General FAQ
Installation FAQ
How secure are my backups?
Evault has two major security features. The first is an encrypted authorization feature for every user that connects to our Vault that protects your data from unauthorized access. All communication between Agents, Plug-Ins, Central Controls and Vaults use an over-the-wire encryption method for data communications, developed exclusively by EVault, Inc. An additional option is to encrypt the data before transmission to the Vault. This protects your data both during transmission over the network and while the data is stored on the remote storage server.
There are currently five different encryption methods available for agents:
- DES (56-bit)
- Blowfish (56-bit)
- TripleDES (112-bit)
- Blowfish (128-bit)
- AES (128-bit)
- AES (256-bit)
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What are the minimum bandwidth requirements?
An always-on connection is required, and ADSL should be suitable.
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How do you perform an initial (seed) backup?
An initial seed backup may be performed over the network and the software is designed to allow processing over a number of nights during a backup window so that there is no impact during working hours. Alternatively this could be set to run over a weekend and ignore backup window time restrictions. An initial seed backup may also be performed using removable media for larger volumes of data, or a QuickShip Vault (portable NAS) should you have a number of systems that need seeding.
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What platforms are supported with the Client Agent? *
Microsoft Windows 2000/2003/XP Pro/Vista, Netware 4.2/5.1/6.0/6.5, Solaris 9/10, Red Hat Linux 9/ES3.x/ES4.x/ES2.1
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What platforms are supported with the Administrator? *
Microsoft Windows 2000/2003/XP Pro/Vista.
* These are updated from time to time as new versions of the software are released.
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Can you backup your Windows registry?
Yes, providing you select the registry/system state backup option. During restore you have the option of restoring your registry.
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Can you backup your Windows domain controller and active directory?
Yes, providing you select the registry/system state backup option. During restore you have the option of restoring your registry and active directory.
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Can you backup mapped network devices?
Yes
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What are the options for the retention of backups?
Default retention policies include daily, weekly and monthly and you have the ability to create custom policies to keep backups of your data available to suit your specific requirement.
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How are open files handled during backups?
Open file processing is supported using open file manager additional software options (separately licensed).
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How is Microsoft Exchange handled?
A Microsoft Exchange plug-in is available for Microsoft Exchange 2000, 2003 & 2007 that supports DR (database) backups and Mailbox / Public Folder (brick level) backups.
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How are databases handled?
Plug-ins are available for MS SQL Server 2000 and 2005 as well as Oracle 8i, 9i & 10g. Other databases can be supported either using open file processing or by using the database dump function in the database software and backing up the dump file.
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Is Microsoft Small Business Server supported?
Microsoft Small Business Server is supported.
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What sort of files does the delta algorithm work on?
The delta algorithm works well on a variety of file types. Note that the first backup (or initial seed) is always a master or full backup. Subsequent backups take advantage of delta processing technology. Files that change very little or vary rarely, such as executable files, require virtually no backup activity. Most data files, especially databases, change relatively little during day-to-day operation and therefore lend themselves nicely to the delta technology which analyzes files to identify and backup only those blocks that have changed since the last backup.
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How do the automatic backup schedules work?
You can schedule backups to run at any time of the day or night as frequently as you like.
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Can you administer multiple backups?
Using the Centrol Control software, a single LAN administrator can setup backups on behalf of other users. The managed system needs to be running the EVault Agent software in the background, and the administrator can then use the Central Control software to connect to the managed system to configure and schedule the backup tasks remotely.
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Can you run more than one backup at a time?
If the Operating System supports running separate instances of an executable program then you may run more than one backup at once on that server. Operating systems such as Microsoft Windows support this, however Netware does not.
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What is SIDF?
System Independent Data Format (SIDF) is a standard to allow data portability across different tape media and systems. EVault uses a format very close to the actual SIDF standard that provides all the portability benefits in a proprietary product.
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If you add more disks do you need to re-seed your backup?
Since the delta mapping is done at the file level and not at the physical disk level, adding more disks will not present a problem. Note that the administrator will need to modify the backup task to include the new disks or create additional tasks to back the new disks up. If these disks were added to an existing task then only the new data on the new disk would need to be seeded as the data on the original disk is still stored on the storage vault.
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Is your data encrypted as it travels over the network?
Yes. Communications between the agent and the vault is over an encrypted connection, and you may optionally select to encrypt your data before it is transmitted using one of five encryption algorithms.
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How do you restore data?
Data can be restored online using a wizard in the Central Control application.
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Can you search for the file you want to restore?
Yes
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How do you perform a full restore in the event of a disaster?
You have a number of options for restoring your backups from Foreshores Vault
The first would be that you install an Operating System and the EVault Agent onto your server and then the administrator would use the Central Control application to restore your data from the vault over the network.
The second would be to install an Operating System and the Evault Agent onto your server and then bring it to our datacentre and connect it directly into our network to then restore your data over a high speed network.
The third would be to request that the backup is delivered to your premises using removable media (this would incur a charge). You could then perform a restore from the local media rather than across the network.
Finally, you could house a server in our datacentre and restore directly onto that server. You could then either operate from that server in a DR scenario or arrange to get it shipped out to you. Please contact us for more information on these options.
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Is a ’bare metal recovery’ supported?
Yes. Performing a ’bare metal recovery’ is covered in the manuals, but basically it’s just a case of getting new similar hardware, installing the operating system and service pack to the same level as prior to the backup you will restore, installing the Agent, and registering the Agent to the Vault as an existing computer. The previous configuration is then downloaded to the Agent from the Vault and you can perform a full system restore (you may need to do multiple restores if you have scheduled multiple backups such as a system backup and an exchange message store backup).
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Can you restore data to a different computer?
Yes. Any computer that wants to backup or restore data must have the agent installed and be registered with the our vault under your personal account. It is then possible to select to restore data from another computer in your personal account. You would then be prompted to select the backup task and the particular safest to restore from and the location to restore the data to on your computer.
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How much data is stored on the vault?
The initial seed backup of all data is generally about 50% of the original data on your servers (after compression). Depending on how much data changes each day you could generally expect each delta to be about 2%.
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Can I use the Central Control and manage my clients remotely from anywhere?
Yes. The Central Control is simply a management tool that is installed on a Microsoft Windows based system that can communicate with and manage remote backup agents provided that there is an IP route between those devices. It utilises TCP port 808 for this communication so you may need to configure any firewalls between the Centrol Control and the agent to allow traffic on that port between those devices. All communication between the Central Control and the agent is encrypted by default to ensure security.
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What ports are used for communication?
TCP port 808 is used for communication between the Central Control and the agent, and TCP port 2546 is used for the agent to communicate with the vault. Note that the vault never initiates communication with the agent, so the agent is fully supported in a Network Address Translation (NAT) environment including overloaded NAT or PAT sessions.
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Is the communication between the Central Control and the agent encrypted?
Yes
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Can I have more than one Central Control?
Yes
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Can I make sure one Central Control cannot see what the other Central Control can?
A Central Control has the ability to create workspaces. Each workspace can be comprised of multiple agents. Workspaces may be password protected so that only privileged users may open that workspace and manage a specific backup agent. The Central Control must also be configured with the correct user rights either on the domain or local to the server being backed up in order to add a task to its workspace.
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Can Foreshore see my data?
Our online backup service provides the ability for you to encrypt your data prior to transmission to our storage vaults. All of the initial seed data and the deltized changes are encrypted prior to transmission and so it is not possible for us or anybody else to be able to decrypt that data without the correct encryption key. You will also need to use this encryption key when you wish to restore any of your data.
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