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Author Topic: Backing up the DNS 321 itself  (Read 16011 times)

djy8131

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Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« on: October 31, 2008, 09:59:08 AM »
I am trying to determine the best way to backup the DNS 321 itself in case of data corruption. (backing up the data on the drives, not the configuration)  So far, I just manually copy everything to an external USB drive attached to a computer.  Anyone have a good suggestion on how to automate this?  (Wish there was a built in usb port!) 
« Last Edit: October 31, 2008, 12:26:12 PM by djy8131 »
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rayvyn

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2008, 09:07:39 AM »
when you go to the configuration page of the DNS there is a button for downloads

Page 57 of the users guide provided information on how to set the Scheduling for backups
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djy8131

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #2 on: November 07, 2008, 07:51:19 AM »
Doesn't that just allow you to back up files from another computer to the DNS?  I want to back up the data on the DNS to an external drive in case both drives fail or the data on the DNS becomes corrupted.

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ECF

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2008, 01:50:08 PM »
Yeah its only used to save data to the DNS-321 drives. You can use the backup utility provided by Windows to do what you want I think. You can also try the Memeo software provided on the CD that comes with the DNS-321.
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Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream

BillGalbraith

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2008, 12:41:56 PM »
Quote from: djy8131 on October 31, 2008, 09:59:08 AM
I am trying to determine the best way to backup the DNS 321 itself in case of data corruption. (backing up the data on the drives, not the configuration)  So far, I just manually copy everything to an external USB drive attached to a computer.  Anyone have a good suggestion on how to automate this?  (Wish there was a built in usb port!) 

Rather than sucking files onto the DNS, I push them up there. I use Replicator from Karenware to do my backups to the DNS-321. If you want to automate the backup from the DNS to your external, you could do that too. You can schedule it to do complete or incremental saves (incremental saves on thes DNS doesn't work), or your can do them manually.
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garyhgaryh

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #5 on: December 12, 2008, 09:35:53 PM »
Any opinions on the Memeo software included with the dns-321/dns-323? I heard it doens't work well.  Is this true? Might as well use windows backup.
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fordem

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2008, 08:31:42 AM »
You have both available - why not try them yourself?

Personally I don't care for Windows backup and won't use it - Memeo looks like it does a better job, but I wasn't too thrilled with it either - it won't run on my W2K3 server.  I ran it on a desktop for a while but since it wasn't really meeting my needs I moved on.
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RAID1 is for disk redundancy - NOT data backup - don't confuse the two.

djy8131

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2008, 07:04:43 PM »
of course I lost the disk so I can't try it :-(
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fordem

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2008, 05:45:45 AM »
You can download a trial version from Memeo - but without the key which was on the disk envelope, if you like it, you'll have to buy it.
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RAID1 is for disk redundancy - NOT data backup - don't confuse the two.

jrbdmb

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #9 on: January 22, 2009, 08:24:26 AM »
A scheduled copy / sync of Volume_1 data to Volume_2 would be a nice addition to the 321 firmware (for those of us not utilizing RAID).

Note that several 323 users have developed "home-brew" version of this utility, so it certainly a reasonable addition to the 323 and 321 firmware.
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Ask

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2009, 01:47:30 PM »
there's nothing stopping anybody from writing a batch file to mount the DNS, copy the files to something, and unmount, and then setting that as a scheduled task.  The linux equivalent is just as easy.

Additionally, one should consider the nature of the data on the DNS itself, as well as the value of it, paranoia level you wish to take.

If you're backing up client PCs to it, you probably don't need to back up that data on the DNS, as the clients exist as the "original"

If your client PCs mount the DNS, and all user data is stored directly onto the DNS, then the DNS is pretty valuable.  But in the same vein, that's what a RAID 1 is for.  You've got protection from a single drive failure, which is a pretty likely and serious fault to have.   This is the strategy I implement in my home (where  user data consists of music, pictures, word documents).  I don't do it this way at work, where I need much more fault tolerant strategies.  But then, I just bought the DNS for my home (from not having a central drive system).  I use more expensive and complex systems at work.

