Things to Take Care while choosing a back-up service

by Jithin Dev

Online data back-up remote service is well understood from the name itself. Online backup service is almost similar to traditional back-up software. Any important data can be transmitted over Internet and securely store them on a server that is in a professional data centre instead of the usual CD’s, DVD’s, back-up tapes, etc. One of the important features of back-up service is that data is transferred over a networked connection to an ideal remote location. In the case of traditional back-up system one has to manually take the back-up media fully off-site. In online back-up system one does not have to keep changing tapes or CD’s or other manual steps, it is fully automated and has unlimited data retention. This software works continuously and whenever there is a change in the data it is updated automatically in the software. Below are listed some features of a good back-up service:

Before transmitting data over Internet, it should be encrypted and stored in the same format. User should have an option to use his own encryption key for himself and not for the server. Data should be encrypted before transmission and it should be at least 256 bits.
Remote back-up service should support network back-up so as to support several computers, servers, etc.
This application should be a continuous process, i.e., it should provide Continuous Data Protection (CDP). Usually normal back-up services are scheduled at a pre determined time and some provides continuous back-ups. Continuous data back-up services are usually used by large online merchants.
File by file restoration is another feature that a back-up service should have without any support of the service provider. Meanwhile, there are some others who give the users provision to select the files or folders.
Remote back-up service should have online access to files, i.e., the user should have an option to access backed-up files through any web browser. Most of the services do not support this particular feature.
To minimize the bandwidth of the entire data content, the remote back-up software should enable a loss-less data compression algorithm, hence data will be compressed.
The service should support differential data compression i.e., to minimize the traffic of network. This operation is almost similar to open source file transfer service i.e., only the bits that has changed is transferred. Most advanced online back-up services only support this feature rather than transferring the entire file.
Another important functionality is that user should have an option to set the bandwidth as per their requirement at varying time of the day.
The back-up service should provide a good storage facility depending on the kind of enterprise at an affordable price. Usually most of such software providers offer free storage facility which would be sufficient for small businesses but not necessary it would be enough for big online business.

To have a good back-up service we need to have a dedicated server administration services, and strong technical support. Most of the companies opt for outsourced technical support since they do not have the required man power and infrastructure to handle this.

Article submitted Wednesday, April 20, 2011 & read 8 times.

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