Backup Plan for a Restricted Business - Am I Right?

[Mainstay]

I am working in an office with entrenched philosophies and workflows... and I am not allowed to change it (I tried, and they are wanting to revert back to a more hands-on approach).

Small office with 5 workstations that are running in workgroup mode. Each computer has unique files and they DO NOT WANT to have a central data repository (had them on a NAS and they couldn't fathom how that Z drive works! - and yes, I patiently went through it over and over).

So we need to back them up. Offsite cloud backups are not allowed in this business.

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So my plan (and please, poke holes):

5 workstations running Macrium Reflect backing up files and folders nightly to a 2-bay QNAP NAS w/ 4 TB storage. Total file content amounts to ~100 GB and isn't growing at much of a rate (they are all documents, never pictures or music or anything of large content).

A MR image of the systems to be performed twice a month.

The QNAP will backup to a 4TB USB drive that is physically removed from the premises on the closing on Friday and taken to the owners home.

A second 4TB USB drive will be swapped in to take it's place (leaving one at home and one connected).
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I know I could go for two NAS's replicating to each other, but I doubt this will work... I foresee a future in babysitting the NAS's till I am old(er) and grey(er).

Any thoughts on this concept?

Thank you all!

 

[HCHTech]

old(er) and grey(er)

Hahaha. I hear you. This is one of those "you can lead a horse to water...." clients. You just have to do the best you can. This sounds like workable setup, provided you can get them to do the drive swap religiously. Which they won't of course, but it helps to nag them. I have one like this. I put them on my monitoring system so I could tell which external was connected, then I sent them a nag email once a week for about 2 months. I think they finally got the hang of it. Make sure you get whatever crypto-protection measures you use in place.

The 2 NAS replication scenario would be better, of course...one at the owner's home, one in the office. Why don't you think this will work - just that they won't pony up for the 2nd unit? Bad internet?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I understand some peoples worry about backing up offsite....but I always try to get them to fully grasp the manual part of backup, and what "managed backup services" are all about (which is what we, as MSPs do, to make money..so yeah I want to sell that).

*Local backup, done by clients themselves. Usually never gets tested. Usually never gets fully understoof. Most often gets forgotten, and never done...be it changing tapes like we did decades ago, or removable HDDs like Tandy RDX units, or external USB drives, or even thumb drives. Or if someone with good discipline and memory does do it...and is faithful in doing it, are they taking it offsite? If they are taking it offsite...are they just plopping it in the glovebox of their car...to "cook" in the hot summer, or tossing it in there purse...right next to their cell phone? (how many times are either of those really done? Quite often unfortunately) Either way...never ever give me that media to restore data from..it's useless now, a paperweight. Or is the removable backup safe from theft...encrypted? In case it gets lost or stolen.
The "human" element is involved too much here...it depends on a person..thus it's prone to fail. We, the IT peeps, cannot "manage" this...

*Offsite backup...removes the human element...this less prone to mistakes, forgetting, typical things like that. Don't have to worry about how media is handled. No need to worry about "did I change the tapes?" And typically you get daily digests about success (or failure) of backups. And...hey...this is a service that can be "managed" by someone to ensure it's always working! Worries about privacy? Easily overcome by many services that allow you, the end user, to be the only one in possession of the encryption key.

 

[MobileTechie]

Sounds like a perfectly sensible and normal plan. The only thing I can wonder about is why bother with 4GB of storage if they're at 100GB and not growing much? Same with the USB.

 

[Mainstay]

The 2 NAS replication scenario would be better, of course...one at the owner's home, one in the office. Why don't you think this will work - just that they won't pony up for the 2nd unit? Bad internet?

Because I have never successfully implemented this setup. We seem to always be hindered by power (need UPS to be maintained in two locations), ISP quirks in port blocking etc., router replacements by the ISP that then close down ports that need reopening, syncing errors that result in perpetually increasing data sets (i.e., pruning of old data is not properly performed).

Plus, remote management of these devices is a bit tricky. The NAS in the office is easy as I can leave LMI installed on one of their systems. The NAS in the home, not so easy.

I know there is remote management directly to the NAS, but sometimes you need to look at issues outside of the NAS and a computer is the best device to remotely access.

and is faithful in doing it, are they taking it offsite?

This is one of the rare situations where I believe they will religiously remove the drive offsite and do so carefully.

The only thing I can wonder about is why bother with 4GB of storage if they're at 100GB and not growing much? Same with the USB.

The total DATA is 100GB.

The workstations themselves with Windows + Software will be larger.

Concept: Each system is imaged nightly to the QNAP (initial backup is full, subsequent backups are differential). 7 days of copies are retained. Every Monday morning, the QNAP backs up to one of the Expansion drives. That expansion drive is taken off-site and swapped with the second expansion drive.

Each workstation has approximately 70 GB of imaged data and with differential backups (decreasing size), the combined storage utilization should be ~50% of total capacity leaving lots of room for future growth.

This is all estimated... but I'd rather go larger than smaller. Plus the cost difference between a 2TB drive and a 4TB drive is not that meaningful. But from 4TB to 6TB, the price difference is enormous.

 

[Markverhyden]

My concern would be the USB HD swapping. I have several setup that way and some, irregardless of the nagging, just do not swap. Besides, as mentioned, having the customer check their backup process is always a crap shoot.

 

[FremontPC]

Set the Qnap to email you/them if backup fails or it goes on the fritz, including if the SMART status of the drives change.

Perhaps set a scheduled backup to the external drive and an alert to you/them if that fails.