Synology’s C2 Backup for Business is a cloud based backup platform for your on-premise or cloud based workloads. The agent based backup solution is extremely easy to setup and protect your workloads. I recently tested it out so lets run through the process from start to finish.
For more information and to find out how to get started with a free trial click on the link below.
You will be prompted to login with your Synology Account. You will also be given the option to create one if you dont have one setup already.
Once you are logged in you will be able to select your location and plan options.
Select your location – 3 locations available – Europe – Frankfurt, North America – Seattle and APAC – Taiwan.
Select your plan – ranges from 5TB to 200TB
Setup your domain
Enter your payment information. You also have the option to select Set up later.
To continue without setting up a payment option click Ok (trial periods may vary depending on when you sign up)
You will then be prompted to log back in and setup your C2 Encryption Key. Enter a key you would like to use and make sure you save a copy of it somewhere secure.
Next save a copy of your recovery code by clicking Download. This can be used if you forget your C2 encryption key.
For this example I will be protecting VMs on-premise but you also have the ability to protect Cloud App workloads, for example Microsoft 365.
We are now logged into the C2 Backup Portal.
The first thing we need to do is setup a user account that we are going to associate with the backup job itself. To do this we need to click on Management in the top menu and then User in the left hand column. The click on Add Users.
You will be prompted to launch C2 Identity to create the user accounts. Click on Open C2 Identity.
From here you have the option to import users from a database or add users manually. For this example I will create a couple of users manually.
You will also be given the option to Send an activation email to them, Specify a Password or Activate later. The user will also be assigned a license.
Then confirm the settings by selecting Ok.
Now that my users have been created we can switch back to the C2 Backup Portal so that we can add them in.
Under Management, then User select Add Users. Then select your user accounts and click Add.
The users have now been imported into the C2 Backup Portal.
Next select On-Premises from the top C2-Backup menu and then select Personal Computer or Physical Server, depending on which OS you wish to backup.
Personal Computer is for your workstations or laptops running Windows 7 SP1, Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Physical Server covers Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, 2012, 2016 and 2019.
For this example I have a mix of both Windows Desktops and Windows Servers that I would like to protect.
Click on Add Device then download the agent ready to install on the VMs you would like to backup.
NOTE – This can be installed manually or pushed out via group policy to your servers or workstations.
The agent is around 94mb in size. Once the download has completed you can install it on the servers you wish to backup.
Launch the installer and click Next
Accept the license agreement and click Next
Then click Install
Once the install is complete click Finish to launch the application
Now its time to configure the agent on the Windows Server. Click Let’s Start
Next you will be prompted to login with your Synology account. Login using one of the user accounts we created earlier.
Once logged in you will be prompted to perform a full backup. For this example I am going to select Not Now and then create a Backup Policy once I have installed the agent on each of my VMs.
After installing the agent on the VMs that I would like to backup you will see them all listed out in the C2 backup console. Below is a mix of Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022.
Below is a list of the Windows 10 desktops that I have installed the agent on. You will notice that I have used the second user account I created earlier to manage these backups.
Now its time for the Backup Policy setup. Select Backup Policy in the left hand menu and click on Create
Enter a Name for the policy and configure the Backup scope. I have selected to backup the entire device. Then click Next
On the Backup schedule drop down list select Custom
Enter the settings you would like to use and click Next
Select your retention settings and click Next
Review the summary and click on Ok
Select the servers that you would like to add to the policy and click Ok
Click Ok to apply the backup policy
Now lets create another policy for our Desktops. Click the Create button under the Backup Policy menu.
Enter a Name for the policy and configure the Backup scope. Then click Next
I am going to create another Custom schedule. Then click Next
Set the retention and click Next
Review the summary and click Ok
Then select the Desktops that you would like to add to this policy and click Ok
Click Ok to apply the backup policy
You have now created two backup policies which will run at the scheduled time each night.
Restoring the data is extremely easy, just select the server and then click the More button and select Download files/folders.
Enter your encryption key and click confirm to mount the backup data.
Select the files or folder that you would like to restore. You also have the option of selecting which version from the list on the right. Once you have selected the files you want to restore, click on the download button.
The folder will now download as a zip file ready to be sent to the user. The restore portal is now also available for the users to directly login and perform their own restores.
That’s it! The product itself is secure and very straight forward to use and Synology continues to add in new features to enhance its functionality!
stevenonofaro.com 