![]() Synology Router Manager 1.3 Review Chapters SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, ALL Parts - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 1, Design & Control - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 2, Safety & Security - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 4, Safe Access - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 5, USB Storage Services & Conclusion - HERE |
Synology SRM 1.3 Review – Network Management
The more premium a router is (i.e expensive!) the more you find that they start to feature features and services that are more often found in switches. Indeed, it still surprises me that Synology has yet to make the jump towards its own range of switches in the way that the other NAS brand QNAP has. That said, the network management and control that is featured in SRM 1.3 is quite extensive for a router, even if the complaints surrounding how long it has taken Synology to feature virtual network creation have been fairly constant these last few years. The Network Center application largely provides the bulk of network management resources, opening up into a brief overview of available connectivity and enabled SSIDs. There is also a live graph of activity covering uploads, downloads, system hardware resources and the status of those individual physical ports.
If you dig a little into the Port Status area, you are able to see any live connections and the bandwidth currently available on that connected line. This was one area of design that I was a little underwhelmed by on Synology’s part. Aside from the user interface in the Network Center application featuring a few different options whether you used the router on its own or as an additional access point (which makes sense logically), SRM 1.3 still lacks a larger topographical overview of the network, virtual networks and SSIDs. I appreciate that this would fall more into ‘network switch’ territory, but with the RT6600ax router with SRM 1.3 supporting 5 virtual networks, 15 SSIDs on a network, 4 LAN ports and the ability to bond them together in a custom way – that would be MUCH easier to comprehend graphically or in a breadcrumb/tree style.
There IS however a clear and quick-to-setup means to create a failover connection involving multiple ports. Although in the diagram below WAN and LAN 1 were featured, this is customizable via dropdowns. Additionally, you can factor in the USB SIM dongle or Mobile Phone USB tethering services to be used as a failover for the WAN and a wired internet connection. This failover also has a few straightforward rules and system policies for how the switch would take place in the event of your primary connection dropping, as well as what happens when it gets stored. Fairly straightforward stuff, but presented very well in SRM 1.3 and makes having a backup internet connection a lot more justifiable and easy to implement.
The newly added virtual network creation (vLAN) support in SRM 1.3 is pretty straightforward and (as this system is a router) also benefits from a few extra things (as well as supporting a few things you might expect), such as:
- The ability to assign custom VLAN IDs
- The option to completely block a vLAN to access the SRM 1.3 Controls/GUI
- The option to block any communication/visibility between one vLAN and all other networks
- The option to bond (attach) a physical port to a specific vLAN
- The option to connect the vLAN with an existing SSID or create a new one during the creation wizard
- Later in the access and user panels, you can permit levels of access to virtual networks
Again, this is all not really groundbreaking stuff, but 1) it’s something people have requested in SRM for a while, 2) brings a lot of network switch functionality to a router and 3) is presented in that special Synology ay that makes it remarkably straight forward. Bearing in mind we are talking about vLAN creation (something very few domestic users will ever know how/need to do) being made as easy as setting up an old Hotmail email account, I respect the effort.
Once additional networks have been created, they are displayed in a list on the main Network center page, each able to be completely reconfigured or their identities and ports changed with ease. Again, I am surprised that Synology was not able to show this information in a bit more of a pictorial fashion (something the likes of Netgear and QNAP have shown on their routers and switches for years).
As you might expect, creating a new SSID is INCREDIBLY easy in SRM 1.3 and you can create a whole lot of them too. Each can have its own identity, security protocol (eg WPA 3 Enterprise style or something more modest for legacy devices), and assignment to a specific frequency or band (eg 2.4-5Ghz and/or over 80Mhz or 160Mhz) to ensure that the right wireless connections are getting the benefits of the better coverage. That really is just scratching the surface of it and it’s impressively detailed in its configuration options.
As you might expect, SRM 1.3 (of course) features port forwarding rules that can be changed and allows you to create those more targeting but tactically placed means of accessing your network when needed, whilst keeping the safeguards in place. This is something that Synology cannot really make very user friendly and frank it should not be! Aside from the fact that a basic-mid level of understanding of port placement and protocol is needed, too much bad news surrounding ransomware injections from the likes of Asustor and QNAP in the last year or two has demonstrated the folly of inexperienced users punching holes in their firewalls etc (or worse still, brand’s offering to do it for you with little warning to the consequences). A standard by often vital feature, that is getting the respectful treatment it deserves here.
For those of you that have high priority internet connections running into your home or business premises, there is a specialized setting for giving PoS to IPTV (so online TV services and VoIP (voice over IP) phone lines. Along with numerous profiles for each that can be selected from a drop-down, you can also create custom profiles manually. This will likely be only of use to specific users and perhaps a greater range of external internet services might be added over time (as they increase in popularity) but still a handy feature for some and a nice extra for business lines certainly to ensure that phone calls over the internet are clear as/when needed, rather than giving a specific port priority of service generally, which might lead to unnecessary network throttling for everyone else accidentally. Better to identify a service specifically, rather than the port.
