Company cloud storage which also supports local cloud server
April 4, 2022 6:16 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for a cloud storage solution like Dropbox, for a small organization, which also supports having the company data cloud on an in-house server. Something with all the bells and whistles that would support running an archive of tens of terabytes, accessible to all users.
At the last company I worked for we just used Dropbox, but there wasn't any way to tell the Dropbox client to fetch the data locally, it would just fetch the stuff from abroad.
I feel like there should be a solution out there tailored to needs of creative companies, with their glut of data, but I'm not quite sure what the search terms are, I've tried a few.
The typical (google, dropbox etc) cloud providers' marketing material on enterprise solutions all seem geared towards getting a sales call, I want to look at what they offer before getting that hard sell.
Do any of you have experience, good or bad, with something like this?
At the last company I worked for we just used Dropbox, but there wasn't any way to tell the Dropbox client to fetch the data locally, it would just fetch the stuff from abroad.
I feel like there should be a solution out there tailored to needs of creative companies, with their glut of data, but I'm not quite sure what the search terms are, I've tried a few.
The typical (google, dropbox etc) cloud providers' marketing material on enterprise solutions all seem geared towards getting a sales call, I want to look at what they offer before getting that hard sell.
Do any of you have experience, good or bad, with something like this?
So... here is what I have for our small businesses.
I have a Synology device with 5 hard-disk configuration (20tb). Synology devices are excellent/top-notch, this is my second, getting kind of old (2013-model), but I highly recomend them. About the hardest part of maintaining the server is remembering to install updates, and then shutting it down and giving it a good canned-air cleaning for dust every 6-months (it is in a basement utility room)
As well, we have Office 365/SharePoint Online. There is an app on Synology app-store (I can get the name to you later) which allows me to synchronize a OneDrive location (which is really just a SharePoint Online Document Library) onto the Synology storage array.
So now my data is synchronized in at least 3-places; 365 (cloud), on my local Synology device, on a local machine (and also on two other laptops) via OneDrive client-level synchronization. With client-side OneDrive, you can choose which individual folders to "Always keep on this Device" or not - so, the entire library does not have to be synchronized to each machine.
posted by rozcakj at 6:47 AM on April 4, 2022
I have a Synology device with 5 hard-disk configuration (20tb). Synology devices are excellent/top-notch, this is my second, getting kind of old (2013-model), but I highly recomend them. About the hardest part of maintaining the server is remembering to install updates, and then shutting it down and giving it a good canned-air cleaning for dust every 6-months (it is in a basement utility room)
As well, we have Office 365/SharePoint Online. There is an app on Synology app-store (I can get the name to you later) which allows me to synchronize a OneDrive location (which is really just a SharePoint Online Document Library) onto the Synology storage array.
So now my data is synchronized in at least 3-places; 365 (cloud), on my local Synology device, on a local machine (and also on two other laptops) via OneDrive client-level synchronization. With client-side OneDrive, you can choose which individual folders to "Always keep on this Device" or not - so, the entire library does not have to be synchronized to each machine.
posted by rozcakj at 6:47 AM on April 4, 2022
Also - that app on the Synology store supports a myriad of other cloud-services, including Dropbox, etc.
Here it is; Synology Cloud Sync
(I recomend going with the devices that have the plus ("+") at the end - more performant, more features, etc.)
posted by rozcakj at 6:53 AM on April 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Here it is; Synology Cloud Sync
(I recomend going with the devices that have the plus ("+") at the end - more performant, more features, etc.)
posted by rozcakj at 6:53 AM on April 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
I own a Synology 918+ for personal use and have thought from time to time it would be excellent for small-office use. It could not expand up to "tens of terrabytes"; you'd be looking at a much more robust and expensive unit for your needs, but given enterprise storage costs if you are needing to access those tens of terrabytes on the regular, it would pay for itself pretty quickly.
My only caveat is do not use Synology Office, which at first flush looks like a good LibreOffice-quality office suite, but uses a completely proprietary file format that doesn't even store data in documents but uses documents as a reference point to a large content database, so if something goes wrong with either your unit or the internal database, you are completely boned. It was a tremendously painful lesson for me.
posted by Shepherd at 10:12 AM on April 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
My only caveat is do not use Synology Office, which at first flush looks like a good LibreOffice-quality office suite, but uses a completely proprietary file format that doesn't even store data in documents but uses documents as a reference point to a large content database, so if something goes wrong with either your unit or the internal database, you are completely boned. It was a tremendously painful lesson for me.
posted by Shepherd at 10:12 AM on April 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
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Possibly NextCloud might help also. Open source; can be run in-house.
posted by humbug at 6:20 AM on April 4, 2022