# Best/Worst back end protocol?
**URL:** https://forum.duplicati.com/t/best-worst-back-end-protocol/2996
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 24, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://forum.duplicati.com/t/best-worst-back-end-protocol/2996 "2018-03-24T03:31:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@justpoet](https://forum.duplicati.com/u/justpoet)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://forum.duplicati.com/t/best-worst-back-end-protocol/2996/1 "2018-03-24T03:31:29Z")
Is a specific back end protocol better (or worse) than any others for Duplicati to back up to at present? AKA, is there a “best practice” protocol to use?
Background for the question:
Currently my servers are Mac, but are likely to transition to linux again. I’m looking into the implementation of Duplicati as our family’s new backup solution (coming from CrashPlan doing multi-site backup instead of cloud backup). I’m mainly considering setting up sftp, minio s3 compatible, or webdav options on the servers after a brief look at Duplicati supporting those, though am open to almost any option I can host myself.
I want to keep things as simple and easy to manage and transition as possible. The backup sets will be large by most home user standards (several TB), and there will be several computers, but the users will be limited to a few family members backing up to a given server at most. Most client systems are Mac, but both Windows and linux clients will also exist (though they generally don’t have files living on them worth backing up at this time).
---
### Author:  [@warwickmm](https://forum.duplicati.com/u/warwickmm)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://forum.duplicati.com/t/best-worst-back-end-protocol/2996/2 "2018-03-24T19:18:53Z")
This might be helpful:
> [@WebDAV vs S3 vs SFTP](https://forum.duplicati.com/t/webdav-vs-s3-vs-sftp/817):
>
> I have some spare boxes floating around so I’m working on configuring some “CrashPlan Home” like destinations that I can distribute to a few family and friends to be able to continue to be able to backup offsite to each other. Currently I’m reviewing: WebDAV (via NextCloud - I’ve rad [unRAID OwnCload error](https://forum.duplicati.com/t/unraid-owncloud-webdav-error-connecting-cant-connect-ssl/438)) S3 (via Minio - I’ve read [Minio on Windows 10](https://forum.duplicati.com/t/setting-up-self-hosted-minio-on-windows-10-with-automatically-renewing-ssl-certificate/645) and [Minio on linux](https://forum.duplicati.com/t/setting-up-minio-on-linux-and-duplicati-on-windows-as-a-service-using-tls/632)) SFTP (via unRAID) I’m trying to decide benefts of each in terms of the following (keeping in mind they’ll be remote): e…
I’ve been using SFTP to a server running unRAID and have been quite pleased with it so far.
---
### Author:  [@justpoet](https://forum.duplicati.com/u/justpoet)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2018, 7:21pm UTC](https://forum.duplicati.com/t/best-worst-back-end-protocol/2996/3 "2018-03-24T19:21:58Z")
I saw that post, but it seemed more focused on how easy the back end was, rather than how well Duplicati would like a given protocol. Definitely good to know it has been going without issues on sftp though, as that’s also really easy to set up and admin on any \*nix box.
---
### Author:  [@Pectojin](https://forum.duplicati.com/u/Pectojin)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://forum.duplicati.com/t/best-worst-back-end-protocol/2996/4 "2018-03-24T21:18:03Z")
I’d say the most important part of a choosing a backend is picking one you trust that is stable and provides good speeds.
Duplicati uses the same list, put, get, delete commands so, omitting problematic backends, they’re all alike.