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Zmanda Open Source Backup, MySQL backup
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Pricing
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Why ZCB?
  • Live Backup
  • 1-Click Restore
  • Secure
  • Easy
  • Dependable
  • Affordable
  • Fully Automated
 

ZCB Resources:
 

ZCB Supports:

  • Windows 2003 Server
  • Windows 2008 Server
  • Windows 7
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows XP Pro
  • Windows XP Home
  • Exchange Server 2003
  • Exchange Server 2007
  • Exchange Server 2010
  • SQL Server 2000
  • SQL Server 2005
  • SQL Server 2008
  • SharePoint MOSS 2007
  • SharePoint WSS 3.0
  • MySQL 5.x
  • Oracle 11g
  • Windows System State
 
EUDPD Compliant
link to Amanda S3 option
Amazon web services provider

ZCB FAQ

General
  1. What is ZCB?
  2. Why backup to Amazon S3 is a good idea?
  3. Amazon S3 has 5 GB object size limitation. Can you backup files larger than 5 GB to S3?
  4. For us the best time to backup MS Exchange/MS SQL Server/Windows machine is different from the best time to upload backup data to Amazon S3. What do you recommend for our situation?
  5. How ZCB is different from Amazon S3 storage option for Amanda Enterprise?
  6. What data format do you use for backup images?
  7. Do you support backup of sparse files?
  8. Do you support backup of hard links?
  9. Do you change time stamp after backup run?
  10. Which versions of Windows can you backup?
  11. I have multiple Windows systems to protect. How does ZCB pricing work in my environment?
  12. Can ZCB backup open files?
  13. Do you support backup of Windows System State?
  14. How do you provide hot backup of MS Exchange and MS SQL Server?
  15. Can you provide hot backup of Oracle?
  16. Do you support backup of virtual machines?
Data Security & Integrity
  1. How secure is my data with ZCB and Amazon S3
  2. Can I turn off secure transfer to improve performance?
  3. What level of control do I have on transferring of data to the cloud?
  4. How do you ensure backup integrity?
Pricing & Billing
  1. Who sends the monthly bill?
  2. I host my Windows Server on EC2. What are my costs for backup?
  3. How do I cancel my ZCB subscription?
  4. Is there a free trial for ZCB?
ZCB vs. Other Online Backup Products
  1. How does ZCB compare with Mozy Professional (MozyPro)?
  2. How ZCB is different from Symantec Protection Network?

General

  1. What is ZCB?

    Zmanda Cloud Backup (ZCB) is a cost-effective and easy-to-use solution for small and medium businesses that need disaster recovery for their Windows Servers and applications such as Microsoft Exchange and MS SQL Server. Backup images are securely transferred and stored on a Storage Cloud, e.g. Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3).

    Zmanda Cloud Backup was formerly known as Zmanda Internet Backup (ZIB).

  2. Why backup to Amazon S3 is a good idea?

    Amazon S3 is storage for the Internet. Instead of dealing with backup tapes that you take off-site, you can backup and recover any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. Your backup data is securely stored on the same reliable, fast, and inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own data centers. Amazon guarantees to provide commercially reasonable efforts to make Amazon S3 available with a Monthly Uptime Percentage of at least 99.9% during any monthly billing cycle. Details about Amazon S3 Service Level Agreements are available at http://aws.amazon.com/s3-sla/

  3. Amazon S3 has 5 GB object size limitation. Can you backup files larger than 5 GB to S3?

    Amazon limitation of 5GB is for size of the object that gets stored on S3. ZCB splits large files, e.g. 40 GB database, into multiple chunks (objects). Each chunk is within Amazon size limits and ZCB assembles the chunks back when you recover your files. In effect, Amazon S3’ 5 GB limit is completely transparent to you.

  4. For us the best time to backup MS Exchange/MS SQL Server/Windows machine is different from the best time to upload backup data to Amazon S3. What do you recommend for our situation?

    ZCB allows different schedules for backup and for upload. For example, you can make a backup of MS Exchange/MS SQL/File server to a local disk at 7pm and then upload the backup images at 11:30 pm. After uploading the backup images to Amazon S3 you have two choices:
    • you can keep backup data on a local disk, so you would have two copies: one on Amazon S3 and another one on a local disk. That provides you with flexibility to recover your data from a local disk instead of downloading it from Amazon S3.
    • you can purge the backup data from a local disk, so you would have only one copy of backup data on Amazon S3.

  5. How ZCB is different from Amazon S3 storage option for Amanda Enterprise?

    With ZCB you don’t need a dedicated Linux or Solaris backup server to send your backup data to S3. ZCB protects each MS Windows computer where ZCB is installed by sending backup data to local disk and then to S3.

  6. What data format do you use for backup images?

    ZCB takes advantage of the standard data format zip. MS Windows supports zip format with Compressed Folders.

  7. Do you support backup of sparse files?

    Yes, we support backup of sparse files. That minimizes the use of storage media for backups.

  8. Do you support backup of hard links?

    Yes, we support backup of hard links. That maintains the integrity of hard links during backup.

  9. Do you change time stamp after backup run?

    No, we don’t change time stamp of files during backup.

  10. Which versions of Windows can you backup?

    We backup Windows 7, XP, Vista, 2003 Server and 2008 Server.

  11. I have multiple Windows systems to protect. How does ZCB pricing work in my environment?

    There are two options to buy ZCB enabled Amazon S3 certificate(s) ("ZCB-S3 certificate") for protecting multiple systems:

    • Option 1: Buy one certificate associated with one Zmanda Network account. Use this certificate across all systems under your control. In this case you pay $4.95 per month (independent of the number of systems being protected), plus storage and bandwidth cost.

