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Forum Discussion
Remote backup to my NAS from my family
Dear all,
I've just installed a Readynas Ultra 2 at home, which isn't my first attempt to create a safe backup for mine and my family's photos and documents, but I hope it will be a successful one. :)
To begin with, I'm into photography, and try to take care not to loose my images to puny disc crashes, and I want my family's photos and documents to be equally secure.
Previously, I used my personal computer as a "backup server" with Gbridge, which worked very well in a Dropbox-like style, but after I switched my most server-functioning computer to Ubuntu, Gbridge is no longer supported. And I've realized the hard way, that I really can't figure out how to use Ubuntu (instability and graphic problems...). Long story short, I've aquired the Readynas Ultra 2, primarily for backup of my photos, and my first impressions are good. :)
I'm a total beginner in the NAS universe, and only know the very basics in router configuration. File transfer protocols are known by acronyms, but not their best usage... I've tried googling, searching manuals, looking through FAQ's and HowTo's, but it's still a jungle, so I figured it would be best to ask for your kind advice. :)
Now, what I have, and would like to accomplish is this: (the main things are marked in blue)
* I have a ReadyNAS Ultra 2 connected to a router (D-link DIR-655)
* I have a PC (Win7) with RAIDar installed, it is connected to the NAS, and I've managed to set up a share with some folders, and mapping works. This is the "admin PC".
* I would like a share on the NAS called "server", containing user folders, e.g. "Mommy; Daddy; Sister".
* I would like these user folders to be available to respective user - in the neighbouring country. All of them use Win7.
* If the user folder shows up as a mapped drive for them, that would be perfect. It must be easy to use and understand for them.
* I want them to use their folder for their important photos and documents, and it schould of course be automatically synced to my NAS.
* They should only have access to their specific user folder, not the whole NAS content.
* It would be nice if I could send them files the same way - by just putting them into their folder. However, I'm also thinking about just mirroring instead of backuping their share to the NAS, so this wouldn't work in that case. Not sure how to do here, but it's not a priority to begin with.
* Instantaneous syncing is not required, but it must be scheduled, and performed in the background.
* If something has happened in the user share (successful syncronisation), an e-mail notification to the user would be nice.
* The transfer and the share must be secure.
Now, I don't know how to do this, but I figured you might give me some tips...
Thank you!
Best regards, Erik
I've just installed a Readynas Ultra 2 at home, which isn't my first attempt to create a safe backup for mine and my family's photos and documents, but I hope it will be a successful one. :)
To begin with, I'm into photography, and try to take care not to loose my images to puny disc crashes, and I want my family's photos and documents to be equally secure.
Previously, I used my personal computer as a "backup server" with Gbridge, which worked very well in a Dropbox-like style, but after I switched my most server-functioning computer to Ubuntu, Gbridge is no longer supported. And I've realized the hard way, that I really can't figure out how to use Ubuntu (instability and graphic problems...). Long story short, I've aquired the Readynas Ultra 2, primarily for backup of my photos, and my first impressions are good. :)
I'm a total beginner in the NAS universe, and only know the very basics in router configuration. File transfer protocols are known by acronyms, but not their best usage... I've tried googling, searching manuals, looking through FAQ's and HowTo's, but it's still a jungle, so I figured it would be best to ask for your kind advice. :)
Now, what I have, and would like to accomplish is this: (the main things are marked in blue)
* I have a ReadyNAS Ultra 2 connected to a router (D-link DIR-655)
* I have a PC (Win7) with RAIDar installed, it is connected to the NAS, and I've managed to set up a share with some folders, and mapping works. This is the "admin PC".
* I would like a share on the NAS called "server", containing user folders, e.g. "Mommy; Daddy; Sister".
* I would like these user folders to be available to respective user - in the neighbouring country. All of them use Win7.
* If the user folder shows up as a mapped drive for them, that would be perfect. It must be easy to use and understand for them.
* I want them to use their folder for their important photos and documents, and it schould of course be automatically synced to my NAS.
* They should only have access to their specific user folder, not the whole NAS content.
