QNAP QTS offers easy-to-use, feature-rich, and secure cloud backup solutions that allow you to back up your data to a variety of enterprise-class public cloud storage services including Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3, Amazon Glacier, and IBM SoftLayer. It also supports various private cloud storage solutions that are compatible with S3, OpenStack Swift, and WebDAV. QNAP QTS is your cloud storage gateway that helps you build a simple and affordable disaster recovery plan, as well as worry-free data preservation for archival or compliance purposes.
This tutorial describes how to use QNAP’s Azure Storage App on Turbo NAS to back up your data to Microsoft Azure Storage.
QNAP QTS Cloud Backup for Azure Storage supports the following features:
1. Supports both manual and scheduled backup
2. Supports full and incremental backup
3. Supports flexible file filtering using type, date, and sizes
4. Supports SSL transfer encryption and client-side AES-256 encryption
5. Supports managing multiple cloud accounts
6. Supports dashboard and job statistics
7. Supports configurable network error recovery options
8. Supports job activity logging for tracing history
9. Supports multi-threaded data transfer in one job
10. Supports concurrent job execution
11. Supports restoring directly from the cloud for disaster recovery scenarios
Microsoft Azure provides scalable, durable cloud storage, backup and recovery solutions for any data, large and small. It works with the infrastructure you already have to cost-effectively enhance your existing applications and business continuity strategy, and you pay only for the data you’re storing.
Microsoft Azure provides three types of storage: (1) Blobs, (2) Tables, and (3) Queue. There are two types of Blobs: Block Blobs and Page Blobs. QNAP’s “Azure Storage” App uses Block Blobs to store your data, because Block Blobs are designed for large amounts of unstructured text or binary data such as video, audio and images.
The Concept of Blobs in Microsoft Azure
The Blob service contains the following components:
– Storage Account: All access to Azure Storage is done through a storage account.
– Container: A container provides a grouping for a set of blobs. All blobs must be in a container. An account can contain an unlimited number of containers. A container can store an unlimited number of blobs.
– Blob: A file of any type and size.
– URL format: Blobs are addressable using the following URL format:
http://.blob.core.windows.net//
Preparation for using Microsoft Azure
1. You need an Azure account before using Azure Storage. An Azure account gives your applications access to all Microsoft Azure services. An Azure account can contain up to 200TB of blob, queue, and table data
2. If you don’t have an Azure Service Account, you can apply for a Microsoft Account on the Microsoft Azure web site. Please note that Microsoft has an independent site dedicated for China-based users. If you would like to use Azure services in China, please visit Microsoft’s China Azure web site.
A. If you already have an Azure service account, please follow the below steps to create your own Azure Storage account. Click “New” from the bottom left side on the navigation panel to create a service:
A. Click “Data Service” > “Storage” > “Quick Create”
1. In “URL”, enter a subdomain name to use in the storage account URL. This name will also be the storage account name.
2. In “Region/Affinity Group”, select a region for the storage.
3. In “Replication”, select the level of replication that you desire for your storage account. By default, it is set to “Geo-Redundant”. Other options are “Locally Redundant” and “Read Access Go-Redundant”.
4. After creating a Storage Account, click “Manage Access Keys” to get your Storage Account’s “Primary Access Key” or “Secondary Access Key” as you will need to input either Key in the QNAP Azure Storage App.
Installation on QNAP NAS
To install Azure Storage on your Turbo NAS, sign into the QTS web interface as an administrator. Then go to “App Center” > “Backup/Sync” > “Azure Storage” > Click “Add to QTS”
Launch Azure Storage
Launch “Azure Storage” from desktop, and click “Azure Storage” to open “Azure CloudBackup Station”
Create Azure Account
1. Click “Account” > “Create Account” for backup and restore jobs.
2. Enter the “Storage account” and “Access Key” from your Azure storage account to finish the “Create Account” settings
Create Azure Storage Backup Job
1. Click “Backup” > “Create Job” to create a new backup job.
2. Choose the backup folder(s). One or more source folders can be selected for backup.
3. Configure your backup schedule. You can select periodical schedules with “Daily”, “Weekly”, “Monthly”, or you can backup “Now”.
4. Configure the backup setting. You can set up some connection parameters, and also can filter the backup file to make transferring more efficient.
5. Select “Account” and enter the “Container name” then you can test whether your account is active or not. The container you use has to be empty. If you enter a non-existent container name, a new container will be created by this backup job.
6. Enter a name for your backup job (Default: Destination Folder -> “Container”)
7. The settings are now finished. You can carry out some actions for this backup job: starting/stopping a job, editing job configurations, viewing job logs, or deleting a job.
Create Azure Storage Restore Jobs
1. Click “Restore”> “Create Job” to create a restore job
2. Select restore job and designate the restore source. You can restore from an existing backup job or restore from Azure storage directly. If you restore from a backup job, you will be allowed to select which folder to restore.
3. Select the restore destination folder on your local Turbo NAS
4. Configure the restore settings. You can set up some connection parameters, and also can filter the restore file to make transferring more efficient.
5. Enter a name for the restore job (Default: Destination <- Container Name)
6. The settings are now finished. You can carry out some actions for this job: starting/stopping a job, editing job configurations, viewing job logs, or deleting a job.
