Synology messages to renew license

Yep - I have the same problem. I've been getting messages telling me to renew the licence on my Synology. I've had the Synology for years but these messages have only started recently. I guess it's something to do with a new router? How can I apply for a licence and get it automatically renewed as before (without taking a degree in computer science - I don't have an IT support department.)

License? How do you mean "license"? Because certificates are never refered to as "licenses".

If you actually mean "certificate", please open a new thread in the Help section.

If you actually mean "license", then this Community is not the right place to ask about that, sorry.

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I am a barely competent computer user. I also have a Synology DSM NAS like the original person posting. I have also had a message from Let's Encrypt to say that the certificate for my 'Synology' address - thefairweathers.synology.me - is about to expire. I was under the impression the certificate for this address was 'managed' by Synology but it looks like something is about to go wrong. As the original Certificate was created when I set up the Synology NAS I have no idea how to renew it. Can anyone help or point me in the right direction?
Thanks

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Please open a new thread in the Help section for your issue.

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Sadly David, my experience has been that the volunteers who man this helpline do not know how to help people in our situation. All I have had is a stream of technical vocabulary followed by aggression, descending into rather personal abuse. As you will have discovered, Synology themselves are not able to be much more helpful. I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere.

The long and the short of what I have been able to discover is that it is probably an issue with your router rather than the Synology. This business about open ports has to do with routers in the main, it seems. So that might be another avenue for you to pursue. I've found router manufacturers rather more able to help the public than others.

Good luck. Don't waste your time here - you'll only end up with a string of unpleasant responses. Sad.

J

I resent your post @jjrosebank.

If @djfairweather opens a new thread in the Help section, fills out the questionnaire there and replies in a decent manner, there shouldn't be any unpleasant responses.

In the end, you reap what you sow :slight_smile:

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I am certain that it is not a router issue. Connections to their system work normally. Unlike basic connections to your domain which still fail. Which, as I noted in your thread, you should check your router and check with your ISP.

I also look forward to helping @djfairweather when they start a new thread with the answers to the form.

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Are you saying that your one bad apple has spoiled this whole bunch?
You should follow his topic, as will I, and see for yourself how it goes before making such ludicrous predictions.

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Quod erat demonstrandum

I feel like a book with a bad looking cover...
OR
At least being judged like one.

But my account speaks for itself:

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As opposed to:

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Well, half of those received likes are from Bruce and their clones :wink:

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You can ignore the like counter, if you like.

  • 171k posts read [I don't see the pattern stated]
  • 26.7k posts created [I've dealt with Synology NAS systems before - with positive outcomes]
  • 560 solutions [probably more than any active member/if not all members]
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Thank you to all. As I have been able to find the answer (in the Synology help forum where I didn't have to fill in any forms) Rather than start a new thread I thought I would share what I have found out.
The Synology DSM 'should' auto renew for you, but something is amiss as this is not happening. In the meantime use manual renew.
Using the DSM front end. Select Control Panel>Security. The 5th tab along is 'certificates'. Select this and there should be your ####.synology.me Certificate listed. Right click over it and select 'renew'. After a short time the listing should change with a new date 3 months in the future. This has worked for me. Fortunately I didn't need to get into the intricacies of ports and certificates from first principles.
Good luck.

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Glad to hear about your success @djfairweather.
But the end game is to automate the process.
So, until that has happened, you will be forced to repeat your manual actions every 90 days [or less].

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Thank you @rg305 you are absolutely right! However I should have been more precise. I have had a Synology NAS of one vintage or another running DSM since 2015. Up until this month my Certificate has auto renewed without any intervention on my part. Either 'Let's Encrypt' has changed it's rules or protocols or the Synology DSM has subtly changed, but somehow the auto renew doesn't seem to be working at the moment. Let's hope it gets back to normal soon.

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Let's Encrypt did enable something (for a very short time period of just 8 hours) that every ACME client should be capable of handeling (Enabling Asynchronous Order Finalization). However, enabling asynchronous finalization on the production environment was postponed indefinitely due to too many broken ACME clients. And it was enabled not too long ago by accident, but only for a few hours I believe.

Other than that, I'm not familiar with any change that could have impacted your auto-renewal. I don't believe the asynchronous order finalization stuff I mentioned above would stop auto-renewal permanently. If DSM couldn't handle that, it would only have failed once or twice at most, but should have succeeded afterwards again when asynchronous order finalization was disabled again.

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I can see your long history of certs in the public logs. Congrats.

I see though that often the NAS did not renew with 30 days remaining as is recommended. I see as few as 22, 25, and 26 in the last year.

Do you sometimes have the NAS powered off such that it wouldn't renew w/30d left?

Otherwise Let's Encrypt might contact Synology about this. Systems ideally should be renewing with a third of their duration left especially as the industry is moving towards even shorter duration certs.

I see you had 20d remaining on your previous cert when you renewed manually today. If the NAS is intentionally changing the timing maybe it was just especially late this cycle?

You may have even got an email from Let's Encrypt warning about the 20d expiration. Was that what alerted you to the auto-renew problem?

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Hmmm, interesting and thank you.

I do not turn my NAS box off ... in general. It isn't on a UPS but power here is pretty reliable. I have rebooted it on occasion but it is only down for around 30 minutes or so. I would hope this does not interrupt the auto renew process.

I did indeed get an email from Let's Encrypt with a 20d expiry warning which is why I manually renewed (after finding out how!). I have put a request on the Synology Forum to see if I am alone or if this is a trend with the DSM version I am running. Nothing yet.

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Thanks.

The original poster on this thread got auto-renewed with just 15 days left. It is possible your NAS would have auto-renewed soon on its own. Although, I would have done the same as you and renewed now.

I have seen some other Synology threads here recently with renewal history slightly erratic. I am starting to wonder if Synology changed their timing scheme without realizing their customers may get a somewhat alarming email from Let's Encrypt that their system is faulty.

Your info about how to force a refresh was helpful. I am bookmarking it so I can inform future posters with a similar problem.

If you learn anything further it would be great if you could post here. Thanks.

I'll do the same but this feels like an issue that will need to evolve a while before we get definitive answers.

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