Thakis Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 (edited) Good evening dear community, In the attached image, you can see the current setup of my homelab and my current concept regarding the implementation of a NAS and a backup strategy (see "Option A"). For this, I have the following questions listed below. I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a closer look at "Option A" and review the text next to it, providing feedback. 1. Is the concept realistically implementable? 2. Should I use TrueNAS Scale or Unraid for this concept? (I do not want to use the native operating system of UGreen.) 3. Should my NAS be directly accessible from external sources, or should it only be internally accessible, with all external access routed through NextCloud? 4. Would it make sense to operate NextCloud directly on the NAS instead of on my Proxmox server? Background of the question: When accessing data directly from the main NAS, I have a 10Gbps connection. However, the Proxmox server itself only has a 1Gbps connection through the router to the main NAS. 5. What software can family and friends use on their devices to create encrypted backups and then store them directly on my NAS or on NextCloud? 6. Which NVMe drives should I purchase? 7. What RAM should I buy for the NAS? 8. Is there a better process than copying data from the HDDs to the NVMe drives, working on them via the 10Gbit network on a Mac or PC, and then copying them back? 9. Instead of the DS223j, should I opt for the DS223 if I want to establish a direct VPN connection between the externally located NAS and my private network? According to my information, the DS223j does not support Docker, so I cannot install and configure Wireguard. 10. The external HDD and external NAS may not be able to fully backup the main NAS if it is full and I keep multiple backups (generation principle). Therefore, I would need to remove certain data from the backup, correct? 11. Alternatively, I could also buy 3x 12TB disks. That would cost around 30 euros more, but would result in lower power consumption. What would be recommended? 12. Have I overlooked any additional costs? 13. Are there similar products from QNAP or Synology like the 4800 Plus (10GBIT, NVMes that I can use as storage, etc.) that can also implement this concept would? I would trust their software more than I would trust my own configuration of TrueNAS or Unraid. Spoiler 1. Network Attached Storage (NAS): 1. Requirements 1. The concept should provide me with the ability to store regular automatic backups of my devices on the same network. 2. The concept should provide me with the ability to store regular automatic snapshots of my Pi and Minisforum on the same network. 3. The concept should provide me with the ability to access my photos from outside the network, for example, from my smartphone. 4. The concept should allow me to edit images or 5.3k video footage stored on the NAS in Lightroom, Photoshop, and Davinci Resolve, provided my Mac or PC is connected to the NAS. 5. The concept should allow me to store backups on a NAS or cloud outside the network or to restore backups from a backup located outside the network. 2. Challenges 1. The placement of the NAS is crucial. Proximity to the workstation would favor a cost-effective Thunderbolt connection to Mac and PC (NAS used as DAS). On the other hand, the noise level of the NAS is a concern since the workspace also serves as the bedroom. If placed at a greater distance, for example, from the utility room, Cat7 cables and switches/converter designed for this purpose may need to be used. This entails additional infrastructure and costs but avoids additional noise in the bedroom. 2. It must be demonstrably ensured that I do not have access to the data and backups of my family and friends. 3. Concept Ideas 1. The DXP4800 Plus will be used as the primary NAS with approximately 24TB of available storage. 2. If one of the four hard drives in the DXP4800 Plus fails, all data will still be retained. 3. Every night, a backup of all data on the DXP4800 Plus will be stored on an external NAS (Raid 0, thus approximately 24 TB available), and weekly backups will be stored on a HDD located at my home (approximately 22TB of available storage). 4. The external NAS should have a reliable operating system. In case of any critical misconfigurations with my self-configured TrueNAS or Unraid environment, backups will still be in a secure environment. 5. The external NAS is connected to my network via a VPN tunnel and is only active when backups are being stored on it or when I need backups from it. 6. Family and close friends will have access to NextCloud to store their backups. NextCloud is operated on my Proxmox server, and my NAS is used for storage. Alternatively, they can directly store their backups on my NAS. 7. To achieve high performance when editing my images and video files, I would temporarily copy the files from the HDDs on the NAS to the NVMe drives and utilize the 10Gbit connection. After finishing the work, the data would be copied back, and the NVMe drives would be cleared. 8. To reduce initial costs, the consideration of initially foregoing the external NAS might be worthwhile. In that case, I would need to store the external HDD at a friend's place to adhere to the 3-2-1 backup rule. 4. Open Questions 1. Is the concept realistically implementable? 2. Should I use TrueNAS Scale or Unraid for this concept? (I do not want to use the native operating system of UGreen.) 3. Should my NAS be directly accessible from external sources, or should it only be internally accessible, with all external access routed through NextCloud? 4. Would it make sense to operate NextCloud directly on the NAS instead of on my Proxmox server? Background of the question: When accessing data directly from the main NAS, I have a 10Gbps connection. However, the Proxmox server itself only has a 1Gbps connection through the router to the main NAS. 5. What software can family and friends use on their devices to create encrypted backups and then store them directly on my NAS or on NextCloud? 6. Which NVMe drives should I purchase? 7. What RAM should I buy for the NAS? 8. Is there a better process than copying data from the HDDs to the NVMe drives, working on them via the 10Gbit network on a Mac or PC, and then copying them back? 9. Instead of the DS223j, should I opt for the DS223 if I want to establish a direct VPN connection between the externally located NAS and my private network? According to my information, the DS223j does not support Docker, so I cannot install and configure Wireguard. 10. The external HDD and external NAS may not be able to fully backup the main NAS if it is full and I keep multiple backups (generation principle). Therefore, I would need to remove certain data from the backup, correct? 11. Alternatively, I could also buy 3x 12TB disks. That would cost around 30 euros more, but would result in lower power consumption. What would be recommended? 12. Have I overlooked any additional costs? 13. Are there similar products from QNAP or Synology like the 4800 Plus (10GBIT, NVMes that I can use as storage, etc.) that can also implement this concept would? I would trust their software more than I would trust my own configuration of TrueNAS or Unraid. Homelab Konzept_20240216.html Edited February 17 by Thakis Placed text from the image directly into a spoiler Quote Link to comment
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