page content

How does the all2all backup system work?

In information technology, a backup or the process of backing up refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. Backups are useful primarily for two purposes. The first is to restore a state following a disaster (called disaster recovery). The second is to restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted or corrupted. Data loss is also very common. 66% of internet users have suffered from serious data loss. Since a backup system contains at least one copy of all data worth saving, the data storage requirements are considerable. Organizing this storage space and managing the backup process is a complicated undertaking. A data repository model can be used to provide structure to the storage. In the modern era of computing there are many different types of data storage devices that are useful for making backups. There are also many different ways in which these devices can be arranged to provide geographic redundancy, data security, and portability. Before data is sent to its storage location, it is selected, extracted, and manipulated. Many different techniques have been developed to optimize the backup procedure. These include optimizations for dealing with open files and live data sources as well as compression, encryption, and de-duplication, among others. Many organizations and individuals try to have confidence that the process is working as expected and work to define measurements and validation techniques. It is also important to recognize the limitations and human factors involved in any backup scheme. Read more on backup on Wikipedia.

New backup system for all shared all2all web and mail servers

We installed a new backup procedure for all shared all2all hostings based on Rsnapshot and an extensible RAID6 file server, a modern D2D backup system. We keep now full backup copies of the last 7 days. Every 7th day is saved 4 times per month. The MySQL and PostgreSQL database backups are based on a 31 days rotation, everyday a full backup. This new system considerably improves the safety of your hosting data. All backup processes are run in the early morning when load is very low and the servers are idle. The term "disk-to-disk", or "D2D", generally refers to disk-to-disk backup. With D2D, a computer hard disk is backed up to another hard disk rather than to a tape or floppy, like in traditonal backupsystems. Typical advantages of disk-to-disk are: the non-linear recovery of data, enabling a specific file to be restored quicker and simpler than with tape. Higher speed and higher capacity, relative to tape or floppy, resulting in shorter backup and recovery windows.

All shared web hosting plans contain now a large quota reserved exclusively for backups. This backup space is still sufficient once you start using 100% of the allocated web space. Therefore no extra costs refering to backups are to be expected for the shared hostings at all2all, it's all inclusive! All user data of these hostings is contained in the backup: files in your web directories, your e-mail directories, your mailing lists and all of your databases.

simple shared hosting: included minimum backup quota 6.95GB
recommended shared hosting: included minimum backup quota 60GB
large shared hosting: included minimum backup quota 600GB

Backup of all2all virtual servers

When you order a virtual server, you get a starting quota of 5GB on our central backup server for free. You receive a shell account on our backup server and you can access this space through a SSH connection (username and password are included in the access info for your virtual server). When you ordered your virtual server with a full Unix support contract, we already include a backup setup of all websites and databases added via the Virtualmin interface. This backup is only daily. So each next day the backup of the last day is overwritten. You can order extra backup quota as needed and at the rate indicated on the pricelist. You can also change the backup scheme via Virtualmin -> Scheduled Backups to make incremental or more full backups.

Without a Unix support contract, you also get a 5GB free starting quota on our central backup server but you must configure backups yourself with for instance SCP, Rsync, Rsnapshot or Virtualmin or any other means which fits your UNIX administration habits. You can also order extra backup quota as needed and at the rate indicated on the pricelist. You can as well backup to any other destination outside of the all2all network.

all2all also takes daily snapshots of all virtual servers, in order to be able to restore the host system and all connected virtual servers if a general problem appears: hardware failure, manipulation errors, etc.

Backup of dedicated servers colocated on the all2all network

By default there is no backup space included for these contracts. You can buy backup space on our central backup servers as indicated on the pricelist, or you can purchase a dedicated backup server. Due to the amount of data hosted on a dedicated server, the purchase of an additional backup server may be strongly advised. We have special offers for light dedicated backup servers. You might as well set up your own backup scheme with a destination outside the all2all network.

Warning!

It is also important to recognize the limitations and human factors involved in any backup scheme. Please be aware that the backups executed by all2all are done according to a “best effort” principal and that we do not provide any guarantees regarding backups as specified in our Charter. It is therefore advisable that you also keep security copies of all important data on your premisses too.