Sync - making things too complicated

wookie

I'm probably making things way too complicated for my own good but ...

I would like to ask for the best way of syncing my 1Password instances, preferable without using some cloud service. I understand that I can use Dropbox to do all what I want but I would like to avoid the use if possible.

My scenario:

• 1 Laptop (OS X)
• 1 Desktop (OS X)
• 1 iPhone
• 1 iPad

All have 1Password installed and I would like to keep the data in sync without the use of Dropbox (or iCloud). I have previously tried a setup like this:

• Laptop and desktop synced using a shared folder (local NAS without internet access).
• iPhone and iPad synced with laptop using WiFi.

The disadvantage is that I get error messages from 1Password when I use the laptop outside my home network (ie no access to shared folder). I've been running this for a while but I couldn't stand the error messages any more :)

So my question is: is there a reasonable way of keeping these four units in sync? It doesn't have to be "instant sync" just once-in-a-while-sync and I'm OK with starting the sync manually. For example, the iOS <-> OS X sync via WiFi is perfectly OK with me.

Vee_AG

Hi @wookie,

Thanks for contacting us with your sync question. It sounds like you've got a setup that you're mostly happy with, except for the error messages you get when Folder Sync is not able to access the shared folder. So let's take Folder Sync out of the equation!

All four of your devices run OS X or iOS, so if you're happy using Wi-Fi Sync, and you only need to sync occasionally, then you can sync all your devices that way in three steps, for example:

laptop <-> iPhone <-> desktop <-> iPad.

Give that a try, and come on back if you run into any trouble! :)

wookie

Ahhh, I didn't realise that one iOS device could sync to more than one OS X machine. Will definitely try this. Thanks.

rickfillion

Hi @wookie,

While @Vee's solution would work, I would only recommend it as a worst case scenario option. You're free to switch the iOS device from one Mac to another, but in the long run that's likely to cause unnecessary conflicts.

I have another solution to propose to you, that I think will work better long term. Setup Wi-Fi sync between the iOS devices and one of the Macs. That part is easy. But then we need a way to sync the two Macs, which you were using a NAS for. My solution is to keep using the NAS, but with something extra to avoid 1Password getting mad when the NAS isn't around.

Previously you were doing something that looked like : [Laptop/1Password] <-> [NAS/AgileKeychain] <-> [Desktop/1Password]

I propose that instead we do : [Laptop/1Password] <-> [Laptop/AgileKeychain] <-> [NAS/AgileKeychain] <-> [Desktop/AgileKeychain] <-> [Desktop/1Password]

So effectively each Mac is syncing not with the NAS, but with a local folder. Then we can use another piece of software to sync that local folder with a folder that's on the NAS. This way when the NAS gets disconnected, the Mac won't care as it's still syncing fine to the local folder. When the NAS returns, the other piece of sync software can do the necessary updates. It's basically how Dropbox works.

The only thing left for you to do is to pick what software you want doing the AgileKeychain syncing between the NAS and the Macs. There are plenty that exist out there.

Hope this helps.

Rick

wookie

OK, that sounds reasonable ... and quite easy to implement since I'm already syncing files between NAS & Desktop and have the software to do it. Thanks.

wookie

Although there should be a risk for data loss if I change both desktop and laptop without syncing with the NAS ... but that shouldn't be a problem in my case. So it will work for me.

rickfillion

@wookie : 1Password should protect against that. We don't blindly take data from the agilekeychain... if we detect that both sides have modified the data then we'll do a conflict resolution merge and you should end up with both pieces of data. It might not be in the exact shape you expect, but no data should be lost (deriving user intention is hard, but not loosing data is easier).

wookie

Ahhh, even better. Thanks :)

Vee_AG

Uh oh, sorry about that. I didn't realize my recommendation could cause conflicts. I've learned something new today, too! Thanks, @rickfillion. :)