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At home I have two ReadyNAS Pro 4s with identical drive setups. One is just network storage with four or five shares on it. The other (to be delivered next week, so there will be a delay until I can try out any suggestions) will be a dedicated mirror-image backup of the always-on storage box. The NASes will be on the network through a gig switch with a single cable each.
Is there a way to connect the two NASes to each other directly with the second unused jack for backup purposes, leaving the backup activity off the rest of the network entirely?
Similarly, can I somehow do a direct connection for the initial copy to set up the new backup NAS?
In fact, that reminds me of a third question: what is the best way to make that initial copy -- configuration and shares and all? (The storage NAS has about 5GB of 8GB in use.)
I'm a Windows guy, not a *nix guy so hopefully this can be accomplished without dipping into a shell or whatever. Thanks!
The Pro 4 has been discontinued for over 3 years now. I would have recommended getting a newer model such as the RN314 for the second unit. If the Pro 4 failed there is a procedure to attempt data recovery using an OS6 x86 NAS such as a RN314.
You could do a direct connection between the two units, but you would still need to connect the second NAS to your LAN to manage it. Configuring the use of a static I.P. would add a little complexity to the setup (you would need to make sure that the DNS server addresses are specified correctly). The backup job would need to use the I.P. of the other NAS uses for the NIC used for the direct-connection to force the backup job traffic over the direct-connection.
I reckon doing a direct-connection between the two units wouldn't help performance so I think setting up the use of a direct-connection would be a lot of work for little benefit.
You could do all the configuration you need from the GUI.
The Pro 4 has been discontinued for over 3 years now. I would have recommended getting a newer model such as the RN314 for the second unit. If the Pro 4 failed there is a procedure to attempt data recovery using an OS6 x86 NAS such as a RN314.
You could do a direct connection between the two units, but you would still need to connect the second NAS to your LAN to manage it. Configuring the use of a static I.P. would add a little complexity to the setup (you would need to make sure that the DNS server addresses are specified correctly). The backup job would need to use the I.P. of the other NAS uses for the NIC used for the direct-connection to force the backup job traffic over the direct-connection.
I reckon doing a direct-connection between the two units wouldn't help performance so I think setting up the use of a direct-connection would be a lot of work for little benefit.
You could do all the configuration you need from the GUI.
I reckon doing a direct-connection between the two units wouldn't help performance so I think setting up the use of a direct-connection would be a lot of work for little benefit.
I agree.
If both NAS are connected to a gigabit switch there won't be any performance gain - even commodity switches should have enough backplane bandwidth to maintain the connection at full speed no matter what else is going on in the network as a whole, and the the traffic doesn't touch the rest of the network.
If the two NAS aren't connected to a gigabit switch, then just buy one, since that would raise performance for all wired devices.
I went with the same (outdated) model because I got a deal on one that was only used for a few months then boxed up and forgotten. The current setup is adequate for light home usage, I figure I'll do a real upgrade when SSDs become affordable for these amounts of storage (mainly to keep my AV closet from turning into a Betty Crocker EZ-Bake Oven).
Any tips for my other question? The easiest way to do the initial copy -- or is the answer just set up the backup job and turn it loose, given that network activity sounds like it won't really be an issue (they'd both be on the same 16 port gig switch).
I like share-by-share backup jobs myself - a bit more work to set up, but more flexible, easier to troubleshoot if something goes wrong, and a bit easier to manage the data migration over a couple days.
You can start with the NFS protocol (which will be fastest on the pro-4), then edit the backup job to use rsync and re-run it.
You should configure any user accounts/groups you use first (matching the UID/GID to your old NAS).
Thank you! One final question... now that I have a spare ReadyNAS 🙂 ... are there instructions available somewhere about disassembly? Mainly I want to pull the power supply and keep that handy, it sounds like that's the most likely point of failure.
