Nas to Nas Synology?

[layoric]

I have a client that has a smaller backup requirement so was going to recommend 2 mirrored synology Nas devices. One at her business office the other at her home office. I've read you can use the synology Nas to backup to another one, but will each Nas be able to handle this type of Nas to Nas backup without a computer as an intermediary? Does Synology have this function reliably working and can it manage the space on the second Nas, or at least delete x # of backups? Also, if they don't have a wired connection option at the main office, has anyone experienced issues going with a wireless to wired work around?

I assume I can set it up at my location, then change ips or whatever to get it to connect at the new location.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yup...it's a function built into the NAS OS. No middle-man PC needed. It's a straight up mirroring (well, you can do several approaches, but I'd do the mirroring).

Kind of like a RAID 1...of a pair of NAS's..across the internet.

 

[JustInspired]

I have a client with two; one at home and one at the office. They're not mirrored but each NAS has a folder (not visible on the network) that the other NAS backs up to. This way his photos on the Home NAS get backed up off-site and the office documents get backed up in the same way. This has worked flawlessly and has survived DSM updates (4.x to 5.x and several minor 5.x ones)
Both NAS units email the client and ourselves with backup reports daily, disk check reports etc monthly.

For these and other clients' reports we have been trialling this: https://www.checkcentral.cc
Hopefully we can get this set up nicely so as to save us getting flooded with email reports which we have to glance at each time.

 

[layoric]

Thanks guys. Although dual nas option is pricy I'll also give the option of simply having one at their house. I believe their office only offers wifi so going the second route will save some money, while less redundant.

 

[layoric]

Client finally got back to me. They want to go with a single NAS device right now. I'm going with a synology device. I'd imagine all I need is to configure the router and setup something with dyndns or something similar, as they'll be backing up from the office to home. If that's the case, what software would be good/have you used for backups to the nas device?

 

[FremontPC]

If that's the case, what software would be good/have you used for backups to the nas device?

Synology provides a dynamic dns service (Synology.me) that you can set up in Disk Station Manager. Turn on WebDav, forward the appropriate ports on the home gateway or router if required, then use something like NetDrive on the Windows client at the office to add the Synology as a network drive in Windows.

Since they'll be going from a Windows client to the NAS over the internet, you can use pretty much any backup software that can hit a network target. I'd suggest differential or incremental backups.

You could also throw another drive in the client and set up CloudStation, that might help minimize network traffic and avoid any cap that your customer has on their home internet service. Backup to the CloudStation folder on the client, that will get synced to the NAS. I understand CloudStation itself keeps previous versions of files. You wouldn't need WebDav/Netdrive in this case. Just CloudStation on the NAS and the client, I believe Synology provides "Quickconnect" software that's used on the client for this.

Crashplan might be a good choice for the backup software, as it will hit local destinations and with the paid version, you would have another offsite, versioned copy of the files. I'm assuming you're shooting for file level backup and not system images here. Redundant and might work out well if you're heading in the MSP direction too.

So there's a few ways to handle it, see what seems to make the best sense to you.

 

[Martyn]

Client finally got back to me. They want to go with a single NAS device right now. I'm going with a synology device. I'd imagine all I need is to configure the router and setup something with dyndns or something similar, as they'll be backing up from the office to home. If that's the case, what software would be good/have you used for backups to the nas device?

I haven't setup dynamic DNS on them yet but it does come with client backup /sync software called Synology Data Replicator 3

 

[layoric]

I suppose I could test all that at my location, using my IP, then just move to their location and update settings. Thanks guys --

 

[layoric]

You could also throw another drive in the client and set up CloudStation, that might help minimize network traffic and avoid any cap that your customer has on their home internet service.

They have laptops, so the option to add an additional drive is out. External drive wouldn't be that convenient for them either.

 

[FremontPC]

They have laptops, so the option to add an additional drive is out. External drive wouldn't be that convenient for them either.

Ah well, you can still stick the Cloudstation folder on their regular drive, as long as there's space.