Talking of identification, as devices are connected and disconnected from the machine SRM keeps a record and along with names, will try to assign a device identity (classing it as a phone, laptop, printer, NAS, etc), which will be useful later to know what devices are on which network (As well as assigning access to these later in the ‘Safe Access’ tool. This is by no means full proof in how accurate it will identify devices and you can add custom icons as needed.
Returning to external checks and monitoring, SRM 1.3 also includes a few bits and bobs in the ‘Network Tools’ area for monitoring how packets of data are moving externally. These include a Traceroute service for when you connect with a website, so that you can see where data you get travelled along the way, particularly routers. A traceroute provides a map of how data on the internet travels from its source to its destination and although is often limited by connections along the route, can be a handy way to troubleshoot, as well as test site identities. Next, there is a ping measurement tool that allows you to measure the reply speed in milliseconds from a site to test your connection to/from a given internet location. Finally, there is an incredibly easy to use Wake on LAN (WoL) service that will automatically list available devices that are on the network and allow you to power them on/off if they support that feature. Again, this is now exactly groundbreaking, but it is presented in a very easy to understand way, which is what SRM 1.3 seems to constantly strive for and (for the most part) succeed at.
The last thing I want to touch on is the ability to generate remarkably professional reports of system activity (as well as internet, user, device and specific network service activity) in a scheduled and repeatable form. These generated reports can be tailored to a specific date or time, and can also have the range of data/services that they include be customized too. So, if you want a once a day, or once a week report that details the network behaviour of your staff, this can be set up automatically to be emailed to you on the frequency of your choosing.
Alternatively, you can create a much more general and system/network-wide report that covered the activity of everything in-house (as well as external connections where appropriate) and from there get a good understanding of the main active users/devices. This is all presented in a great balance of textual and graphical language and is something that IT admins will be able to use and learn from. Synology provides an even better and more dynamic version of this kind of reporting in their multi-site/system monitoring platform ‘Active Insight’ (a paid subscription platform), so I am impressed that Synology has not attempted to play this tool behind a license or cloud wall.
There is also a fairly common feature in SSRM and on the Synology routers to create a guest WiFi SSID that allows you to create a network that has lower network importance, access and connectivity to the rest of the system. This is hardly new, but it is worth highlighting that this Guest WiFi mode is a great deal more customizable than many I have seen and you can change a great deal of the rules, timing and allowed behaviour permitted on it.
You can even very quickly create a custom login portal screen (much like many of the public WiFi spaces you may have logged into previously) with SRM 1.3 and this adds an interesting extra degree of policy to your business class router operation.
The network management of SRM 1.3 is still good and something that those inexperienced in this rather double-niche area of I.T will certainly find beneficial. Those more aware of this subject are likely to want to look past the user-friendly GUI and ask for the more aggressive customization tools (many of which are absent and/or are more at home in a network switch, such as port trunking or even semi-automated loop detection when switches are introduced to the router LANs), but when you have here is still remarkably well presented, very responsive, more customizable than I thought it would be and you are still getting a decent mix of a router and switch features packed into a single software platform in SRM 1.3. Let’s sink our teeth into Safe Access – possibly one of the main reasons that mainly look at the Synology Router series.
![]() Synology Router Manager 1.3 Review Chapters SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, ALL Parts - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 1, Design & Control - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 2, Safety & Security - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 4, Safe Access - HERE SRM 1.3 Synology Router Software Review, Part 5, USB Storage Services & Conclusion - HERE |
You can watch the FULL review of the latest WiFi 6 Router from Synology, the RT6600ax, over on YouTube below:
Alternatively, you can watch my full review of Synology SRM 1.3 on this NAS in the video below:
My FULL review of the Synology DS Router application will be available on NASCompares shortly. You can find the video below:





Does it allow link aggregation of 2 x GE ports to Synology series like DS720+ or DS920+?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Please share the wallpaper haha
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Finally, finally, finally! I love your reviews.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Next time film in different orientation
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
as usual, super useful for everyone
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Ill agree to a Great rewiew, and you have mentioned a lot of things which are really helpfull (not for me) but for other sure.
What i want to comment on, is your surprise that the RT6600ax comes with the SRM 1.3 and the older devices are still SRM 1.2, well this is what synology was presenting from the “Day One” when the RT6600 was presented by end of 2021 so no surprise for me here, the SRM 1.3 for the RT2600 and MR2200 will be or according to synology should be in June so we need to wait for this one as well.
