Backup Anytime

50 Things you should know about online backup

1 Server Encryption
The essence of online backup is that you are sending a copy of your data to another location and maybe to another company
to protect it and make it available when you need it. Sharing all of your data with any other organisation is not an option
as you may not have the right (even if you trust your intended online backup partners) to share data on your servers which
pertains to other companies and individuals. It is imperative therefore that you do not just use encryption but that it
be of the highest standard available and that your provider does not retain a key. You should also be able to change this
code with out reference to your data centre partners.

2 Transport Encryption
Securing your data at you online backup data bank alone is not enough. The data in transit has to be encrypted also.
Ask specific questions as to the level of encryption used at the remote data store and for the data in transit.

3 Encryption code
While encryption is the lock which stops intruders from getting at your data, your encryption code is the key which ensures
you can gain access to it. Your provider should make a big deal of this and leave you with a clear understanding of how
to change your code (private encryption support options) and the consequences if you lose it and fail to change it pre-disaster recovery requirement.
Compression

4 Compression as its name suggests compresses files to reduce their size. This assists in two ways. Firstly it reduces the
amount of space and therefore costs applicable to your online backup account and secondly it reduces the amount of
bandwidth you use sending and receiving files. The downside of compression is that it requires a certain amount of time to
complete with the result being a time lag between selection and transfer of data.

5 Support
Your online backup account should come with prompt person to person support. It is just not an option for you to depend on
delayed or email only support when you are in a data outage situation.

6 Online backup cost
Nothing in life is free. Some things are advertised as free. This is a strange paradox considering that advertising is not
free. If someone advertises free services they are paying for the advertisements with the aim of making a profit.
Here is how it commonly works with online backup. A provider advertises free online backup. New subscribers receive a
service which has some or all of the following limitations. Advertising screens in the software or their browser; poor,
limited or email only support; nominal space requiring an “upgrade” to a paid account just when you have built up a big
enough archive to negate the possibility of easily moving to a proper commercial grade option for the same price.
If you intend to make use of online backup, pay for it. If you don’t, then backup offline yourself. This all said, you do need to ensure you
are getting good value for money. Compare online backup companies. Don’t just check price per gig. Ask detailed questions.
You will be able to list your own questions if you read this list in its entirety.

7 Backup Bandwidth
This is less and less often an issue as most clients online backup requirements are indicative of their size and therefore
budget and existing broadband. There are however some exceptions such as the home user with a large photography library.
These users will normally be aware of their requirement differences.

8 Local store.
Most quality online backup solutions will retain a local store of data. This will ideally be encrypted, compressed and
hidden from users. This local store allows fast restore should your broadband be down.

9 Data selection
You can not have a “fire and forget” selection attitude with any data backup solution. It is very important to ensure you
include all data you will need and exclude data you do not wish to backup. This is not a once off exercise and needs to
be revisited.

10 Normal restore environment
In a non disaster recovery environment, you can start a normal restore on your computer. This can be completed in a system
which is in good health and is often used to restore a single file or a small number of files in for example an accidental
deletion situation.

11 Disaster recovery environment
A disaster recovery environment is a situation in which not alone do you need to restore files but the computer or server
which manages your online backups is stolen, wiped or completely destroyed. In this situation the online backup software
needs to be reloaded on to the original system or a replacement. You will need your encryption code here. If you have it
you have nothing to worry about. If you don’t, you have genuine concerns.

12 lost encryption code
If you lose your encryption code when your system is still in working order, all you have to do is change the code. The
functional system will be allowed to do this as it authenticates with the online backup server. If however you lose your
encryption code and fail to obtain a new one before your system is stolen, wiped or completely destroyed then you are not in
a good situation. Here is the prognosis. You will need to hire a gerontologist and attempt to crack the code. The code has
purposely been set as difficult to crack to protect your data. This process will be expensive, take up to a week to attempt
and have a probability of possibly below 50% of succeeding so mind your code. If you lose it, replace it immediately.

13 Snapshot (version) limitations
Some providers limit snapshots to thirty days. In other words you can only see thirty days worth of file versions. This isn’t
much use in a virus scenario where you may not be aware of a problem ’till beyond thirty days. Backupanytime use a default 365
version management system. This can be increased or decreased as per the user requirements.

14 Open file management
Some files do not close and others with the capability to close may be left open by you or your applications. Open file
management should be a standard feature with most reputable online backup companies. Consider it a component which most quality online backup providers will bundle with all accounts. If your provider
does not have it or requires an upgrade to provide it, move elsewhere.

15 Network drive support
The software you use should have full network drive support. Even if you do not use network drives, you may in the future and
may even use them as a consequence of online backup in order to backup multiple systems with a lesser number of installations.

16 Search-ability
We at backupanytime are very proud of the search-ability of our online backup system. Unlike most competitors, our online backup system allows
you to search by file name, date or type and allows you to use wild cards. This allows users to find files they have not
alone lost but the name or type they can not remember. Remember that you may need to restore a file years after creating it
and a requirement to remember something you simply cant remember is no different from not having a backup at all. Our system
makes allowances for this all too common scenario and allows you to use whatever information pertaining to the file which you
have. You will not be looking for a file if you know absolutely nothing about it so our system is designed to enable you
to work with what you’ve got.

