CrashPlan Pro for Business - anyone using?

Damian

I noticed today that CrashPlan offers business "unlimited" backup, per computer, for $7.50/month. And they have a Linux client.

http://www.crashplan.com/business/

Was thinking about using it for backing up host nodes. Any other providers using this?

rds100

Well, if it's "unlimited" i'd stay away. It's not nice when you hit the invisible limits.

Damian

Indeed, that's why I put unlimited in quotes. I'm sure they're expecting it to be backing up like 10 to 40gb of data, not ~500 gb or more per node...

AlexBarakov

I used another similar provider with unlimited storage. The upload speed gets so slow, that it crashes the backup client, after not beeing able to complete the backup in days.

KuJoe

Check out our latest announcement. ;)

-mobile

Damian

@KuJoe: Thanks for the input!

dominicl

If @KuJoe is using it, everyone must use it ;)

AlexBarakov

@KuJoe Is it encrypted through their own software (using your own key) or with your own software?

KuJoe

Their own software using my own key.

raindog308

@Damian said: Indeed, that's why I put unlimited in quotes. I'm sure they're expecting it to be backing up like 10 to 40gb of data, not ~500 gb or more per node...

I have nearly 2TB stored there on their home plan. I pay $50/year. Yeah, it took a looong time to upload.

I like the data dedupe - which I think is a big part of their cost reduction.

I also like that you can do other things with the client - e.g., backup to a friend, backup to an external drive, etc. None of that costs anything.

I have had a very good experience with CrashPlan, going on nearly two years. The only negative in my mind is that the client is Java-based and takes a lot of memory. I run it on our family Linux file share and it's fine because the box isn't doing anything else.

Damian

@raindog308: Have you ever tried to download data from them? If so, what kind of speeds do you get?

KuJoe

@raindog308 said: The only negative in my mind is that the client is Java-based and takes a lot of memory. I run it on our family Linux file share and it's fine because the box isn't doing anything else.

+1. I had to increase our local backup VPS from 128MB to 1GB for the java server, luckily no need for a GUI so it runs perfect on an OpenVZ Debian server.

raindog308

@Damian said: Have you ever tried to download data from them? If so, what kind of speeds do you get?

I have done some small restores but never a big one. I honestly don't remember the speed but I suspect it was more limited by my DSL connection (which caps out at about 600-700kbps down).

KuJoe

Their support is pretty quick and helpful. I submitted a ticket last night asking then what DC my backups are located in and they responded this morning with an informative response (currently Minneapolis, MN but this can change with their "auto-balance").

Robert

I use them at home too. I have around 520GB backed up - no problems.

VMVPS

sounds cool, and as others's opinions, i don't like unlimited either...

KuJoe

@VMVPS said: i don't like unlimited either...

We're using the 30 day free trial so as long as they don't cap us, we'll be glad to pay $7.49/month to backup all of our backups.

luma

I started using the free trial today as well to give this a whirl. I setup the encryption with my own key (love the fact they make you check FOUR check boxes to acknowledge that if you lose your key you are fubared)

I am getting ~300KB/s right now. Says my 510 gigs will take 5.1 months. EDIT: Just found the option where it limits it to 0.3Mbps! Disabled and now it is speeding up.

I am sure they are just being hammered or something. Will see how it goes tonight.

Corey

Let me know how it goes, that seems awesome!

jarland

Might have a good use for that. The school I'm working at has a domain controller shoved in an average temperature closet and hasn't had a real backup solution. At least until I get rid of the windows domain system. They don't even use shared storage or user accounts...

Robert

I really like that for a particular backup set I can specify multiple destinations. So I can backup crashplan central, a local USB disk, and a friend's computer too if I wish.

Even better, you can do all of those except the Crashplan central backup for free, without buying any subscription.

tehdan

@KuJoe with the greatest of respect - while It could be argued you're within the letter of thier EULA, it does seem a bit like you're doing an end-run around the spirit of it... Either way you're only a minor EULA alteration away from loosing those backups.

