freenas file server with offsite replication - opinions please!

[alexc40]

Hi everyone!

this is my first post so please be gentle!

i'm in the process of building a freenas 4 drive- 6tb file server, for my small office which deals with small and large format printing so lots of graphics files, we have 2 users on windows and one on a mac. i want each machine to be able to work directly on files on the server, which is all fairly straight-forward with freenas..... the tricky part for me is the offsite replication.

im thinking of having some sort of nas box at my house (open to suggestions on what to go for) but i dont know how much space i need for the replication nas box and what the best way of backing up the file server is.

ideally a mirror version of the office file server would be perfect so if the office server went down i could take the nas box from home and be up and running straight away but im not sure how much net bandwidth i'll need for it to do it overnight. my office has a pretty poor internet connection due to being so far from the local phone exchange so i only get around 0.3-0.4 m/bits upload.

file creation on a daily basis can be anything from 30mb to around 1gb.

so what does anyone think is do-able?

i'm sure i've missed some vital information out so feel free to ask, and all opinions will be gratefully received.

thanks

alex

 

[Durkatlon]

Sure, this should be no problem. As far as space, you'll need as much space on the offsite box as you have in use on the primary. The replication method could be rsync which probably would be the easiest to setup. This also allows you to compress the data as it is going from source to target, so on a mediocre internet connection that should help (although your graphics files may already be highly compressed in which case it probably won't make much of a difference).

The remote NAS box obviously has to be visible to the primary somehow, at least the rsync related ports. You could just open those up on whatever router you use, but this might not be the safest thing in the world. It would probably be good to look at using ssh with rsync so you can get some encryption and authentication going.

 

[Milhouse]

Alex, if you're in the UK, get yourself two of these HP Microserver N36L (£230 each). Perfect for what you need (4x disk bays, small and quiet) and each of them has a £100 cashback offer until 31 October so don't hang about. :)

Slap in 8GB RAM in the office machine (maybe also the home machine, but you could just transfer the 1GB stick that comes with the office machine and run on 2GB at home if all you're doing is nightly backups), and also consider a pair of these if you want tip-top network performance (again, probably not essential for the home machine)

Create an Rsync or ZFS Snapshot Replication task to copy the "deltas" (differences") from the office to your home. By only transferring the differences you will keep both servers in sync, and the amount of data transferred will be greatly reduced (literally to whatever files have been modified, created or deleted).

Even with 0.4Mbits/sec, you should be able to transfer just over 1GB in 8 hours (I think, if my maths is correct...).

Note that with rsync, ssh authentication isn't currently supported (due in a future release) in which case security might be an issue for you, particularly as your home server will be visible to the wider internet and you should disable all username/password access. ZFS Replication does support ssh authentication.

 

[alexc40]

thanks to both milhouse and durkatlon!

it sounds like i was some of the way there anyway but i really appreciate your help.... if i have a day where i create a lot of new files (like several gig of data) will the server run slow during the day because the transfer wont have time to finish overnight?

i just have one more question.... i bought one of these servers http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rackable-Systems-Opteron-Dual-Core-2U-Rack-mount-Server-/280689394412?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item415a6442ec off ebay and its got 8gb ram in it, im thinking of using it for the office machine, i've got it to boot and all runs pretty sweet just wondering what you guys think of the spec for a freenas system?

the HP microserver looks pretty sweet, i think i'll order one today for the backup server!

thanks again for all your help.

alex

 

[Milhouse]

it sounds like i was some of the way there anyway but i really appreciate your help.... if i have a day where i create a lot of new files (like several gig of data) will the server run slow during the day because the transfer wont have time to finish overnight?

No, you should be fine - running the backup over your internet connection will put a barely noticeable load on the server. If you're scheduling a daily backup using cron, and the first backup is still running after 24 hours, you might want to implement a solution to prevent two backups running at once. This will most likely require writing a simple backup script.

i just have one more question.... i bought one of these servers http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rackable-Systems-Opteron-Dual-Core-2U-Rack-mount-Server-/280689394412?pt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&hash=item415a6442ec off ebay and its got 8gb ram in it, im thinking of using it for the office machine, i've got it to boot and all runs pretty sweet just wondering what you guys think of the spec for a freenas system?

That's an absolute steal for £40 (plus shipping)! As a FreeNAS system it's going to have more than enough grunt to do the job!