17 Auto selection
If you know you want to backup all files (current and future) of a certain type, auto-selection makes this possible. You can
for example select the file extension .doc as an auto selection extension and every .doc file present and future will be
included in the backup set.

18 Multiple backup set support.
You may require a number of backup sets such as a daily backup of essential files and a weekend backup of lesser files.
Given that they are run by the same system, any time or file access clash can be resolved or reported by the system.
Multiple file set is used commonly in even the smallest commercial environment. Make sure your online backup partner can
support it.

19 Application load
You do not want your online backup application to use significant resource on your computers. This causes two problems.
Firstly, your system will run slowly if the application uses significant resources and seconly it will increase the risk
of a crash and the failure of individual backups.
20 Backup reporting
You need your online backup system to report to you on a per backup set basis. These reports should be detailed and provide
all required information without heavy reading. Our system reports use the backup status as the subject so you will know
if a backup is successful even if you do not open the mail. The mail provides usage details at a glance and if you want a
full list of all files and their individual status you just open the attachment and there it is. Most systems are not
nearly as user friendly and can result in a user not checking the status and not being alerted to a failed backup or a
failed backup system.
21 Compatibility
You obviously need to ensure that you online backup company can provide a version of their software which is compatible with
your operating system. In addition (and this can be overlooked) you need to ensure that your online backup company provides
upgrades as your operating system upgrades. It is common for smaller or non specialist companies not to be able to release
operating system and security issue updates in a timely manner possibly leading to your online backup not working
or being unsafe for a period.

22 Fair billing system.
Regardless of the price per gig you agree with you online backup provider, make sure they agree an upper limit at which
billing will not increase without per incident resolution. What does this mean? It is common for some low cost online
backup providers to use automatic billing when a client mistakenly adds a very large file selection (such as a photo or
video library) to a backup set. We at backupanytime use agreed rather than automated billing. This means that we will accept any
amount of data from your computer but your billing will not be amended beyond the agreed amount until you either verify
that you wanted to add the additional data or you decide to remove it. Some sensible quantity and time limits may apply on a per user basis or with a much overdue account.

23 Single software solution
Your supplier should have one software installation which works for all environments. If your provider has to reinvent the
wheel with every second system in your office, run a mile. Lesser online backup solutions require a different version for
different environments. This is to save on software cost giving you the limited feature list. Any additional time the
vendor spends tinkering with your computers is time you will be paying for one way or another.

24 Support for mobile users.
Laptop users can not be expected to sit in the office or at home until the curent backup finishes.
Your system should have ethe facility to continue from where you left off so you are in control.

25 Local to remote server support.
If your initial backup is significant (in size) , your provider should take ownership of the problem and
resolve so the first backup is shipped and subsequent backups run online.

26 Delta (bit level) backup support.
This system requires only the parts of a file which have changed since the last backup
to be included. The consequence is that the required time to complete is reduced as is the space used on the server. Many
suppliers will say this is very new technology. It may be to them. We have been using it since 2006.

27 Testimonials
Who you select to store and support your online backups is a very serious decision. Ask for references and check them. Don’t just go with the online backup testimonials on their website. Make sure they are real people and they are not the only testimonials they have got.

28 Online backup trial
No matter how much you want online backup, run a trial before signing the bottom line. This should run smoothly. If it
does not, run a trial with another company.
29 Test during and post trial.
While well coded software should work in a multitude of environments, it is essential that you test the system and ensure
it works effectively in your environment.  Don’t make the classic mistake of assuming that all systems are backing up because you are aware of success in the case of your own computer.
30 Take an active role.
Ensure your provider explains the system clearly enough for you to be able to check independently of anyone else that things
are working and that your provider knows you will be taking an active role. If a provider has a difficulty with this, you
should remind yourself that it is your data and take it elsewhere.

31 Managed service
While you want to have control over your online backups you do not want to put yourself in a position in which a paid outsource
company can blame you for an issue with their service. Ensure that while you get informed by the system that the provider also
has monitoring and reporting responsibilities.
32 Offline backup
Most online backup solutions will allow you to retain off line copies. Indeed the backupanytime system will allow the generation
of an encrypted local copy of all bit level / delta level backups. This allows fast restore in the event of a broadband outage
and really is an important part of you data availability plan if you are going to use online backup.

33 Speed
The speed of online backup is goverened by a number of things.
The efficency of the software used effects the preparation speed.
The power of your server or workstation (Mainly Processor and RAM) effects the overall performance.
The speed your broadband account allows is an essential part for the upload and download of files.
The availability of files during the backup has an impact.
The type and condition of your network affects mapped network drive backups.

34 Price protection
Online backup pricing generally goes only one way - down. This however relates to price per gig and not the overall price as per the
amount of space you use. Make sure your provider is not just good value for the quantity of space you need now but also in the
space ranges you are headed towards. Get assurances on this as moving provider later is an expense you can avoid if the proper
checks are run now.

