XPENoobie with a noobie question

[denmalley]

HI there!   Looking forward to exploring this awesome software.  I successfully loaded a Dell Poweredge T30 bare metal with the DS3617xs version of DSM, and now that I'm in, I'm basically wondering if I need to be wary of anything as far as using the "official" synology services.  Like can I go to their package center to get stuff?  I guess I should turn off automatic updates?  I unchecked anything during setup regarding sending them any info, but I guess basically wondering if there's anything I need to watch out for in settings or access that will violate TOS or whatnot.

 

In the meantime, I'll keep scrubbing the forums looking for answers to my questions, thanks for all the awesome work!

[Polanskiman]

Welcome to the forum and glad everything is working fine for you.

 

Well the mere fact of using DSM on a non-Synology hardware is already a violation yet not illegal to my knowledge.

 

My recommendation is not using any feature that uses Synology's web based services such as for example Quickconnect or push services. That's a no no because you are using Synology's resources and on top of that you are showing Synology your SN which they know might not be legitimate. There is a very easy work around like setting up a custom DDNS.

 

We also do no promote/tolerate cracking any proprietary package such as Surveillance Station for example where only 2 cam licences are available for free. Some people think it is ok to crack the binaries up and share that in public in order to free the package from its 2 free license limitation. I don't think it is.

 

Downloading packages from the package center should be fine but as I said above you will also be in violation since you will need to agree to an EULA before you are able to download packages and that EULA states that DSM packages are supposed to be for Synology devices, but hey without those packages then using DSM would virtually be useless. If you care to read the EULA here it is: https://www.synology.com/en-us/company/legal/package_center

 

Have fun.

[bhups]

On 10/19/2017 at 5:55 AM, Polanskiman said:

 

Well the mere fact of using DSM on a non-Synology hardware is already a violation yet not illegal to my knowledge.

 

 

Hello,

 

I've tried to dig around for an answer to whether the use of Xpenology on a Non-Synology Hardware is illegal or not and cannot come to a definitive place with an answer to this question.

https://remonpel.nl/2017/06/synology-nas-software-non-synology-hardware/ - This website quotes Synology as follows:

Quote

Synology: “You need to know that using XPEnology is illegal and in violation of the intellectual property of Synology and infringes its copyright. It is not allowed to install DSM on another server and this may lead to legal action.”

 

However, I do not see anything actually from a reliable source (preferably from the company itself).

Has anyone had any update from somewhere which actually states this to be true?

 

Also if it was illegal, why would it be so?

 

[bhups]

I've just had a "Chat" with Synology Support.

 

This is the log of what was talked about:

 

Nnaemeka Ogbonna
Hello Bhups. How may I help you?

Bhups
Hello.
Would it be possible to let me know of the software Xpenology is illegal and if so why would it be so.
if you do not know, Xpenology is a port of Synology.
Nnaemeka Ogbonna
Please give me a moment to verify

Thanks for the wait, it's illegal, it violates our DSM licensing policy

Please let me know if you have any other questions

Bhups
Could you advise how it violates the policy
i've been reading and Synology is licensed under GPL
Nnaemeka Ogbonna
when you buy a NAS, the price includes a DSM license. 
when you install xpenology on a pc, you install it without a license. so it's illegal to use DSM without a license, just like it's illegal to use windows without one

Bhups
thank you for the clarification
Nnaemeka Ogbonna
you're welcome

 

[flyride]

The issue at hand is that Synology is built upon open-source products (even some of their "proprietary" packages).  The license that comes with those open source products essentially requires that the developers must make source code of derivative works available to the public.  Which Synology (eventually) does.

 

So, for them to say that you, or I or anyone else cannot take those source codes and redeploy them in a manner of our choosing would violate the licenses on which THEY are bound.  That said, reselling XPenology would run foul of their legitimate copyright and they would sue you.  Misuse of their cloud services on a large scale would probably get their attention.

 

Individual use is probably not worth their time, and probably wouldn't stand up in a court.