Remote Backup Recommendations?

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Posted by shoktone, 02-15-2010, 09:12 AM
Hi Everyone, I currently run about 30 reseller accounts (mostly cPanel with a few DA thrown in for good measure). I try to do the sensible thing and make sure I have daily backups of the databases and monthly backups of the site files. I'm having major issues finding a reliable remote backup provider. I've logged into my remote backup account today to find that all my backups are gone. I'm currently awaiting an update from the providers, I just hope I haven't lost 9 months of backups. I've had issues with these guys in the past, so I'm on the lookout for another provider. Here are my requirements: - Budget: ~£180/year - Ideally I want about 10Gb of space. - FTP Connection - Ability to change password I'm happy to pay a little more for a rock solid reliable provider. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance....
Posted by Dan_EZPZ, 02-15-2010, 10:23 AM
www.bqbackup.com easily fit inside your budget and are rock solid.
Posted by jamesoks, 02-15-2010, 10:27 AM
Why not do it yourself? I bought a NAS with an FTP server (or can install one yourself) and WHM allows me to schedule daily/weekly backups via remote FTP. Pretty straightforward. Will eat into your bandwidth requirements, but that will be the same for a third-party provider.
Posted by njoker555, 02-15-2010, 12:29 PM
look at webbycart - their backup services are great and pretty cheap too.
Posted by shoktone, 02-15-2010, 01:49 PM
Thanks for the replies everyone. I've just heard back from my current providers and it appears one of the hard drives crashed last week. Of course they didn't actually tell me this and thus, my backups haven't been running. I'm waiting to hear back on whether they have an image from the week before, but we'll see. Have any of you guys used the recommendations that were posted? I'm just trying to get a feeling for actual ticket response times. I raised a ticket today and it took 4 hours for a reply, which to me isn't a good response time, especially during business hours. I'm just very wary of going with the "cheap options" at less than £5/month as that's what I'm paying at the moment. It really shouldn't be difficult to do a basic 10Gb backup account for £5/month, but obviously it is. Anyway, I'll check out the suggestions and ping them a couple of pre-sales questions to see how they respond. If anyone has any more suggestions, keep them coming.
Posted by Dan_EZPZ, 02-15-2010, 03:41 PM
I use BQ for a few things and have done for years, they're a great company - don't let their cheap costs fool you.
Posted by shoktone, 02-16-2010, 05:35 AM
Thanks Dan, I always like to hear from people who have actually used a service rather than hearsay. I've pinged them a few questions so I'll see how quickly they get back to me. Just a quick update, my current provider has lost all of my backups. Apparently it was a disk failure, but I'll wait for more information before I get too irate. You would think they would run a backup server in RAID5 at least, but I guess not. I wouldn't mind, but I'm paying $75/year for a backup server which is useless as it's not even reliable. I'm absolutely happy to pay more for a better service, but I'm really struggling to find 10Gb that prices more than $10/month. Once I've got clarification on the situation I'll name and shame my current provider.
Posted by shoktone, 02-16-2010, 04:26 PM
Okay, a quick update. First of all, I've signed up for Webbycart and I don't think they're going to work out. I probably should have mentioned that I'm based in the UK, but the connection speed from Webbycart to the UK is too slow. It just took over 20 minutes to upload a 100Mb from one of my accounts which just isn't going to be fast enough. When I'm trying to shunt files around, I don't want to be waiting forever for files to come down the line. I've signed up for bqbackup.com, so we'll see if they're any better. I suspect I either need to take the speed hit, or try to track down a UK based company who are competent I'll keep you all posted on my progress.
Posted by bqinternet, 02-16-2010, 06:48 PM
We're glad to have you. You should find the login details in your email now.
Posted by shoktone, 02-16-2010, 08:27 PM
Well, I'm very happy to say that the performance on BQ is a lot better for me in the UK. It only took a few minutes to complete the upload process so I'm going to stick with them for the forseeable future. It's also nice to see that Scott is on here as well
Posted by net, 02-16-2010, 08:33 PM
You are running 30 reseller accounts? Why not get your own VPS or Dedicated server so you can properly control all your accounts and remote backups?
Posted by HostXNow_Chris, 02-16-2010, 08:46 PM
I use BQInternet for Offsite backups too. They have a good setup, etc.
