This article provides the workflow diagrams and steps for data backup of NAS shares on Windows and Linux.

Backup workflow

The following workflow illustrates the data flow during backup of NAS shares on Windows or Linux:

The following table summarizes the workflow steps.

Step	Operation
Step 1	A backup request is initiated and forwarded to the NAS proxy.
Step 2	Druva checks if the NAS proxy is running. If the proxy is running, Druva performs the backup. If the proxy is down, Druva performs the backup based on the type of backup job, as specified below. For proxy version prior to 7.0.0 For a backup now job, Druva queues the backup request. Druva completes the request if the NAS proxy starts within 24 hours. For a scheduled job, Druva skips the backup request. For proxy version 7.0.0 and later For a backup now job, Druva runs the job on any one of the connected proxies in the Backup Proxy Pool. For a scheduled job, Druva skips the backup request. After a few skips, static load balancing will run the job on the available connected proxy in the Backup Proxy Pool. 📝 Note Load balancing is disabled for: - a pool containing a proxy with a version lower than 7.0.2 - a pool containing proxies with different versions: a proxy pool-supported version (7.0.2 and later) and a non-proxy pool-supported version. Therefore, while performing an on-demand backup, if the proxy is disconnected, Druva will not assign a different proxy and will let the job fail.
Step 3	Druva determines the type of backup. If it is the first backup from any source, Druva performs a full backup. The subsequent backups are incremental backups.
Step 4	Enterprise Workloads agent performs a full scan of the files and folders on the NAS share.
Step 5	NAS proxy sends the scanned files and folders for backup to Druva Cloud. 📝 Note If Druva is unable to back up locked files at the first attempt, it checks if the files are unlocked at the end of the backup. If the files are unlocked, they are backed up in the same backup cycle. Locked files are not backed up. Druva supports valid UTF-8 encoded file names, filepaths, and share names. Files with filenames encoded in a format other than UTF-8 are skipped from backups. You can find a list of all the skipped files in the `Phoenix-<job_id>-MissedFiles.log` file at the following location: `/var/log/Phoenix/NAS/backup/<backupset_id>` (for agent version prior to 7.0.0) `/var/log/Druva/EnterpriseWorkloads/nas/backup/<backupset_id>` (for agent version 7.0.0 and later)
Step 6	NAS proxy transfers the deduplicated backup data to the Druva Cloud.

File server backup workflow

System requirements for NAS devices

Logging, configuration files, and services for NAS

Upgrade NAS proxy on Windows and Linux from Management Console

FAQs for NAS shares