Introduction
Founded in 2000, Synology is a Taiwanese corporation that specializes in network-attached storage appliances and storage related products. The company has three product lines aimed at different sectors of the market. DiskStation for desktop models, FlashStation for all-flash models, and RackStation for rack-mount models. Recently, Synology has started to offer its own storage devices, both Hard Drives and SATA SSDs.
Official product link:
https://www.synology.com/en-ro/dsm/feature/active-backup-business/overview
Purpose
The Synology Active Backup for Business is a software offered with all compatible NAS products that are running the Synology DiskStation Manager operating system. Active Backup for Business has to be the most important piece of software that is included with a Synology NAS as it can handle everything from automated backups, storage status, scheduled tasks and active logs of your storage and file transfers.
Active Backup for Business
The software is composed out of three different packages that can be freely installed on compatible Synology NAS. These packages are: Active Backup for Business, Active Backup for G Suite and Active Backup for Office 365. Each package has a set of different features as follows:
Active Backup for Business
– Desktops and Servers via an agent
– VMware and Hyper-V hosts
– File server
– Backup for macOS
Active Backup for G Suite
– Gmail
– Drive
Active Backup for Office 365
– Exchange
– SharePoint
– OneDrive for Business
The main screen is a quick glance in the functionality and features of the Active Backup for Business. Here you can see the status of your NAS, the installed drivers and their capacity alongside the status of the storage pools.
The first parts of the screen include general info of the system, Protected Devices, Backup Calendar, Ongoing Activities, Storage Status and so on.
The best thing about Active Backup for Business is that it requires no paid license, and it is free with compatible Synology NAS products. The software does what other paid products do but with a better interface and an easier layout that can be understood even by beginners. The usage of nonspecific terms is also a bonus for newcomers into the NAS usage.
For active backup you can do multiple things with this piece of software. You can connect it to your PC and use your NAS to automatically backup your PC or parts of your PC storage on the NAS, or you can connect the NAS to a server and backup that onto the NAS.
To make things even easier, Active Backup for Business has templates preinstalled for each available platform. These are located within the “Settings” page of the Active Backup for Business software. Keep in mind that you can edit these templates to suit your needs or create new ones if you want to keep the defaults as backups.
With the Active Backup for Business connected to the Active Backup for Business Agent installed on your PC, you will get access to multiple options and functions. Create Task, Restore Device, Delete and more (update agent & change device type).
With the task creation page opened, you get access to more settings. These include what to backup, the entire system, entire volume or specific folders on the system. Here is where you can also schedule regular backups.
Final thoughts
The Synology Active Backup for Business is a good all in one solution for automatic backups of files across multiple devices. The software requires some setup at the beginning but everything is organized in such a way that a beginner will have no issues.
One of the best functions present within Active Backup for Business is the task system that will allow you to set automatic and scheduled backups of either your entire PC or certain parts of the storage. This type of function can be a lifesaver in the case of a power outage or a hardware failure on the main computer.
In my opinion, the optimal schedule for backups with Active Backup for Business should be once a day, every day, preferably close to the end of the day. This way, the NAS remains silent and on stand-by while work is being done.
The Active Backup for Business is good and should be used by everyone that owns a Synology NAS. It’s not only convenient but it offers a lot of functions that can make your work easier and the backup process a breeze. In addition, having such a software always running in the background can make the difference between a safe data backup or a backup that is a few days to a few weeks old. It is worth mentioning that Active Backup for Business is available for everyone with a compatible Synology NAS, regardless if they are a small or big business, the license fee is the same, free.
