[Disaster Recovery] Build a data disaster recovery system through the combination of NAS and file server

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NAS and file server disaster recovery system status

With the widespread popularity of IT products as important information tools in small and medium-sized enterprises, people emphasize that IT tools are important for improving work efficiency. At the same time, what kind of storage devices are used by small and medium-sized enterprises is more important for ensuring data security. Appropriate to become a current hot topic. In recent years, several internationally renowned storage equipment manufacturers EMC and Freedom have successfully launched their NAS products in China and promoted their products. Recently, people have begun to talk about being a small and medium-sized enterprise. Should I buy a professional and powerful file server, or buy a NAS product dedicated to data storage/backup, with powerful storage/backup functions and simple operation as the company’s important data storage and backup equipment? With this topic, we expand the following discussion.

Introduction to NAS and File Server

Introduction to NAS

NAS is called Network Attached Storage in English, which can be translated as network attached storage, which is a kind of dedicated network data storage\backup device. It takes data as the center, completely separates storage devices and servers, and centrally manages data, thereby freeing up bandwidth, improving performance, reducing total cost of ownership, and protecting investment. Its cost is much lower than using server storage, but its efficiency is much higher than the latter. NAS can meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises who want to reduce storage costs but cannot afford the expensive price of SAN, and has a very good price/performance ratio.

Profile file server

The file server is a server that provides complete data, files, directories and other information sharing for various workstations on the network, and implements unified management of network files. It can perform operations such as file creation, deletion, opening, closing, reading and writing.

Comparison of NAS and file server

Compare file server

The main task of the file server is to provide diversified services for computers on the network, such as file sharing and processing, web publishing, FTP, email services, etc., which have obvious advantages. This is mainly due to the fact that the file server is usually Using high-performance CPU, compared with NAS, it does not have an advantage in data backup, data security, etc., for the following reasons:

When the file server is backed up, the backup files and the original files are stored in the same system, which cannot share the risk, especially to prevent the occurrence of catastrophic consequences;
Because the file server has to provide diversified services, its own security is insufficient. Any vulnerability in any service may be subject to hacking, resulting in data leakage or loss;
The instability of the file server's own operating system will affect the security of the data;
The backup work of the file server requires professionals to operate, must have a good backup awareness, and need to perform regular maintenance on the machine;
File servers are susceptible to computer viruses;
The client operating system cannot be backed up in real time. If the client computer is in use, the operating system cannot be backed up;
Power consumption and heat generation are large, and the power consumption of a file server is about 300~400W. Therefore, the file server has higher requirements on the working environment.

It can be seen that although the file server can provide backup functions, there are many insecure factors.

Compare NAS

NAS is a system optimized for storage and backup. Take the Freedom 4020 NAS as an example. Compared with the file server Freedom 4020 NAS, the main advantages are as follows:

Product design and manufacturing are based on the manufacturing of industrial-grade computers, and the stability and reliability of equipment operation are greatly improved through the use of embedded motherboards and cpu;
Due to the embedded Linux operating system, the stability and security are greatly improved compared with the file server;
The control software is simple and easy to understand (for example, Freedom NAS products have specially developed simplified Chinese control software based on the Chinese market). Anyone can easily back up their data according to their corresponding permissions;
The system has high stability and is not susceptible to computer viruses (this benefits from the streamlined and solidified Linux operating system it uses), so it does not require professional maintenance;
Through the built-in backup software, even if the user is using the computer, the operating system can be backed up in real time without interrupting the user's normal work;
Through the setting, the data specified by the user can be backed up regularly, without manual intervention, and the degree of automation is high;
Even if the operating system of the client host crashes, the operating system that was backed up on the NAS can be started (in advance) through the network, and the original data can be restored;
The power consumption of the whole machine is small, about 1/3 of that of the file server, which is more energy-efficient and has lower requirements for the use environment.
Compared with the file server's "scare" on different platforms, NAS can easily cope with application platforms composed of current mainstream platforms such as windows, linux, and mac.

From the above comparison, it is not difficult to see that the file server is more powerful than NAS in terms of comprehensive functions, especially in terms of file processing capabilities, but the file server’s data backup and recovery is far less complete than NAS, and the system stability is not as good as NAS. At the same time, NAS has more advantages in data security such as data disaster recovery. In this situation, the two cannot replace each other. By analyzing their advantages and disadvantages, we can find that combining the two together can become a perfect storage backup and data security solution.

