Solutions

At installation the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service administrator console software is installed on as many or as few workstations as required and will require a valid logon, ensuring no unauthorized access. The web GUI acts as your interface with the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service and enables the configuration of all backups and restores.

The OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service backup software is totally agentless, requiring no additional software to be installed on any protected servers or desktops.

From the administration console when a new backup set is created you must provide a username and password to connect to a server or workstation.

No, but a dedicated user is recommended and it should be set for no password expiration for obvious reasons. In a domain, or NDS environment, a user on each machine isn't necessary as one central user can be created with access to all the resources that require backing up.
This user is responsible for backing up and restoring all the data on your network, it is essential that access permissions are of administrative equivalence. The OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service can only back up data that this user can access. A less privileged user may be restricted, causing data to be missed.

The OffsiteDataSync Appliance is multi homed, i.e. it has one network connection to your network and one connection to OffsiteDataSync's network. This flexible approach allows OffsiteDataSync to integrate fully with your current configuration.

OffsiteDataSync will install the OffsiteDataSync Appliance unit and the DS-User Console at your site and provide the necessary training. If the installation is particularly complex or remote sites are involved, onsite support is available at a daily rate.

For large data volumes, the initial backup may be done to a portable unit, backing up at LAN speeds to a large array of disks. When the full backup of your data is complete, the disks are transported back to OffsiteDataSync's Data Center. Future backups, which are purely incremental, will be transmitted via the leased line connection and synchronized with your initial backup data at the Data Center.

As part of the installation training, OffsiteDataSync will ensure that all your main servers are sensibly configured to ensure their optimum backup. Additionally, you will be invited to send your nominated backup administrator for a full day of training at one of OffsiteDataSync's in-house training courses.

OffsiteDataSync will set up users with access to create and maintain backup sets and schedules. Only people with a user ID on the OffsiteDataSync Appliance will be able to administer its functions.

Multiple user accounts can be created for use on the OffsiteDataSync Appliance and access permissions can be set per backup set. These permissions can be any combination of Backup, Restore, Delete or Modify privileges, so a particular user could be given access to backup and restore only their own machine.

The backups can be time-based and be configured as often as every minute or as infrequently as once a year. More advanced schedule options include the last working day of the month or even one off backups on a particular date. The backups can be event-based triggered for MS and UNIX files and MS-exchanged. This Continuous Data Protection (CDP) captures each change to a file regardless of the time interval.

A backup set can include a whole server, share/volume, directory or even a single file. The backup set could even include just a registry.

There are literally hundreds of different priority levels that can be assigned, ensuring maximum flexibility when organizing your backup schedules.

Any number of machines can be backed up simultaneously. However, as network bandwidth is a factor, OffsiteDataSync would recommend four at once in a LAN environment. This could be increased in a WAN environment to take advantage of many slow external connections.

Yes, the software is designed to fit specific backup windows. The OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service can be told what time to stop at, for example at 8:00am when employees are starting to arrive or maybe by 5:00am if there is an important batch process to run.

The NOC (Network Operations Center) provides a web point of entry for monitoring client backups. It stores client account and configuration information as well as NOC logs. OffsiteDataSync can set up the NOC so each customer is associated with a unique identification number. The NOC shows the last backup time and the completion (successful, with errors, premature) for each backup set through its reports. If the backup set completed with errors, the number of errors is shown. A variety of reports can be generated to statistically review backups (the number and duration of their connections, number of activities, number of files, protected size in MB) and restore activities statistics (number of activities, number of files, over a specified period). Backup/Restore shows a summary of the backup and restore activities for a specified period

The OffsiteDataSync Appliance acts as a gateway only, passing data through after it has been compressed and encrypted, using delta blocking, common file elimination and a digital signature. A database showing information on what has been backed up is held on the OffsiteDataSync Appliance, but no actual data files are retained.

Yes, by default the OffsiteDataSync Appliance backs up its own database up at 6:00am every morning, although this time can be changed if desired.

The OffsiteDataSync Appliance only requests data as it can process it and will not pull more data across the network than can be processed.

