NAS is a common storage and sharing device for enterprises, and many NAS manufacturers provide convenient backup tools to backup VMs. In this article I will introduce how to use Synology Active Backup for Business to back up VMware and Hyper-V VMs to Synology NAS.
NAS is short for Network Attached Storage, refers to a network-connected external storage device for file storage and sharing. NAS drives offer faster data access, easier sharing and administration than file servers, making them very convenient for enterprises. Thus you may wonder, can you use Synology to backup VM?
In fact, NAS is just a destination location, and there are several ways to back up virtual machines to a NAS. You can either directly select the target NAS when exporting or downloading VM files, use the backup feature that shipped with third-party tools, or just use the backup tools provided by NAS manufacturers, for example, Synology Active Backup for Business.
As a demonstration, in this article I will introduce how to use Active Backup for Business and a professional tool to back up VMware and Hyper-V VMs to a Synology NAS.
To backup VM to Synology NAS, first you need to download and launch Synology Active Backup for Business. Then you can get started with the following tutorial.
Steps to backup vSphere virtual machines with Synology:
1. Navigate to Virtual Machine tab in the left inventory, and click VMware vSphere > Manage Hypervisor > Add to connect to your host.
2. Select the VM you want to back up from the list and click Create Task button to open the wizard.
3. Select a shard folder as the Backup Destination. Click Next to continue.
4. Specify a Name and select VMs for this backup task. Click Next.
5. Configure settings for your task. You can specify maximum quality of concurrent backup device, enable VMware Changed Block Tracking, application-aware backup, data transfer compression, source data usage detection, backup verification here. Then click Next.
6. Select a Retention Policy you prefer. You can select to keep all versions for specified days, or keep the last one version for specified days, weeks, months, and years. Click Next.
7. Specify which user or group can browse and restore versions. Click Next.
8. Check the Summary of your task settings, and click Apply to start backup. You can check the progress in Task List tab.
Besides VMware vSphere, you can also back up Hyper-V VMs to Synology NAS via this tool. Here's how to do it.
Steps to back up Hyper-V virtual machines with Synology:
1. Launch Synology Active Backup for Business. Navigate to Virtual Machine tab, and click Microsoft Hyper-V > Manage Hypervisor > Add to connect to your host.
2. Select the VM you want to back up and click Create Task to open the wizard.
3. Select a shard folder as the Backup Destination. Click Next.
4. Specify a Name and select VMs for this backup task. Click Next.
5. Configure settings for your task. You can specify maximum quality of concurrent backup device, enable Changed Block Tracking, application-aware backup, data transfer compression, data transfer encryption, source datastore usage detection, backup verification here. Then click Next.
6. Choose whether you would like to back up manually or configure a backup routine. Selecting Schedule backup option, you can specify the frequency of backup tasks, and allowing them to be run only during specific time periods, to avoid the server peaks.
7. Select a Retention Policy you prefer. You can select to keep all versions for specified days, or keep the last one version for specified days, weeks, months, and years. Click Next.
8. Specify which user or group can browse and restore versions. Click Next.
9. Check the Summary of your task settings, and click Apply to start backup. You can check the progress in Task List.
Unsuitable backups may result in low security, large occupation on storage, expensive costs. Using Active Backup for Business backup VM also have limitations. For example, Active Backup for Business versions 2.2.0 and above support the concurrent backup of a maximum of 50 devices, and it works only on certain models starting with DS420+.
Therefore, I'd like to introduce a free VM backup solution - AOMEI Cyber Backup, it can backup multiple virtual machines at once with simple steps; It supports both paid and free versions of VMware ESXi and Hyper-V; It supports not only Synology NAS, but also other NAS and local disk as target storage. So in this part, I will use the professional software to achieve efficient backups. You can download this perpetual free edition to proceed:
*You can choose to install this VM backup software on either Windows or Linux system.
A professional software is necessary for enterprise data protection and business continuity.
1. Access to AOMEI Cyber Backup, and add vCenter or Standalone ESXi host as the source device.
2. Click Backup Task >> Create New Task.
3. Enter task name, choose device (VMware ESXi / Hyper-V) and virtual machines for backup.
4. Schedule backup with flexible backup strategies and set up a time to run it automatically.
5. Select the target: click Create a new network path.
In this part, it supports NAS, so you can type a network path to log in it, and look through the directory to select a location. Click OK.
✎While the Free Edition has covered most of VM backup needs, you can also upgrade to enjoy the Backup cleanup feature, which can help you automatically delete old full/incremental/differential backups based on a retention policy.
7. Click Start Backup to create and execute the task.
With AOMEI Cyber Backup,the VM backup to Synology and other NAS becomes easier. With these backups in hand, you can restore these virtual machines from any recorded history versions when needed.
In advanced edition, you can also enjoy the Restore to new location feature, which can easily make a clone of a virtual machine in the same or another datastore/host, without reinstalling or configuring a new VM.
This article introduces the detailed steps to backup VM to Synology NAS. Compared to using the built-in export or download features to backup virtual machine to NAS, using a professional third-party tool allows you to back up multiple virtual machines automatically to network place for saving storage.
In addition to backing up virtual machine to NAS, you can also choose to back up your virtual machines to NFS, which is also very easy to do.