| Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
How It Works
Technical Requirements and Concerns
Backup and Restore Operations
Safety and Security
Pricing and Support
How It Works What is the GlobalBackups service? Do I need to be a computer expert to setup and configure your service?
Technical Requirements and Concerns Do we need to have a super high speed Internet connection for this service?
Our servers are behind a firewall and/or Internet connection sharing routers. Will your service work? Yes. You can keep your network secure while taking advantage of our excellent service.What happens if our server crashes or our Internet connection is interrupted? Our online backup system will detect the disruption and the backup process will automatically resume as soon as your server comes back on-line. All changes made since the last backup will be transferred to our servers and your data will continue to be protected. The NOC (Network Operation Center) continuously monitors the status of all servers being backed up and will almost immediately re-route packets in case a major internet backbone goes down. You will also be contacted if reoccurring connectivity problems are detected on your end. What operating systems do you support?
Does the backup service affect the operation of our servers? Our system has been designed to use as few resources as possible. The incremental backup technology allows us to only transfer the parts of your data that have changed since the last backup. Furthermore, our powerful compression techniques considerably reduce bandwidth usage and backup times.Backup and Restore Operations Can we have only specific partitions or directories backed up, and not an entire server? Yes. You can do more than that, you can specify which partitions/directories should be backed up, how often and how long of a history should be kept. Can you backup web servers? How about databases? Mail servers? Yes. We can backup web sites, databases, images, videos, mail servers, file servers and any data stored on your systems regardless of format. Your data will require no manipulation at all for backup to our servers. We can backup any server that is accessible from the Internet. How long do you keep our backups? As long as you want us to. Some clients choose to have their backups kept online for seven years; others need only a year or a few months. Our service can be customized to fit your needs. If you choose the hard copy option in your plan then your backups are put on lifetime media and sent to your offices at regular intervals. Can we restore our files to the state they were in on _____ ? Yes. For example, your files can be restored to the state they were in three hours ago, five days ago, two months ago or four years ago. You can customize how many hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and yearly backups you would like kept. For example, we can accommodate anything as large as 8760 hourly backups (a full year) or something as small as 4 quarterly backups. Doesn't storing this enormous amount of history consume excessive amounts of space and bandwidth? Not really. Our backup software uses a sophisticated mathematical algorithm which enables it to easily determine the difference between the files stored on your server and the files stored on our backup server. The software then transfers only parts that have changed, not the entire file, thereby significantly reducing resource usage. In addition, our advanced file system allows us to store multiple copies of identical files using only slightly more space than a single copy of the file.We do have enormous amounts of storage and bandwidth available, should the need arise. How do we modify the list of servers to be backed up? By logging into this web site and changing your customer profile. You will be given a unique user name and password to access your profile when your plan is initiated. What do we have to do to start a backup? Absolutely nothing. The system is fully automated. You never have to deal with forgetting to rotate tapes or complicated procedures. After we install our software on your servers, all backups are initiated from our remote backup servers using our automatic system. Your files will always be backed up at the predetermined schedule, even if the clock on your servers stops working and the servers are left untouched for months. How long does the backup process take? The most time consuming part of the process is the initial full backup. Only one is required and it can be scheduled to occur during the night or on a weekend. After the initial backup is complete, only parts of your data that change are transferred to the backup servers. This enables your system to be always protected with only a negligible amount of resource usage. Our network capacity is more than 11000 GB per day and so even the initial backup will take only a short period of time if your servers are connected to a high speed connection. You may utilize the bandwidth limiting feature to reduce bandwidth usage at any time. How long does it take to restore data? Since our network capacity is tremendous, the time to restore will depend mostly on your Internet connection speed. On average 15 GB of data can be restored per day per Mb ps. A typical home cable Internet connection in North America is 3 Mbps (45 GB per day). If your servers are housed in a quality data center then you can expect speeds of at least 50 Mbps or 750 GB per day. Your data can also be delivered to you (often on the same day) on CDs, DVD's, hard drives, or NAS (Network Attached Storage). No. We monitor and manage the backup process for you. You can also access the web based control panel from any modern web browser located anywhere in the world and manage backups, restores, files to be backed up, history preferences and a variety of settings. The easiest way to retrieve backups is via Secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The entire file history, starting from the first backup, is easily viewable and as many files as necessary can be downloaded with just a few clicks. If you are uncomfortable with using FTP, the data can also be downloaded directly from the web (HTTP) using your web browser by simply clicking on the files you want to download. If you prefer, your files can also be made accessible using Windows file sharing (SMB) or the Network File System (NFS). Our back-up servers are accessible 24/7. If you desire not to use any of these methods, simply let us know and we will remotely restore the files for you. Certainly. Your backup can be mailed to you on the storage medium of your choice. Anything ranging from a CD-ROM to a complete file server is possible.Safety and Security How secure are data transfers between our servers and your system? File transfers can be secured using a variety of ciphers, from the most basic to military grade. Some of the possibilities are RC4, 3DES, Blowfish, Twofish, AES-128, AES-192 and AES-256. Your data is secure with us. When you sign up for a plan you will be asked as to the level of security you require for data transfer. How secure is data stored at GlobalBackups? Incredibly secure. Our data centers are equipped with motion and proximity sensors, biometric scanners, power generators, fire suppression systems and security cameras. They are staffed around the clock not only by technicians but also by security guards. How safe is data stored at GlobalBackups? Very safe. Data is initially transferred to the primary redundant storage array. This array consists of multiple storage devices in RAID 1 and RAID 5 configurations. If a disk were to fail, it is automatically and instantly replaced using a stand-by disk with no loss of data or performance. Multiple stand-by disks are in place; this allows several disk failures without any data lost. What if we get infected by a virus? You can restore your files or servers to the condition they were in before they got infected. All files are quarantined as soon as they reach our network. It is impossible for a virus to spread on our network. We can, upon request, scan your files for viruses, worms, and Trojans. Can someone else, besides the people I authorize, access our data? No. Access to your data is tightly controlled using secure pass-phrases, digital certificates and high level encryption. All access attempts are logged and the customer is notified in case of any suspicious activity on the account. Pricing and Support Our customer service department is available 24x7 and an engineer is always on duty to handle advanced problems. Moreover, systems are in place to proactively monitor the backup process and ensure your data is always protected.What is the cost?
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