Now if the DNS itself dies, either replace it with a new one (of exact same FW version), or mount the drives in a linux box and copy the data off (the drives are formated ext2 or ext3).





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fordem

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2009, 05:59:18 PM »
Quote from: Ask on February 08, 2009, 01:47:30 PM
there's nothing stopping anybody from writing a batch file to mount the DNS, copy the files to something, and unmount, and then setting that as a scheduled task.  The linux equivalent is just as easy.

Additionally, one should consider the nature of the data on the DNS itself, as well as the value of it, paranoia level you wish to take.

If you're backing up client PCs to it, you probably don't need to back up that data on the DNS, as the clients exist as the "original"

If your client PCs mount the DNS, and all user data is stored directly onto the DNS, then the DNS is pretty valuable.  But in the same vein, that's what a RAID 1 is for.  You've got protection from a single drive failure, which is a pretty likely and serious fault to have.   This is the strategy I implement in my home (where  user data consists of music, pictures, word documents).  I don't do it this way at work, where I need much more fault tolerant strategies.  But then, I just bought the DNS for my home (from not having a central drive system).  I use more expensive and complex systems at work.

Now if the DNS itself dies, either replace it with a new one (of exact same FW version), or mount the drives in a linux box and copy the data off (the drives are formated ext2 or ext3).


I hate to be the bearer of bad news - but - this is NOT what RAID1 is for - RAID1 is for disk redundancy not data backup (now where have I seen that before?), and with your RAID1, your data is at risk for every other data loss scenario other than failure of a single disk.  This includes, but is not limited to ...

 - deletion, whether deliberate or accidental
 - corruption, whether caused by a virus, network error, power failure, etc
 - hardware failure
 - firmware bug

For what it's worth - if the DNS-321 fails, you can replace it with a new one, with any firmware version, or mount the drives in a linux box, or in a Windows system with the ext2ifs file system driver - and oh - the drives use the ext2 file system, ext3 was never used.
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RAID1 is for disk redundancy - NOT data backup - don't confuse the two.

nrf

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2009, 06:31:51 PM »
I like to think of disk storage (even raid) as devices that are juggling my data - at any time they could drop the ball, so to speak.

using the dns as a backup for some client disks is a step in the right direction but long term it is still juggling with more jugglers and hoping one of them will be ok at all times. unfortunately, multiple concurrent failures can occur, such as emp from a close lightning strike, fire, fritzed power supply, etc. I have even seen a case where a redundant high-reliability server didn't really live up to its advertised reliability and a single failure impacted both of the redundant partitions.

just a word to those who are willing to learn from others' mistakes instead of making them all over fresh...
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fordem

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #13 on: February 09, 2009, 04:44:44 AM »
Quote from: nrf on February 08, 2009, 06:31:51 PM
I like to think of disk storage (even raid) as devices that are juggling my data - at any time they could drop the ball, so to speak.

using the dns as a backup for some client disks is a step in the right direction but long term it is still juggling with more jugglers and hoping one of them will be ok at all times. unfortunately, multiple concurrent failures can occur, such as emp from a close lightning strike, fire, fritzed power supply, etc. I have even seen a case where a redundant high-reliability server didn't really live up to its advertised reliability and a single failure impacted both of the redundant partitions.

just a word to those who are willing to learn from others' mistakes instead of making them all over fresh...

Agreed - but unfortunately, I don't know of a better way - even with fault tolerant/high availability solutions, "juggling" is necessary.
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RAID1 is for disk redundancy - NOT data backup - don't confuse the two.

nrf

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Re: Backing up the DNS 321 itself
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2009, 07:50:43 AM »
right. even tape is a form of juggling. an offline disk has an advantage of not juggling all the time, dvds have an unknown lifetime and limited space, this is a tough topic. It comes down to how many jugglers can you afford and what your true needs are. I try to classify my material into different need categories - some of it can be put away on a dvd or something and I may never need it again, some can be lost with no consequence, and some would benefit from being able to 'go back in time' on occasion.

I think this aspect of computing offers some interesting challenges with no clearly winning supported solutions of the 'one size fits all' variety.
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