The Top NAS storage Backup Strategies for Data Protection

Backup used to be a difficult task, whether it was because the technology was not understood or justified. On the other hand, backups were simple back in the days when hard-disk storage was attached directly to the computer, or you installed data backup software, and data was sent to a tape device.
But with the popularity of NAS storage appliances, you should look at some new NAS backup strategies.

Why strategize your backup

NAS storage appliances look like scalable file servers, but they work differently. These appliances mostly use a proprietary operating system that optimizes storage performance. For that reason, you cannot install the usual backup software agents on a NAS storage device.
Unlike Windows based devices, NAS storage devices require a different approach. We will be discussing four common Network Attached Storage backup methods.

Online NAS storage backup

Some best NAS system vendors like StoneFly combine online data backup with cloud storage services like AWS, Azure, and Veeam. Through cloud storage, they offer simple disaster recovery and backup products to clients. In addition, StoneFly can back up data to its fully managed appliance, and customers can also tier data to the public clouds.

NAS storage Backup via traditional network

In traditional network-based backups, the data is sent across the network to a backup server. Additionally, if an enterprise NAS storage device is used to share a file server with multiple systems, backup software can create multiple backup copies for the duplicate files.
This approach does not require any changes to the environment, but it is not the best NAS backup strategy. It increases network traffic as data must travel from the NAS storage device to the client and back to the backup server.
You can create a backup proxy system, but it is not effective if NAS storage devices store application-specific data such as databases that need application awareness to create backups.

Replication of data from your NAS device

To protect NAS storage data, vendors use a mix of remote and local replication and specific modules. Data replication between NAS storage devices has the most advanced features and is best integrated with applications.
The StoneFly Scale-Out NAS allows users to manage petabytes worth of backup storage in a single system and automation and management of data replication.

Network Data Management Protocol Backup

The (NDMP) is a protocol explicitly created for NAS storage device backups. NDMP allows a NAS to send data over the network to a tape device or a backup server without contacting a backup client.
Each of these NAS backup strategies has a price but also can meet specific recovery needs. Whatever your decision is, the recovery requirements should justify the cost and approach.