Storegrid Frequently Asked Questions
This page covers the most frequently asked questions related to Zecontech Storegrid
Backup Services.
General Questions
How is StoreGrid different from other desktop backup and
laptop backup products?
StoreGrid is a flexible backup solution that works with your existing hardware.
This flexibility allows it to be deployed in multiple modes - Hosted Online Backup,
Trusted Peer To Peer Backup and Typical Client-Server deployments.
Hosted Online Backup - Remote online backup service provided by Zecontech
Trusted Peer To Peer Backup - StoreGrid provides an easy and intuitive mechanism
to use the free space in user desktops your network for backup purposes. StoreGrid’s
P2P deployment capability is based on the concept of trusted peers in an intranet
whose desktop space can be utilized in a peer-to-peer fashion.
Typical Client-Server deployments - This is a more traditional deployment - ideal
for leveraging existing backup infrastructure by allowing customers to include desktop
and laptop data. All the desktops and laptops run the StoreGrid in Client mode only,
and they all back up their data to a central backup storage server.
Another important feature of StoreGrid is the ease with which end users can configure
backups and restore them, when required, without the help of system administrators.
StoreGrid also allows centralized administration from a Web Console (Browser based),
to make it easy for system administrators to manage and monitor StoreGrid deployments.
Can StoreGrid be used to backup desktops and laptops
to a dedicated backup server inside the intranet?
Yes, StoreGrid can be used to backup desktops and laptops to a dedicated backup
server inside the intranet. In this deployment, the dedicated backup server(s) should
run StoreGrid in server mode and desktops and laptops should run StoreGrid in client
mode.
Can StoreGrid be used for Remote Backups?
Yes, StoreGrid can be used to backup a computer to a Remote location provided the
computer has direct connectivity to the Remote Backup server running StoreGrid.
How does StoreGrid do Open File Backups?
When StoreGrid backs up a file, it can detect automatically if the file has been
changed. Hence StoreGrid can ensure that no file is backed up incorrectly. For files
that change during a backup, StoreGrid does a best effort attempt continuously (in
the background) until the backup for the file succeeds. In a desktop/laptop environment
this strategy almost never fails. However, it is important that StoreGrid be allowed
the requisite permission to access the file(s) that are to be backed up. For example,
Microsoft Outlook cannot be backed up if it is open as StoreGrid cannot access the
requisite files. The best way to handle open file backups is to use StoreGrid’s
Open File Plugin.
What type of encryption does StoreGrid use to secure the
data being backed up? How secure is my data?
StoreGrid uses the Blowfish encryption algorithm. You can get more information about
blowfish algorithm at http://www.schneier.com/blowfish.html
Excerpts from the blowfish website:
Blowfish was designed in 1993 by Bruce Schneier as a fast, free alternative to existing
encryption algorithms. Since then it has been analyzed considerably, and it is slowly
gaining acceptance as a strong encryption algorithm .
StoreGrid will support other encryption algorithms as options in the future. As
such your data is very secure as blowfish based encryption has never been broken
before.
What happens if I forget my backup encryption password?
If you forget the backup encryption password, then there is no known way to decrypt
your backed up data. So it is recommended that you write down the backup encryption
password in a safe and secure place.
How does StoreGrid do incremental backups?
Storegrid uses Intelli-Delta Technology for Incremental Backups. Intelli-Delta is
a powerful and proven technology that performs backups for only the incremental
changes in files. Instead of handling incremental changes in the block level (e.g.
4KB blocks), StoreGrid's Intelli-Delta technology goes one, actually, two steps
further. StoreGrid does not implement pre decided block sizes as this is often sub-optimal.
For a small file, the block size may be too large and hence translate to a larger
amount of data being sent than what's required. For very large files, a small block
size translates to performance degradation. StoreGrid decides on individually optimal
block sizes for every single file after taking into account the original file size.
This ensures that for each file, changes are examined at an 'optimized byte level'.
Additionally, StoreGrid also leverages RSYNC's powerful ROLLING CHECKSUM feature
- going one more step ahead of conventional approaches to incremental backups. For
more on the RSYNC algorithm, please visit http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/
I need to backup a large amount of data over the internet
and its taking too much time. Is there a better way?
Yes there is! Typically, your first backup takes the longest time/bandwidth. Thereafter,
if you've enabled incremental backups (which you should be doing if you're backing
up online), only changes in files/folders are backed up. These incremental backups
consume lot less time & bandwidth! StoreGrid has a feature that allows you to take
the first 'heavy' backup locally to say, a USB Disk, physically move the data to
a remote server, and thereafter seamlessly continue with incremental backups directly
to the remote server.
I have an external hard disk. Can I use this with StoreGrid?
If so, how do I do this?
You certainly can! If you've already invested in an external disk, you might as
well use it better! With all that extra space and StoreGrid’s powerful features,
lost data can be a thing of the past!
What’s more, if one of your computers has the 'external hard disk' connected to
it, any of your other networked computers can back up to this disk. No need for
complicated connections between your external disk and your LAN. StoreGrid manages
all that for you - without any added hardware.
I know StoreGrid works across Windows, Linux, Mac, FreeBSD
operating Systems. Does that mean the backups and restore can also be done across
different operating systems?
Yes, StoreGrid not only works across different operating systems, it is also interoperable
across the supported operating systems. That is, you can backup your Mac OS X to
a Windows or Linux OR backup your Windows to a Linux or Mac OS X and so on. The
only limitation is that when you restore your data to any client machine (other
than the originator machine), the new client machine has to support the same matching
endian byte order. For example, a Mac OS X can backup to a Windows. But the backed
up data has to be restored by only another Mac OS X system. This is because the
blowfish encryption algorithm StoreGrid uses is based on the endianess of the machine.
If all the different machines are based on Intel processor, then there should not
be any problems with the restore across operating systems.
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