Synology Active Backup For Business Agent
Kasey Finkenbinder
We are obviously big fans of Synology but like any product or service, they tend to have some strong points and some other area where their products fall short. Synology backup for the windows client has come a long way since Synology CloudStation Backup. This latest product backup release is pretty legit. We try or provide some Active Backup Backup Business Agent setup support, along with answering some concerns with the reliability that you may have with the product.
Services do not show successful unless service is running and port is open. Open port 5510. It is recommended that you use a service like Canyouseeme.org for confirming if your ports and services are running for WAN usage.
You will need to create a task in the Active Backup for Business within the DSM if you receive the error message Failed to create a task. The destination does not exist. Please contact the admin for help.
You should have to not only backup actively running but you should have ran off to the store and grabbed a USB thumb drive for creating recovery media. This item is often lost. Dangle it from your desktop monitor and label its purpose after you have created the media on it. Anyway, illustrated below is what your agent on your desktop should look like if you followed the directions completely on here.
Founded in 2000, Synology is a Taiwanese corporation that specializes in network-attached storage appliances and storage related products. The company has three product lines aimed at different sectors of the market. DiskStation for desktop models, FlashStation for all-flash models, and RackStation for rack-mount models. Recently, Synology has started to offer its own storage devices, both Hard Drives and SATA SSDs.
The Synology Active Backup for Business is a software offered with all compatible NAS products that are running the Synology DiskStation Manager operating system. Active Backup for Business has to be the most important piece of software that is included with a Synology NAS as it can handle everything from automated backups, storage status, scheduled tasks and active logs of your storage and file transfers.
The software is composed out of three different packages that can be freely installed on compatible Synology NAS. These packages are: Active Backup for Business, Active Backup for G Suite and Active Backup for Office 365. Each package has a set of different features as follows:
The main screen is a quick glance in the functionality and features of the Active Backup for Business. Here you can see the status of your NAS, the installed drivers and their capacity alongside the status of the storage pools.
The best thing about Active Backup for Business is that it requires no paid license, and it is free with compatible Synology NAS products. The software does what other paid products do but with a better interface and an easier layout that can be understood even by beginners. The usage of nonspecific terms is also a bonus for newcomers into the NAS usage.
For active backup you can do multiple things with this piece of software. You can connect it to your PC and use your NAS to automatically backup your PC or parts of your PC storage on the NAS, or you can connect the NAS to a server and backup that onto the NAS.
With the Active Backup for Business connected to the Active Backup for Business Agent installed on your PC, you will get access to multiple options and functions. Create Task, Restore Device, Delete and more (update agent & change device type).
With the task creation page opened, you get access to more settings. These include what to backup, the entire system, entire volume or specific folders on the system. Here is where you can also schedule regular backups.
The Synology Active Backup for Business is a good all in one solution for automatic backups of files across multiple devices. The software requires some setup at the beginning but everything is organized in such a way that a beginner will have no issues.
One of the best functions present within Active Backup for Business is the task system that will allow you to set automatic and scheduled backups of either your entire PC or certain parts of the storage. This type of function can be a lifesaver in the case of a power outage or a hardware failure on the main computer.
In my opinion, the optimal schedule for backups with Active Backup for Business should be once a day, every day, preferably close to the end of the day. This way, the NAS remains silent and on stand-by while work is being done.
The first solid info of this was presented at the beginning of 2022, during Synology 2022 and beyond event. It was clear that Synology did not give up on this feature and on top of it all, it even made the Active Backup for Business package an even better solution than it is/was.
What's all the hype about then? Well, presently (before DSM 7.1) we were not able to make a complete NAS restore in an event of a disaster. So, if your NAS had a mechanical malfunction and had to be replaced, you could transfer the drives and save your data, but you would have to configure the DSM part of your NAS (settings, configuration, apps, etc) from scratch.
Truth be told we still have a configuration backup option that in DSM 7 was automated if you choose to do so, so that is also an added bonus, but with 7.1 and Active Backup for Business full NAS backup support, Synology has raised the bar when it comes to data protection and RPO/RTO times.
To make use of this method of protection you will need to have certain prerequisites in place. First, you will need to have more than one Synology NAS, and on top of that, they will have to support the Active Backup for Business package.
Second, your source NAS (the one you want to protect) will have to have the option to install and use the new Active Backup for Business DSM agent. Presently, not all models are supported, so only models from 2018 or later are on the list.
The whole idea behind this feature is simple. Make sure to have one NAS backed up to your second one in a form that would capture the OS, apps, settings, and data. In the following example, I would like to show how this works, and how can you restore a fully factory configured NAS back from the backup.
This process will be separated into two parts. Backup and restore. So first let's see how to set and configure a backup process using the new ABB agent for DSM, and in the second half, how you will restore the content using the ABB platform.
Once both NAS devices have configured the task, your source NAS will need to be rebooted before it will be able to execute the backup task. So the following message will ask you if you are ready or not to reboot the NAS.
Depending on how the template was configured, you can have this task run automatically, or manually using the Task List section inside the ABB console. The whole process can be followed using the details option.
Depending on your NAS destination permissions, you can also review the backed-up data using File Station. If you know where the ABB data lives, you can see how the NAS backup is saved. For this example, this is how it all looks like:
Before we take a look at a bare-metal restore, keep in mind that you can actually access all the data that you have backed up (data volume), using Active Backup for Business Portal app.
If you have multiple ABB tasks running you can use the Task dropdown menu to access the one that you need and switch the Portal app to its content. In case you have only a single task, that task will be selected by default.
The system Reset option is the option that I will use to simulate a complete wipe down of OS, settings, apps, and data. Similar to what you would do if you got a new NAS or a new pair of drives.
System Recovery tab is actually the method to restore your already running setup from ABB backup but at a specific point in time. Meaning you can recover even if you haven't had a complete OS and/or data meltdown.
Notice on the image above that you will have no option to start from backup. The reason is that you need to first install the OS on the NAS, and in stage two (configuration), you will have the option to restore from backup.
Once the DSM has been installed, your NAS will reboot. Locate it on the network and connect to its user interface where you will see the final package and service configuration happening (the default one).
Now, be sure to NOT click the Start button on this screen, but rather click the Restore your device link on the bottom. It will lead you to the ABB restore process.
Certain apps and services will need your manual interaction to start them up again. One example is Plex or Docker containers. Do keep in mind that it will all work, just the services were not automatically started. Not a deal-breaker in my book, but something to keep in mind.
Keeping your data backed up is important, but keeping your backup backed up is just as important. So let's see how you can use Hyper Backup to backup your ABB archive, and restore it to a secondary NAS (or back to your main if needed) in case you have a disaster scenario.
Next, we need to add the archive data as a storage element inside the Active Backup for business platform. Open it back up, switch to the Storage section and click the re-link button.
That's it! I have to say there are not many things that make me happy when it comes to new features, but this is one of them. It works very well, with no problems that I could detect, and the whole process is very straightforward.
Another great addition to DSM 7 (7.1 to be exact) that will offer many enthusiast-level users (those running + models) one more reason to upgrade to DSM 7 and have a great solution and peace of mind when it comes to their data and uptime.
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