NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
BorgBackup on ReadyNas 516
I have been researching for quite a while to find a way to create an offsite backup solution for my ReadyNas 516 that will:
-Maintain version history
-Send only block-level incremental changes (deduplicate)
-Encrypt the data on-site and on-the-fly (I don't need to maintain an encrypted on-site drive)
-Send the data to any other location that can store data (on a Storage VPS, or a relative's hard drive, etc.)
I already have the main ReadyNas 516 running Raid 6 for simple drive failures. I also already have an on-site, non-encrypted backup solution to a second ReadyNas 314, using incremental rsync, and I am able to keep the version history (of the backups) on the backup NAS by just using the built in BTRFS snapshots as was outlined by StephenB below(who seems to be an absolute wealth of knowledge on how the ReadyNas is actually configured, it's capabilities, and how to implement those features into potential solutions with an understanding of the plus/minus of what was implemented, RARE!!!, thanks Stephen!):
I think these solutions are great, as they provide a high level of data safety, and high availability failover for complete failure of my ReadyNas 516. However, this set-up is not acceptable for a disaster situation such as a fire etc. that wipes out both NAS devices.
I came across a lot of relevant, and not so relevant info by searching this forum and a many, many, many others. I have most recently been trying to use Resilio Sync, but because it is continuously looking for changes, it's indexing, encrypting and syncing features just can't seem to keep up with the process, and I have gotten some errors that make me not trust the process. However I did like the idea of backing up to many off-site locations simultaneously and multi-streaming to recover back as I have an asymmetric 120/5Mbps WAN connection, and it would have been nice to rebuild at 120Mbps speeds.
The potential solution I am focused on now is a program called BorgBackup, which appears to do all of the things in my wish list. Here is a glowing endorsement that I found from what looks like the owner of rsync.net (not affiliated with them in any way, and have never used their service), along with a succinct description of how Borg fulfills requirements that other programs don't.
His comments are very similar to what I find everywhere for those who are using borg.
However, I am not a Linux expert, and don't know if I would be able to get BorgBackup to work on the Readynas 516 as it is not an on-the-shelf app. It appears as if people have been able to get it to work on the Synology & Qnap NAS:
Synology:
https://github.com/borgbackup/borg/issues/719#issuecomment-227373338
QNAP:
https://github.com/borgbackup/borg/issues/690#issuecomment-278549023
And I believe the ReadyNas is running Debian, but I don't know enough about Linux, or how the ReadyNas has implemented Debian to know if I can just install it with "apt-get" or if this will somehow mess-up the OS6, or the space reserved for OS6 to run, and if the correct components and dependencies have been implemented. There also appears to be stand alone binaries built that should take care of some of these issues, but don't know enough about Linux to figure all this out.
Can anyone help me to understand if this would be possible, and workable?
It appears to be the perfect solution for what I am trying to achieve (As a matter of fact I could potentially use Resilio Sync to multi-replicate the encrypted off-site repository to multiple machines from the off-site location, then stream that encrypted repository back to my location from multiple locations later to get the multi-stream effect back). Also, if it is helpful to anyone, BuyVM has what I think are quite reasonably priced off-site storage solutions relative to what I see offered elsewhere.
I appreciate your thoughts, and advice!!
10 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
You can use ZeroTier to add a parallel network connection where your local and remote machines are on the same VPN, then use the same solution you use locally. Unlike some other VPN solutions, it does not interfere with the normal network access (which is why I refer to it as "parallel"). Google and a search of this forum are good resources for ZeroTier. In case you don't locate the right message pointing to the ReadtNAS App, it's here: https://github.com/NAStools/zerotierone/releases. It's a bit of an old version, but still works. If you prefer a newer version and don't need a GUI, you can do a normal Linux install per the ZeroTier site using SSH.
- Thanks for the reply. I think you are suggesting that I can incremental rsync the data to a remote machine over a ZeroTier network VPN type solution
I don't think this will meet the needs list which is to encrypt the data on-site and then transfer the encrypted data to the remote machines. I am not just looking for an encrypted transport. The reason I need an encrypted data solution is that the remote machines cannot be completely trusted. Hence the desired to use BorgBackup, which encrypts the data on-site, on-the-fly and then sends over an SSH tunnel which is also encrypted. Getting all of this to work would be doable for me if I knew that Borg could be installed and would work on the 516. It seems to have a fast enough processor.
However it seems you might be saying I can install an application with apt-get on the 516 via SSH. If this is the case, any reason that an application like Borg couldn't be installed and used like this, and any concerns in even trying to do so? Don't want to ruin the 516, or void the warranty if I can help it...
ThanksYes borg will work on your readynas. I have been running it on mine. I believe you need python installed to use it, but there might be a binary form of it out there that will work. You will need SSH access to your readynas. Install python and pip then check out this page
https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/installation.html#pip-installation
I used the git method to install it...but don't bother with the virtualenv stuff, which basically comes down to
git clone https://github.com/borgbackup/borg.git pip install sphinx # optional, to build the docs cd borg pip install -r requirements.d/development.txt pip install -r requirements.d/fuse.txt # optional, for FUSE support pip install -e .
You can also just install python and pip and then run this:
sudo pip install borgbackup
or this if you want to be able to mount the backup archives:
sudo pip install borgbackup[fuse]
The above may not be the very latest version of borg, use the git method to get the latest version and also to get the docs.
NETGEAR Academy
Boost your skills with the Netgear Academy - Get trained, certified and stay ahead with the latest Netgear technology!
Join Us!
