1.
What platforms are supported by the client
agent?
Windows NT 4.0/2000/XP Pro,
NetWare 4.2/5.x/6.0, Red Hat Linux 6.2/7.1, IBM AIX 4.3.3, Sun
Solaris 2.7/2.8, and HP-UX 11.0/11i are currently supported.
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2.
What platforms are supported with the Administrator?
WinNT 4.0, Win 2000 and XP are currently
supported.
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3.
What are the startup steps for
AmeriVault
service?
Once you are setup as an AmeriVault customer, you can start to seed your backups. In order to take the initial "full" backup required by AmeriVault, it is simple to use the defer option which will help to build your full backup over a short period of time. However, this can take several days depending on the size of the data being backed up.
Alternatively, a mobile vault can be sent to your location to capture the seed, shipped back to AMV
to import the seed, and subsequent backups will use
Delta Pro technology to ensure the quantity of data
backed up is minimal.
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4.
Will AmeriVault backup your Windows NT and 2000
Registry?
Yes, it will, but you must explicitly select the Registry/System
State backup option. When restoring, you will have the option of restoring your system Registry.
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5.
Does AmeriVault
provide support for NDS?
AmeriVault
supports the Novell Directory
Service (NDS) under version 4.2/5.x/6.0. During the backup
process, the NDS information must be extracted to some temporary
files. AmeriVault,
at the beginning of the backup, backs up these files. Later,
during the restore process, the NDS information is replaced with
the original files. The new NDS is active from that point on, and
thus the system does not require a reboot.
AmeriVault
also supports the Novell Directory Service (NDS) under version 4.1x. During the backup process, the NDS information must be extracted to some temporary files. AmeriVault, at the beginning of the backup, backs up these files. Later, during the restore process, the NDS information is replaced with the original files. The new NDS is active from that point on, and thus the system does not require a reboot.
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6.
What are the options for the retention of backups?
AmeriVault
allows you to define retentions by number
of days and number of copies for two different storage
types.
- Online storage
- Archive storage
Your data will be archived to some media, typically USB drives.
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7.
How are open files handled during backups?
Most applications, especially in a network
environment, open files in a "shared" mode, which allows any
application to read the files even though they were already
opened. AmeriVault
provides the option to backup any files opened in "shared" mode
since the results of an open file read are not guaranteed to
provide consistent results. If another application has a file
opened in an "exclusive" mode (i.e. other software cannot access
the file), then AmeriVault
will not be able to open the file for backup. This file will be
skipped, and the fact that it was skipped will be noted in the log
file.
Optionally, AmeriVault
supports two applications to handle open files: Open File Manager
(OFM) from St. Bernard Software and Open Transaction Manager
(OTM) from Columbia Data Products. Both of these options permit
all files to be backed up regardless of how they have been locked.
This allows AmeriVault
to synchronize and backup email, databases, Intranet applications
and all other open files, even if the files are changing during the
backup. All critical server data is protected, as open files are
neither skipped nor corrupted during backups. This puts an end to
corrupted data and logs of skipped open files.
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8.
How are databases, such as Oracle, Sybase and others, handled?
Databases have special backup requirements. To properly backup a database, you must be able to take a "snapshot in time" of the database. Traditional database backups are done in one of two ways, online backups via special API functions provided by the database vendor and full database exports to tape/disk. A third alternative is to use special device driver software that allows you to bypass locking issues.
Database APIs (Online Backup)
Some database vendors provide special APIs that support the backup of their databases. For example, the Oracle and Sybase database products can do an online backup if the backup software properly interfaces with their backup APIs. Any update transactions that are applied during the backup process are handled specially to avoid inconsistencies in the backup. The database vendors often supply backup software that will backup their databases to temporary files on disk. For 7-day/24-hour operations, it is common to do an online backup to disk and then use a secondary backup program to backup this data to tape.
Database Export (Offline Backup)
For those database vendors that do not provide online backup capabilities, the database must be shut down. Once the database is offline, the data is copied or exported to a temporary file(s). For databases that are not active all the time, it is common for the database to be shut down and exported to disk and then use a secondary backup program to backup the dump file to tape.
