Question NAS Setup for a startup business

[TheThirdMan]

Hey everyone!

I wanted some opinions on setting up a NAS for a startup business. I want a NAS as a central storage device for everyone to work from. This NAS will be continuously backing up to Google Drive as well. I believe that this Synology NAS should be up to the task-

Download Center - download | Synology Inc.

Centralize data storage and backup, streamline file collaboration, optimize video management, and secure network deployment to facilitate data management.

www.synology.com

Couple of questions -

1-file security is important as these files involve confidentiality agreements with some prominent clients. Will the built in security tools in the NAS be sufficient to stop unwanted remote access?
2-it's vital to not accidentally lose files- the primary example would be someone deleting a file they think is no longer needed or believing it's a duplicate, only to realise it's not, or someone saving over a file with a different file etc. Can this NAS (or any other suggestions for NAS) allow continuous self backup? That is to say- there's a volume visible on the office network where people store files, but the NAS simultaneously creates copies of all files- timestamped etc - onto a seperate volume, only accessible by the administrator? So that if someone overwrites a file, we can grab yesterday's version from the hidden backup volume?
3- is that Synology a good pick? We will need around 6 to 8TB of available storage- i was going to stuff it with 5x 4 or 6 TB drives to cover the two volumes suggested above.
4- anyone have experience with the cloud backup service? We're using Google Suite, so the idea would be that we have an offsite backup and that we can access copies of files from the NAS on google drive if needed.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[VirtualLarry]

2-it's vital to not accidentally lose files- the primary example would be someone deleting a file they think is no longer needed or believing it's a duplicate, only to realise it's not, or someone saving over a file with a different file etc. Can this NAS (or any other suggestions for NAS) allow continuous self backup? That is to say- there's a volume visible on the office network where people store files, but the NAS simultaneously creates copies of all files- timestamped etc - onto a seperate volume, only accessible by the administrator? So that if someone overwrites a file, we can grab yesterday's version from the hidden backup volume?
3- is that Synology a good pick? We will need around 6 to 8TB of available storage- i was going to stuff it with 5x 4 or 6 TB drives to cover the two volumes suggested above.

I have a few QNAP units, and their newest OS builds, IF you initialize them in the proper manner, support "snapshots", which are point-in-time backups, essentially, of the filesystem and contents. The NAS can be configured to make these snapshots every hour, etc. It just takes up more space. Then, you can pull files out of the snapshot backup (I think), or roll back to a snapshot point.

Don't forget Windows 10's "Previous Files" feature as well, which could be re-directed to the NAS filestore on all of the PCs used at the business.

 

[TheThirdMan]

I have a few QNAP units, and their newest OS builds, IF you initialize them in the proper manner, support "snapshots", which are point-in-time backups, essentially, of the filesystem and contents. The NAS can be configured to make these snapshots every hour, etc. It just takes up more space. Then, you can pull files out of the snapshot backup (I think), or roll back to a snapshot point.

Don't forget Windows 10's "Previous Files" feature as well, which could be re-directed to the NAS filestore on all of the PCs used at the business.

That's great, thanks. The snapshot feature sounds perfect. I've had 1 terrible experience with Win 10's previous files where it had backup up, but nothing showed up in the application. I ended up having to copy the backup across, timestamped filenames and all, making relinking files a total nightmare!

 

[mpo]

Have had a Synology DS218+ for the past several months. Not an IT pro, but quickly had to get 2 adults and one high schooler up to speed so no work was lost during our work-at-home adventure. A 5-year-old WD My Cloud NAS no longer met my needs.

1) Synology NASes fall into the advanced user/simple office category. That said, the OS, DSM, has a lot of features of a pro setup. You can manage shares, users, groups, and access within shares. An admin can control the password strength and expiration time of users' passwords.

2) Synology Drive Client (the user's backup software) can make continuous, manual (i.e., "Back up now"), or a scheduled backup (i.e., each night at 8 pm) backup. I have the system set up to make a nightly backup. The backups are staggered for the 3 main computers that are in constant use. I believe I have the backup set to keep 32 versions of any file changes.

I also use Hyper Backup to backup the NAS to a USB drive on a monthly basis for off site storage.

3) Works for my needs. Came down to a QNAP and Synology system for me. QNAP seems to have better hardware for any price point, DSM seems to be slightly more robust OS.

4) Sync some important information to a cloud service. Can't help much.

 

[compcons]

Synology also offers replication between units. Get 2 and backup from one to the other. Utilize your Google for backup of your Google docs as they do their work. According to my kids, its just automatic and anything you work on is saved continuously. Use the synology client to do system.backups.

Do you have people who need to connect to the synology remotely? You can control access to those things with your network firewall. It does have security features but I wouldn't rely on them and just hang that thing out there on the internet.

In addition to file storage, Synology offers other small business features like an email server, DHCP, DNS, etc.

 

[TheThirdMan]

The replies are much appreciated, thanks. @mpo Drive client and hyper backup sound really useful! @compcons that's an interesting feature. Probably not something we'd use to start, but a useful way to expand storage by having primary storage on one physical NAS and another NAS stores timestamped backups of the primary storage NAS!