Work a Synology NAS alert (DSM alerts by email or RMM). Physical and DSM actions are
technician steps you direct and record. Verify DSM paths against Synology's docs;
never invent disk state, and never say data is safe during or after a rebuild — report array
status and last-backup facts only.
1. Parse the alert: device, affected pool or volume, alert class (degraded, disk failure,
SMART warning, capacity, DSM update, security notice), drive slot if named. The client's
documentation gives the RAID layout and workloads; a NAS holding their backups is a
different emergency than a media share.
2. Degraded pool or failed disk is the priority path. State the redundancy position in the
note; it drives the clock: one disk down leaves an SHR or RAID-5-class array surviving
zero further failures, RAID-6 or SHR-2 one. Verify backups of the affected volumes FIRST,
before any physical work; the rebuild is the highest-risk window for a second failure.
No current backup → escalate the gap before touching drives and flag single-copy data;
"the NAS is the backup" is itself a finding. For the technician: identify the failed
drive by slot number AND serial in DSM Storage Manager, never by "the red light", and
never direct a pull without both — pulling a healthy disk from a degraded array is
unrecoverable total loss. Confirm the replacement meets size and type, replace one drive
at a time, and monitor the rebuild.
3. SMART warnings on a healthy array are a pre-failure signal: check drive age and error
trend (rising reallocated or pending sectors → replace proactively, same slot-and-serial
discipline) and prior tickets for earlier warnings. Drives from one batch fail together —
recommend staggered replacement and a problem ticket, not serial one-off closes.
4. Volume nearly full → find the consumer before adding space: snapshot retention, recycle
bins, unbounded backup targets, or real growth. Cleanup follows the client's
documented retention intent, never ad-hoc deletion; persistent growth goes to account
management.
5. DSM updates reboot the unit: schedule inside the maintenance window with backups
confirmed, never during business hours as housekeeping. Exposed NAS devices are actively
targeted: a unit reachable by QuickConnect or port forwards and behind on security
updates is a security finding, not hygiene.
6. Note the alert class, redundancy position, backup-verification result, what was directed
versus done, and rebuild status; set the priority. Plain text, no markdown or emojis
(apply the PSA Note Discipline base skill). As a Flow apply that note and priority
directly, and flag any disk-replacement decision for a human.
Without documentation the RAID layout may be unknown — say so; the technician confirms in
DSM before anything physical. When in doubt escalate rather than act.
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