Posted by HostXNow_Chris, 02-16-2010, 08:51 PM
P.S would be good if BQInternet allowed hosts to resell backup accounts to their own clients... like what ServerSync.com do.
Posted by shoktone, 02-17-2010, 04:02 AM
I run a few VPS' for the more CPU intensive web applications, but reseller accounts suit my needs/budget/plan. A lot of the sites are with the same customer and it's for SEO purposes. It also means that all my eggs aren't in one basket. If one reseller account goes down, it's a problem, but the customer has other sites running. If everything was on one server/vps, it would be a massive problem.
Posted by NeoComp, 02-25-2010, 02:48 AM
I have had bad experiences with several remote backup providers : "out of space" messages ( overselling ), support tickets delayed more than 24 hours, sales tickets delayed more than 3 days, change of server/IP without previous notice, change of control panel without previous notice, downtimes ( backup servers not being monitored ) ... One of my tried and recommendable options is xsbackup.com, fast support usually "online" by MSN or YM ( last problem resolved "in 2 or 3 minutes" ), direct phone for an emergency ( critical to me ), reliable service, RAID 6 mirrored to an additional backup server and a LIFETIME coupon 25% off at WHT I'm using my own scripts using rsync !!!
Posted by HostXNow_Chris, 02-25-2010, 07:05 AM
All I got a that site was a blank page with a warning message from AVG (see pic) http://f.imagehost.org/0757/untitled_6.png So it doesn't look there servers are very secure.
Posted by themedia, 02-26-2010, 05:18 AM
hey chris. your av is flagging the security verification shields as viruses. it's not a problem on our side. cheers
Posted by HostXNow_Chris, 02-26-2010, 07:12 AM
Here is the source code I get for your homepage: I'm using AVG Internet Security 9.0. Other security software might be blocking your site too. Definitely need to look into that.
Posted by themedia, 02-26-2010, 09:46 AM
weird. i took off the security seals for further investigation, but i think it must be some kind of issue with the antivirus reading the seals wrong. oh well. everyhing should be clear. thanks for letting me know. i did not know of that AVG behavior. i am not implying anything however, but AVG has screwed up things in the past as well, with reading legitimate code as malware. since then i use avast for my personal needs. cheers.
Posted by HostXNow_Chris, 02-26-2010, 10:30 AM
That's better, your site loads up fine now, and without giving off any security warning messages. No worries.
Posted by NeoComp, 02-26-2010, 06:48 PM
I also had problems with AVG reporting legitimate code as malware. In any case if I "must choose" an option between : a) A remote backup provider with "some kind of security issues" in his website, but with a proven and reliable backup service and without none "out of space" message ( one of the most important thing for a backup service ). b) A remote backup provider without security issues in his website, but with support tickets delayed more than 24 hours, sales tickets delayed more than 3 days or 1 or more "out of space" messages ( overselling or nodes not being monitored ) My option would be a) ... because usually backup nodes are completely isolated of the provider website node. Obviously option a) without security issues in his website is the best option ... and to resolve "quickly" issues reported in WHT
Posted by themedia, 02-26-2010, 08:06 PM
just to be clear, there are no security issues with the website, it's probably the javascript encoding that triggers avg into considering the seals as malware. i have reported the issue to ebuyershield, and they should work on it. it's not a problem on our side. and yes, our main website, and billing are completely isolated from the backup network, different datacenters actually in different cities. i hope i covered all the issues. regards
Posted by eSupun, 02-27-2010, 11:51 PM
Most of them provide their service for high cost. Aren't there any free solutions?
Posted by Dustin B Cisneros, 02-27-2010, 11:55 PM
Free? :-s never heard of one nor would trust one.
Posted by NexDog, 03-02-2010, 02:09 AM
AVG sucks. Do yourself a favour and get an On-Access anti-virus program. ZoneAlarm Anti-Virus includes their firewall and prices $30. Anyhow, back on topic, when a host gets large enough it needs to look into its own in-house managed remote backup system. R1Soft is nice and I'm waiting for their Plesk Windows client integration before I take the plunge. For now we use the opensource Bacula and backup across a private network to storage servers. Have used a few of these opensource ones and Bacula is the best by far.