De-duplication is one of the sophisticated ways that the OffsiteDataSync Appliance reduces the raw data from your network servers across all remote offices to a size that can be transmitted over the WAN. It ensures that the same data is never transmitted offsite more than twice, thereby saving the bandwidth to transmit only new, unique data. It achieves this simple elimination by generating a digital signature of each file as it is backed up and comparing it against the known details of all previous files. If the digital signature matches a previously backed up file, it must be a duplicate and only a shortcut need be transmitted up the line. Due to the way this technique is applied, it does not matter if the files are on different servers, at different offices or even have different filenames.

Delta blocking is an advanced logic that divides all files into blocks. When the file is detected to have changed, the digital signature of each block is compared against the last known digital signature for the same block of the same file (stored in the database on the OffsiteDataSync Appliance. Any blocks that are different are pulled out to be re-transmitted. These delta blocks will also be compressed and encrypted before transmission.

If the backup is stopped, for whatever reason, it will simply continue onto the next backup in its schedule. It will not revisit the failed backup set until the next time it is set to run, e.g. the following night, at which point it will pick up where it left off. If however the problem has been rectified and the backup window allows, the backup can be restarted manually, immediately. OffsiteDataSync has a dedicated team monitoring the progress of backup events 24x7. If a problem occurs, it will be escalated through the appropriate channels.

No, the OffsiteDataSync Appliance will only connect to your servers during the specified backup schedule, therefore it will not use valuable connection at other times.

The number of versions is a parameter that the system administrator sets during installation. Unlike a tape backup, where the routine is to rotate tapes in a cycle, the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service will only back up a new version of a file when it has changed, guaranteeing that the customer is not wasting space backing up exactly the same version more than once. For example, if a file only changes once a month, there will be 7 months worth of that file. The number of versions stored can be configured on an individual backup set basis. Each backup set can be configured down to include just one file if desired, giving you the ability to maximize the efficiency of the storage.

The OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service has full agentless support for a range of network platforms.

• Extensive OS Support: Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Mac OS X, VMware, Novell Netware, IBM AIX, SUN Solaris, HP-UX, HP-Tru64 UNIX, IBM iSeries OS-400, Red Hat Linux, Novell Suse Linux
• Extensive Database Support: MS SQL Server, MS Exchange Server & Outlook 2000/2003, Oracle 8 & Above, IBM DB2, MySQL, PostgreSQL, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino Server, Novell Groupwise

Yes, for Windows on NTFS volumes the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service can backup both Permissions and Streams. The Permissions and Extended NetWare Attributes can be backed up for NetWare. This is a configurable option in both NetWare and Windows environments.

Microsoft developed SQL and Exchange with the backup requirement in mind. Both products can respond to API calls requesting the services to dump their data, while online, to an external destination. In the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service's case the product simply asks the specified MS SQL or Exchange server to stream the data to the OffsiteDataSync Appliance where it is delta blocked and transmitted offsite. This process is a totally supported Microsoft function and guarantees compatibility with your existing MS systems.

Yes, even though the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service is an agentless solution, it is still capable of running commands on remote servers, be it NetWare or NT. For example, shutting down a database or application running on a server to back it up correctly and restart afterwards, or perhaps interact with some overnight batch processing.

Open files are an issue in most backup environments. If a file is open exclusively on a workstation, it is the server's responsibility to stop anyone else, including a backup package, accessing that file. To help counteract these issues the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service has a range of options which handle open files. These options, combined with use of the Pre and Post commands, enable the backup of almost any file. More complex environments such as Oracle or DB2 can usually be configured to dump their data into a normal file which will be delta blocked and backed up as normal.

The small files and delta blocks of data are first compressed and then encrypted up to AES 256, which is set by the customer during the installation of the OffsiteDataSync Appliance. Data remains encrypted in-flight and at-rest. The backup data is only unencrypted by the OffsiteDataSync Appliance at your site when it has retrieved the encrypted data from your OffsiteDataSync’s Data Center for a restore.