NOTE that the dump file is normally significantly smaller than the database because all the empty space is removed and the work areas / temp areas / rollback areas are not backed up. For instance, a 20-30GB database often produces just a 6GB-dump file.
Even though a dump to tape is feasible (using the internal backup of the database vendor), it is not normally done because it holds "locks" on the database too long which can interfere with performance.
Driver Software (Online Backup)
Optionally, AmeriVault
supports Open File Manager (OFM) from St. Bernard Software
and Open Transaction Manager (OTM) by Columbia Data Products,
both of which permits all database systems to be backed up. It also allows AmeriVault
to backup email, Intranet applications and all other open files, even if the files are changing during the backup. All database products are protected by becoming synchronized at the start of the backup and allowing active changes to occur while the backup is going on. As a result, open databases are neither skipped nor corrupted during backups. This puts an end to corrupted database backups.
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9.
What file types does the Delta algorithm work on?
The Delta algorithm works well on a variety of file types. NOTE that the first backup is always a "master" or "full" backup. Subsequent backups take advantage of the Delta Processing scheme. Files that change very little, such as executable files, require virtually no backup activity. Most data files, especially databases, change relatively little during day-to-day operations and therefore lend themselves nicely to the Delta scheme which analyzes for blocks of the file that have changed since the last backup.
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10.
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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11.
How can you administer multiple backups with
AmeriVault?
Using the AmeriVault
Administrator, a single LAN administrator can setup backups on behalf of other users. The managed system has to be running the
AmeriVault
Agent in the background, and the manager station running the
AmeriVault
Administrator connects to the managed system to configure the backup tasks and schedule them remotely.
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12.
Can you run more than one backup at once?
You may run more than one backup at once on the platforms that support separate instances of an executable program. Operating systems such as Windows NT/2000 support multiple backups at the same time.
NOTE that NetWare can not run multiple backup instances.
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13.
What security is available for your backups?
There are two major security features for
AmeriVault. The first is an encrypted authorization feature for every user that connects to the Mass Storage Vault. This protects your data from unauthorized access.
An additional option is to encrypt the data before transmission to the MSV. This protects your data both during transmission over the network and while the data is stored on the remote storage server.
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14.
What is SIDF?
System Independent Data Format (SIDF) is a standard developed by the major players in the LAN and mini backup world to attempt to achieve some data portability across different tape media and systems. Up until the introduction of this standard, it was impossible to share data across different vendors' backup software. It was even difficult within the same vendors' software across different software versions.
AmeriVault
uses a format very close to the actual SIDF standard that provides all the portability benefits in a proprietary product.
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15.
If you add more disks do you have 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 present a problem. It should be noted that the
AmeriVault
software would not automatically backup this new disk. The user must select the new disk files as part of an existing backup or create a new backup task.
The files that are on this new disk would require seeding (full backup), but this would not apply to the existing backup tasks and the previously backed up files. As long as the drive designation and directory structure remained the same, there would be no impact on the next backup.
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16.
What communication lines does
AmeriVault
support?
Because AmeriVault
is based on TCP/IP, the underlying physical communication method is immaterial. Thus, local LAN connection, T1, ISDN
and Frame Relay, to name a few, are all valid methods for connection between an
AmeriVault
Agent and a MSV.
The other advantage of using TCP/IP as the network connection protocol is that newer technology will fit transparently into the
AmeriVault
architecture.
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17.
Are there any average backup times for remote backups over specific communications lines?
No, there are no "typical" times for communication since there are so many variables involved. The best solution is to run the
AmeriVault
software in simulated mode, which will determine exactly what data needs to be backed up with the Delta scheme and then estimate the transmission time for that data.
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18.
How long will it take to transmit a file?
The time depends upon the type of data you are backing up, the amount of available bandwidth and the amount of change to that data. With the
AmeriVault
Agent, you should run the program in simulation mode and use the Analyze option to get a breakdown of transmit time needed for various bandwiths.
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19.
Is your data encrypted as it travels over the network?
You can optionally select to encrypt your data on the fly before it is transmitted to the MSV. We support multiple levels up to
AES.
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20.
What do you do if you lose your encryption password?
For your protection, lost passwords can not be recovered.
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21.
What if there is corruption in the Agent software?
