Looking for 2xNAS to rsync

[jorwex]

Hey All,

It's high time I hunkered down and got a home office/media network backup solution with some redundancy instead of relying on my little WD Passport. The gist of my plan is to get 2 NASs, making one the primary, and the other an rsync-d backup.

These categories are from the "How to choose a NAS" article...

Capacity

I currently need <1 TB, but I'm looking for 2+ TB to plan for the future. I really wanted to stay with single drive NASs in order to not violate the punch-line of the "Smart SOHOs" article. I'm curious what people think of a 2x 2-Bay solution...Prior to reading all of these articles, I was pretty set on a single 4-bay box filled with 2TB disks for a 6TB RAID5 setup (thinking I'd be set for a loooong time).

Features

• Ethernet Connection
  I just bought a Linksys E3000, so I can cross off Jumbo Frames from my list of desired features as the E3000 doesn't support them. Gigabit is however.
• Media Serving
  Ability to stream to my Boxee Box. Currently I use SMB, but am open to better alternatives. So far UPnP seems kinda silly to be because of it having to be indexed, but thats in my limited testing.
  
  I'd like for this to be able to go off without any hiccups even if I'm writing to the NAS, or rsync is running.
• Access Control
  This isn't a biggie. Just me on the network.
• Network Filesystems
  NFS would be cool--I'm getting into Linux more and more these days. Seems like this is only featured on the pricier NASs
• Other Services
  I want a Print server. I dig the high-end features of the QNAP and Synology solutions that I do not use now, but may use later (iSCSI, NFS, etc...), but they are not a dealbreaker if it means a substantial price jump. I would also like eSata, but not a deal killer. Download clients (Torrents) aren't important to me.
  
  I have it in my mind that I need one of the big names (QNAP, Synology), but I realize my needs are not that complex. I do like buying quality equipment.
• RAID
  Ability to rsync to a second unit (I plan on buying two of these)
  
  I have read all 5 of the "How we do backup," "Smart SOHOs Don't do RAID," and "How to Choose the right NAS for you," among others and apreciate the difference between RAID and backup, but like it appears most around these parts, I'm trying to do both.
• NAS Types
  Diskful or BYOD doesn't really matter to me. I like the idea of BYOD, incase a drive dies I know in advance what drives are supported when looking for a replacement (I know some NASs are picky, i.e. Netgear NV+)
  
  DIY boxes aren't out of the realm of possibility either.
  
  I don't mind a confusing UI. I enjoy tinkering. As long as the functionality is there, however ugly it may be presented.
• Performance
  I like bigger numbers in performance charts, but I have a feeling my needs are on the lower end of the spectrum. My media streamer has to be able to pull in a 1080p video, which can be done by a 10/100 solution, but I'd like eSata to write to the primary NAS from my PC. If it takes a little longer to do than the top of the line, that's fine. Upgradable RAM would be nice, but again, not a deal breaker.
  
  This will not be in a living room, so quiet isn't a huge concern. However, I built my PC for quietness, so let's not get too noisy.
  
  Related to that, I plan on getting an UPS to support these, so power efficiency is somewhat of a concern.

I have a very loose price range. I'd rather spend more now and be secure with my solution for a longer term than have to spend more later to redo the whole NAS/Backup solution in a year or so. I'd say 600-700 is getting a little uncomfortable for both, but I plan on getting one of these boxes and playing around with it before getting the second one. That way I won't have to take the big hit all at once. I'm cool with a discontinued drive that may be cheaper than the newest model.

Thanks for reading guys,

 

[kamina]

Rsync is not raid, it's probably short for remote syncronization. RAID syncronizes in real time, rsync only when you request it to do so (for example daily).

As such what you are aiming is not combining both, it's taking backups. If you want to take it a step further you can use rsnapshot which uses rsync, but puts each day's files in a separate folder (making links to the old files so you can access any file from any folder). Atleast Synology NAS devices support this (though you have to install the package from a repository and configure it by hand), and I would imagine Qnap does too.

For regular rsync I believe Synology supports it to any rsync enabled device, and Qnap only to other qnap products (though I used to have a qnap and wrote a rsnapshot like script by hand and it worked fine).

 

[thiggins]

Assuming you're going to configure the two-bay NASes in either JBOD or RAID 0 to get maximum storage, you're wise in planning to use rsync to make regular backups. Both Synology and QNAP will rsync to any rsync device. NETGEAR ReadyNASes will backup to and from just about anything including SMB shares.

The eSATA ports on the NASes are for attaching eSATA drives. You can't use the ports to connect to a computer.

Your needs are pretty simple. The printservers are very elementary and will not support multi-function printer features beyond basic printing. If your media players support SMB network browsing, you don't need to worry about DLNA / UPNP AV, etc.

