Synology Powers UK Backup's Scalable Storage Solution

UK Backup aimed to expand its product range by offering online backup services directly to SMBs. They required a storage device that could be positioned behind the load-balanced front-end servers, serving as the primary storage for the service. This device needed to handle a high volume of throughput from the front-end system to the storage location, preventing any bottlenecks and ensuring that clients' backups operated at maximum speed. Additionally, the solution had to be easily expandable to accommodate more storage as needed.

UK Backup recognized the need for a NAS-based solution that would provide high throughput and easy scalability. The NAS had to feature multiple Gigabit ports and maintain a low power footprint. The Synology RackStation RS3411RPxs emerged as the ideal choice for UK Backup, meeting these requirements and ensuring the continued delivery of reliable services to their clients.

Synology's RackStation RS3411RPxs is both highly scalable and easy to expand in terms of storage capacity. UK Backup chose to deploy the RS3411RPxs with 3TB hard drives, creating a 21TB storage array in RAID 6, equipped with 4 Gigabit ports to connect to the load-balanced cluster. Given its scalability, UK Backup plans to use RX1211RP expansion units in the future, which will increase the storage capacity by an additional 27TB, resulting in a total of 48TB for more data.

Synology solutions provide not only reliable hardware but also high-quality software. Using the Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM), the operating system for all Synology DiskStation and RackStation devices, UK Backup found the setup process incredibly straightforward. The Storage Manager interface enables them to easily manage and monitor the RAID array and clients' stored data.

The Storage Manager allows users to create different disk groups and multiple volumes for more efficient storage management. It displays essential information, such as storage usage for each volume and disk group, as well as the status of the HDDs installed in a DiskStation or RackStation. Additionally, users can expand their existing storage capacity and configure RAID setups with ease using Storage Manager.

UK Backup uses the RS3411RPxs as a backup server behind their front-end servers for online backup services. After clients store their data securely on UK Backup's servers with AES 128 or 256-bit encryption, the same data is duplicated to Synology's server via NFS, providing an additional layer of data protection. In addition to offering various backup modes and options, Synology NAS servers can also act as an rsync backup target for other servers, enhancing backup efficiency.