QNAP system is a great solution for storing backups on external storage for better data safety. Being a separate server with its own operating system, QNAP is also a good choice for those ones who look for an offsite backup strategy. In this article you will learn how to create cloud backups using CloudBerry Backup for QNAP plug-in.
NAS Backup Strategies
First of all, you need to create a backup of necessary data on NAS. But it is better to have a few copies of the data to be able to restore it after a failure of any kind.
What will you do if a fire or a flood in the server room happens? Your data will be safely kept thanks to cloud storage. The so-called 3-2-1 rule means that you have two copies onsite and one copy offsite, for example, in storage. An offsite copy can be made either by a separate server with CloudBerry Backup or using NAS itself, if you use QNAP system. Third-party utilities like CloudBerry Backup for QNAP are available to back up data.
There is a QNAP default backup utility called Backup station. But if something happens with NAS itself, you will have to do the following to get data back:
Repair broken NAS.
Reconfigure the storage appliance and restore old settings.
Restore necessary data to NAS from a cloud backup.
Remember that you cannot restore files from their backups while repairing the storage system.
To avoid such inconveniences, you can, for example, use CloudBerry Backup since it has the same backup format on all platforms including NAS. If you create a backup from QNAP using CloudBerry software, you can open this file from any Mac, Windows or Linux system.
How to Create a Backup Plan using QNAP and CloudBerry Plug-in
First of all, you need to install CloudBerry Backup for QNAP.
Then configure a backup plan:
Start the backup wizard by clicking the Backup Plans button in the main menu. 
Select the cloud storage you want to use. For example, let’s use Amazon S3. 
On the next step select files and folders to back up. You can select several items by pressing Shift or Ctrl.
Specify compression and encryption options.
CloudBerry Backup uses client side encryption by default. It doesn’t allow reading cloud data even to the provider. Server side encryption is also available, but it offers no such benefit.
Amazon S3 Reduced Redundancy Storage allows reducing storage costs by using less redundant cloud storage.
Amazon S3 IA storage is designed for data which requires less frequent access, but with longer storage time as compared to Standard.
Learn more about Amazon S3 Storage Classes.
Then specify Retention policy for backup.
Retention Policy is an option that allows, in accordance with the prescribed rules, to clean up obsolete copies correctly .
Then you will have to specify the backup schedule and set up notifications, if necessary.
Disaster Recovery
You can recover data right within CBB app for QNAP. But if NAS is out of order or you want to restore directly to the server, do the following:
Open CBB on the server and create a new cloud storage account. Specify access credentials and the bucket used for CBB on NAS.
Press Advanced Settings and choose the backup prefix of NAS. By default, it is the name of the computer.
If you don’t remember the backup prefix, open the cloud storage bucket using AWS Management Console or CloudBerry Explorer. You will see directories called like CBB_XXXX.
We backed up CBB server folder with the same name template, so find the directory which has the CBB_XXX folder inside. Use Ctrl+F to call for Search menu and print “CBB_” in.
The XXXX part after CBB_ in the name of this directory is the sought-for NAS backup prefix.
Now start Restore Wizard. Choose the storage account created earlier. On the Restore Source step press Synchronize Repository and select Synchronize Now in the appeared window. CBB will access the cloud storage and show its content.
Then select the folder to restore and proceed with the Wizard. On the Destination step choose Restore to specific location and select the folder to download backups. Don’t use Restore to original location as CBB will use NAS file system and errors can happen.
Specify the decryption password if needed and set up notifications. After you finish the Wizard, CBB will download backup data.
Now you have server backups onsite. You can create a storage account with an endpoint on the downloaded backup folder to restore backup plans.
Summary
We have considered NAS-based ways of creating backups on a cloud using QNAP storage system and CloudBerry Backup. Try our solution for FREE since there is a 15-day fully functional trial version, so you can check if our backup solution meets your needs and requirements.
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