Remote User Data Backup

I'm hoping someone can help me out with a little problem I'm trying to resolve. I support a bunch of users all across Alaska. Alaska is a very big state and connectivity is poor to non-existent in some areas. My problem is I want to provide some level of backup on user data, especially since some of them use their laptops while driving which tends to cause hard drive problems due to bumps in the road and such (they're not actually working on the computers while driving, but they leave them on). Even when they're connected to our VPN sites it is usually around a 56k connection which is not enough to do backups of the images and videos they have in the limited time they are connected.

I have considered proposing to have proxy backup servers at the VPN sites that would then transfer to our main facility, but the sites with VPN connectivity are many times little more than shacks and are not particularly suited to house a server.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments

dynamik

How much data?

Have you looked at any 3rd party solutions?

kalebksp

Some user's profiles are over 10 GB, they take a lot of pictures and some have video files. The pictures and video are work related and need to be protected because they are occasionally needed for court cases.

kalebksp

dynamik wrote: »

Have you looked at any 3rd party solutions?

We are required to use NetBackup (which we're not yet), but I don't think we'll get the licensing for the Desktop and Laptop component.

blargoe

If they're not willing to shell out some money for a suitable solution to fit the unique needs you are facing, there probably isn't much you can do.

Only thing I can think of is maybe one of those services where you subscribe to a backup service on the Internet, then you wouldn't be limited to VPN speeds but to the speed of the person's internet connection.

kalebksp

blargoe wrote: »

If they're not willing to shell out some money for a suitable solution to fit the unique needs you are facing, there probably isn't much you can do.

Only thing I can think of is maybe one of those services where you subscribe to a backup service on the Internet, then you wouldn't be limited to VPN speeds but to the speed of the person's internet connection.

Yeah, you're probably right. Can't have our information going out on to the internet, plus the speed isn't limited by the VPN, it's by the internet connection.

I guess I'll have to work on the higher ups to get them to pay for the Desktop and Laptop component, which will not be easy.

Thanks dynamik and blargoe.

skrpune

not sure how many users you're talking about so this might not be cost effective, but a very low-tech thing to do is just do external HD backups. Depending on where the users are & how long they're there for, they can either do backups at the office or take external HDs with them to do backups at home or on the road. If the data is occasionally used for court cases, then it's critical to get these files backed up, and ideally have them collected & stored offsite somewhere else for true data safety (maybe when they are at a site with good connectivity they can periodically upload to a backup service?). It's not a perfect solution, but this is a weird situation that doesn't allow for too many options...

paintb4707

skrpune wrote: »

not sure how many users you're talking about so this might not be cost effective, but a very low-tech thing to do is just do external HD backups. Depending on where the users are & how long they're there for, they can either do backups at the office or take external HDs with them to do backups at home or on the road. If the data is occasionally used for court cases, then it's critical to get these files backed up, and ideally have them collected & stored offsite somewhere else for true data safety (maybe when they are at a site with good connectivity they can periodically upload to a backup service?). It's not a perfect solution, but this is a weird situation that doesn't allow for too many options...

Agreed. External hard drives, or even flash drives since they're starting to get pretty big (storage wise) would be the best bet for laptops on the go. Then they can always do online backups once they're in office.

kalebksp

Thanks skrpune,

They do backup some things to flash drives and upload files to our servers, but I'm of the opinion that backups should not be the responsibility of the users. Plus, we use some poorly written programs that store their configuration files on odd places. It's kind of a nightmare of a situation.

paintb4707

kalebksp wrote: »

Thanks skrpune,

They do backup some things to flash drives and upload files to our servers, but I'm of the opinion that backups should not be the responsibility of the users. Plus, we use some poorly written programs that store their configuration files on odd places. It's kind of a nightmare of a situation.

Schedule the backup tasks to run automatically and ensure that the user does not remove their flash drive.

aordal

If you can get a budget for it this is what we run for our remote users. Does not require a VPN.

http://ironmountain.com/index.asp

Ahriakin

Also, while its costly, you can reduce hardware failure by replacing the mechanical drives with internal flash based drives, solid state is less affected by those bumps. The only practical thing based on your limitations is the use of external drive as suggested, if you are worried about obscure data then bite the bullet and give them USB drives large enough to backup the entire drive (and take incremental backups, Acronis Trueimage can do this pretty easily), they never need to know where the data is, just that they hit the backup button when they have time.

kalebksp

Ahriakin wrote: »

Also, while its costly, you can reduce hardware failure by replacing the mechanical drives with internal flash based drives, solid state is less affected by those bumps. The only practical thing based on your limitations is the use of external drive as suggested, if you are worried about obscure data then bite the bullet and give them USB drives large enough to backup the entire drive (and take incremental backups, Acronis Trueimage can do this pretty easily), they never need to know where the data is, just that they hit the backup button when they have time.

We're working on replacing the laptops with Dell XFRs, and I'm pushing for solid state drives. Maybe I'll look to see if they can support two drive configurations, that would be nice. One of the reasons I don't want to go with external hard drives is that I'm pretty sure they would be broken / lost in a short period of time.

Thanks again to everyone.