Recommended machine for backup destination

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AndyB78
Posts: 1
Joined: April 22nd, 2019, 10:27 pm

Recommended machine for backup destination

Post by AndyB78 »

Hello,

I would like to know what kind of NAS / storage server would be recommended as a backup destination. For instance, as a test, I have been using a FreeNAS machine but from what I understand this is not recommended due to security concerns when used in public Internet access. Now I am considering a regular CentOS 7 machine.

What else is recommended from a security and performance point of view for incremental backups?

Also what kind of storage array is recommended? RAID1, RAID10?

Thanks!
ofir
Staff Member
Staff Member
Posts: 40
Joined: June 14th, 2018, 10:03 am

Re: Recommended machine for backup destination

Post by ofir »

Hi,

Thank you for submitting this query.

Generally speaking, we avoid giving clients destination recommendations, since there are so many different configurations.
We believe that each hosting provider has its own preferences and settings they are comfortable with.


Each OS (FreeNAS FreeBSD centOS Debian ubuntu ) has its own advantages and disadvantages.
As for security, there are a few levels of it to be concerned about.
1. Network security.
2. Internal server security (user management and visibility)

As for "Network security" we recommend using appropriate firewall rules, blocking all access except the servers and workstations that are meant to access the destination.
All Linux/NAS/BSD distributions have built-in FW.

As for "Internal server security" we recommend consulting with your system administrator to find the best configuration.
The security level on this aspect depends on your architecture, and again you can use any distribution to achieve this goal.

So it comes down to - which OS you are most comfortable with (manage and maintain).

For various reasons including security, we recommend creating a separate user on the destination server for each cPanel server backing up to this destination.


As for RAID configuration:

A few Raid 1 volumes could be used to avoid IO caused by single server affecting other server backups.
Let's say we define 2 RAID 1 volumes, and mount them as home and home2. Then we set user1 homedir on home and user2 on home2.
IO generated backing up by user will not effect user2.
But you are limited to the disk space, so user1 can't really use more space than the volume size.

Raid 10 - will give you better performance but backing up one server will affect the other backups performance.
You are limited by total disks space in this mode, so user1 can have more space than a single Raid 1 volume.

Again, it's really important to maintain those settings, so you should be comfortable with whichever settings you choose.

Regards.
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