* It would be nice if I could send them files the same way - by just putting them into their folder. However, I'm also thinking about just mirroring instead of backuping their share to the NAS, so this wouldn't work in that case. Not sure how to do here, but it's not a priority to begin with.
* Instantaneous syncing is not required, but it must be scheduled, and performed in the background.
* If something has happened in the user share (successful syncronisation), an e-mail notification to the user would be nice.
* The transfer and the share must be secure.
Now, I don't know how to do this, but I figured you might give me some tips...
Thank you!
Best regards, Erik
15 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- First tip is that you should consider separate shares for each user, not folders within a "server' share. It is much simpler to manage access for shares than for folders within a share.
Is the NAS merely backing these folders up, or is the NAS hosting these folders? I ask this because some of your requirements seem a bit muddied here. If the NAS is hosting these folders, then there is no syncing. The family reads/writes their files directly to the NAS, and that is the end of it. If the NAS is backing them up (with the real data being on the family members PCs) then that would be very different. - Hi Stephen, thanks for your comments.
Your suggestion sounds reasonable, I can definitely go with separate shares for different users. I can make a yet separate share where I send them files, in 95% of the cases it's photos which I want to share with all of them (and the rest is never private stuff), so that makes sense as well. EDIT: this could maybe be a mapped network drive where they only have read-access, so I don't actually send them the files
Good question. I figure the NAS is meant to function as a backup, not a server. The real data stays on their computers, I primarily want to make backups of it. So I guess they should have some sort of (3rd party) software which takes care of the backup work to the NAS. I presume this also means that they shouldn't put files on a mapped network drive, but rather on the internal drive, from where it is copied to the network drive? (If it should even be done this way, maybe an FTP solution or something else is the right way, this is why I'm asking :) )
Again, thanks for your input! - If you want backup from a remote location, i'd suggest a third party software that supports backup to a FTP server. Not sure if paragon does this.
You can make the NAS the main repository if you want. Then you could use Frontview Backup to make your own backup of the family shares (to a USB drive or your home PC). One disadvantage of this approach is that access to their folders will be limited by your uplink speed.egovego wrote: Hi Stephen, thanks for your comments.
Your suggestion sounds reasonable, I can definitely go with separate shares for different users. I can make a yet separate share where I send them files, in 95% of the cases it's photos which I want to share with all of them (and the rest is never private stuff), so that makes sense as well. EDIT: this could maybe be a mapped network drive where they only have read-access, so I don't actually send them the files
Good question. I figure the NAS is meant to function as a backup, not a server. The real data stays on their computers, I primarily want to make backups of it. So I guess they should have some sort of (3rd party) software which takes care of the backup work to the NAS. I presume this also means that they shouldn't put files on a mapped network drive, but rather on the internal drive, from where it is copied to the network drive? (If it should even be done this way, maybe an FTP solution or something else is the right way, this is why I'm asking :) )
Again, thanks for your input!
Technically, they can access their folders using HTTP or FTP. Most people would probably find HTTP to be simpler. They could also use ReadyNAS remote (which would allow drive mapping), though I have found that to be slow. You can access their folders the same way, though if you are home you can also access them directly through Windows explorer.
If their files are all photos, then you should also look at the Photos II application (which will cost extra).
The other option is to use the NAS to back up their data. Probably the best way to do that is to have their PCs initiate the backups. You'd need to research a third party backup tool; FTP is probably the best protocol. There are some freeware backup programs that use FTP, though I haven't tried them.
FTP over TLS works with the ultra, and provides a secure / encrypted connection - so it would be nice if your backup program supported that. Would you have a lot of data to push back to them? That might not work so well with this approach.- Thank you both for your input, it's really helpful. :)
I don't want their access to their own files to be dependent on my setup, so I've decided to use the NAS as a backup, not a server. And it must be as non-invasive for them as possible, I'm the only one with some computer skills. ;) Scheduled FTP over TLS sounds interesting, I think I will go for that. The data I want to send to them can be managed some other way, maybe just by making a mapped network drive they all have (read) access to.
Regarding FTP clients, I haven't really found any "trustworthy" which provide FTPS and scheduling without moving up from the freeware option. Regarding non-freeware, FlashFXP or SyncBackSE (which I know well from before) could do the trick. I'll figure it out.