If the local catalog data were corrupted, it would most likely be detected. Regardless, this would not be a serious problem because it would be corrected during the "auto-resynch" phase of the next backup. NOTE that the precaution of maintaining a mirror of the local catalog data locally is also taken.
The local delta image files that represent each block of data in each backup have standard checksums and sanity checks built in to avoid corruption. However, if a random bit or two were flipped, it almost certainly would not be serious. An extra data block would just be unnecessarily transmitted during the backup. If for some reason one or more of the delta files were totally unreadable, it would necessitate a re-seeding of the backup (i.e. a new full backup). This would, however, not affect any of the data already on the MSV.
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22.
What do you do if your system crashes and you need to restore a backup from the Mass Storage Vault?
There are two possible scenarios that would follow to restore your backups from
AmeriVault
.
The first would be used to restore everything using network lines. You would restore your operating system and then the
AmeriVault
Agent. With the Administrator, you would then restore your data by using the Resync feature to restore your catalogs from the MSV. Then, you would use the Restore command.
The second option would be to request that your backup
copied to a mobile vault and have it delivered along with a copy of the
AmeriVault
software. Then, after restoring your operating system and
AmeriVault
software, you would then recreate the catalogs and restore directly from
the mobile vault disk device.
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23.
What is meant by online versus offline restores?
Data restored over the network link is an online restore. Data restored using a delivery service and some form of media is offline. Any restore may be initiated online, but if the quantity of the data is such that the total restore time could be multiple hours, then, you will probably want the data placed on physical media and returned via bonded courier to your site.
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24.
Can I use the Central Control and manage
my clients remotely from anywhere?
This is definitely possible. The Central Control is just a
management tool that can sit anywhere on a LAN or a WAN
connection and manage backup agents.. It utilizes port 808 for
this communication between any Agent and a Central Control so
depending on your configuration you might need to configure that
port on the firewall to pass traffic through. All communication
between the Agent and the Central Control is encrypted by
default to ensure security.
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25.
What ports does the Central Control use to talk to the
agent?
The Central Control uses port 808 to communicate between the
Central Control and the backup agent. You can be anywhere on the
LAN or WAN and configure backups with a Central Control. You
could even create a VPN tunnel for the Central Control to use
for remote operations.
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26.
Is the communication between the Agent
and the Central Control encrypted?
All communication between the Agent and the Central Control is
encrypted at the 128 bit AES level by default.
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27.
Can I have more than one Central Control?
You can have as many Central Controls as you need. All files and
configuration that a Central Control creates or edits, reside
locally on the server with the backup Agent. Hence all Central
Controls can view exactly the same thing with no synchronization
needed.
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28.
Can I make sure one Central Control cannot see the what
the other Central Control can?
A Central Control has the ability to create workspaces. Each
workspace can be comprised of multiple agents. You can password
protect the workspaces so as to only allow the privileged users
to open up a workspace and manage a specific backup agent. A
Central Control also requires the use of correct user rights
either on the domain or local to the server being backed up in
order to add a backup agent to its workspace. Hence you can lock
specific domain users out of certain servers on your domain and
hence if they add an agent to their current workspace, it will
fail to authenticate them to the agent itself and in turn fail
to add that agent to their workspace.
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29.
Does the Central Control use TCP or UDP ports to talk to
the agent and to the vault?
All communication from the Central Control to the backup Agent
and from the backup Agent to the vault always use TCP ports.
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30.
Can AmeriVault
see my client’s data?
AmeriVault
provides data security for your business critical
data via the means of encryption. A Backup agent will first look
for delta changes on a nightly basis. These changes are at the
block level. So for example if you changed a sentence in a word
document, then only that one sentence is picked up by the backup
Agent as the change in the file. Once it has collected all the
changes, the backup Agent will then encrypt that information,
compress it and send it over the wire to the Vault.
So it is just pieces of the puzzle that are being sent over the
wire on a nightly basis so to speak. All the processing is done
on the backup Agent and the data is already encrypted when it
gets to the vault. The Vault will not restore anything to the
Backup Agent without verifying the correct encryption key. There
is no way AmeriVault
will be able to look up an encryption key
or be able to break it in any way once a backup agent is set to
use encryption. Various encryption types are available all the
way up to AES 128 bit.
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