Keep your data safe with EZ-Backup By Beth Goelzer Lyons   Bad disk. Dead drive. Corrupted file. Deleted file. Software error. Virus. Power surge. Theft. Disaster. Sooner or later, computer failure strikes everyone. Regularly backing up computers is the best defense, and one of the services available at Cornell, EZ-Backup, is being improved. A fee-based service for departments, EZ-Backup currently backs up over 1,250 computers and servers for departments across campus, as well as Cornell's server "farm" in Rhodes Hall, home to critical university data. "Version 3, which we'll introduce in the next 6 months, offers many improvements, including a better user interface and enhanced performance," said Paul Zarnowski, EZ-Backup administrator. "We're also adding new volume discount plans."

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EZ-Backup uses IBM's ADSTAR Distributed Storage Manager (ADSM), which runs on Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, Novell and various other operating systems. Storage is handled by automated tape robots in a highly secure, environmentally controlled location. Access to stored files is password-protected, using a Kerberos-like, two-way authentication process. "You choose what time to back up, how often, which files to exclude and how many versions of files to store," explained Karen Durfee, EZ-Backup administrator. "It also offers archiving, and you can retrieve files any time, day or night, so recovery from little goofs or major problems can start right away." "With the click of a mouse, anyone in this office can do a backup in under an hour, at any time that is convenient for them. And if we're especially busy and can't do it during the day, we have the option to run backup overnight," said Mary Bouchard, an information technology financial auditor in the Audit Office. "There's no backup media to deal with, and off-site data storage makes sense from a security standpoint." "We also use EZ-Backup in nontraditional ways. Moving users to new machines appears almost seamless since we can restore all the personal files from the backup without the users giving up their old computers first," said Charlayne Beavers, University Registrar operations analyst. Anyone who has a department account number and a connection to Cornell's network can use EZ-Backup. The basic fee is $8.50 per month per system for up to 200 Mb (megabytes) of compressed data storage. Additional storage is billed on a per Mb basis. Also offered are volume discounts and a plan whereby a department can, in exchange for designating someone as their local EZ-Backup support person, combine excess storage charges to qualify for volume discounts. "To meet university and federal guidelines, the EZ-Backup service is designed to break even over a three-year period," explained Zarnowski. "With the startup costs already incurred, volume software license agreements in place and economies of scale achieved for hardware purchases, we expect that, as use continues to grow, rates should continue to decrease." For a large institution like Cornell, ADSM is an ideal solution, according to Zarnowksi. It is designed to back up thousands of computers. It compresses data -- roughly by 50 percent, depending on the kind of data -- before the data is sent to or from the backup tapes. And it does progressive incremental backups, which means it will never require a full backup after the first use. Both the data compression and the incremental backups reduce the load on Cornell's network and the amount of storage space that is required. "The features we value most about EZ-Backup are off-site storage and ease of use. It takes little time to support each user, and the times we've needed to use Restore have had a happy ending," said Janice Merrill, technical consultant at the Johnson Graduate School of Management. Some questions to ask when choosing a backup service: Can it back up only new and changed files since the last backup? Can it back up only selected files, or multiple versions of the same file? Can it run automatically and unattended? How reliable is the storage media? How easy is it to restore files from the backup? Are backups stored in a secure, offsite place? Is the data compressed? What is the total cost? Most of this article also appeared in the 29 October 1998 Cornell Chronicle.