Instant System Restore

[robg]

Good afternoon all.

New here, but have been using Synology for about 15 years or more. Certainly since Windows Home Server demise many years ago.

I have a couple of questions if anyone can point me in the right direction.

I have multiple NAS running. One of which is dedicated backup using hyper backup. (DS918+)
Thats the easy part. It takes care of itself.
My data on it doesn't change so often, it just sits in the corner looking after itself. I take a hard drive backup copy which goes in a safe place.

My primary server is DS1621+
On this, I use synology drive, calendar, web station, VMM, Mailplus server, contacts, note station, and hyper backup. amongst others.

Most of these packages, if I have a problem easy and fairly quick solution is just restore from backup.

On my virtual machine, I have hosted a database, ERP Software (dolibarr), its associated web server, PHP etc.
Its running the same DSM7.1 software, (latest release) as the other NAS drives.
My point and question,
I can take a copy of the VM,(via an export) and take it to any other synology machine, and hit the go (import) button, and I have an exact working copy of that, server, database etc all essentially working out the box.
Is this possible with the primary DSM package, or am I better off moving my mail server plus to the VM and having that ability with that.
My main problem, is not knowing how to have that fairly instant, on demand, back up and running ability that I can do with the VM, for the standard dsm os.

Not sure if my description is good, but any pointers most appreciated.
I realise there is a large amount of backup solutions, but to be honest Ive probably confused myself.
I use my servers for my work, and losing my emails etc, spending the long days rebuilding etc is now no longer an option for me.
Taken me too long working out how to host Dolibarr natively amongst other things.

cheers
rob

 

[Rusty]

Welcome to the forum!

Not sure if my description is good, but any pointers most appreciated.

I will try and take a stab at this to see if I understood correctly. So the idea here is to have the shortest possible restore time for your VM (running inside VMM)?

While Active Backup for Business does support backups and restore only back to VMM (like a backup of a server, or pc) as one of the hypervisor options, it doesn't have the option to "connect" to the VMM as a hypervisor (unlike HyperV or ESXi).

This means that you can't list all your current VMM VMs and back them up via ABB.

What you could do, is install ABB agent inside the actual VM (if its supported) and back up the whole VM back to ABB. Once the backup is done, you will have the option to create, boot and restore that "backup" into a brand new VM back to your VMM hypervisor or any other supported one for that matter.

Another option to have snapshot and remote replications support inside the existing VMM is to buy a VMM Pro licence. That will eliminate the need to export/impost VMs from one bare metal NAS to the other, again, minimizing downtime.

Finally, when it comes to Dolibarr I would suggest migrating it outside of a VM and inside a Docker setup (both the front end and backend).

Once you get it running in Docker you will have the fastest possible backup and restore using Snapshot Replication app and you could use it "backup" locally and remotely (to another NAS) your complete setup.

This way you will have a fast supported solution, and no overhead of a VM when it comes to resources. Even if you have no experience with Docker, you can be sure that Dolibarr has a solid documentation, and migrating to a containerized setup will be pretty straight forward.

If this is your only reason why you are using VMM it might be worth looking into it. On top of it all it will also save you $$ on a VMM Pro license.

 

[robg]

Welcome to the forum!


I will try and take a stab at this to see if I understood correctly. So the idea here is to have the shortest possible restore time for your VM (running inside VMM)?

While Active Backup for Business does support backups and restore only back to VMM (like a backup of a server, or pc) as one of the hypervisor options, it doesn't have the option to "connect" to the VMM as a hypervisor (unlike HyperV or ESXi).

This means that you can't list all your current VMM VMs and back them up via ABB.

What you could do, is install ABB agent inside the actual VM (if its supported) and back up the whole VM back to ABB. Once the backup is done, you will have the option to create, boot and restore that "backup" into a brand new VM back to your VMM hypervisor or any other supported one for that matter.

