Move that data around

You know you have run out of space in the drive, when your clients are storing more and more data in your Backup Server. The time for a new drive to be in place and you have done it. Now how do you move some of the existing clients to the new drive and have room for the rest of the clients in the old drive. I believe this article should be helpful for you.

In previous StoreGrid Releases [prior to 2.3] till 2.2.5, you would move the data manually and then update the StoreGrid internal database about the move. All this will be done with StoreGrid stopped. This meant valuable time lost when the rest of the clients could have been backing up. Hence, in 2.3 there is new feature which enables you to move the Backup Data from the old location to the new Location when you edit the client backup location in the Edit Client [Server Admin -> Customer Mangement -> Click on the Customer -> Edit Client Action for particular Client] page. Just mention in the GUI to move the old backup data to the newer location. This will trigger a scheduled move of the backup data from the older location to the newer location. This will temporarily suspend any backup activity from the client and will safely move the backed up data to the new location [new drive in your case].

This will also enable other clients to continue backing up to StoreGrid Backup Server without any interruption. All with the click of a button. Do take a look at detailed documentation at the following URL, http://www.vembu.com/storegrid/sp-help/PageHelp/client-backup-configuration.html .

This and a lot of useful features are available in 2.3, do give it a try.

Case Study: Economize usage of Bandwidth in Initial Seed Backup

We all know one inevitable thing about the online backups, the initial upload of all the backed up data to the Remote Backup Server. The initial upload not only costs bandwidth, but also happens to take a longer period than a local backup.

Most of our partners share the same issue and it is one of the most sort out features to be able to do the initial full/seed backup locally in the client and then import the data in the Remote Server.

Typically, the Service Providers ship a hard disk and take the initial set of data from the Customers and then, they import the data to the Remote Backup Server. This is how they do it.

1. Install a local system [Local Backup Server] in the local network with StoreGrid running in Server-Only/Client-Server mode (as this can happen in the initial 30-day trial period, you need not license this system).

2. Mount the USB/External Hard Drive and specify the Storage Location of the Backup Server as the USB/External HDD (from the 'Server Admin -> Server Settings' page).

3. Install StoreGrid as Client-only in all the local systems which need to be backed up and configure the backups to the Local Backup Server.

4. After the backups are complete, ship the USB/External HDD to the Remote Backup Server's location. And perform he steps available in the following URLs for continuing the subsequent incremental backups to the Remote Backup Server.

SP Edition:

Backup Server Side Instructions

Client Side Instructions

Pro Edition:

Backup Server Side Instructions

Client Side Instructions

NOTE:
1. In case you don't have a spare system in the Client network, you can use one of the systems over there which needs backup as the Server temporarily and then change it to Client-only after initial backups.
2. You can uninstall the Local Backup Server after the initial seed backup.
3. In some cases, our Partners have gotten a dedicated Local Backup Server license and they have StoreGrid running in their laptop with it and take a USB/External HDD to with the laptop to perform the initial seed backups.

And as you see with the documentation, this feature is available with both Professional Edition software and the Service Provider Edition software.

PS: A similar feature to import the local backups in the Backup Server to the remote Replication Server is also in the works and will be available soon.

Partners are having a Roll

StoreGrid partners are having a roll, a lot of work has gone through our Partner Zone and the people who have beta tested it know a lot. The SPARK program is on and there is work done for more things to come.

At the development we are working pretty hard at providing a more partner friendly as well as user-friendly product out. StoreGrid is scoring few good points, but the overall experience still needs a little bit of enhancements which will go in as food in a hungry man's stomach (Yeah, I like it). No wonder, I am talking about food, I am the same kind who loves all kind of food anyway. So more on during the last phase of 2.3 development, this is going to be huge for the customers out there.

Lots of new features coming up, which were requested by a lots of users our there. Our promises for providing those features in future releases are going to come through and further more, we are going to scale tremendously post 2.3 Release. Most of the work which has gone through are showing phenomenal results and StoreGrid's future is looking for a boosted growth.

