storage server Setup a data storage solution for a business

[SBKF]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm seeking your assistance and advice regarding a data storage solution, and I'd appreciate your input. Here's what I'm looking for:

 

1. I'm in need of a local storage solution; I'm not considering cloud options like Google Drive or Dropbox.
2. The solution should offer remote access capabilities, as around 80% of the time I'll be accessing the data remotely.
3. I require the solution to provide controlled access permissions to employees. Not all employees should have access to the entire server. I find Google Drive's permission management appealing, where specific project folders can be shared with designated individuals. However, I can't use a cloud-based solution due to the sensitive nature of the data I'll be storing (it's all legal, related to financial data for my clients that I will be auditing).
4. Additionally, I need an activity log feature. In case an employee modifies or deletes a file, I need to be able to track who made the changes and when.

 

I've noticed that my previous company used Google Drive as a means to access the server located within the organization. It seemed like Google Drive acted as an interface. If this approach is feasible, I'd appreciate learning how to set it up.

 

Feel free to use technical words, I might be an auditor, but I do know things in the tech.

 

I'm truly grateful to all participants for investing their valuable time and knowledge. Your help is much appreciated.

[m9x3mos]

13 minutes ago, SBKF said:

Hello everyone,

 

I'm seeking your assistance and advice regarding a data storage solution, and I'd appreciate your input. Here's what I'm looking for:

 

1. I'm in need of a local storage solution; I'm not considering cloud options like Google Drive or Dropbox.
2. The solution should offer remote access capabilities, as around 80% of the time I'll be accessing the data remotely.
3. I require the solution to provide controlled access permissions to employees. Not all employees should have access to the entire server. I find Google Drive's permission management appealing, where specific project folders can be shared with designated individuals. However, I can't use a cloud-based solution due to the sensitive nature of the data I'll be storing (it's all legal, related to financial data for my clients that I will be auditing).
4. Additionally, I need an activity log feature. In case an employee modifies or deletes a file, I need to be able to track who made the changes and when.

 

I've noticed that my previous company used Google Drive as a means to access the server located within the organization. It seemed like Google Drive acted as an interface. If this approach is feasible, I'd appreciate learning how to set it up.

 

Feel free to use technical words, I might be an auditor, but I do know things in the tech.

 

I'm truly grateful to all participants for investing their valuable time and knowledge. Your help is much appreciated.

Given the legal requirements this is something best left to actual pros. I would contract a business like level 1 techs for consultation. 

Something like nextcloud might work but I'm not sure of it's level of security like that. 

With Google Drive all the data is in the cloud and probably just synced with local storage but it would also be in the cloud. 

[LapsedMemory]

There's a lot to unpack here and based on what you laid out for specific requirements, I'm going to assume you haven't had much experience in this area.  

 

There are some important metrics you need to know that NEED to be answered before any answer can be given.  Examples of these are: 

1. How much data will you need to access remotely?

2. How many employees will be accessing the data remotely at once?

3. Do you need Microsoft Active Directory integration for your access?  

4. What's your data size requirements?  

5. What's your budget?

6. Power Requirements?

7. Backup solutions for this server? 

 

I'm going to offer to you that if this is actually mission critical for the business and you can't have it fail or go down for any length of time, that you call an IT consulting firm to set this up for you.  Being that this is for a business, it would not be preferential to 'learn' NAS administration with your production server.  

 

If you absolutely insist on doing this yourself, get a Synology rack-mount system.  It's one of the simplest platforms to learn, provides a ton of creature comforts and add-ins that give you what you need, and has very good reliability and customer support for when you finally nuke something.

[SBKF]

17 minutes ago, LapsedMemory said:

There's a lot to unpack here and based on what you laid out for specific requirements, I'm going to assume you haven't had much experience in this area.  

 

There are some important metrics you need to know that NEED to be answered before any answer can be given.  Examples of these are: 

1. How much data will you need to access remotely?

2. How many employees will be accessing the data remotely at once?

3. Do you need Microsoft Active Directory integration for your access?  

4. What's your data size requirements?  

5. What's your budget?

6. Power Requirements?

7. Backup solutions for this server? 

 

I'm going to offer to you that if this is actually mission critical for the business and you can't have it fail or go down for any length of time, that you call an IT consulting firm to set this up for you.  Being that this is for a business, it would not be preferential to 'learn' NAS administration with your production server.  