The situation when the file server is backed up without using NAS

In the past, when we backed up data and data, we usually did not back up the software system. For example, we would use a portable hard disk or CD to back up the data, but we would not back up the software system together. The software system is damaged, and the data we have backed up may also be unusable. And in many cases, restoring the software system is not an easy task. For example, the system is issued by a superior or a government department. If you want to reinstall the software system, you may have to pay another service fee. So for the sake of safety, some people will open up a special area backup software system in the computer, and adopt the method of regularly backing up the system and data. (But this requires that the following prerequisites must be met at the same time) This can also achieve the purpose of backup, but, obviously, the following prerequisites must be met:

Computer users are very familiar with the use of computers and operating systems;
Computer users must have good data backup security awareness and have good backup habits;
Computer users should back up the system and data regularly (the time interval should not be too long);
During the interval between two backups, do not have problems with your computer.

Moreover, the original file and the backup file are placed on the same computer, and the backup file is not safe when the computer hard disk or virus occurs. Obviously, the above requirements may be difficult for most computer users to achieve, but if you use NAS, you can easily solve the problem.

The effect of the combined application of NAS and file server

After nas and file server are used in combination, the main roles of the two are as follows:

Role file server

Based on the powerful processing capabilities of the file server, we can hand over tasks such as the processing, sharing and storage of the PC files of each terminal to the file server, allowing the normal operation and storage of the files to be completed on the server as usual; using NAS for data backup and data With powerful security functions, take Freedom NAS as an example in terms of data backup. The backup software that comes with it provides the following backup methods:

Automatic backup

Install Freedom 4020 automatic backup software DiskSafe Express on the Windows Client computer.
Select the backup disk or other storage device, set the files that need to be backed up and store them in the Free Dun 4020 Network Data Vault (NAS), and start the first full backup.
Set the backup time by time period, and record multiple data restore points at the same time at most.

Remote restore

When files are accidentally deleted or damaged by human factors, you can browse the data backed up at a specific point in time on Freedom 4020 directly through the backup function of DiskSafe Express by operating the file manager interface, or directly restore the entire data disk.
If the system disk is damaged or cannot be booted due to poisoning, you can use:
Network card PXE protocol to start the machine (your network needs to support PXE protocol);
Or use the startup CD that comes with the Free Dun 4020 NAS to boot; then the data on the Free Dun 4020 NAS will be restored to the hard disk via the network, realizing remote boot from the backup disk on the Free Dun 4020 NAS.

Scheduled and zoned backup

Be able to select a partition or the entire hard disk for backup, and you can freely choose the backup time point. The number of points in time is only limited by the effective capacity of the disk.
With time difference backup function. Avoid real-time errors such as mirror backup. Even if the data is wrong or damaged, the data can be restored by restoring the most recent point in time to minimize the loss caused by data errors. When the system crashes, data can be recovered through pxe or bootable CD. When the system is damaged or you need to restore data, you can choose to restore the entire partition/hard disk or just restore a certain file according to your own wishes.

Differential backup

When making more than one backup, the first backup is a full backup, and the subsequent one is a differential backup.
When performing a differential backup, only the parts that are different from the partition or disk backed up last time will be saved. There is no need to back up completely every time, which greatly saves time and space.
When recovering from data loss, you only need to restore the data from the previous full backup, and then extract the data from the last differential backup to update the modified part. Greatly save time when restoring.

In this way, the NAS is placed behind the file server, and different files in the file server are subdivided and stored by setting up different accounts. This can also effectively avoid the internal and external security risks of the data. At the same time, there is no geographical restriction if the NAS is used. , Support multi-platform operation and remote restoration, disk snapshots, etc., while emphasizing data backup, it can also improve the data disaster tolerance of the entire network data.
In summary, the use of NAS in combination with a file server effectively solves the problem of easy use and simple operation of the file server but low data security. In addition, NAS backup makes data more secure, which is useful for improving server data security and coping with disasters. The data disaster tolerance capability when the event causes data loss is better.

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