Backup using rsync – what options are used

Thanks again for spending the time to offer your suggestions.

Let me be clear, there is no ‘if CryptoLocker hits’ in our contingency planning. Instead we have updated our contingency plan to discuss “when CryptoLocker hits”.

What I did not emphasize or explain properly is that we have non-technical folks responsible for the ReadyNAS system at our branch locations. They try hard to meet what they think are the objectives we want (keeping the branch operational) but the result is often not what is optimal. Think about a typical well intentioned person who tries to help by pushing the ‘buttons’ that they know little about.

We expect to have our data scrambled and unusable at one or more sites. Depending on events and email communications we expect that the event will spread to at least five internal sites and possibly HQ. So, using a technical term, the “fit has hit the shan”. I am not concerned with cost but instead a plan that can be followed by the essential equivalent of entry level technicians with low technical skill level.

Our current plan is to isolate the workstations, remove the malware and then fall back to the last good backup and manually recover the data that is not in the backup, Not elegant, probably will cost a couple thousand at each branch for additional labor costs but lots better than paying ransom.

Snapshots are interesting but probably not the right answer for our distributed environment. At this time I have elected to not use them. That may change in the future when I gain more confidence in the implementation.

StephenB has provided a way for rsync to be used internally and not be equivalent to the Linux cp command. We have tested it and it seems to work. It does not do a ‘copy’ but instead does the typical rsync ‘difference’ for files that have changed. We plan to have several cyclical jobs that will enable multiple copies of the data at different times/stages. Restoration seems to work in our test cases.

The process is a little clutsy/nerdy but it does work. It can all be done from HQ with TeamViewer and RAIDar. I would like to change some of the rsync parameters but the Netgear I/F does not allow that.

As I mentioned previously, we like supported solutions – money is less an issue than reasonable support for the integrated solutions. Unfortunately, aside from a great NAS product, the current ReadyNAS environment is more like a toolbox – good solutions for some stuff but not integrated and RTG.

To this point, the Netgear folks have not responded with a technical answer to my initial question on this thread.

My guess is that the information is either ‘secret’ or they are too busy to pay attention to this type of technical questions for their customers or they do not care. The result is the same.

I was/am hoping a software vendor would see this post and offer/suggest their solution that is already integrated with the appropriate GUI – similar to what we find in the Windows environment.

Thanks again for your suggestions.