FreeNAS as an offsite backup for WD MyCloud

[Wardy]

Hi all,

I am planning to build myself a NAS in the near future. I am planning to create two pools, one with three disks in RAIDZ1 and on with a single disk. The single disk pool I want to use as an offsite backup for a WD MyCloud server which is located at my work. So my questions are:
- Can I use the freeNAS server to make scheduled backups of the MyCloud server which is a couple of kilometers away?
- Does anyone know of a tutorial or some other documentation which can help me actually doing this?

I have been looking around on the forum and google, but haven't really been able to find anything.

Thanks :)

 

[depasseg]

- Can I use the freeNAS server to make scheduled backups of the MyCloud server which is a couple of kilometers away?

The backup will really be coming from the MyCloud device. Freenas doesn't care where the data is coming from.

- Does anyone know of a tutorial or some other documentation which can help me actually doing this?

What protocols does MyCloud support. My guess is the only one that will possibly work is rsync. So hopefully it supports that.

 

[Wardy]

The backup will really be coming from the MyCloud device. Freenas doesn't care where the data is coming from.

What protocols does MyCloud support. My guess is the only one that will possibly work is rsync. So hopefully it supports that.

So I would have to configure the backup from the MyCloud at work rather than from the freeNAS at home?
As far as I can see the WD MyCloud does support rsync, so I will have to look into how to use rsync to set this up, thank you!

 

[depasseg]

As far as I can see the WD MyCloud does support rsync, so I will have to look into how to use rsync to set this up, thank you!

If that's the case, then it should be pretty straightforward. You can probably find a million guides to do this, as it's a very common protocol.

 

[anodos]

If I recall correctly, the default mycloud firmware is based on Debian and allows ssh access. If the webgui doesn't have an 'rsync' option, just configure a cronjob through the shell.

 

[Wardy]

If I recall correctly, the default mycloud firmware is based on Debian and allows ssh access. If the webgui doesn't have an 'rsync' option, just configure a cronjob through the shell.

I believe the WD has a rsync option, so I should be able to use it. I can't seem to find any tutorials on how to set up rsync with two servers which are on a different network though. The manual of the WD does have an entry about making external backups, but only to other WD mycloud devices.

 

[anodos]

I believe the WD has a rsync option, so I should be able to use it. I can't seem to find any tutorials on how to set up rsync with two servers which are on a different network though. The manual of the WD does have an entry about making external backups, but only to other WD mycloud devices.

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-copy-files-with-rsync-over-ssh

The above link has a fairly concise summary.

Some freenas specific steps are:
1) create a dataset to house rsync data.
2) create a jail
2a) enable ssh in jail
2b) add dataset created in (1)
2c) create user in jail using 'adduser' command
2d) change permissions of dataset in jail to allow write access for new user using 'chmod'
2e) generate keypairs, add key to 'authorized keys' file of jail user
2f) verify you can authenticate to ssh server from a client on your home LAN.
2g) tighten security. Modify sshd_config in jail so that ssh requires key-based authentication, restrict allowed ssh users to the one created in (2c)
2h) verify that you can still access jail

Additional config for destination
3) on your home gateway / router thingy, create a rule to 'port forward' an external port to 22 on your jail. I use 443 to bypass egress firewall restrictions.
4) sign up for a dynamic DNS service. Install and configure their dynamic DNS updater. Verify that it is working properly.

Lastly,
5) configure rsync task as described in digital ocean post linked above.

 

[Wardy]

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-copy-files-with-rsync-over-ssh

The above link has a fairly concise summary.

Some freenas specific steps are:
1) create a dataset to house rsync data.
2) create a jail
2a) enable ssh in jail
2b) add dataset created in (1)
2c) create user in jail using 'adduser' command
2d) change permissions of dataset in jail to allow write access for new user using 'chmod'
2e) generate keypairs, add key to 'authorized keys' file of jail user
2f) verify you can authenticate to ssh server from a client on your home LAN.
2g) tighten security. Modify sshd_config in jail so that ssh requires key-based authentication, restrict allowed ssh users to the one created in (2c)
2h) verify that you can still access jail

Additional config for destination
3) on your home gateway / router thingy, create a rule to 'port forward' an external port to 22 on your jail. I use 443 to bypass egress firewall restrictions.
4) sign up for a dynamic DNS service. Install and configure their dynamic DNS updater. Verify that it is working properly.

Lastly,
5) configure rsync task as described in digital ocean post linked above.

Thank you so much! I will start experimenting with this.