You do backup plans yourself - I pay you $6 a month for 100GB, so you have a good idea of the costs of providing online storage. I'm sure you're not backing up your backup plans, but even so isn't it obvious that $7.95/month for unlimited space isn't sustainable? Wouldn't it be smarter to look at something a bit more scalable?

KuJoe

@tehdan said: You do backup plans yourself - I pay you $6 a month for 100GB, so you have a good idea of the costs of providing online storage. I'm sure you're not backing up your backup plans, but even so isn't it obvious that $7.95/month for unlimited space isn't sustainable? Wouldn't it be smarter to look at something a bit more scalable?

It works for what we need it for, if they cut us off it's not a big loss since they are just a backup of a backup of a backup. ;)

hAwNerk

@KuJoe said: backup of a backup of a backup. ;)

Im curious as to how these hosts make sure that once a VPS is cancelled, the backup of that VPS is securely deleted. Theres no mention on securedragon's site as to how long the data of cancelled vps (if you sign up for the addon backup service) will be deleted not to mention the backup of that vps, and the backup of that backup.

KuJoe

I delete the backups manually once a month. I am not sure how the CrashPlan backups are handled (still learning their system).

Damian

When you guys put this into operation, did you experience much-higher-than-normal load averages on your nodes?

KuJoe

Yes, once the initial sync finished the load dropped to less than 0.1.

KuJoe

Are you installing it on all of your nodes? We only run it on a single VPS, much cheaper. :)

AlexBarakov

I am thinking to install it on my backup box, to back up the backups.

Zen

Load balance those load balancers!

KuJoe

To give you an idea of the normal load:

djvdorp

Might look into it as well

DragonDF

I have started a free trial period today afternoon.

Looks like a very good option.

180Gb will spend between 3 to 4 days to upload. Looks like a bit slow.

My internet connection speed: 50Mbs upload and download. I think the problem is in their server.

DragonDF

"EDIT: Just found the option where it limits it to 0.3Mbps! Disabled and now it is speeding up."

I could not find this option. In my setup it is "none". So I think there is no limit.

Now it is estimating 6 days. And I can not see what is the speed of the uploads. There is no place to see it.

DragonDF

I read about CrashBack here in this list: pcsupport.about.com/od/maintenance/tp/online_backup_services.htm

Maybe you can see other options if you want. CrashBack is the first choice for the author.

KuJoe

You can see the speed in the app or on their website. Our speed caps at 30Mbps even though we set the limit to 50Mbps. We're backing up to Minnesota over Cogent though.

DragonDF

Kujoe: do you wrote app.. do you mean WINDOWS application? Because I am in it and could not find this option like I can see in FileZilla or another FTP client.

. Backup running - 10,5 days remaining (i)
*when you click in (i) it is possible to see the speed

Remaining 2,153 files (166,4Gb) Completed: 0 files (15Gb @ 1,6MBps

MY SPEED TEST (NOW):

download: 95.49 Mbps Upload: 80.76 Mbps

I think 1,6MBps is a bit slow and I will need a lot of days to upload this backup.

Is there any option to make it a bit faster?

tks!

KuJoe

It depends on where you are backing up from and to. Where is your server located? If you open a ticket they can tell you where your data is backing up to.

luma

I am still doing my initial 650GB backup to CrashPlan Pro.

My average speed is 3-5megabits per second.

This is from a Kimsufi server in France.

Not the best speed but meh its so cheap and its just backups so once the initial one is done I will be good to go with much smaller backups daily.

Freek

BackBlaze.com might be a good alternative. They claim they don't limited speeds (but Crashplan claims the same regardless) but it's worth a try.

KuJoe

@Freek said: BackBlaze.com might be a good alternative.

Doesn't support linux. :(

n0my

I am looking for similar backup solution for 5+ windows servers and 1 linux server.

When I try to sign up for 30 day trial it says: Contact [email protected] to find a reseller in your area.

Do you guys know any other online backup solution?

Thanks.

DragonDF

@Kujoe It is from Brazil. Maybe it is going by bus...eheheh.

Some times it says 6 days. Others... 3 days. Long time. But for this PRICE... I can wait. I hope there is not problem with energy for over all this time. :)