Compression can be likened to letting the air out of a balloon. Although the air has gone, the structure still exists and it can be re-inflated easily. The advantage is that it takes less room. Files, especially databases, are often full of empty space, which can be removed to make the file smaller for transit, whilst making it very easy to recreate. A conservative compression to expect with the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service is 4:1.

Zip files and other compressed files are already efficiently compressed. The OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service cannot improve on the compression, but the file will only be transmitted once. If the file should change, then delta blocking will be used to ensure only the changed portions of the file are re-transmitted.

A 2Mb leased line will back up at approximately 200K/sec, however, this data is compressed bringing the effective backup speed to nearer 400K/sec. In real terms, this equates to a transfer rate of approximately 20Gb per day of compressed data (40Gb per day uncompressed). At this stage the data has also been delta blocked and common files de-duplicated to ensure that only new data is backed up.

The OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service utilizes private leased line connections and all backup data is compressed and encrypted as described above, prior to transmission offsite. Additionally, all network traffic across the private leased line is up to 256 AES encrypted. This is infinitely more secure than many current backup policies, e.g. 3rd party couriers taking tapes offsite, onsite storage where tapes are left in cupboards overnight or backup data being sent offsite via the public Internet.

As part of the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service solution, software will automatically attempt to reconnect three times at five minute intervals and will continue the backup process at the block level when the communication line is re-established.

Only new and unique data will get backed up after the initial backup. Duplicate or unchanged files will not be transmitted.

The data is backed up in real time, so when the administration console indicates that the backup is complete - it is also an indication that the backup data is offsite.

The data is held on disk for rapid access times and is additionally replicated to an alternate location.

Yes. Authentication is performed between the relevant OffsiteDataSync Appliance and system unit each time they connect to re-verify the authenticity of the OffsiteDataSync Appliance. Additionally, the backup data is held encrypted. Only the customers' unique keys will de-encrypt the data.

The data is available for restore immediately after it has been backed up and is held offsite.

Yes, you can restore an individual file or registry and also specify which version you want to restore.

The agentless Message Level Restore (MLR) module allows users to selectively backup and restore individual mailboxes and email messages for one user or for an entire network, depending on needs. Using selective filtering, users can save time, money and resources by restoring only selected mailboxes or emails, instead of having to restore the entire Exchange, Domino or GroupWise databases.

Assuming that the machine in question has had a full backup of all files and registry, then a full disaster recovery of that machine is very simple even to dissimilar hardware or virtual machine.

Yes, the OffsiteDataSync Data Retention Service will display all the files that were backed up on any given day. Providing the backed up files have not been deleted by an administrator or overwritten by more recent versions, then it is possible to restore from any given date.

The leased line is bi-directional, i.e. there is 2Mb each way. The restore data is transmitted down the line, while backup data transmits up the line. There will be very little, if any, conflict between the two. Typically backups are scheduled 'out of office hours' while restores are required during the working day, however it is possible to perform both restores and backups simultaneously if desired.

A threshold point will have been agreed, whereby the time taken for a specified amount of data to be restored down the wire, will take longer than it would for OffsiteDataSync to remove it from the Data Center and transport the disks manually to your site. If this threshold is reached, OffsiteDataSync will ship the data direct to your site and restore at LAN speeds. This threshold depends on the amount of data to transmit and the bandwidth of line installed.

Yes, the restore data can be redirected as desired. You are able to browse the network and provide connection credentials for the redirected restore, just as you do for creating the initial backup set.

Yes, you can select easily which files/directories/servers you wish to restore. There is no need to restore non-essential data until a later time if desired.

OffsiteDataSync can interact closely with your disaster recovery plan, providing a portable unit of disks, holding your data and a new OffsiteDataSync Appliance to any required site. This site may even be the site of your disaster recovery company. This combination of portable unit and new OffsiteDataSync Appliance can enable LAN speed restores to reconstruct servers and workstations

Yes, this is possible, however it would be deducted from your number of free disaster recoveries remaining in that period.