Synology has officially launched ActiveProtect Manager 2.0 (APM 2.0), a major software update for its ActiveProtect data protection appliances (DP-Series).
Designed to unify fragmented backup infrastructures, the update introduces expanded cloud and virtualisation platform support, flexible cross-platform recovery, and enhanced data security, with AI-driven threat mitigation coming in a subsequent release.
Synology ActiveProtect Manager 2.0 Availability
ActiveProtect Manager 2.0 is now available for all Synology DP-Series appliances as a free software update at no additional cost.
Purpose-Built ActiveProtect Appliance Lineup
Synology’s ActiveProtect ecosystem relies on purpose-built hardware appliances pre-configured with ActiveProtect Manager software:
- Enterprise Rackmount Models (DP7400 / DP7200): High-density 2U 12-bay appliances powered by AMD EPYC processors and up to 64GB RAM. Built for corporate headquarters and large data centers, these units feature 10GbE networking, SSD caching, and cluster management supporting up to 2,500 servers or 300,000 workloads.
- Desktop / Branch Office Models (DP340 / DP320): Compact 4-bay and 2-bay desktop units driven by AMD Ryzen processors, tailored for edge deployments, remote sites, and smaller business environments needing local backup redundancy.
Expanded Platform Coverage and Cloud Recovery
APM 2.0 significantly broadens its protection scope to cover popular cloud environments, hypervisors, and SaaS platforms:
- New Supported Platforms: Protection now extends to Amazon EC2, Azure VM, Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV, and Google Workspace.
- Cross-Platform Recovery: Workloads can be backed up and restored across completely different environments, helping organizations facilitate both disaster recovery strategies and workload migrations.
- Expanded Storage Destinations: ActiveProtect Vault now supports a wider range of Synology NAS models, alongside Azure Blob Storage for backup copies and tiering targets.
- Direct Cloud Disaster Recovery: Backups stored in Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage can be restored directly into Amazon EC2 or Azure VM without routing through on-premises hardware, drastically cutting down recovery times during critical outages.
Enhanced Data Security & AI-Driven Resiliency
To safeguard data at rest, APM 2.0 introduces volume-level software storage encryption, ensuring that backup data and system configurations remain fully protected and inaccessible in the event of drive theft or physical hardware loss.
Looking ahead, Synology announced that the upcoming APM 2.1 update will introduce proactive AI/ML anomaly detection to track change rates, file modifications, mass deletions, and entropy shifts across backup versions. Suspicious copies will automatically be quarantined for administrator review, with the model continuously learning from outcomes to reduce false positives.
Additionally, APM 2.1 will scan backups for malware prior to restoration using integrated third-party engines like Microsoft Defender, Bitdefender, and ESET, leveraging an Auto Fallback feature to automatically restore the latest clean version if malware is detected.
System administrators and enterprise users can learn more by visiting the official Synology ActiveProtect product page.
