QNAP -> AzureBlob backup - changing folder structure

Post Reply
jmelquist
New here
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:12 am

QNAP -> AzureBlob backup - changing folder structure

Post by jmelquist »

I have a backup job sending a folder structure (we'll referr to as BackupRoot) to Azure Blob Storage. Basically as shown below:

BackupRoot
......FolderA
............FolderX
......FolderB

I decided that on my QNAP, I'd like to move FolderX from FolderA to FolderB (all still under the BackupRoot). Azure blobs don't have a folder structure, but it looks like QNAP's backup is writing the files source full path to the blob's metadata. I'm concerned that it's using this as the KEY to link files from QNAP <--> AzureBlob. If so, then moving FolderX from FolderA to FolderB is effectively going to cause that that linkage to break and as a result, FolderX will be deleted from Azure and re-transferred to Azure as BackupRoot/FolderB/FolderX (as opposed to just updating the metadata on Azure). The concern is that the folder holds about 2TB of data - so i don't want to re-transfer it over the "interwebs". more accurately, my ISP doesn't want this to happen and will charge me $$$.

Can someone confirm that w/in the backup root, moving a subdirectory tree to a different location w/in that root will cause Hybrid/Cloud backup to delete and re-transfer that entire sub-directory tree to Azure again? or is there some hidden magic which will keep things tied up correctly inspite of the changing folder structure?

thx, -jas
Last edited by jmelquist on Thu Apr 25, 2019 1:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
jmelquist
New here
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:12 am

Re: QNAP -> AzureBlob backup - changing folder structure

Post by jmelquist »

Realized I could make a simple test of this situation... so let's pretend this all was for posterity sake :)

I confirmed that moving folders/files w/in a tree causes re-transfer. so reorganizing folder containing large amounts of data is going to cause that data to get re-transferred from QNAP to Cloud.

-jas
jmelquist
New here
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 6:12 am

Re: QNAP -> AzureBlob backup - changing folder structure

Post by jmelquist »

oh - one more note - you might ask, "Why can you just manually replicate the move in Azure's blob storage to keep them in sync?" Sadly, there is currently no way to "move" files in AzureBlob storage because, true to it's name, files are not organized in a tree-like fashion. The "folder structure" is just a metadata string held in the "Name" property. This property ("Name") is not editable. There is a "Rename" feature of Azure File Explorer, but only the filename portion of this can be changed, not the path portion.

continuing to research...
-jas
Post Reply

Return to “Microsoft Azure”