I'm trying to find a solution for remotely backing up to a NAS when the computer and the NAS aren't on the same local network. I setup a NAS for my dad for backup purposes but he and my mom spend a lot of time at their vacation homes, sometimes weeks or more at a time, so I'd like for the computer to be able to remotely backup to the NAS when they're somewhere else. Basically I want it to work like this:

When a scheduled backup time comes around the computer tries to find the NAS on the local network, if it locates it then it just backs up over the local network like normal

If it can't find the NAS on the local network it connects to it via the internet (I'm using a dynamic DNS service to give it a static address) and does an incremental backup that way

Obviously the initial backup will be done locally and anything over the internet is just going to be incremental. Does anyone know of a solution that'll make this work? The NAS is a 2TB Iomega ix2-200.

7/13/2010 9:17:00 PM

Acronis

7/13/2010 9:26:45 PM

why not just point a regular backup software to the DynDNS address and be done with it? Then you don't have to worry about checking if you are local or not. Besides, it will resolve locally anyway at the end of the day

7/13/2010 10:39:10 PM

I'm thinking dropbox for something small.

I think I would set it up where the NAS is on a DMZ or port forwarded during the time you're scheduling your backups for. That way it will open up, you can post files remotely to it, and then will lock back.

As for the local stuff, most routers will recognize the address and won't loop it back across the internet, rather just route it to the local machine. If I type in my web server that's on the local network using it's exposed web IP I still get LAN speeds on it.

7/14/2010 3:20:35 PM

Quote :

" As for the local stuff, most routers will recognize the address and won't loop it back across the internet, rather just route it to the local machine. If I type in my web server that's on the local network using it's exposed web IP I still get LAN speeds on it. "

If this is the case I'll just point the backup software to the web address and let the router decide whether it needs to be routed through the internet or locally, I'll try that out. It just has to be totally automatic and require no user input after the initial setup, teaching my dad how to do anything new on the computer (even use dropbox) is a 6 month process that involves me providing more telephone tech support than someone in calcutta.

7/14/2010 6:09:26 PM