My Cloud OS 3: Create a Remote Backup

This article explains how to create a Remote Backup on a My Cloud.*END

IMPORTANT:

• The following instructions are NOT applicable to single bay My Cloud with v04.xx.xxx firmware
• My Cloud single bay units with v2.xx.xxx firmware require a My Cloud Mirror or Higher to be the destination location

Configure the Destination My Cloud (Remote Backup Server)

Step A1 - Enabling SSH

Critical: The use of SSH and commands are not supported by Western Digital Technical Support Team. Modifying operating system files are not recommended and are not supported.  Changes to the operating system files will be reverted to the original file after a power cycle.

1. From the main page of the My Cloud destination device Dashboard, click the Settings button of the Navigation bar. For assistance accessing the Dashboard, please see Answer ID 10420: How to access the Dashboard on a My Cloud.
   

   



2. Once inside the Settings area, click on the Network option on the left-side panel.
   

   



3. The SSH option is located under Network Services of the Network area. It is set to Off by default. To enable it, click on top of the Off button.
   

   



4. When SSH is turned On, a pop-up window will display to accept the terms for using SSH, as well as request for the User to select a Password for accessing the device through SSH. The User Name is sshd, and the Password will be the designated by the Administrator of the device. To proceed, check the I accept checkbox by clicking on it, and click on OK.
   

   



5. SSH is now enabled on the device.
   

   

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Step A2 - Enabling Remote Server and Create Remote backup share

IMPORTANT:

Backup content hosted in a User Created or Public Share will be crawled, indexed and thumbnails created increasing CPU, Memory and System Load on the backup destination. Disable of the indexing services is recommended when the backup destination is a User Created or Public share. The default Smartware share does not have its content indexed and can serve as a remote backup destination folder when remote access to other content is required. For instructions, please refer to Answer ID 5080: My Cloud OS 3: Disable and Enable Indexing and Media Services

1. From the main page of the My Cloud destination device Dashboard, click the Settings button of the Navigation bar. For assistance accessing the Dashboard, please see Answer ID 10420: How to access the Dashboard on a My Cloud.
   

   



2. Once inside the Settings area, click on the Network option on the left-side panel.
   

   



3. The Remote Server option will be located towards bottom half of page. It is set to Off by default. To enable it, click on top of the Off button.
   

   



4. When Remote Server is turned On, a pop-up window will display a message about rules for Port Forwarding. Read this message, and in the Password field, enter the password that was created for SSH access. To proceed, check the Save button.
   

   



5. Navigate to the Shares tab
   

   

   
   
6. Click the folder icon(+) to create
   

   

   
   
7. Name the share: remotebackup and click Apply
   

   

   
   
8. Ensure that Media Streaming is turned off to improve remote backup performance
   

   

   
   

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Step A3 - Configuring Port Forwarding for Remote Backup

1. From the main page of the My Cloud destination device Dashboard, click the Settings button of the Navigation bar. For assistance accessing the Dashboard, please see Answer ID 10420: How to access the Dashboard on a My Cloud.
   

   



2. Once inside the Settings area, click on the Network option on the left-side panel.
   

   



3. The Port Forwarding option is located at the bottom half of the page. Click Add to see the Port Forwarding settings.
   

   



4. When Port Forwarding settings are seen click Select the default service scan then click Next.
   

   



5. Click Finish.
   

   

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Step A4 - Obtain the WAN IP Address

IMPORTANT:

If the Remote Backup is being configured between two My Cloud devices connected to the same local network router, use the LAN (Local Area Network) Static IP address of the destination My Cloud and not the WAN (Wide Area Network) IP Address as indicated in the steps below.

1. Visit What is my IP Address


2. Please make a note of the WAN IP address on the screen.
   It will be used to configure Remote Backups on the souce My Cloud.

   

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Disable Content Scanner Services

IMPORTANT: User created shares are indexed by the My Cloud Media Crawler, Twonky DLNA Media Server and iTunes Server.
When using a user created share for Remote Backups, it is highly recommened to disable the My Cloud scanning services. If the destination My Cloud is not a dedicated remote backup server, the TimeMachineBackup and Smartware backup shares can be used as the remote backup destination. These "Backup Shares" are not crawled or indexed by the My Cloud services.

