NAS network positioning for Backup System

[commissarmo]

I have a paranoid system for data backup that I've worked out, but I'm unsure about where to place the NAS on the network for maximum efficiency.

Currently I have my main desktop machine plus a bunch of other machines backed up via an onsite NAS. This NAS then copies all the backups via WAN to an off-site server I control creating duplicate data.

What I'm wondering is if I should reposition the NAS on the network to allow the primary machine (at least) to directly backup to the WAN server, rather than filtering everything through the NAS first. So in other words, allow the primary machine to backup to the NAS and the WAN at the same level.

While this introduces some processing on the primary machine, I'm wondering if this gains anything in terms of data security? I was wondering if it was possible, for instance, for the backup routines (using Acronis or something similar) to copy corrupted data to the NAS, which would then be duplicated? Presumably though, this is a moot point due to checksums run by the backup utility.

If this is all that's involved, I'm assuming I answer my own question, and that there is little to be gained from directly connecting the primary backup to the server.

 

[Rusting In Peace]

I don't think backing up to WAN directly offers much more data security. You could argue that having one less "node" to send data to (i.e. you NAS), would mean there was less chance of the backup failing.

That in itself, for me at least, isn't enough to merit the effort of changing to directly backing up to the server on the WAN.