What im glad and really glad that the support for the MR2200 and the mesh is there, and also with another RT6600, which you cannot do with a RT2600 so a huge step forward i like, AAAANND well if you do a MESH then you will have TWO USB ???? Ports, the question is if the can be used but i think this is an alternative for those who will be having a MESH network.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
50 minutes of bobbing and weaving.. What’s the difference between 1.2 and 1.3 …. None of that was even touched on.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Amazing review. Thanks a lot for your effort. It’s almost like we’re dealing with a Nas Station here. In terms of user experience anyway. I think if they added Plex, a lot of basic users wouldn’t have bought a Nas Station anymore, so I think is is a selling strategy here. Anyway, great review, I am considering buying an unit after watching your video. Well done mate! Keep up the good work!
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Looks fantastic. As mentioned previously, I am using a net gear R9000 which to be fair has been working brilliantly. I flashed it with DDWRT recently using my iPad Pro, it took an absolute age to login but finally it worked. I am registered as a blind person but enjoy fiddling around with technology. I am waiting for your video next week for The router shootout vid but, am quite taken with the RTÉ 6600.
Thank you for all of your videos they are very helpful
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Synology does produce nice devices but it’s all fine when you have warranty. When it’s over and your device will stop working, synology won’t repair it even if you could just pair for the repair. They just dont give a f**k. Think twice before you buy an synology router.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
This looks like an unboxing, not an actual review. You’re holding a device that is capable of sophisticated beam-forming, but we don’t have any speed tests / comparisons / ping results for a typical wood-frame house for example. I like the new features, but I was really into that I’d just set up a pfSense box, or a UDM pro. Why would I buy this thing instead of a cheaper WiFi6 AP/router? Why would I buy it instead of a UDM pro + AP? I had an ac2200 before and I returned it, because SRM is a far cry from DSM, and here they are cramming features into a device with just 1GB of RAM. If you’re saying that it strikes the perfect balance, I’d like to see come figures proving that. Otherwise the video should be titled either “unboxing” or “first impressions”.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Would be nice if a usb hub worked with it.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Does this router support VIP?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
I just want to know if I connect a 2.5GB NAS to that 2.5GB LAN port of the Synology, I get speeds between the NAS and the client above 1GB over WIFI6E, thanks.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
too long and boring
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
When the videos get this long ( which I do very much appreciate ), I head straight to the conclusion. If you conclusion is positive, I generally go back to the beginning. That’s what I’m doing here. Your opinion at the end is exactly what some of us need. I currently have an RT2600ac but now I will buy a new 6600 model and use the 2600 as an access point in the upstairs of my home. Many thanks for all of the time that you put into these reviews.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Didn’t need the chapters. Watched straight thru. Great video.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Is RT6600ax prepaired for the new homeautomation standard Matter? Is that nessasary?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Is it possible to create “Web Filter” on a schedule? For example from 4PM to 8PM can be a “homework” time slot where only allowed whitelisted websites are available?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
That’s for a great review. Worth watching it all. Look forward to future videos on this router.
Three questions; Do you think Synology will release a WiFi 6 upgrade to the MR2200ac? Maybe an MR6600ax?
Also, can devices be assigned a frequency? Orbi takes control of that an many times connects 5GHz devices (like FireTV) to 2.4GHz when only in the next room. ????????♂️
Lastly, I’m sure the answer is yes, but I didn’t see it covered, can you assign static IP’s or reserve IP’s for devices?
Thanks again! I really love the ability to create a VLAN that merges with an SSID to isolate my IoT.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
The usual lan limitation of all router you have only one 2.5gbe port. Now a router should have at least one 2.5 gbe (Better 5gbe as in Italy a phone company started to sell a FTTH 5gbe fiber connection at a good price in selected city) wan AND one 2.5 lan port (better 5gbe) and let a multi-g switch to manage the signal. Also it should manage analog phone otherwise we must pay for the router that provider offer
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Very interesting review so thank you. You say you will be reviewing the Asus RT AX series….will you be doing this one?
ASUS RT-AX89X 12-Stream AX6000 Dual Band Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax Router
Cheers
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
I think I will wait for Asus Gt axe 16000
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Felicidades, es un buen ejemplo.
250 sentadillas son unos 4.FO/L-J27g1 muchas y un buen ejercicio.
5:25 Se deja ver que hay muy buenos resultados ????????
Saludos desde la Cd.. de world ????????????
los mortales abian apreciado tan hermosa mujer.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Can you restrict wifi at the same way as with lan regarding to IOT? A vlan video would be nice if you did here to.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Usb hub?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Hey
Thanks so much for this very informative Video! 2 Questions though:
1. Can you connect the router to a VPN, so your whole home internet traffic is secure? If so, what VPNs can be used?
2. As some might know, wireguard is a very simple, fast and secure VPN solution. Is it possible to run wireguard as a server or as a client on this router? If there’s a option to install packages, really one should be able to potentially develop or manually install the option for wireguard as a client and perhaps even as a wireguard VPN server…..
