Online backup
- Thread starter Pab
- Start date
L
leemason
We provide online backup services and are currently offering discounts to UKBF members (See the UKBF Offers section). We provide agents within our software for SBS (inc. MS-Exchange and MS-SQL Server) as well as open file backup and other facilities. All backups are compressed before transfer and encrypted.
If you can PM me and let me know how much data I can quote you on the service.
If you can PM me and let me know how much data I can quote you on the service.
Upvote
0
I have used this company now for 2 years to back up a 60 GB website which I run.
www.bqinternet.com
No complaints about them at all. They are good
www.bqinternet.com
No complaints about them at all. They are good
Upvote
0
As a few questions re online line backup have arisen of late, I thought I'd throw in my thoughts and experiences.
You have a backup so that if the hard drives containing your data fail , or equipment is destroyed/stolen, you are able to recover the position and continue working. To do this in a absolute manner you MUST have a regular backup ( in most cases at least daily ) AND move this backup data offsite.
Successful backup requires you to identify what you need to backup. Sounds simple but the bigger the organization the more complicated it gets. You need to identify data , and as a guide for SBS users I would suggest just to begin with :-
Users documents
Email ( Exchange mailstore )
Database data ( SQL/access)
CRM data
Accounts data
laptop/remote users data stored on their machines
Key operating system components ( Active Directory / system state / etc)
The obvious ideal is for the complete server to be backed up + remote data.
Once identified , the next stage is identify what happens if your without some or all of the above. How much money do you lose whilst you are trying to recover ? This is individual to each business but for solicitors for example it could be 000's of pounds per hour , for others it may be very little.
It is this cost that should dictate what solution you look at.
There is also a difference between backup and disaster recovery ( sometimes called business continuity ). Backup is not disaster recovery and will not cost as much.
Lets assume you want to backup you complete server so that you can recover everything. lets assume it is SBS.
The " solution " will be required to deal with Microsoft Exchange server and possibly SQL server. This is not as simple as just copying a file . Exchange keeps all information in a mailstore ( a type of database ) and different solutions deal with differently , some just backup the mailstore so that in the event a user deletes their mailbox you have to restore the whole mailstore and everybody rolls backup to the backup date. The better solutions ie cost more, backup the mailstore in such a way that you can restore just a mailbox or individual mail . Similarly with SQL , some will only backup sql\databases\openfiles when everybody is logged out and the services are stopped whilst others can deal with it on the fly.
The key point is that you get what you pay for and if a solution is cheap there is going to be a reason.
Also in the event of a disaster recovery the cheaper solutions expect you to be restoring to identical hardware but if you are recovering a 3 year old server to new hardware there is going to be a problem. Again the better solutions allow you to do a bare metal restore to dissimlar hardware.
Still with me ?
OK you now will have identified the type of solution you are after . You then faced with hardware and software and media choices. There are a mutitude of choices including tape , disk to disk , disk to offsite by internet and a combination of any of these.
My advice is avoid tape . It does not work ! it will fail, and requires human being to be involved to change tape.
Avoid external usb disks , you will drop it just when you need it most and it still requires humans.
If you can, go disk to disk (as away from server as possible ) to offsite.
Server fails you restore from the disk onsite or from the internet. Best solutions will virtulise the backup on disk into your server whilst you source new equipment etc.
Online providers should be considered carefully. How long is it going to take you to download 100Gb , can you get a copy couriered to you etc. Similarly can you send a backup of say 3gb ( even incremental ) overnight on your exisiting internet connection or will you require a dedicated line ?
You need to document you procedures so that in the event of a recovery everybody knows what to do because you will be on holiday, sick, at a wedding etc.
In the event of a complete server restore who is going to do it ? see above and how much is it going to cost ? Do you have the expertise to do it yourself ? if you are desperate you will be expoited.
Test you backup regularly. Do not blindly keep changing the tape or assume the software has done its job. It needs maintenence .
I have not even gone into detail on virtulisation , standby servers and clustering .
OK I will shut now , declare an interest that we provide these services to our clients and anybody can pm me if they want further info.
You have a backup so that if the hard drives containing your data fail , or equipment is destroyed/stolen, you are able to recover the position and continue working. To do this in a absolute manner you MUST have a regular backup ( in most cases at least daily ) AND move this backup data offsite.
Successful backup requires you to identify what you need to backup. Sounds simple but the bigger the organization the more complicated it gets. You need to identify data , and as a guide for SBS users I would suggest just to begin with :-
Users documents
Email ( Exchange mailstore )
Database data ( SQL/access)
CRM data
Accounts data
laptop/remote users data stored on their machines
Key operating system components ( Active Directory / system state / etc)
The obvious ideal is for the complete server to be backed up + remote data.
Once identified , the next stage is identify what happens if your without some or all of the above. How much money do you lose whilst you are trying to recover ? This is individual to each business but for solicitors for example it could be 000's of pounds per hour , for others it may be very little.
It is this cost that should dictate what solution you look at.