Could you maybe give some tips on how the setup on the ReadyNAS should be made? More specifically, how do you recommend to setup the FTP server (ports, security, encryption?...), and how should the shares be setup (groups, users, permissions)? I have registered a no-ip.com account (dynamic DNS), so I expect to be able to use this address for the connection.
And regarding sharing a network drive they can access (and maybe map to a drive letter), how can it be done in a secure way over the internet? I guess I would like some kind of one-time authentication?
Again, thanks! I think it will work out nicely. :) - It just occurred to me that if you can upgrade all your routers (yours+ family) to business routers, you could set up permanent VPN connections between them. Then this problem becomes much easier. This essentially joins all the family networks together, so you could do all this much more directly (esp. the network shares). Once set up, everything would look like one large LAN.
- Ok, now it's time for an update - and a new problem. :)
Thank you all for your suggestions, it seems that FTP over TLS is the way to go for me.
I have set up the FTP server, created shares and user accounts etc. With FileZilla, I can connect and transfer files over Explicit TLS both from home and from my work computer. A friend however had to switch from FileZilla to WinSCP before he could get access, we don't know why. But that's not the main problem.
I've bought the superb backup program SyncBackSE, and have managed to setup a profile which can upload files to the chosen account. However, I do have some type of problem, either with the ReadyNAS or SyncBackSE.
Via TeamViewer, I installed SyncBackSE at my sister's computer, installed the profile, and set it up with test folders. It can connect to the server just fine, but it is not allowed to create folders or files on the server, even though the user has read/write privileges on the share. I tried all different types of FTP/S access settings for the share, but no luck! However; the very same profile didn't have any problems when running from my work computer, the test files were copied just fine!
So, the SyncBackSE profile (with identical login credentials) works from my work computer, but not from my sister (in the neighboring country). I tried transmission over non-encrypted channels, but no cigar. The user name is "annanicke" and the share name is "backup-annanicke", so there should be no conflict there?
The error log from SyncBackSE indicates that it is not allowed to transfer the encryption key (nor files):
Failed to copy from Source : Expected another server reply(15) : 550 SBSE____.FZB: Permission denied
L:PASV
R:227 Entering Passive Mode ([i][server IP][/i],19,147).
I:Opening data connection to [i][server IP][/i] Port: 5011
L:STOR SBSE____.FZB
I:Connected. Exchanging encryption keys...
R:550 SBSE____.FZB: Permission denied
L:DELE SBSE____.FZB
R:550 SBSE____.FZB: No such file or directory
When the profile attempts to create a folder on the server, here's the result (edited for language etc.):
Failed to copy from Source : Cannot create FTP directory (/backup-annanicke/Anna/[etc...]): Expected another server reply(15) : 550 /backup-annanicke/Anna/[etc...]: No such file or directory
L:MKD /backup-annanicke/Anna/Annas Bilder
R:550 /backup-annanicke/Anna/Annas Bilder: Permission denied
L:CWD /backup-annanicke/Anna/Annas Bilder
R:550 /backup-annanicke/Anna/Annas Bilder: No such file or directory
So it tries to create a directory, but is denied. Then the transfer of course fails because it cannot access the directory.
But why is it denied? The same profile, with the same ftp login credentials, works on another computer?
What could be wrong?
Thank you once again, Erik - Does it work for her if she uses plain FTP (with the explicit TLS off)?
- Well, I tried turning off encryption on both the data channel and the communication channel - I believe this is the only difference in the SyncBack settings for switching between FTP and FTP/S? (the port I enter is port forwarded to the NAS's ftp port.) If this is the case, then the results were the same.
Could it have something to do with which client certificate you use? I have no idea what this means, so I just left it to default. I noticed that she had ~3 of them, as do I on this computer (where default works).
I don't have access to her computer always, so I can't try things out until later.
A screenshot from my computer:
- If plain FTP has the same problem, then is wouldn't be related to the certificate (since plain FTP wouldn't use it).
Try testing with FileZilla on her PC (doing both reads and writes). One thing to check is the firewall settings on her PC. It kind of sounds like the data connection is blocked somehow, but the control connection is working.
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