35 Automation
While much of this post advises you to get involved and take a proactive role in your online backup, the system should be automated.
The more automation you can employ, the less risk there is of human interference causing a failure. So, you are taking a proactive role
in knowing how the system should work, knowing how to read the reports, what to watch out for and in being able to add new data
locations to the backup. This leaves you as the master with the system reporting to you.

36 Local support provider relationship
Online backup is one level of data outage defense. It does not reduce your requirement for local I.T. support but will assist local
I.T. support with regard to protecting your system and making data available. Local support are a great source of information as
to which data needs to be backed up as they know your setup better than your online backup company and they (should) have a better
I.T. grounding than you.
37 Data availability (Uptime)
This should ideally be 100% or somewhere between 99 and 100%
This figure relates to the suppliers up-time. Downtime can be caused by technical issues or even just general maintenance. This figure
should be high as most maintenance does not require any downtime so most downtime is due to technical issues which should be few and far between.

38 On demand backup
Scheduled backups should be the main type of backup run but there are occasions when you will need to do a manual or on demand backup.
An example of this would be prior to any major network upgrade. This allows you to protect any data which may be lost during the
upgrade and increase your version listing as against relying on last nights backup and missing any version changes in th intervening
hours.

39 Firewall issues
Most well programmed online backup solutions will be firewall friendly up the the point of major industry software firewalls and the
firewall which comes as a part of any popular operating system such as Windows XP. If however, you have a hardware firewall or you are behind a corporate
level firewall which has to cater for the protection of a wide variety of systems it is possible that you may need to “tell the firewall”
which port your online backup system talks on.

40 Minimum requirements
Your online backup provider will alert you to the minimum requirements needed to use their system. Local network support will be able
to confirm the suitability of your current broadband account with regard to the amount of data you intend backing up and the relevant
backup window.
41 Microsoft exchange and sql server support
Microsoft Exchange and SQL support should be standard with your online backup software. Any complications here are a red flag as support
for Exchange and SQL are standard requirements for common business applications.

42 Scalability
Be aware that your storage requirements will increase over time. Ensure that your online backup company are not just good value in the
range of data you have right now but also in with regard to your expected and intended quantities. This future scalability test is also
appropriate to the upload, download, contention, limits and fair usage policies of your broadband provider.

43 Secure multi location support for mobile workers
Do not accept an ip based system if you intend utilising online backup for your mobile workforce. Mobile users (and indeed some office
based users) will have frequent ip address changes. Choose an online backup provider who uses a server locator service so your pcs and
laptops can backup from anywhere in the world regardless of their ip address and that this ip address non dependence is also applicable
to your service providers servers so should your service provider have to move temporarily or permanently your service will not be
affected.
44 Contract type
Insist on a monthly contract. This type of contract does not require a deposit and requires you to pay only for the months you use the
service and leaves you free to leave if you are not happy. Effectively it runs along the lines of health club membership. Any advance
payment or extended sign-up requirement is effectively a supplier trying to retain dissatisfied clients. Run a mile.
45 Number of mirrors
Suppliers have a habit of saying “two mirror servers” but meaning one server and one fail-over. This may be enough for someone else but it
isn’t enough for you. Insist on at least three servers with the option to join a fourth should you so require.

46 Location of backup mirrors
You should know the location of the mirror servers and be allowed to visit. After all this is your data and any effort
to dissuade you from visiting is not a good sign.

47 Online backup training
You know what you need to backup. Your online backup supplier should assist with the actual implementation of the online backup set if
you are inexperienced with data backup systems. Avail of this assistance as it is imperative that your initial backup set is correct
as any anomalies may require reset rather than reconfiguration of the backup set.
48 Supplier experience
Ideally, your online backup partners should be online backup specialists and not general I.T. contractors. If they are general I.T.
contractors, seek assurances that they are partnered with online backup specialists. Additionally, query how long they are in the
online backup business. Online backup itself is a relatively new technology and you do not want to be part of the vanguard of a start up
scenario.

49 Unlimited backup is actually limited at both ends
If you are offered “unlimited online backup” be aware that no online backup provider can actually offer this unless they are also
your broadband provider. Online backup capacity is limited not just by server space but by the upload and download capacity of your
broadband. The processing power of your server also limits the potential backup with regard to how much data it can prepare for
sending relative to the backup window.

50 Annual data audit.
Quite often you will see the marketing terms “set it and forget it” used by online backup companies. This is far too glib an approach for
online backup. Your data backup requirements will change over time. Your data management and retention policies will need to be
monitored and amended as appropriate to changing needs and law. In addition, your backup systems will needed to be tested and you need
to run test restores to ensure you are not a victim of data corruption. Online backup does automate the data backup task. You should
however be aware that you need to be in control of your data and this requires taking an active role in monitoring and testing all
aspects of your online backup systems. While an annual data audit as a major undertaking is essential, you should have addition
quarterly or even monthly system checks in place as part of your I.T. service contract.