I'd go with BYOD vs diskful, only because drive replacement is easier. Diskful products can be a hassle for drive replacement and/or upgrade because they don't have the ability to easily initialize drives.

Use the charts to pick you performance level and look for deals on older generation QNAP, Synology or NETGEARs. Marvell-based products will cost less than Atom-based. Good luck and let us know what you choose.

 

[teknojnky]

I think a readynas ultra 2 (primary nas) and a readynas duo (backup nas) would probably work well for you.

The ultra 2 is a new atom based device and should be shipping soon if not already, and the duo is the older/slower/cheaper model.

In any case, if you keep to your primary and backup plan, you should consider spending a bit more and getting a good primary nas, while saving some money and getting an older/slower/used model for the backup.

 

[claykin]

Or get 2 x86 Readynas units (Ultra, NVX, Pro) and use Readynas Replicate.

http://www.netgear.com/replicate

 

[thiggins]

Or get 2 x86 Readynas units (Ultra, NVX, Pro) and use Readynas Replicate.

http://www.netgear.com/replicate

If you have a hefty budget!

 

[claykin]

If you have a hefty budget!

Quality doesn't come cheap. How much is your data worth and how much is your time worth when fighting with lesser solutions?

 

[jorwex]

Assuming you're going to configure the two-bay NASes in either JBOD or RAID 0 to get maximum storage, you're wise in planning to use rsync to make regular backups. Both Synology and QNAP will rsync to any rsync device. NETGEAR ReadyNASes will backup to and from just about anything including SMB shares.

The eSATA ports on the NASes are for attaching eSATA drives. You can't use the ports to connect to a computer.

Your needs are pretty simple. The printservers are very elementary and will not support multi-function printer features beyond basic printing. If your media players support SMB network browsing, you don't need to worry about DLNA / UPNP AV, etc.

I'd go with BYOD vs diskful, only because drive replacement is easier. Diskful products can be a hassle for drive replacement and/or upgrade because they don't have the ability to easily initialize drives.

Use the charts to pick you performance level and look for deals on older generation QNAP, Synology or NETGEARs. Marvell-based products will cost less than Atom-based. Good luck and let us know what you choose.

Thanks for the input regarding eSata and print servers. I have a very dumb bw laser printer, sdi thats perfect. I'm wrestling with two things: do you believe a two bay nas with disks set up the way you mentioned go against your point in the Smart SOHOs article? It seemed to me that you didn't advocate a multi bay nas soluticreating a new single point of failure.

And second, deciding what kind of performance I need had been difficult to decide based on benchmarks/numbers, without something showing how that might translate to real world needs. I guess the recommended route is to add up the write and read constrains in my network and make a choice?

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for the input regarding eSata and print servers. I have a very dumb bw laser printer, sdi thats perfect. I'm wrestling with two things: do you believe a two bay nas with disks set up the way you mentioned go against your point in the Smart SOHOs article? It seemed to me that you didn't advocate a multi bay nas soluticreating a new single point of failure.

The simple point of the Smart SOHO article is RAID is not backup. As long as you realize that and have an appropriate backup strategy, as it appears that you do, then RAID is fine to use.

And second, deciding what kind of performance I need had been difficult to decide based on benchmarks/numbers, without something showing how that might translate to real world needs. I guess the recommended route is to add up the write and read constrains in my network and make a choice?

The best way to use the Charts is to make relative comparisons. There are too many variables to take the benchmark test results as absolute numbers.

It's mainly a matter of price / performance. Use the Charts, and the Price vs. Performance plot specifically, to get the most performance for what you want to spend.

 

[jorwex]

I had mentioned my concern for my streamer being able to pull down enough read bandwidth while I'm writing to the primary NAS. Is that a valid concern? Or will even the most entry-level gigabit NASs be able to keep up (I assume reading is a priority over writing with these boxes?)?

 

[thiggins]

Once you start doing things that make the head seek a lot, throughput drops dramatically. There is no read / write prioritization built in that I know of.

It's hard to say whether you'll have problems. If your media player has good buffering and you're doing light write / reads (light file editing, for example), you probably won't have problems.

But if you're copying a folder to the NAS and trying to stream, you'll probably won't be happy.

 

[jorwex]

Thanks! The streaming scenario was my intended scenario. I can just not copy stuff when I'm streaming.

I'm looking closely into the DS210j perhaps. However, I haven't been able to find it near the $190 price in the NAS Charts. The Price/Performance chart is very handy.

 

[kamina]

You might also want to look for the 211j if you find it for close to the same price (should be within a few percent unless the discontinued 210j is on discount).