnings before the volume is nearly full. Keeping at least 15–20 per cent free space gives DSM room for metadata, snapshots, indexing and temporary operations. Surveillance recordings and media libraries can consume storage quickly, particularly when a NAS is used with Plex, Synology Photos or Download Station.
If the interface provides a Health Report, Report Schedule or similar option, select daily delivery and choose a quiet time, such as 7:00 am. If there is no native daily digest, configure event notifications for immediate warnings and use an automated report only after verifying that the script can authenticate securely and interpret DSM’s current logs.
Test Alerts And Read Results
After saving the settings, generate a harmless test wherever possible. Send a notification test from DSM, run a small Hyper Backup task, or temporarily create a low-priority notification rule. Do not remove a drive or force a storage error merely to test email delivery. The objective is to verify the recipient, subject line, delivery time and useful content without risking the array.
Read the first few reports manually. Confirm that the message identifies the NAS, reports the correct date, lists all storage pools and shows recent backup jobs. A daily email that contains only CPU temperature or login activity is not a complete storage-health report. Check that drive names and serial numbers are clear enough to identify a physical disk if replacement becomes necessary.
Keep an eye on false positives. A brief CPU spike during media indexing is usually less urgent than a rising bad-sector count, a degraded RAID group or repeated backup failures. Storage alerts should be assessed alongside DSM’s Log Center, Resource Monitor and Storage Manager details rather than dismissed because the NAS is still accessible.
For older equipment, documenting the model, DSM release and drive arrangement is valuable. A historical technical reference may help when comparing older systems or archived terminology, but current DSM documentation and the NAS vendor’s compatibility list should remain the authority for drive replacements and supported features.
Keep Reports Useful Over Time
Email reporting is a monitoring layer, not a backup. If the NAS is stolen, damaged by a power event or encrypted by malware, locally stored reports disappear with it. Forward important alerts to a separate mailbox and consider a UPS with USB signalling so DSM can shut down safely during an extended outage. This is particularly useful during summer storms in Queensland or power interruptions in regional areas.
Review the report at least weekly and revisit the configuration after DSM upgrades, email-provider changes or drive replacements. A used NAS can be economical, but its age, warranty position and drive condition need careful checking; the guidance on whether to buy used or new is relevant when an older unit is being brought back into service.
Practical Safeguards
- Send reports to two recipients, such as the owner and an administrator, rather than relying on one inbox.
- Use a dedicated SMTP account with an app password and restrict access to that account.
- Schedule extended S.M.A.R.T. tests outside peak backup, streaming and surveillance hours.
- Set capacity warnings early enough to leave room for snapshots, indexing and temporary files.
- Record the NAS model, RAID type, drive serial numbers and replacement procedure offline.
- Pair daily email reports with tested off-site backups and occasional restore tests.
Apply the settings, send a test message, and inspect the first week of reports closely. Once the alerts are reaching a separate inbox and the storage checks reflect the actual NAS configuration, daily monitoring becomes a quiet but dependable part of protecting household and business data.