Just wait and see.

Storage Space Allocation for Clients

In StoreGrid, you can specify a specific Storage Space Allocation for each system (StoreGrid ID*) which backs up to the Backup Server. This storage quota determines the actual disk space usage of the StoreGrid client. This value is auto-configured in the Backup Server when the client (new client which is not manually added) first connects to the Backup Server.

Please note that, when the client tries to backup data more than the Storage Space Allocation, the backup server breaks the backup process with the client with an error and makes sure that the Storage quota is never breached.

Normally, the client shares the free disk space allotted from the Server Storage Space allocation. For example, if your server storage space allocation is 100 GB, then the first client will automatically take all the storage space allocation of 100 GB.

If the second client connects the Backup Server after the first client has backed up, it shares the free storage space available like this,

Storage Space Allocated for Client = (Server Storage Space Allotted - Disk Space used by other Clients)/(no: of existing clients + 1[for the new client])

Let us assume, the first client has used 10 GB of storage space. Then the sharing will be, (100-10)/(1+1) = 90/2 = 45 GB. Now, the first client will be allotted with 10 GB (used space) - 45 GB (shared free space) = 55 GB (earlier this value was 100 GB). And the new client will be allotted with 45 GB (free space shared value). Thus the storage space allocation will be shared among the clients.

Since our StoreGrid 2.2, we have introduced another type of auto-configuration of StoreGrid clients, i.e., the StoreGrid Trial Clients [The clients who backup under the Trial Customer]. For these clients the default storage space allocation is taken from the 'Server Admin -> Customer Management -> Configuration Settings For Trial Clients'.

By default the Storage Space Allocation for the Trial Cliens is 100 MB. So, if you get a 'SG0083: Exceeding allotted backup space in the server' error on client backups, just go to 'Server Admin -> Customer Management -> Click on the Customer Name -> Click on Edit Client Configuration Action' and update the Storage Space Allocation for the client. You can also update the 'Server Admin -> Customer Management -> Configuration Settings For Trial Clients' such that the fresh Trial clients don't face such issue.

Possible help documentation to help you through setting up your clients under these scenario are,

1. Add New Client
2. Edit Existing Client Configuration
3. Configuration Settings For Trial Clients

If you still fall into issues, you most probably won't, you can contact the support on email storegrid-support AT vembu DOT com

* StoreGrid ID - This is the unique identity value used by the Backup Server to identify the StoreGrid clients. This is used mainly in grouping the backups in the Backup Server as well as used on Disaster Recovery situations to recover backup configurations of the client.

StoreGrid Client Registration Templates

What is StoreGrid Client Registration Template ??

Whenever a Service Provider wants to put up a service, he would like to signup new clients as and when they are interested in the service.

For instance, they are interested in an FTP/WebHosting account, the user signs up and is immediately allotted with the necessary Storage space with a user account name and signup password.

Now, he can willfully use a FTP client or a Telnet account to browse through his account and upload or download the necessary data in his account. This feature can also be done for a Trial User, who wants to first test how the service is and what is the uptime etc., before he actually pays.

To cut the long story short, the StoreGrid Client Registration Templates just offers the same kind of flexibility for the StoreGrid Service Providers. It provides them with,

1. Trial/Paid User account creation in the Backup Server.
2. Client Activation based on confirmation of User signup.
3. Default Backup Location and Storage Allocation for the Trial Users.
4. Client De-activation based on expiry of the Trial Period.
5. If the Client has not turned Paid after a grace period, automatically cleanup all the data backed up by the StoreGrid client.

and lots more,...

Now, What is the StoreGrid Client Registration Template and how can a Service Provider use it ??

The Client Registration Templates are a set of HTML forms which can be integrated with the Service Provider's website. The HTML webform contains the basic values needed for account creation, activation for a client in the StoreGrid Backup Server. These forms, in turn, talk with the StoreGrid Application in the backend and create the client accounts in the StoreGrid Backup Server. Thus, letting the user signup for the Backup Service as freely as any other Backup Service.

