Why You Shouldn’t Run Backups on a NAS Server Using a Pull Strategy

NAS server devices are good for managing storage, such as hard drives, and provide that storage on the network for other servers to use. Virtual machine backups and other types of backups that involve a large volume of information are best handled at the source, i.e. on the server that manages and offers them. Instead of pulling large virtual machine files from Hyper-V servers to a NAS server, it’s more efficient to run compression and deduplication at the source and then transfer smaller delta files from the Hyper-V Server to the NAS device. This takes the CPU load off the NAS device and also dramatically reduces network traffic. No matter how capable the NAS hardware is, if a sufficient number of servers needs to be protected, either the NAS or the network will become overloaded unnecessarily when backups are “pulled” instead of “pushed” to the NAS server. Ideally you will want to reduce the load on the network as well as on the NAS server as much as possible, for best performance overall.
In addition, there are many scenarios where the “pull strategy” doesn’t work at all. SQL Server, for example, locks its data files, as do all Office applications. When you use a server backup software like BackupChain on the SQL Server itself, it is able to communicate with SQL Server and obtain a consistent live copy of all SQL database files for backup. A NAS server cannot do this remotely. The SQL Server hardware is also better equipped to compress and deduplicate backup files before they are ready for the archive; hence, a NAS server is best used for what it was designed to do: to store data and not process it.

For these main reasons we recommend installing BackupChain on your servers and workstations and using the NAS server device as the target.

Other Issues with NAS Servers When Used for Backups

Using NAS servers for backups seems like a good idea on paper—centralized storage, easy access, and the ability to scale as you need more space. But after working with a few different setups, I’ve come to realize that there are some pretty significant downsides that people don’t always consider when they first set up a NAS as their primary backup solution.

The first problem I often see with NAS servers is that they can become a single point of failure. If your NAS crashes, or if there’s a hardware issue, you’re pretty much stuck. Since the NAS holds all your backups, losing access to it means that you don’t have a reliable fallback for your data. In a larger setup with multiple physical servers, this becomes a real issue. Imagine having a few backup jobs running on your NAS, but one day the drive or the RAID array fails—suddenly, you’re scrambling to restore everything and praying that the backup itself is intact. This is especially risky if your backups are happening in real time or only periodically. If the NAS goes down before the backup completes, you can be left with incomplete data.

Another issue I’ve seen is that NAS can become a bottleneck when you’re working with large datasets or need fast access to your backups. Since the NAS typically connects over your local network (unless it’s an enterprise solution), the speed of the connection can seriously impact backup and restore times. If you’re dealing with large amounts of data, like virtual machines or high-definition video files, you might run into long wait times just for the backup to start, or even worse, for the restore process to finish. This can be frustrating if you’re trying to recover quickly from a disaster and need fast access to your backup files.

Network performance also plays a big role here. If your network isn’t configured properly or if you’ve got a lot of devices competing for bandwidth, it can affect how well your NAS performs during backups. I’ve worked in environments where backups would start and stop due to network congestion, and it would take a long time to complete even smaller jobs. This becomes even more of a headache when you’re managing multiple clients or systems with high availability needs. Suddenly, your backup strategy that was supposed to be seamless becomes a source of delays.

The issue of data security is another downside that often gets overlooked. While NAS servers can be relatively secure on your local network, they’re not always as secure as cloud-based solutions, especially when it comes to off-site backups. If you’re backing up sensitive or critical data, you have to ensure that the NAS is properly secured against unauthorized access. This includes making sure it’s behind firewalls, encrypted, and regularly monitored for vulnerabilities. Otherwise, a simple breach could expose your backup data. You can always add encryption layers, but it’s still something that requires a lot of attention. With cloud backups, the service provider typically handles this for you, and you can rely on their security protocols.

Then there’s the scalability problem. While it’s great that NAS devices can be expanded with more drives, it can get expensive and unwieldy when you’re looking at scaling up your storage over time. Sure, you can add more drives to your NAS, but each new expansion often involves additional hardware purchases and, sometimes, a complicated setup process. As your data grows, managing a large NAS infrastructure can become a lot of work. The more you rely on it, the more you have to maintain. With cloud storage, this is much less of an issue, since the cloud provider takes care of the scaling for you.

Also, when your NAS is full, it becomes a bit of a juggling act to figure out what gets deleted or archived. It can be easy to forget about old backups, and suddenly, you’re left with a storage system that’s filled to the brim with outdated data that’s not really useful anymore. If you don’t have a solid data retention policy or automated cleanup set up, managing space on the NAS becomes a constant headache.

And, of course, there’s the cost. Setting up a reliable NAS system can be expensive, especially when you factor in the price of high-quality drives, redundancy (like RAID), and network infrastructure. If you’re not careful, your initial “cost-effective” solution might turn into a money pit over time. When you compare that to cloud backups, where you pay only for what you use and there’s no need to buy or maintain physical hardware, the NAS solution can feel a bit outdated or impractical.

Lastly, maintaining a NAS system requires technical expertise. If you’re not comfortable with managing networking, storage configurations, and troubleshooting hardware issues, a NAS can become a real burden. It’s not as simple as plug-and-play, and the more complex your backup needs, the more involved the NAS setup gets. This means if something goes wrong, you’re on your own to fix it.

All of this is to say that while NAS systems definitely have their place in backup strategies, they’re not without their challenges. If you need something that’s easy to scale, fast to restore, and doesn’t require constant maintenance, a cloud-based backup solution might actually be a better fit for your needs. Sometimes, the hassle of managing a NAS just isn’t worth it when you can have a more automated, secure, and efficient solution in the cloud.

However, with the right NAS backup solution like BackupChain, you can get the most out of your NAS device. I do still recommend running backups on the servers and PCs and not on the NAS device itself, however, so the NAS pulling data is generally not a good idea.