      This is an ideal option for system administrators who are putting together a backup solution for multiple Windows servers - all under their administrative umbrella, with data on all systems having identical privacy requirements (i.e. who has access to that data or not).

    • Option 2: Buy an individual certificate tied with a unique email address to protect each system. e.g. if you have three systems to protect you will buy three ZCB-S3 certificates, each associated with an independent email address - in this case you will pay $14.85 ($4.95 x 3) per month plus storage and bandwidth cost. You will need to create an independent account on Zmanda Network and Amazon.com for each of these email addresses.

      With Option 2, the Amazon account for each of the email addresses associated with ZCB-S3 certificate will provide storage and bandwidth usage by the corresponding server. In this model there is complete privacy across systems.

  12. Can ZCB backup open files?

    Yes, ZCB can backup open files using Microsoft VSS snapshot technology. For example, you can continue sending and receiving e-mail using Outlook while backups are running.

  13. Do you support backup of Windows System State?

    Yes, ZCB provides backup of Windows System State, which contains important system files, Windows registry and other important operating system components needed for disaster recovery. By protecting this information, you can perform bare metal and disaster recovery of your Windows systems and files by simply reinstalling Windows and then restore from the backup of C: and System State.

  14. How do you provide hot backup of MS Exchange and MS SQL Server?

    ZCB takes advantage of VSS-awareness of MS Exchange and MS SQL Server. When a backup starts, ZCB coordinates communication between ZCB Requestor, the Exchange and SQL Writers, and Windows Providers that create the snapshots (shadow copies) of Exchange or SQL.

  15. Can you provide hot backup of Oracle?

    Yes we support hot backup of Oracle via VSS snapshots similarly to backup of MS Exchange and MS SQL Server.

  16. Do you support backup of virtual machines?

    ZCB is fully supported in a VM environment. In fact, we utilize virtualization extensively in the development, test, and QA of our software.

Data Security & Integrity

  1. How secure is my data with ZCB and Amazon S3?

    There are several levels of security provided by ZCB and Amazon S3 that ensure privacy and security of your data:

    • ZCB provides an option to encrypt your backup data using PKCS #12 Digital certificates that can be purchased from Certificate Authorities
    • In addition to encrypting the backup data, ZCB provides an option to transfer your data from your computer to Amazon S3 via secure 128-bit SSL.
    • Amazon S3 provides access controls that only permit authenticated access by ZCB with your own unique security certificate. You, and only you, maintain full control over who has access to your backup data.

  2. Can I turn off secure transfer to improve performance?

    Secure transfer to cloud can be turned off to increase upload or download performance. This is recommended only when data is encrypted or data being backed up is public data.

  3. What level of control do I have on transferring of data to the cloud?

    Block size of the transfers to and from cloud can be changed. This can help in cases where there are network failures.

  4. How do you ensure backup integrity ?

    Backup images transferred to cloud are checked for data integrity using MD5 checksum.

Pricing & Billing

  1. Who sends the monthly bill?

    Monthly bill for ZCB license, storage and transfer cost will be provided by Amazon. It will appear in financial statements (credit card statements) under heading "AMZN PMTS(Services and Merchandise)". Zmanda does not bill the customer directly. The bill will have specific entries for Zmanda Cloud Backup in addition to entries for other Amazon Web Services if you are using them.

  2. I host my Windows Server on EC2. What are my costs for backup?

    There is no charge for transferring data between EC2 and S3 (within the same region). You will pay for monthly license charge and storage cost on S3.

  3. How do I cancel my ZCB subscription?

    There is no long term contract for ZCB. You can cancel your ZCB subscription at any time by visiting the AWS Application Billing page. You will get a refund for the prorated portion of the monthly fee. You will be billed for all the storage and bandwidth usage incurred till the cancellation date on the first of the following month.

    If you are canceling your ZCB subscription for any technical reason, we would very much like to hear about it: zcb@zmanda.com.

  4. Is there a free trial for ZCB?

    At present there is no free trial for ZCB. However, note that you can try out ZCB at a very low cost. You are charged a prorated amount for the monthly subscription fee for the first month. Also, you can cancel anytime and your prorated monthly subscription fee for rest of the month will be refunded. You will be billed for the one-time setup fees ($4.95) and for storage and bandwidth usage incurred during your trial period - at a rate that is one of the lowest in the industry.

ZCB vs. Other Online Backup Products

  1. How does ZCB compare with Mozy Professional (MozyPro)?

    • Mozy provides inflexible data retention period of 30 days only. Using Mozy you will not be able to recover your Exchange, SQL or a file going back in time for more than 30 days. With Zmanda Cloud Backup (ZCB) you control for how long you want to retain your data. In addition, your data is stored on a highly available cloud storage that is securely accessible with standard APIs and tools.
    • ZCB stores data archives in a well known open format (ZIP64). So, you are in complete control of what you want to do with your backup archives. Mozy stores data in proprietary format, and only way to get to your own data is through Mozy's interface.
    • ZCB is far more affordable than Mozy Pro and Mozy Enterprise.
    • With ZCB you have Geography Control. So, you can decide to store some of your data in a data center in US and some other data in Europe. You have no such control with Mozy.
    • ZCB supports backup of many more live applications. E.g. Mozy does not support live backup of MySQL, Oracle or SharePoint, whereas ZCB has built-in plug-in for all of these applications.

  2. How ZCB is different from Symantec Protection Network?

    Symantec Protection Network does not provide hot backup of MS Exchange and MS SQL server.

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