Webfacing Storage Advice.

[DocDave]

Hey guys

 

so I want to be able to back up my pc from my home to my wife’s home which is around 80miles away. I want to be able to do this automatically and remotely can anyone advice me where to start looking or even what it is called that I am looking for

 

TIA

[Salv8 (sam)]

well it depends on your setup, if you have a NAS box like a Synology one then it most likey has some backup option built into the OS, either being able to backup to the NAS's manufacturer's personal private paid cloud backup solution, if they have one (or third party cloud backup solution that is supported) or being able to backup to another Synology NAS device over the internet.

if you are running a windows server there are a load of backup programs that can do just that, like Acronis Backup ( https://www.acronis.com/en-au/business/backup/windows-server/ ) or ShadowProtect ( https://www.storagecraft.com/products/shadowprotect ) these are just examples, your have to do your own research on what backup solution would be best for you

for linux, again there are a load of backup solutions for Linux, like Bacula ( http://blog.bacula.org/ ) or Amanda ( http://www.amanda.org/ ), again these are just examples, your will have to do some research yourself to find the best backup solution for you

 

if you don't want to do that (or are unsure what would be best for you), tag me and i'll help you out as best as i can.

[DocDave]

@Salv8 (sam)

 

Thank you for you in-depth replay. So the set up I have my remote computer is a mid-range all round pc that is hard-lined into the internet. (nothing fancy at all, ethernet into a £50 mobo onboard plug). A small 500gb HDD

 

My work Pc is a high-end build with 6gb networking and r7 so on and so forth with a mix of 25tb of NVME, SSD and HDD. They are both running windows and as such, I would like to keep them running windows. My dad uses my other pc from time to time and thinks a byte is something you do with a sandwich.

 

My Aim is as follows. 

 

Far as little as possible and using two towers, one remote and one here, The one here I am happy with it being an EATX to fun two machines if I need to. 

Then I want to be able to access the files in both directions while backing up (automatically or manually I'm not bothered but it must be accessible both ways)

 

I was thinking that the following would be a start but I have a load of holes in my plan.

 

Upgrade both units to 10gb networking. (I am assuming that you cant bottleneck a network connection because of a lack of computing power. But I could also be completely wrong) 

 

*quick note I am able to help out jo public with domestic computing issues so I have a good understanding, however, this is a whole new world

 

But that kinda where I fall off. 

 

I would be ever so grateful for your help.

 

TIA 

[Salv8 (sam)]

sorry for the, wait been busy these last few days. so this is what i have gotten from your reply.

On 11/8/2018 at 12:20 AM, DocDave said:

remote computer is a mid-range all round pc that is hard-lined into the internet. A small 500gb HDD

My work Pc is a high-end build with 6gb networking and r7 so on and so forth with a mix of 25tb of NVME, SSD and HDD. They are both running windows and as such, I would like to keep them running windows. My dad uses my other pc from time to time and thinks a byte is something you do with a sandwich.

Then I want to be able to access the files in both directions while backing up (automatically or manually I'm not bothered but it must be accessible both ways)

Upgrade both units to 10gb networking. (I am assuming that you cant bottleneck a network connection because of a lack of computing power. But I could also be completely wrong) 

ok first off, your remote pc is

a. going to need more storage if you want to store what you have on your desktop (not including your dads one)

b. going to need some some security put in place

now for b, you don't need a expensive or third party firewall, just common scene. don't be an idiot and leave any ports that you aren't using open, read some articles on how to improve your security on windows (i recermend this as a starting point, go from there: https://heimdalsecurity.com/en/windows-10-security-guide/security#accounts )

now for a, backing up files takes a lot of storage, a lot of storage, even if you where doing incremental backups to save space, you still need a full backup for the incremental to base itself off of.

the differences are explained in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kflzD5nxI8g

even then, you still the storage to save the differences between the incremental and full backup

and since your dad is going to operate it as well, if he screws it up and he loses his data on his and can't get the backup working, he's screwed

even then, windows backup only allows one backup if backing up to a network connection (which is how it can only be done if backing up to another remote device)

you might be able to get away with using something like Paragon Backup & Recovery with it backing up to a shared folder hosted by your remote backup   server

( https://www.paragon-software.com/free/br-free/ ) just set it up and it will do the rest, your dad won't have to do anything.

anyways, onto the networking portion.

bottlenecking a network connection is so simple, that it happens even if you don't do anything!

most of the time a network connection only uses 80% of it's potential when under load.

the best way is to get a good CPU that can handle the compression that is preformed when transferring data from one windows system to another

(and yes that does mean that you can bottleneck a network connection with a weak CPU)

here is a good guide on how to improve your file server performance (the thing thats hosting the backups) https://www.getfilecloud.com/blog/2016/05/a-guide-to-improve-windows-file-server-performance/

a feature called RDMA is on most networking cards that have more then 1Gb of total transfer speed, but only windows server and windows 10 pro for workstations can take full advantage of it. you do still use it, but the CPU still has to do some work moving the data itself to the network card to be transferred to the remote server, wheres RDMA allows the system to take the data itself and move it to the network card without the CPU getting involved.

you can upgrade both of them of 10GB but they may need some tuning in order to take full advantage of the connection

hope that helps, sorry for the big wall of text, it's a habit of mine

 

[DocDave]

14 hours ago, Salv8 (sam) said:

sorry for the, wait been busy these last few days. so this is what i have gotten from your reply.

ok first off, your remote pc is

a. going to need more storage if you want to store what you have on your desktop (not including your dads one)

b. going to need some some security put in place

now for b, you don't need a expensive or third party firewall, just common scene. don't be an idiot and leave any ports that you aren't using open, read some articles on how to improve your security on windows (i recermend this as a starting point, go from there: https://heimdalsecurity.com/en/windows-10-security-guide/security#accounts )

now for a, backing up files takes a lot of storage, a lot of storage, even if you where doing incremental backups to save space, you still need a full backup for the incremental to base itself off of.

the differences are explained in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kflzD5nxI8g

even then, you still the storage to save the differences between the incremental and full backup

and since your dad is going to operate it as well, if he screws it up and he loses his data on his and can't get the backup working, he's screwed

even then, windows backup only allows one backup if backing up to a network connection (which is how it can only be done if backing up to another remote device)

you might be able to get away with using something like Paragon Backup & Recovery with it backing up to a shared folder hosted by your remote backup   server

( https://www.paragon-software.com/free/br-free/ ) just set it up and it will do the rest, your dad won't have to do anything.

anyways, onto the networking portion.

bottlenecking a network connection is so simple, that it happens even if you don't do anything!

most of the time a network connection only uses 80% of it's potential when under load.

the best way is to get a good CPU that can handle the compression that is preformed when transferring data from one windows system to another

(and yes that does mean that you can bottleneck a network connection with a weak CPU)

here is a good guide on how to improve your file server performance (the thing thats hosting the backups) https://www.getfilecloud.com/blog/2016/05/a-guide-to-improve-windows-file-server-performance/

a feature called RDMA is on most networking cards that have more then 1Gb of total transfer speed, but only windows server and windows 10 pro for workstations can take full advantage of it. you do still use it, but the CPU still has to do some work moving the data itself to the network card to be transferred to the remote server, wheres RDMA allows the system to take the data itself and move it to the network card without the CPU getting involved.

you can upgrade both of them of 10GB but they may need some tuning in order to take full advantage of the connection

hope that helps, sorry for the big wall of text, it's a habit of mine

 

Thank you so much for your wall it is more than I could have ever hoped for. I am on a mobile device at the moment. Once I am hope and on my desktop I’ll go through it and I am sure I will have some more questions. Thanks so much again.