Question Dual NAS setup over two locations

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Question Dual NAS setup over two locations

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86
NAS
DS1621+, DS1522+, DS720+
Router
  1. MR2200ac
  2. RT6600ax
  3. WRX560
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  4. other
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Throwing this open to the brains trust..!


My current NAS setup is a DS918+ which runs a weekly Shared Folder Sync to a second DS918+ unit at the same location, and an offsite backup performed monthly to a DS718+. This has worked flawlessly since inception. My usage is mainly storage and some VMs/docker apps, Plex, with probably an 80% read / 20% write ratio. Roughly 20TB of data, of which less than 50GB changes from month to month. I have 7 shares, of which 4 are effectively archive/read-only, and user home folders are in use heavily on the main NAS.

Due to a change in my working environment, I now have a requirement to run a NAS in two locations. I am thinking about moving to a setup with a DS918+ in each location, using a better synchronization method for the two DS918s, and use the offsite DS718+ NAS for backup. Most of my shares are relatively static, with a couple that I would ideally like to have two-way syncing for. I will work from both locations, so ideally I would like to upload data in each location and let the NASes handle the syncing.

My main location has an RT2600ac, the second site has an MR2200ac. Both sites have 50Mbps down / 20Mbps Internet connection, so effectively a 20Mbps pipe, though I'd consider limiting replication traffic during daytime hours. I'm thinking a Site-to-site VPN may be the go here, both devices have a synology.me DDNS and Quickconnect enabled.

What I'm struggling with is deciding the best method (or methods, if multiple methods would work best):

1) Can I run HA over two sites? Can I run HA over a site-to-site VPN? or is HA overkill for this context?
2) Would Snapshot Replication work better than HA? (ideally with bidirectional sync).
3) Can I use Drive to manage file upload tasks for both locations, or is it a single-NAS solution only?
4) Is Drive ShareSync better than Snapshot Replication for my use case?

I'm happy to continue using Shared Folder Sync between primary NAS/secondary NAS for now, but I'm thinking this may be a great opportunity to tie down a better usage paradigm.

All suggestions welcome!
 
Can I run HA over two sites? Can I run HA over a site-to-site VPN? or is HA overkill for this context?
This will not work. For HA you do need same models with the same configuration but on top of this you need a heartbeat connection between them two using a dedicated LAN cable. More detail here:


Section 3. - Cabel the hosts

2) Would Snapshot Replication work better than HA? (ideally with bidirectional sync).
I use it and its works well, but it is not bidirectional by design.

3) Can I use Drive to manage file upload tasks for both locations, or is it a single-NAS solution only?
Yes you can use it ofc. You could configure a single Drive server of the two NAS devices and have data between them synced in the background using Share folder sync. This way you will not have the need to set up 2 Drive server instance on both locations but still have the data up to date on both NAS units. Ofc your Drive entry will still be via one NAS unit but you could set it up on both side and have it ready as a spare access in case the main location is down.

4) Is Drive ShareSync better than Snapshot Replication for my use case?
Considering everything I would say, yes. You could use Snap and Replication for some one-way sync/backup jobs that you want on both sides to stay in sync (if you do most of the work and changes on one NAS and want to replicate that on the other), but if you will be doing same tasks now on both locations you have to decide if your entry point will be each NAS depending on your current location or always the same one. If you will choose the 1st solution then Drive and its sync options might be a better solution for you atm.
 
If you are considering to let Drive take over your sync jobs (let me point out just to be sure: thats not a backup) and are thinking of 2-way syncing it: Do not let users work on 'both-sides' at the same time. File locking is per NAS, so there is a risk of conflicts.
 
Thanks for the help guys.

Just to clarify, this is syncing with 2x DS918+,with the DS718+ on backup duties. I also notice in the linked doco that similar hardware is now supported in HA (handy for future DS920+ upgrades I guess!)

Initially, I had discounted using Drive because of the supposed max file limit stories floating around the internet, and also in initial testing Drive Sharesync seems to ignore the rsync-ed files and instead copies a fresh version over. This essentially is a full resync of the folder with all the CPU and time costs to bear. With 22TB of rsync-ed data, it will take most of a week to resync using Drive over Gigabit Ethernet. :(

As I'm really the only user that will travel between both sites, and other users are site-specific, there shouldn't be any issues with file locking that I can foresee.
 

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