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All You Need to Know About Online Backup

Online Data Backup, the Introduction

Every company owner or director who does not backup mission critical data is putting their business at risk.  We all think it will never happen to me, but within the last 18 months there has been an unprecedented level of data loss in the UK.  The main causes are natural disaster (flooding is at the top of this list) followed by hardware failure, user error, virus, theft and finally data corruption.  If you do not backup data there is a larger chance of your data being lost than not.  Online backup solutions will automatically protect your business data by despatching it to a secure data centre automatically.

An online backup solution puts you in control, via the backup software you state the data to be backed up and when.  The backup software will then run in the back ground monitoring your data then at the scheduled time it will encrypt, compress and the send your data via your existing internet connection to your online backup provider’s infrastructure.  Should a file be lost then you access your data and restore which files you need.

Understandable many companies are worried about sending their confidential data to a 3rd party to look after, especially via the internet.  The key feature of any online backup service is the encryption process; no data is transferred until your data is 100% secure, therefore nobody can read your data unless they have access to your encryption code.  Most suppliers can now even restrict restores to a specific IP address, so nobody will be able to restore unless they have your encryption code and are sat at your desk.  As you can now understand, online backup is very secure.

The Fundamentals of Data Backup

For as long as computers and servers have been used for business processes data backup has always been around, it was not a sophisticated as it is today but still, backing up still took place.  There was no online backup services available in those days so we all relied on various medias to store data each, with their own distinct advantages and disadvantages.

You could say to backup in any way is better than not to backup at all, and I would have to agree, however you must also consider the effectiveness and efficiency of your backup method.  If you currently backup to CD, DVD, Tape or an external hard drive then the media becomes subject to the same potential disasters such as fire and flood as well as not so natural disasters such as virus, corruption or theft.  Always move backed up data offsite, as far away from your working environment as possible.

If you do backup to DVD or tape media then it is best practice to employ the services of a secure data storage company to collect your data on a daily basis for safe storage.  Whilst this is offers the best solution for local backups you will find this service expensive and can be a huge drain on employee time and resource.  There have been cases where such a 3rd party collection companies have lost backup media, to lose this data is a serious issue, it may be an even larger issue is this data ends up in the hands of your competitor.

Online backup solutions do not need any expensive hardware such as a tape drive or DVD drives and is not licensed on a per server/computer basis.  The only requirement is broadband or high speed internet connection and you can deploy the backup software as many times as you wish.  You can schedule backups to run many times as required every day.  Because the backup takes place automatically in the back ground you will never need to spend any of your time protecting data ever again allowing you to get on with more proactive business tasks.

 How online backup works

Nearly all online backup software supports all major operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, All flavours of Linux, most versions of Unix (Sun Solaris, HPUX, IBM AIX, SCO) and Novel to name a few and will support all major applications (Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, MySQL, Microsoft ISA Server and more). As already stated, you do not need anything other than a high speed internet connection to backup your business data.

When online backup software is installed and configured it automatically schedules all business data, be it files, documents or complex databases to be backed up every night or when scheduled.  The important factor is the restore features, not only can you restore your whole file/database structure you can also easily restore individual documents and emails at the touch of a button.  It is an enterprise class backup solution that requires the knowledge of a novice to manage and restore.

Because of the traditional restraints of you internet connection the thought is when an online backup solutions back up for the first time is akin to filling up a swimming pool with a hose pile, initially it takes a long time for the initial fill (first backup) but thereafter you are only topping up (incremental backup).  Most offsite backup providers are aware of this issue an allow seed loads.  A seed load is where you use the online backup software to backup to a local NAS box or hard drive, once completed you can send you drive to your backup supplier who will transfer the data to their storage infrastructure.  Thereafter you will only running incremental backups.

Even incremental backups will sap bandwidth, so all businesses will either schedule their backup out of working hours or will schedule multiple backups per day, thus reducing the amount of data which is backed up in working hours.  The real benefits of online backup are that you can backup your data at the frequency you require.

Data Recovery and Online Backup

Backing up data efficiently and in automatically and secure fashion is fine but what about recovery?  There is no point backing up your data if you cannot restore quickly.  Online backup allows you to restore data in a multitude of ways. You can recover a single file or folder at the click of a mouse or your online backup provider will usually send all your data to you on a same day basis should you have suffered a catastrophic failure.

Additional Features of Online Backup

Online backup solutions are now the best fit for many businesses because of the features which make data backup as easy and as efficient as possible. It offers business owner piece of mind whilst freeing up employee time allowing increased productivity and business development.

Listed below are the common features usually associated with online backup solutions:-

High Level Data Encryption:  This is the most important feature of any online backup solution. Before data is transferred to the storage centre it is a must that data must be encrypted to the same levels used by national banking institutions.  128bit encryption, Advanced Encryption Standards (AES) offers the best performance against security.  If any higher level of encryption is used then your computers or servers will spend more time encrypting than actually backing up.  The basic rule is it will take a high performance server around 9 years to crack data secured by 128bit encryption.  A password or encryption key is required and data can only be restored by the holder of the key.

IP Address Permission settings: This option allows you to select who is able to restore data.  It is another level of security, even if another member of staff obtained your encryption key; they would still not be able to restore your data if they were sat at your desk.

Data Compression: This function makes the most of your internet connection.  If you have 1GB of office documents (Excel, Word and PowerPoint) this data will compress to around 300MB, a 70% reduction in size means you can upload your data over 3 times faster.