There is also a difference between backup and disaster recovery ( sometimes called business continuity ). Backup is not disaster recovery and will not cost as much.
Lets assume you want to backup you complete server so that you can recover everything. lets assume it is SBS.
The " solution " will be required to deal with Microsoft Exchange server and possibly SQL server. This is not as simple as just copying a file . Exchange keeps all information in a mailstore ( a type of database ) and different solutions deal with differently , some just backup the mailstore so that in the event a user deletes their mailbox you have to restore the whole mailstore and everybody rolls backup to the backup date. The better solutions ie cost more, backup the mailstore in such a way that you can restore just a mailbox or individual mail . Similarly with SQL , some will only backup sql\databases\openfiles when everybody is logged out and the services are stopped whilst others can deal with it on the fly.
The key point is that you get what you pay for and if a solution is cheap there is going to be a reason.
Also in the event of a disaster recovery the cheaper solutions expect you to be restoring to identical hardware but if you are recovering a 3 year old server to new hardware there is going to be a problem. Again the better solutions allow you to do a bare metal restore to dissimlar hardware.
Still with me ?
OK you now will have identified the type of solution you are after . You then faced with hardware and software and media choices. There are a mutitude of choices including tape , disk to disk , disk to offsite by internet and a combination of any of these.
My advice is avoid tape . It does not work ! it will fail, and requires human being to be involved to change tape.
Avoid external usb disks , you will drop it just when you need it most and it still requires humans.
If you can, go disk to disk (as away from server as possible ) to offsite.
Server fails you restore from the disk onsite or from the internet. Best solutions will virtulise the backup on disk into your server whilst you source new equipment etc.
Online providers should be considered carefully. How long is it going to take you to download 100Gb , can you get a copy couriered to you etc. Similarly can you send a backup of say 3gb ( even incremental ) overnight on your exisiting internet connection or will you require a dedicated line ?
You need to document you procedures so that in the event of a recovery everybody knows what to do because you will be on holiday, sick, at a wedding etc.
In the event of a complete server restore who is going to do it ? see above and how much is it going to cost ? Do you have the expertise to do it yourself ? if you are desperate you will be expoited.
Test you backup regularly. Do not blindly keep changing the tape or assume the software has done its job. It needs maintenence .
I have not even gone into detail on virtulisation , standby servers and clustering .
OK I will shut now , declare an interest that we provide these services to our clients and anybody can pm me if they want further info.
Upvote
0
P
Page
Really useful post - cut and pasted into my back up planning file - and just to add to it.
I am several notches below that need at the moment but I suppose have gone through the thought and analysis process that you mention.
We use Mozy for a number of reasons and it ticks the boxes for own risk and cost analysis.
But to restore files from it is a slow old process so I quickly realised (that again from our own analysis) the need for still using local stored physical backups it is just that I do not have to do them quite so often as I used to as I see inbetween data loss as acceptable)
So if go for cheap online backup - be warned there may be more work needed for the solution to be sensible.
(2 external drives - 1 on site and one off site - and occasional dvd writes of data)
I am several notches below that need at the moment but I suppose have gone through the thought and analysis process that you mention.
We use Mozy for a number of reasons and it ticks the boxes for own risk and cost analysis.
But to restore files from it is a slow old process so I quickly realised (that again from our own analysis) the need for still using local stored physical backups it is just that I do not have to do them quite so often as I used to as I see inbetween data loss as acceptable)
So if go for cheap online backup - be warned there may be more work needed for the solution to be sensible.
(2 external drives - 1 on site and one off site - and occasional dvd writes of data)
Upvote
0
L
leemason
One of the problems with Mozy is that they restrict bandwidth (but don't tell their users that). As UKFatboy says it is best (if you have a lot of data) to go with an online backup provider that will courier a disk to you with the data on it (we do)!
Also if you do start using an online service test the backup AND restore speeds. These can be very different on ADSL. Backup will generally be slower than restore because of the difference in ADSL speed uplink and downlink. What takes you 10 hours to backup may well only take 1-2 hours to restore but the key is testing, testing, testing. Again, as UKFatboy says, don't just assume that your backups are working (especially to tape)!
Many online service providers will allow you to keep an onsite copy of the data as well as the offsite copy (again we do). So you can restore quickly if there is just a data problem that you want to fix AND have the assurance of storing data offsite for Disaster Recovery purposes.
Upvote
0
Latest Articles
-
At What Point Do Courier Losses Just Become a Cost of Doing Business?If you sell physical products online, you already know the feeling. You...- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
What I Wish I'd Known Before Using AI in My BusinessSomewhere between the headlines promising AI will transform everything...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
Is AI Making the Internet Worse?It started with a comment about music. @JEREMY HAWKE , a courier...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
The AI Divide: What UKBF Members Really Think in 2026Every few months on UK Business Forums, a thread appears that refuses...
- Ozzy
- Updated:
-
When the Algorithm Gets It Wrong: What eBay's AI Moderation Problem Tells Us About Platform RiskA thread appeared on UKBF this week that, on the surface, looks like a...
- Ozzy
- Updated: