Online backup – An Abbreviated Overview
I’ve gotten quite a few questions lately on the value/pros/cons of online backup. So here’s just a quick overview of the world of online backup…
Online backup technology, when deployed correctly, is well established, both in terms of reliability and security. It is traditionally sold through VARs (like us) or directly through online backup companies themselves. In our case, we resell an established online providers service, but I know some VARs have developed their own online backup service. Things to look for in an online provider are:
- Encrypted communications
- Multiple, geographically-separated backup locations
- Data backed up to SAS 70 compliant data centers (there are different tiers)
- Agent-less client (meaning you can install it on your server and backup a workstation/laptop without installing the software on that device, as well)
- Type of backup (full, incremental, or differential)
- Ability to backup application data (Exchange, SQL, etc.) and how “granular” the backup is. For example, can you restore just one e-mail or is your only option restoring all your e-mail?
- Good user interface
- Number of “generations” backed up (how far back can you restore from? One day, ten days? More?)
Additionally, pricing tends to be all over the place with online providers mostly because they often price out “storage” differently. The two most common pricing models are:
Protected – this means you will get X amount of data backed up with the ability to restore from X days back. In this pricing model you purchase 10 GB of space at say, $5 per GB per month and can go back 30 generations. It costs you $50 per month, but in essence you’re getting 300 TOTAL GBs of backup space (10 GB X 30 generations).
Unprotected – this is just straight data storage. Often vendors using this pricing model will give you a “block” of backup space to use as you see fit (100 GB, 200 GB, or more). This model will be far less expensive than the protected pricing model, but each generation of backup will count against your total space. So if you’re backing up 10 GB of data and you purchase a 100 GB block of space, you’ll get 10 generations from it.
A couple important additional pricing considerations:
- All pricing should be based on the compressed data size.
- Very rough estimates for pricing would be $2 per GB for unprotected and $5 per GB for protected.
- Backup software should be included at no additional cost
Our recommendations when it comes to backup:
- Do a combination of online and onsite backup. Often you can do one or the other “inexpensively” because you’re fully invested in a quality solution for the other. An example of this would be to back everything up online and then just use inexpensive portable drives or a cheap attached storage unit for onsite backup.
- Archive. I know this is a dirty word for many companies, but archiving keeps the online costs down considerably and there are ways to ensure the data is available quickly should anyone need it.
If you have a quality onsite solution now, consider just backing up your firm’s critical data online (accounting, HR, forms, and possibly e-mail) to save money.
Uncategorized | Joe Ulm | 
April 7, 2010 5:06 pm
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