 

If you absolutely insist on doing this yourself, get a Synology rack-mount system.  It's one of the simplest platforms to learn, provides a ton of creature comforts and add-ins that give you what you need, and has very good reliability and customer support for when you finally nuke something.

Thank you for your reply,

So, to give you an idea of what is needed:

The storage will hold files (basically PDFs, Excel sheets and Word...), for each client and each project (can have multiple projects per client), then the employees would need access to those files to be able to do their work (they should have access to download files or just open them without download). Employees might not be in the same network as the storage so remote access is critical.

As for number of employees and data size requirements, I want to start small in size, maybe 10 Tb max but in the future, I might add more drives to get to 50 or even a 100. Note that for finished projects I would be backing them in another storage that don't really have to be remotely accessed.

I see that you mentioned Synology NAS, and I have seen on YouTube that remote access is available as well as access permissions, do you recommend the Synology? What about TrueNAS what do you think about it?
I'm only doing some research for this upgrade to the business, and even if I'm not an IT professional I always need to know the details related to my business even if they are "too technical"

I really thank you for your time.

[SBKF]

Thank you for your reply

 

There is no legal requirements, just don't fell like putting the data in the cloud

[LapsedMemory]

8 minutes ago, SBKF said:

Thank you for your reply,

So, to give you an idea of what is needed:

The storage will hold files (basically PDFs, Excel sheets and Word...), for each client and each project (can have multiple projects per client), then the employees would need access to those files to be able to do their work (they should have access to download files or just open them without download). Employees might not be in the same network as the storage so remote access is critical.

As for number of employees and data size requirements, I want to start small in size, maybe 10 Tb max but in the future, I might add more drives to get to 50 or even a 100. Note that for finished projects I would be backing them in another storage that don't really have to be remotely accessed.

I see that you mentioned Synology NAS, and I have seen on YouTube that remote access is available as well as access permissions, do you recommend the Synology? What about TrueNAS what do you think about it?
I'm only doing some research for this upgrade to the business, and even if I'm not an IT professional I always need to know the details related to my business even if they are "too technical"

I really thank you for your time.

I haven't poked around in TrueNAS very much, I know a lot of server admins like it.  I just know that for the tasks you're asking about, the Synology would fill that need perfectly with very minimal headache.  Synology's software is for people who want an appliance, not a science project.  

 

The rackmount systems are also expandable.  If you went with something like an RS1221RP+, you can always add on an RX418 unit for more drive storage later.  

 

Also, if you're worried about the security of your data, there's a long list of reasons why enterprise versions of OneDrive and Google Drive are infinitely more secure than self-hosting.  I won't go into the whole thing, but it's a mindset you're going to have to break.  The basic crux of it is that you will never be able to secure your data to the level of a multi-billion dollar hosting company like Google or Microsoft.  These are the companies that get security patches installed before most firewall vendors even know their software has a hole in it.  

[SBKF]

18 minutes ago, LapsedMemory said:

I haven't poked around in TrueNAS very much, I know a lot of server admins like it.  I just know that for the tasks you're asking about, the Synology would fill that need perfectly with very minimal headache.  Synology's software is for people who want an appliance, not a science project.  

 

The rackmount systems are also expandable.  If you went with something like an RS1221RP+, you can always add on an RX418 unit for more drive storage later.  

 

Also, if you're worried about the security of your data, there's a long list of reasons why enterprise versions of OneDrive and Google Drive are infinitely more secure than self-hosting.  I won't go into the whole thing, but it's a mindset you're going to have to break.  The basic crux of it is that you will never be able to secure your data to the level of a multi-billion dollar hosting company like Google or Microsoft.  These are the companies that get security patches installed before most firewall vendors even know their software has a hole in it.  

Thanks a lot for your valuable time, i'll think about what you have said google drive and onedrive maybe i will change my mind about that. Again, thanks for your time