Cloud solution for small business?

[Dhalsim]

Hello all!

 

Let me first say I have been watching Linus's videos for quite a while now and admittedly have a strong concept of pc hardware. So, I'm not a beginner to computers by any means but where I feel I lack understanding in is networking and storage.

 

Now, for my scenario.

 

I work for a small business with 2 locations. We use the Quickbooks program to record invoices and store client information. My boss's solution to the transferring of flies from one location to the other was to store the quickbook backup onto an external/portable hard drive and use that to physically transfer the information from computer to computer.

 

Now as you can see there are many things wrong with this kind of setup.

 

1. VERY important information is being saved on an external HD with no redundancy what so ever.

2. The hassle of carrying an external HD with you can be annoying for example. forgetting to bring the HD to the workplace

 

So after telling my boss that this is a really bad way of handling her information she went out and got a WD My Cloud. The rational behind buying a personal cloud storage device was so that the business wasn't spending monthly fees and the storage would cost less to expand.

The only experience of cloud storage I had was using Dropbox while in school. It was a really good and simple service, simply drop the file onto a folder and have it sync into your Dropbox account for future use. <---- Key point

 

Setting up the My Cloud was easy but when I realized that you needed a program to retrieve your files from the the My Cloud that's where I got confused. I was thinking the My Cloud program was going to have to a folder JUST like Dropbox where I could save the backup into and then have Quickbooks routed so that it looks for and opens the backup I placed in the folder.

 

So here is where I need the help and advice!

 

I need to find a way to configure the My Cloud so that I can have Quickbooks open directly from that without the use of the program

Eg. My Cloud is setup in location A. I am at location B and need a hassle free way to retrieve the backup for Quickbooks to work.

 

Pretty much to sum it up.

 

I need to find a way for the My Cloud to act like Dropbox where it has a central folder that I can drag and drop files into and have it sync across both locations. The "central folder" is really important because I need to tell Quickbooks where to look to locate the save/backup

 

Sorry if that was long and confusing. If there's anything I can clear up let me know otherwise all the help would be very much appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Eniqmatic]

Hi there,

 

I'm a domain admin for a larger business of 13 offices and 700 staff, so I understand your situation. 

 

Am I right in thinking that this device is still an appliance that is local within your network at point A, and not a cloud solution that has no physical appliance and is truly "cloud" based?

 

If my assumption is correct, how do you access the cloud currently?

 

Thanks,

Lewis 

[Dhalsim]

Yes! The My Cloud is plugged into the router at point A and therefore at point B we access the files via the My Cloud application on the pc

 

Typically we access the files in point A through the network since its all on the same network

[Eniqmatic]

Is point A OK but point B is your problem?

[Dhalsim]

Yeah I guess I should have clarified that. Point B is the issue. But regardless of which point im referring too they both need to access the same directory and folder. Because if someone from point B is working on the files and logs off then ideally someone from point A would simply open up Quickbooks and have the same progress where they left off.

[Eniqmatic]

Do you have a WAN in which you can access these offices from each other? For instance you have a windows computer, computer A at point A, and you are at point B working on computer B. Can you browse to computer A?

 

If so then its simple, if not you need to make this device available over the internet to point B.

 

Hopefully that makes sense!

[Dimwitted]

The WD MyCloud can be thought of as a "half NAS". It has NAS features in an external hdd. The "Cloud" feature is the ability for all the computers in that *location* to be able to access that drive. You need to have another location to access that drive as well which means  through the net. Either something like a VPN (cost) or through your ISP. Check with your provider... if you are already paying for a business plan they may something available.

[Dhalsim]

@Eniqmatic no, a WAN isn't setup between the 2 computers. How do I go about making the device available over the internet?

 

@Dimwitted I wish we knew that before purchasing the My Cloud. Would there have been a simpler setup besides a service that is subscription based?

[Eniqmatic]

I'm sure it will have the functionality, as that's what its designed for. If you look through the *shudder* documentation *shudder* you should be able to find out how to do it, I imagine you'll need to port forward the specific port to your device and have a host name to be able to do it.

 

Other option is setup a VPN so you can access office A from office B. 

[Dimwitted]

Assuming that both offices have legal copies of QuickBooks call tech support. They are surprisingly good. You are not the first with this need and there may be something in QB to help facilitate this. The worst thing that might happen is they can't help.