Another option to have snapshot and remote replications support inside the existing VMM is to buy a VMM Pro licence. That will eliminate the need to export/impost VMs from one bare metal NAS to the other, again, minimizing downtime.

Finally, when it comes to Dolibarr I would suggest migrating it outside of a VM and inside a Docker setup (both the front end and backend).

Once you get it running in Docker you will have the fastest possible backup and restore using Snapshot Replication app and you could use it "backup" locally and remotely (to another NAS) your complete setup.

This way you will have a fast supported solution, and no overhead of a VM when it comes to resources. Even if you have no experience with Docker, you can be sure that Dolibarr has a solid documentation, and migrating to a containerized setup will be pretty straight forward.

If this is your only reason why you are using VMM it might be worth looking into it. On top of it all it will also save you $$ on a VMM Pro license.

Many. thanks Rusty.

Yes, and no....
I had an issue with my old Synology, and my last resort was complete rebuild, which has taken me a good while to do.
I had issues getting the mail plus server to stop throwing a tantrum, and actually let me connect via my smtp clients, including several re boots to new factory spec.... Comparing notes, and like for like copy of settings etc from one has to the other it wouldn't play ball.
(my Macs were connecting, showing a green light on smtp connection doctor, but also saying server doesn't need authentication?? which is completely odd, but the server was not accepting connections from my mail clients. (I have been using Synology mail package for about 6 years, so its not like I am unfamiliar with it.)
SSL cert set up fine, DNS, and Reverse DNS all good.


Anyway, since the VMM has the possibility of taking an actual image and restore, was hoping I can do the same with the standard dsm package (not the vm)
Is there any of the software packages I need to look at that will literally replace my OS settings, especially mail server plus, and its database etc, and be back up and running in say an hour or two.
Copies of the data is one thing, to have a fully up and running server in a few button clicks, back to its working condition a few hours/days ago is another.
I did think about adding my mail server to this VM, just because of the speed of which I can be up and running again if disaster hits.

Dolibarr, I had originally set up in a docker container.
My knowledge of Linux is growing (but still very limited), but I used a prebuilt package on git. It worked fine, except do not know where or how to access the folders etc, backup, or anything else.
The install I have on DSM is native, no need for any CLI, so I am not messing with settings I know nothing about, and only uses packages from the synology app store. (Dolibarr zip file excepted of course)
The DS1621+ I have added 16GB ram, and its working very well for me. And I can find the documents etc I need to add as they are in the standard 'web' folder. But, I am always open to ideas.

 

[Rusty]

Is there any of the software packages I need to look at that will literally replace my OS settings, especially mail server plus, and its database etc, and be back up and running in say an hour or two.

Aha now I get it . Yes Active Backup for Business also supports full DSM and data backup since the latest version (also both NAS devices source and destination need to be on DSM 7.1+). So you can use that process to back it up.

More info and practical examples here: Active Backup for Business - DSM 7.1 disaster recovery

The install I have on DSM is native, no need for any CLI

Not pushing you towards CLI, but also running 3rd party on a bare metal Syno is a bit risky going forward. Synology atm is cleaning out its support for 3rd party (a lot has been cleared in the past 3y prior to a recent roll out of DSM7), so I would be mindful of keeping running your app in that way.

I would really encourage you to consider running it in docker again (answering all your questions and needs), to have a clean and separated solution from the rest of the DSM system. This way you will be able to migrate to any other Docker capable HW platform at any point with minimum or no effort at all.

 

[robg]

Ok. Ill go and dig details about ABfB

And also, will do some research in to Docker.
Currently, the only part of Dolibarr is the zip file, the rest is from synology package centre. (Apache, PHP7.4, web station, mariadb 10. (phpmy admin gets stopped once I have set up the DB) Id hope they are fairly safe and stable, but, was also a reason I ran it on VMM along with above...

I do have a DrayTek firewall, and also all the DMS firewall and security switched on, but, if someone wants to get in, am sure they can and will. I have to make sure if they do, Ican at least deal with the repercussions.