BackupPC-users

Re: [BackupPC-users] Hosted customer backups

2008-08-29 01:03:45
Subject: Re: [BackupPC-users] Hosted customer backups
From: Adam Goryachev <mailinglists AT websitemanagers.com DOT au>
To: Ron Fabre <ron AT cybersource.com DOT au>
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:03:39 +1000
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Ron Fabre wrote:
> Guys
>
> We're looking at utilising BackupPC as a platform on which to host
> backups of our customer sites, providing those customers with a level of
> self-management.
>
> Two things are necessary to achieve this;
> 1. Each restore action should notify our accounts dep't so that
> excessive numbers of restores can be invoiced to the customer.

You will probably just want to log the restores to a log file, then you
can run some billing process at the end of the day/week/month/etc...

> 2. Excessively large individual restores should be halted prior to going
> over our metered Internet link. Instead an email should be sent to our
> backup-admin (and to the customer) so that a CD/DVD can be burned (or
> USB-HDD, whatever) and couriered to the customer.

I don't think you should be providing this type of service over a
metered upload connection .... If the customer has a fast connection,
they may well expect to be able to restore "large" amounts of data
directly.... and a dvd/etc is going to be much slower than a download...

> Presumably BackupPC doesn't currently do this but how feasible would it
> be to build this in (or create a plug-in)?

You could certainly modify the perl scripts to check the size of a
restore before submitting it to backuppc, but that may cause other
issues (ie, you don't know the size of the restore until it is completed).

> We've got perl developers here who are probably capable of coding this
> but we may instead consider funding a developer who is experienced in
> the BackupPC codebase.

One problem you would likely have (I am not speaking on behalf of any of
the developers/etc) is that any solution is going to be specific to your
implementation. Even if someone else decided to implement a backuppc
based service then they would likely need different features added. ie,
for me, we don't pay for restore data (we only pay for downloads), so we
are more concerned about the amount of data being transferred during a
backup and of course, the amount of data being stored on our system...

Also, be aware that any solution whether developed in-house or
externally, will need to be easily maintained as new versions of
backuppc are released (Sooner or later you will want to be able to
upgrade, for new features, bug fixes, or security fixes...

Oh, and I would be interested in hearing whether people are using
backuppc for the basis of a commercial service, and/or what
customisation they did to it. Especially how they deal with backing up
windows systems behind a firewall...

Just my comments .... Hope it helps...

Regards,
Adam

- --
Adam Goryachev
Website Managers
www.websitemanagers.com.au
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFIt4MrGyoxogrTyiURApFpAKCG4NO6otKUNL2Q1r5FE+5gdh0AKACfeUZQ
+7KHDruZnJAU81Rqc0uLHVE=
=/s4I
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge
Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes
Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world
http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/
_______________________________________________
BackupPC-users mailing list
BackupPC-users AT lists.sourceforge DOT net
List:    https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users
Wiki:    http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net
Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/