The following are services on the My Cloud that use content scanners

1. My Cloud Access
2. Twonky
3. iTunes

To disable content scanning services, please refer to Answer ID 18625 How To Disable and Enable My Cloud Indexing and Media Services

For more information regarding slow backups please refer to Answer ID 17243 Common Causes of Slow Backups

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Router Does NOT Support UPnP and Network is Double NAT

IMPORTANT:

Western Digital Technical Support DOES NOT provide remote backup troubleshooting support on a double NAT'd network configuration. Technical Support is not provided for Router to Router port forward configuration, troubleshooting or verification services.

Configuring the Router (If UPnP is not supported or Double NAT)

For assistance with UPnP please contact your ISP (Internet Service Provider) or router manufacturer. If the router does not support UPnP please contact your ISP or router manufacturer to configure manual port forwarding on the router. Alternatively, you can goto Port Forward;and select your router's brand and model number to get instructionson how to configure port forwarding on your router.

The two ports needed are 22 (SSH) and 873 (Remote Backups)

Go to You Get Signal Port Forwarding Tester and enter the WAN IP Address, and ensure that ports 22 and 873 are open

If the ports are listed as closed then contact the ISP and verity if they can open the port(s)

Double NAT

Double NAT is when you have multiple routers in your setup. Example My Cloud is connected to Router 1 and Router 1 is connected to Router2.

Western Digtital does not support Double NAT configurations

Example of Double NAT:

Error: Remote Backup cannot proceed for an unknown reason. or Remote Backup cannot proceed due to a failed Rsync test. When creating a Remote Backup Job on the Source My Cloud (Remote Backup Client)

Go to You get signal Port Forwarding Tester and verify that ports 22 and 873 are open. If the ports 22 and 873 are closed please contact the ISP at the Destination network and verify if they can open the ports?

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C- Create a Remote Backup Job on the Source My Cloud (Remote Backup Client)

Step C1 - Create the Job

1. In the dashboard, go to Backups.
   

   



2. From the list of backups on the left-side panel, click Remote Backups.
   

   



3. In About Remote Backups, click Create Job.
   

   



4. The Remote Backup window appears.
   

   



5. In Job Name, enter a name for the backup job.


6. In Remote Server, click the drop-down arrow to choose NAS Server.
   

   



7. In Remote IP Address, enter the destination device's WAN IP Address (Routers External IP Address) obtained from Step A4.
   IMPORTANT:

   If the Remote Backup is being configured between two My Cloud devices connected to the same local network router, use the LAN (Local Area Network) Static IP address of the destination My Cloud and not the WAN (Wide Area Network) IP Address.



8. In Password, enter the remote backup password which was created when Enabling Remote Server.


9. In SSH Password, enter the SSH password which was created when Enabling SSH.


10. In Source Folder, click Browse.
    

    A list of the source shares will appear.



11. Select the source share that will be backed up.
    

    



12. Click OK.


13. In Destination Folder, click Browse.
    

    A list of the destination shares will appear.



14. Select the destination share that the data will be backed up into.
     

    Note:

    The user may also click New to create a new share in the destination device.

    
    
    

    

15. ClickOK


16. In Backup Type, click the drop-down arrow to select one of the following:
    • Copy
    • Synchronize
    
    

    



17. Set Recurrence to On to set up a recurring schedule.
    

    



18. Click Create.
    The settings will be displayed.
    

    

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Step C2 - Start the Job

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Step C3 - Validating Backed up data

When the backup is completed you can validate the sata is on the destination

1. Go to destination device


2. Open the share that was chosen or created in step 1C-14


3. Validate data is backed up in the share

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Step C4- What is the difference between Copy & Synchronize

Copy: Copy the files from the source to the destination. Extra files on the destination will not be deleted, files of the same names will be overwritten.

Synchronize Mode: Copy the files from the source to the destination. Extra files on the destination will be deleted, files of the same names will be overwritten by the source. Source data will remain unchanged.

Can I use MyCloud.com credentials to configure a Remote Backup?

When configuring a Remote Backup, an alternative to manually configuring the Remote Server's IP address is to use MyCloud.com credentials. If the Destination My Cloud is registered for MyCloud.com its Public IP information will be automatically populated into the appropriate fields. 

1. From the Remote Backup Configuration click the Remote Server drop down and choose My Cloud 


2. Enter the email and password credentials for MyCloud.com


3. Select the Destination My Cloud from the list of My Cloud device's associated with the MyCloud.com credentials


4. The Remote Server's IP address should automatically be populated

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