DRAFT

According to the 321 backup strategy, a cloud backup is always recommended. This type of backup provides a last-resort solution, in the event of disastrous losses, such as the loss of the server and the backup disks, even if disconnected, in the event of civil unrest or major climatic events.

It may take time to transfer all the data back from the cloud to the on-premises location, but at least it's available somewhere and the organization hasn't lost everything.

A cloud backup is not the ultimate. For example, this kind of backup is always connected, which makes it more vulnerable to a ransomware attack. But to counter this type of attack, we can always resort to offline backup. So a cloud backup is part of an overall 321 backup strategy.

Backup to the cloud should be considered either for individual computers, or for NAS or Windows servers.

Let's start with personal computers.

Which computers are entitled? It's not a question of saving computers on your LAN to the cloud. People on your LAN should either work directly with the data stored on the NAS or work with locally stored data that are either synced or backed up to the NAS via Synology Drive. Only the data from the NAS will then be sent to the cloud.

The computers for which a cloud backup should be considered are those that are out of your LAN most of the time. For example, for those colleagues who are assigned to your organization, but are working remotely, from home, in other countries. You are also responsible for advising  them about their backup as well.

There are several options available to you. For SIL users, the best option is CrashPlan, which automatically backs up data to a secure cloud by default.

For Alliance users, it is possible to purchase a license of a third-party solution. Well-known and recommended software include Acronis and BackBlaze.

Special mention to a Synology product called C2 backup

C2 backup has nothing to do with your NAS. It's a solution for backing up your Windows or Mac to the Synology cloud. C2 backup not only backs up data, but also system configurations, user settings and applications. It can therefore be used for bare metal recovery (restore without any pre-installed operating system). 

C2 backup offers the same services as C2 storage: it manages versions, sends notifications, manages data encryption and guarantees data availability. 

We usually recommend Crashplan for SIL users, but if you're in an Alliance organization that can't use Crashplan, then C2 Backup may be a good solution.

C2 Backup is available in two versions: for home users and for professionals.

The enterprise version supports server backup. It features a management console allowing employees to manage their own backups. See this webinar recording about using and administering CrashPlan.

Let's continue with NAS or Windows server backups on the cloud. To perform a backup of a Synology NAS, it is recommended to use their C2 Storage solution. We had a webinar on C2 (FR/EN).

C2 is an annual subscription that gives you cloud storage space to use with Hyper Backup in order to back up your Synology NAS data.

This cloud backup solution is fully integrated with DSM. Your C2 storage space is seen as a backup destination in Hyper Backup. This means that you can use retention cycles and file versioning, as you usually do with Hyper Backup. It's not a third-party solution, it's the manufacturer's solution, so you only have one point of contact. The plans are flexible, you can change your plan whenever you want. It's well secured, the data is encrypted during transport and on the destination servers (which belong to Synology).

First, check if your Synology NAS is connected to a Synology account.You can do this by going to Control Panel > Synology Account. You must be logged into a Synology account to use C2 Backup.

 

When creating a new backup, select the C2 Storage option

If you don't have a Synology account, you'll need to create one. 

You can authenticate through Google, which means you don't need to create a separate password. This makes it easier to unlock the account if something goes wrong.

 

You can test the solution via a free trial.

Prices start at €12 per year for 100GB, which is about $13. You can also choose 300GB or 1TB - there are no intermediate options. 1TB will cost you around $75 per year.

If you want more than 1TB, you should choose the advanced option, which costs a bit more – around $80 per TB.

Whichever option you choose, you won't be charged anything for the first 30 days.

To start the subscription, you need to enter a credit card number. You can cancel the subscription within 30 days, but if you don't cancel it, the card will be charged. The subscription will be renewed automatically, meaning the same credit card will be charged every year unless you cancel the subscription before its renewal date.

When you add a C2 task, it tells you how much space is available.  

You will need to confirm that you are giving access to this account. Then, you go back to Hyper Backup and follow the steps to set up the backup task, starting with selecting the directory.

You need to give the task a name. You can receive notifications to make sure the backup is complete. Decide when the backup will take place and if you want to schedule a backup integrity check. Note that data-in-transit encryption is enabled by default, but you can enable client-side encryption.

 

If you check that box, you need to set a password. An encryption key will be automatically downloaded from Hyper Backup. This key will be used to encrypt each backup. This means that only you will be able to access the backup and if you lose your password/encryption key, you will no longer be able to access the data.

This is different from encrypting a Shared Drive and it is still different from encryption during transport

Rotation settings are important.This allows you to decide how many versions of your backups you want to keep over a period of time.

In the example below, here are the chosen retention settings 

This means that over 10 years 10 backups are kept (1 per year), over 12 months 12 backups are kept (1 per month over 1 year), and over 1 month 4 backups are kept (1 per week).

The graph shows you the result of your settings.

For Windows servers on the cloud you can rely on various cloud providers such as Backblaze B2 Cloud storage. Backblaze integrates with many server backup solutions such as MSP360, Veeam or Veritas Backup Exec.
 

Do you want to know more about data security, attend the SIL Information Security Training for End Users:  Secure Your Data