As most of the users of StoreGrid already know, you can add clients as and when they start backing up to the Backup Server (on the fly), the fun thing about the above feature is the Service Providers can use the 'Deny Auto Authorization' feature and let the user 'Add a User Account(Client) with password' and then backup their data after 'Authorizing' the client installation with the same password with a simple User Signup Form in the website.

Thus, adding more security to the Backup Server, as well as the client's backed up data (only the client who knows the password will be able to access the backed up data). Also makes sure that there are no two clients with the same StoreGrid ID trying to backup to the Backup Server.

So, got the funda right ??

More on next, bye.

Been There Done That

StoreGrid 2.2 Service Provider Edition Release is out, and cranking up the market.

Lots of new features, lots to talk about. Mainly for the Service Providers and as well lots of feedback are coming out.

This release was a mammoth for our standards, what with features such as,

StoreGrid Server
1.Improved organization of the clients backing up to the server.
2.Server Side management of all licenses (MSPEU based licensing).
3.Revamped 'Local To Remote Server Migration'; now additional full backups can also be done locally and migrated to the remote backup server.
4.Revamped replication management, flexible replication scheduling, CPU usage control and lots more.
5.Replication progress support in both the Backup Server and the Replication Server
6.Primary Server Disaster Recovery from Replication Server using StoreGrid webconsole.
7.Invoice Generation based on Invoice Plans. You can assign the same plan across Customers.
8.Server Activities Dashboard (Current Active Clients Monitoring, Last 5 Successful/Failed Backups, Disk Space Monitoring, License Monitoring, etc.,)
9.Trial Client Settings (Evaluation Period/De-Activation Period/Automatic Cleanup of De-Activated Client, etc.,).
10.Individual Client/Backup De-activation.

StoreGrid Client

1.Advanced Plugins for Exchange using ESE APIs.
2.Advanced Plugins for MS SQL Server using VDI APIs.
3.Volume Shadow Copy support for Windows XP, Windows 2003 Servers systems.
4.In StoreGrid Service Provider Edition, there is no need to apply license keys in the client.
5.MySQL Plugin for windows
6.Restore progress window enhanced to show file based restore progress
7.Revamped Client Dashboard.

General

1.Secure(https) WebConsole.
2.Support for 64-bit Windows Operating Systems.

We are gladly and actively working on the StoreGrid 2.2 Professional Edition Release too. Which should also be available shortly,

And lots of time we say, 'Been There !! Done That !!', Now the following phrase also keeps adding on,

'And miles to go before we sleep, And miles to go before we sleep !'

StoreGrid 2.2 Release

StoreGrid 2.2 Release is what we are currently working at and we have a lot to offer our Customers.

Mainly, the Service Provider Edition customers (our partners), are going to have a ball with StoreGrid. Now, the license key management is pushed to the Backup Server. Hence, all clients are typically licenseless, but to backup to a Backup Server they will need a license (on the server ofcourse). These licenses will be like credits from the bank. Every month the client will use up its credits based on the features it uses like the new Advanced Plugin we have implemented for SQL Server backups and Exchange Server backups. Or being a backup client for a normal Desktop/Laptop PC or a backup client for a File Server (Server OS).

Now our Partners just need to fill up their Backup Server with necessary credits (MSPEUs) and not worry about,

1. Renewing Licenses,
2. If a client suspends its backup services, transfer the license is now seemless.

Moreover, the upcoming release also contains, Improvized Group based Customer organization, Revamped Replication/Customer Invoice/Local To Remote Server Migration etc.,

On the client side, some of the add-ons/features much expected are Volume Shadow Copy support for XP/2003/Vista Operating Systems, Advanced Exchange/SQL Server plugins, etc.,

Staying late nights (this is my 18th hour in the office on the trot today, not mentioning two previous night-outs last week) is becoming a kind of a recent FAD going on in our office.

This is just the Service Provider Edition Release, the Professional Edition will have all of the above and even more. But you would have to wait a little longer for it....