Synology NAS and OS X AFP

[3282868]

Running a Synology NAS for media and a HTPC 2012 Mac Mini. Initially used for movies, I moved all my media to it (iPhoto Library, iTunes content). I hope(d)WLAN systems (Macs) would have full access to same media, synchronizing everything instead of spreading media over numerous systems.

Then I learned Synology and OS X don't play well over AFP. Synology is aware of the issue, and "working on it", for ~2 years. I can access it via Finder. I made certain every user has read/write access, yet every Mac cannot change read/write permissions via Finder (see attached pic). Tried SMB, no luck.

Simply, the NAS is an iTunes server for every Mac, maintaining one database for iTunes and iPhoto. Synology's "iTunes Server" app is terrible. I can access via Finder, but iTunes doesn't have write access.

Anyone familiar with my setup, I would greatly appreciate any advice.

Setup:
2012 Mac Mini HTPC (connected via CAT 6 to 6th 2013 AEBS)
Synology NAS DSM 4.3 beta connected via CAT 6 to AEBS
~ 4 wireless N Mac's running OS X 10.8 and 10.9

 

[maflynn]

I saw a number of threads on Synology's site regarding AFP issues (it actually stopped me from buying one). There may be some suggestions in solutions there. Sorry I don't have any other help to offer

 

[ColdCase]

That and what ever does work typically breaks when synology releases a NAS update. Synology does seem to eventually get around to fixing it and makes a great NAS product otherwise.

I've been there and, if I had to do it over again, I'd just run OSX server on a mac mini and be done with it. Twice the cost but much less of a hassle to a mac centric home.

 

[lexvo]

I think you can't rely 100% on third party AFP support. With each firmware update or OS-X update new problems can occur. With QNAP there were also problems with AFP compatibility (though they look not as severe as with Synology). I switched to SMB for this reason, though this is not always an option.

 

[maflynn]

With SMB there is a general lack of support, i.e., time machine, resource forks etc.

However with that said, its been reported that with 10.9 Apple is moving towards using SMB over AFP. See this appleinsider article

I agree with any updates from apple, it potentially breaks third party AFP support. With Synology, they seem to be rather slow in fixing this issue. I say this only because of the age and size of the threads complaining about it. Multiple updates from Synology have been released but have not fixed the bug.

I'm not dumping on Synology, Qnap has also had issues with AFP in the past.

Perhaps with 10.9 and updates by both Synology and Qnap we can put AFP issues behind us for once and for all.

 

[priitv8]

Simply, the NAS is an iTunes server for every Mac, maintaining one database for iTunes and iPhoto. Synology's "iTunes Server" app is terrible. I can access via Finder, but iTunes doesn't have write access.

What makes you think that iTunes/iPhoto library database is good for concurrent access by several clients?
I solved this issue by assigning my Mac Mini to run a copy of iTunes which uses the library exclusively. Other clients can use Home Sharing to access media. Obviously, this works only in one direction. You can't push media from connected Home Sharing clients to the serving instance. You can, however pull media into serving iTunes from connected clients.

The same topic was also discussed here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1604387/

PS Synology's (or any other NAS's for that matter) iTunes Server is by definition a playback-only protocol (DAAP). Meaning you can only play back from this server, not make any updates to it.

PPS I don't think any of those Linux-based NAS-s use their own AFP servers. I believe they all run the Netatalk.

 

[3282868]

What makes you think that iTunes/iPhoto library database is good for concurrent access by several clients?
I solved this issue by assigning my Mac Mini to run a copy of iTunes which uses the library exclusively. Other clients can use Home Sharing to access media. Obviously, this works only in one direction. You can't push media from connected Home Sharing clients to the serving instance. You can, however pull media into serving iTunes from connected clients.

Yup, as I wrote I have a 2012 Mac Mini with SSD as my HTPC. However, iTunes does not support some containers. I've been able to convert mkv DTS to m4v now that Handbrake supports m4v DTS passthru, yet some TrueHD audio has to be remuxed to a lower bitrate. Synology's iTunes Server tends to confuse OS X iTunes, so I used AFP to mount the NAS folders on login, then point iTunes on my Mac Mini to the Synology server.

Aside form iTunes, I played around with Plex server, but have been using VLC via Finder for some movies as it offers more support than iTunes.

I've been there and, if I had to do it over again, I'd just run OSX server on a mac mini and be done with it. Twice the cost but much less of a hassle to a mac centric home.

I'm thinking the same. Either that or stick with my original setup and hope for the best. Tried NFS, that's my last option. SMB gets a bit messy at times. I know OS X Lion then Mountain Lion switched Network protocols (SMB especially) which screwed a lot of people w/o support. Thankfully it's been remedied.

Using Synology 4.3 beta, hoping improvement(s) come along. Thanks for the advice!