Scenarios for Using Active Sync in HBS 3

Active synchronization transfers data from a remote location to a local location, in contrast to one-way sychronization which transfers data from a local location to a remote location.

In HBS 3, you can create active sync jobs to pull data to your NAS from cloud storage spaces, other NAS devices (via RTRR), or remote servers (via protocols such as rsync, FTP, SFTP, and CIFS/SMB). This tutorial presents some scenarios where active sync jobs can be useful.

When creating a sync job, you can configure one of three sync actions based on your needs: Mirror, Copy, or Move. Each action is illustrated in one of the scenarios.

To protect your data, QNAP recommends adopting a 3-2-1 backup strategy (Keep three total copies of your data, Store two copies on different media, Store one copy off-site). To accomplish this, you can back up your data to your cloud storage, and then create an active sync job using the Mirror action to copy the cloud backup to your NAS.

Mirroring your data ensures both copies are always identical. After synchronization, additional files that exist in the destination are moved to the @Recycle folder on your NAS, so you can always restore them if you realize you had deleted them by mistake.

Figure 1. Selecting the Mirror action when creating a sync job.

If you automatically back up data on your computer or mobile device to the cloud, your cloud storage may eventually become full. You must then choose between deleting your older data, being unable to back up newer data, or paying more to expand your cloud storage.

With a NAS, you can solve this problem by creating an active sync job using the Copy action to regularly pull data from your cloud storage. Copying syncs all updated and newer files to your NAS, while any older files you delete from the cloud are still retained on the NAS. This allows you to free up your cloud storage for new data without losing any important files.

Figure 1. Selecting the Copy action when creating a sync job.

When you are traveling, you do not have access to your home NAS. If you also have limited cloud storage and your data volume is high, it can be difficult to back up important data on the go.

In this situation, we recommend creating an active sync job using the Move action to relocate your cloud backup data to your NAS. After synchronization is complete, the source data is removed, immediately freeing up your cloud storage space for new data.

Figure 1. Selecting the Move action when creating a sync job.

If you want to sync files from a local NAS to multiple NAS devices, the intuitive approach is to create many one-way sync jobs on the local NAS. However, this can cause the local NAS to overload from running too many jobs simultaneously.

To reduce the processing load on the local NAS, you can instead create an active sync job on each remote NAS to pull data from the local NAS. This approach allows the workload to be evenly distributed between the remote NAS devices.