Block Level Incremental Backup: Once you have completed your first backup, only the changes will be backed up thereafter. So if you have 1000 office documents and only 5 documents change in a day then only the changes within the 5 documents will be transferred, again this greatly reducing your backup time.  

Open File Backup: Time is precious and you need to be able to backup files or application data which are open or being used.  Online backup services can even backup Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft SQL whilst users are accessing the application database.

Native Database Support: Allows you to backup your databases such as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, Oracle, Lotus Notes/Domino and MySQL out of the box.

Web Restore:  You can restore data direct from the online backup providers data centres without using the backup software.  This is great for laptop users, if a laptop is damaged or stolen then you can restore data to your new laptop from anywhere in the world.

Local Copy:  The major draw back of online backup is you can only restore as fast as your internet connection will allow.  If you use the software to create a backup to another location on your network prior to backing up offsite you then have the best of both worlds, local backup for speedy restore and offsite backup for total security.

Flexible Scheduling:  You can backup once a day or three times per day.  It is up to you and whatever you feel suits your business needs.

Email Reporting:  Every time a backup takes place you will receive an email giving full information on what data has been backed up, what data has changed and deleted.  The most important aspect of reporting is to let you know if a backup was not successful and why.

Versioning or Retention Period: With versioning or retention policies you control how long you wish your data is to remain on the provider’s storage infrastructure.  Usually companies like to keep the last 28 days data safe.  This functionality is pretty useful if a file was deleted by mistake 2 weeks ago and needs to be recovered or if you want to see a document prior to the latest changes.   

How to Select an Online Backup Provider

Near all suppliers of online data backup services work on a value add basis.  They do not own the software and usually re-brand it and they do not own the data centres where you backup to.     The reseller’s value ad is they bring all the components of an online backup solution together and sell it as a packaged service along with support and installation services.

There are now suppliers who offer a limited amount of online storage free of charge and use of such services are fine for less important data such as holiday photographs etc.  We would not suggest these services for mission critical business data as they do not offer any restore guarantees and support can be difficult to obtain

Enterprise sized companies with many offices and large staff and financial resources often choose to implement an online backup solution in-house, with an entry cost of around £100,000 this is very expensive and time consuming to implement. Because of the high investment many larger organisation not choose to out source their backup solution.

How to Choose a Reputable Online Data Backup Provider.
Start with Google, and try search phrases such as online backup, remote backup or offsite backup.  You should not take the websites statements at face value, so only start with the top 10 or 20 listings as they will be the more reputable companies.  Avoid the adverts as it only costs a few pounds to advertise there.

Initial key factors to investigate should be based around security of your data, service availability and restore guarantees.  After you have narrowed your potential suppliers down to a handful it is time to pick up the phone and call them.  Make sure the company you are talking are able to talk to you sensibly about your requirements without getting too technical. Make sure they are able to backup all your important data.

Find out if your supplier offers you any features which make your backup process as painless as possible, features such as a seed load for the initial backup, can they send you your data on an emergency disk for restore.  Do they guarantee your data will always be available for restore, if so what is that guarantee. 

Customer service and support is vital.  Does your proposed provider offer 24x7x365 support via telephone or email? Do you have a dedicated account manager or account team who will grow to know your business and requirements.

If your data is important to you do not shop for an offsite data backup service based on price alone.  You can guarantee you will not get 24x7 support, unlimited backup and restore facilities, instant data restore for $3.95 per month.  If you wish to secure your business data suppliers that offer their services for prices far below their competitors should be removed from your potential supplier list. Cost is always an issue but be reassured that you will only get what you pay for.  If a supplier’s price is far too high check out why, they may be offering a service or functionality which is not required and can be removed.

Nearly all online backup suppliers now allow a full trial you should use this trial to make sure it is right for your business. You usually have access to their services for 30 days or so. Make sure you can have a trial which will allow backup of all your data.  More importantly make sure you run a test restore.  Even if the trial is going well make a test support call, see how good they are, if your proposed supplier offers 24 x 7 support, call them out of hours. 

Now you have contacted your short list of suppliers and tried their backup services, it is now time to ask for referrals or reference sites.  If they cannot supply referral sites then do not deal with them.

When you talk to the reference sites ask the following:-

·         How is their service, anything you would like to improve on?

·         Ever lost data and needed to restore, if so how did it go?

·         Have you used their support services, how did it go?

·         How long have you been using this supplier?

·         Are you notified if a backup fails?

·         Should you have lost all data did they send you a restore disk and how long did it take to arrive?

·         Does the online backup supplier understand your businesses backup needs?

Online Data Backup Pricing

As discussed, online backup prices vary, services are available from less then £4.00 per month which offer no restore guarantees to £1,000 per month for enterprise backup solutions which offer total backup and restore solutions.  Typically, a reputable provider will charge businesses around £15.00 to £100.00 depending on the amount of data backed up.

Most suppliers illustrate their monthly price structures on their web site but check for any hidden charges for services such as seed load, restore, support or charges for additional servers or PC’s to be backed up etc.  Also check how much you will be charged if you go over your backup quota.  Ideally you are looking for an online backup supplier who charges a fixed monthly cost with no additional costs. 

Online Backup Contracts

Online Backup Suppliers often require a minimum one year contract some even charge for the year upfront. Try to find a supplier who does not tie you into any long term scenarios who will charge monthly.  If an online backup provider is confident about his services then they will not feel the need to tie you into any contract longer than 1 month.  Make sure you are folly aware of their service level agreements and the consequences of it.  Do not settle for a service which offers less than 99.99% uptime or a service which offer little compensation should you not be able to restore your data.

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