Proposal for Synology DS412+

[coffee]

I have a client with about 8 computers in their small business that need some type of backup solution. I have heard alot here about synology and have been studying it alot. I think I will base my proposal to them on this unit (DS412+) and 3/4 1 TB drives. Its main function in the business will be backups.

For offsite Im thinking a 2tb external drive.

UPS from APC for power backup

The unit however seems quite expensive and I will have to deal with external/offsite backups in a business where money is critical right now.

Is this the best way to go? Software looks pretty manageable.

I guess Im looking for reassurance in this setup as this is the first one I will be deploying. I just want to make sure I dont miss anything and run into problems.

thanks,

coffee

 

[alluseridsrejected]

For offsite to external drives, I always insist on at least 2 drives. Take one home, then bring the other back next day. That way data is always truly offsite.

 

[Maniaman]

If you only need 2TB worth of backup capacity and money is an issue, you might be better off going with a 2-bay model with 2 2TB disks in it. If its only doing backups, you don't have to worry nearly as much about redundancy because in theory you have the backup copy, the off-site backup copy, and the copy on the local machine. 2TB drives in RAID1 should be sufficient if it's just doing backups and you want some redundancy.

Also agreed with the off-site backup, you want external disks so you can always have 1 of those offsite.

The software on Synology devices is some of the best and easiest that I've seen and used.

 

[drpcfix]

We always pitch the 4011j, it's WAY less expensive - you get a bit slower transfer speeds, but it still goes 35+MB/s (thats megaBYTES, not megabit)

Also - the synology can sync a folder or all folders to amazon S3 - which you can resell, which makes a great offiste copy

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

try out the WD units -- LOVE THEM!!!!

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Well...first...what is it that they need to backup?
Is this all peer to peer network, or is a server involved? Do you need to backup active directory? Are you just backing up plain flat files like MS office documents and spreadsheets? Or are you backing up live databases? Trying to sync "image" backups office?

The answer to the above...will point in a good direction.

 

[coffee]

Well...first...what is it that they need to backup?
Is this all peer to peer network, or is a server involved? Do you need to backup active directory? Are you just backing up plain flat files like MS office documents and spreadsheets? Or are you backing up live databases? Trying to sync "image" backups office?

The answer to the above...will point in a good direction.

First I want to say thank you to everyone replying. Im inbetween calls right now and wanted to chime in again.

This unit will do basic backups of a bunch of windows boxes containing confidential attorney/client information and will not involve disk images. There is no server at this time. Its peer to peer.

They have all their data scattered across everyones computer and then they just handed out shares to access it from other employees. I want to centralize it a bit as its getting out of hand. They also have NO BACKUP PLAN. Its kinda scary right now and want to implement this right away. They are only one hard drive away from losing data!

I hope that answers your questions.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

A law firm?

They're usually very hefty in storage needs...and heirarchy of folders.

I would take the opportunity of putting a NAS in place.....as a way of re-organizing their network. Having peer to peer file sharing in an office network is crazy. Start pointing them towards the client/server model...starting with a NAS.

Set the NAS up to synch offsite to Amazon...or have them purchase 2x Synology NAS's...pair them..and have the second one offsite (like at your shop) syncing the first one (like a long distance RAID 1 of NAS units).

If it's a law firm...and litigation software like Sanctions, or commonly used law firm software like Needles or Lexus/PCLaw?

 

[coffee]

A law firm?

They're usually very hefty in storage needs...and heirarchy of folders.

I would take the opportunity of putting a NAS in place.....as a way of re-organizing their network. Having peer to peer file sharing in an office network is crazy. Start pointing them towards the client/server model...starting with a NAS.

Set the NAS up to synch offsite to Amazon...or have them purchase 2x Synology NAS's...pair them..and have the second one offsite (like at your shop) syncing the first one (like a long distance RAID 1 of NAS units).

If it's a law firm...and litigation software like Sanctions, or commonly used law firm software like Needles or Lexus/PCLaw?

Crazy isnt it? Get this, They had one of those little motorola speedsurfer dsl modems as their internet connection too! That got replaced today and upgraded their internet. But they went with At&t still. I tried to steer them towards comcast (only ones available in area).

The DS412+ will be there nas. I qouted them 2 2tb external drives for offsite. I will have to check into the cost of Amazon.

Its hard to figure out how much room they need because I cannot always just walk in while a lawyer is working and check their system out. The quote I gave them is for a beginning 2tb raid5 setup. The only real software right now that they are hot N heavy into is the "saga timesheets" which isnt that beefy as far as I can tell.

They are not a big office I would say they have about 4 attorneys and 3 secretaries right now. Its just the cabling is so weirdly done I will have to go in and straighten it all out.

Lots of work to do on this client.

Thanks for the feedback.

coffee

 

[marley1]

Why are you backing up individual machines? Server should be present and that is the only thing that should be backed up.

 

[coffee]

Why are you backing up individual machines? Server should be present and that is the only thing that should be backed up.

Within a group of about 7 windows workstations the employees will be storing their files on the backup system and nightly backups to external (usb3) drives will be done.

The backups will be for client records and important files only. The workstations, Should windows fail on one, will be just reloaded.

coffee