Many thanks!
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Does this support a wired backhaul for a mesh with two of these systems?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Great review – thank you. Is there any way to limit the internet bandwidth available to a specific user / device or IP range? I usually allocate only 80% of the available internet bandwidth to make sure that no single user or device hogs all the bandwidth and that my downloads always have bandwidth available without impacting anyone else.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Nice review, but with no mesh, WiFi 6e, or 10Gbe, it’s a solid pass at this price.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Great review! I hate seagulls… Look at my stupid face… and last but not least, the dogs Dangleys… You crack me up!! Nice Router!
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Loved my 2600ac and as a Parent it allowed me to easily be a truly evil bastard cutting off internet to all my sons devices when he was in trouble and at bedtime with a schedule 😉
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
@NASCompares Did they drop the SD card slot as well as the 1 USB that you talk about?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Another Synology hardware fail… wake me up when they get their sh1t together.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Thank you for this review. I didn’t know that buying this one to replace RT2600 would render my 2200 MESH obsolete until SRM1.3 support. Just saved me a lot of money.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
There is amateur radio within the 5.9ghz band.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-centimeter_band
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Does Synology sponsor you? It seems you are very keen on Synology products. It made me think twice and wonder if you were sponsored nice shirt ????
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
About the USB port thing: while an extra cost, sure, is it possible to purchase a little USB hub, plug that in, and then plug multiple HDDs, a 4G dongle, etc.?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Ecellent review! Really appreciate the time you put into this!
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
shit router+with standarts at stonetime….no 10 gb is a …….for this bugs i buy 3 asus with the same outdatet shit…lol…
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
.. a long video
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Why would you want to mesh a WiFi 5 Router with the new RT6600ax?? Surely the idea wuld be to wait for their (Probably in development mesh) device?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Awesome review!!
Btw, Rooter is a great drinking game. Cheers!!
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
I have a Net Gear r9000 x10, do you think this rt6600 would be a good upgrade? R9000 has started dropping Wi-Fi and kicking me out of plex, on paper they seem to have similar specs, although net gear have tried to kill the router with firmware numerous times.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
I still have a Dislike button on an iPad Pro 12.9. What’s missing is the counter on the dislike button.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Will there be a chance that Synology will finally support HomeKit Secure Router in the near future?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Great video. Btw, note that 3G/4G dogles are at EOL support by SRM (as per the Synology Compatibility List) so I am not sure how viable alternative one has for a backup WAN connection.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Just wondering. The new software disabled support for 4G dongle. But I noticed in your video around minute 31.45 that there is a mobile network section in the settings.
I hope I can use my SIM with dongle. Been wanting to switch to Synology router for the longest time but couldn’t due to the poor support for SIM card.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
It would be wiser to divide a video this long into many videos, it would make you more revenue and get you more views.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
I swear you’re worst than the seagulls ????????
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
oh been waiting for a week for this, just got ds920+ from 415+ now thinking time to upgrade the wifi mesh
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Thanks for the thorough review but this is too little too late from Synology as an existing customer… I welcome SRM 1.3 VLAN and multiple SSID but these were promised and should have been out several years ago however they stalled SRM development to focus on DSM7. It has left a really sour taste in my mouth as I invested heavily with RT2600ac and 2x MR2200ac (along with multiple NAS) but have had to relegate the RT2600ac to just doing WiFi as an access point because of all bugs and the lack of development. I’m now using a PFsense router which is far more stable and has had better features, scalability and resilience for years. I’ll look at SRM 1.3 when it lands for my existing devices but when it is time to upgrade my mesh WiFi hardware I have no loyalty to Synology or confidence in their support for their network devices so i’ll be looking at other offerings.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
300USD! The Unifi DreamRouter at 200USD just killed it before it even was launched.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
32:41 when you said “I just had to kill..” I thought the seagulls? 😀
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Robbie, you mentioned that it does not pair with the current RT2200 routers for meshing? Only in RSM 1.3? When will that be released?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
It looks like it is supposed to be a hat for one of Sauron’s underlings.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Indeed. About bloody time. Been waiting for this review for a dog’s age.
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Please do a Asus rt-ax86u vs Synology rt6600ax review please please
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Can one not connect an expansion USB device…IE: multi port dongle?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
Does it come with anti-seagull radiation features?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
That seagull was probably after your chips…????
REPLY ON YOUTUBE
What do you think of the Orbi’s?
REPLY ON YOUTUBE