MANAGED BACKUP - FAQ
No tapes to change, secured offsite backups, all with one connection.

   Can I try out this Managed Backup Utility Service before I sign up and pay?

       Yes! You can absolutely try it out and sign up for FREE and get a 30 day trial account with at
       least 500MB of space to try out our Managed Backup service with no obligation to purchase.
       This way you can evaluate our solution at your own pace!  To sign up for the free trial simply visit
       here and follow the instructions!

       We are confident that you will find the product very easy to use and you’ll be amazed at how fast
       you’ll be up and running performing backups of your desktops, servers, or laptops!  For more
       information on how you can download and install the software refer to our Quick HOW-TO
       Guides section on our website here.

   What does the software interface look like?

      That’s a great question!  Here are a few screen shots you can expect to see once you have the
      Nirix Remote Backup Agent (RBA) installed and running:

Portal Login Screen	User Profile Screen	Backup Set Screen	File Explorer Interface
Backup Config Screen	Restore Screen

   I signed up for a free trial account.  Where's the Welcome email?

       With all new accounts that are created a Welcome email is always sent to the primary contact on
       that account. If you did not see the Welcome email in your email inbox, check the following:

1. Your Junk-Email folder did not forward the Nirix Managed Backup Welcome email to your Junk E-Mail folder.  You can add the Nirix Managed Backup email account to your Safe-Sender’s list by doing the following in Microsoft Outlook:
1. Go to you Junk Email or Spam Mail folder.
2. Select the Welcome Email.  The “From” field should be from Nirix Backup Manager.
3. Right-click the email and select [Junk E-mail] -> [Add Sender to Safe Senders List]

   Is it really safe to backup over the Internet?

       Normally, if you are just copying files over the Internet from one computer to another without any
       sort of security (e.g. VPNs, SSL, PGP, Encryption, Certificates) in place to guard or protect your
       confidential data then the answer is NO!  However, with Nirix’s Managed Backup Service, rest
       assured that our backup service is highly secured utilizing industrial strength, industry standard,
       standards based encryption methods like AES, TripleDES & TwoFish. 

       Nirix’s Managed Backup Service protects your information in a number of different ways:

1. Secured Portal Login Page using highly encrypted SSL Certificates - this ensure that your login to our Managed Backup portal is secure and that no one can “steal” your login credentials.
   
2. Point-to-Point SSL communication between server and client
   
3. Encryption of backup data - this is achieved by utilizing 128-bit symmetric key encryption (AES, TripleDES, TwoFish). 256 bit is not available currently because it requires too much CPU overhead and it is not really required (Note: 128-bit encryption is what is currently being used by most banks today).  All data when stored on the Nirix Backup Servers are encrypted 128-bits.
   
4. Random Initializing Vector - a random initialization vector, salt and iteration count is generated by the software automatically for EACH file when data is being encrypted.
   
5. Choice of encryption modes - your choice of:
1. Electronic Cook Book (ECB)
2. Cipher Chain Blocking (CBC)
6. Encryption of backup traffic - This is achieved by utilizing 1024 bit RSA public key encryption. 1024 bit is what is being used by most Certificate Authorities today.

   How is data privacy maintained?

       All data transmitted to Nirix’s Remote Backup Server at our data center are encrypted with your
       self assigned encrypting key before they are sent to us. The encrypting key is NOT stored at Nirix
       Technology, nor on our Remote Backup Servers.  Without your encrypting key, the backup files are
       rendered useless to anyone. Only the backup user who knows the decryption key can get access
       to the backup files to retrieve the original content.   If you would like Nirix Technology to store your
       key in our secure digital data vault for backup security reasons (e.g. your IT administrator leaves on
       holidays or your IT administrator quits his job post), we are able to offer that as a premium service
       if required.

   How do you ensure that our data is safe and available when I need it?

        At Nirix Technology’s Enterprise-Class data center, we utilize only the very best in data center
        equipment.  Our entire infrastructure utilizes best-of-breed vendors like Cisco Systems and DELL
        enterprise class servers & storage array systems.  Our entire redundant infrastructure relies on
        industry leading Cisco networking technology to ensure that your data is transmitted securely,
        efficiently and error-free to our backup servers. 

        Nirix has the capability to scale out our storage requirements to over 70+ Terabytes of disk based
        storage utilizing advanced SAN (Storage Area Networking) technology.  If your business
        requirements require even higher availability and recovery thresholds, Nirix can also offer 2nd
        tiered offline storage to remote tapes as a premium service.  Our current tape storage facilities
        have capabilities to scale up to  10+ terabytes (TB) for secure remote offsite tape storage.

   I want to restrict the ability to restore files to only a select few computers. Can I do
       this?

       Yes, this is possible as well.  We understand that the data being backed up can be very sensitive
       and that there should be security around who is authorized to restore corporate data and to
       where.  If you have a requirement for this add on feature to be enabled, please call the Nirix Help
       Desk at 1-780-414-1556 ext. 9271.

   How do we backup "Open Files"?

       Files should never be backed up while they are open by an application. When an application is
       running, it stores its data both in system memory and in data files. Backing up by copying the data
       files while an application is running would fail to capture the application data stored in system
       memory in the backup job. Not only is it backing up less data than what it really should be backing
       up but it can also lead to data inconsistency that can eventually result in backup files being unusable
       by the application.

       The correct and the only right way to backup an application is to shutdown the application before
       running a backup job (unless hot backup is supported). When an application is shutdown, it
       commits its acquired system memory and flushes all application data from system memory to its data
       files.  The data files now contain everything needed to start an application successfully. Backing up
       application data files when it is shutdown will guarantee data consistency and backup files
       usability.  Please consult our User’s Guide for more information on how to use Pre-Backup
       commands and Post-Backup commands to shutdown and restart an application before/after a
       backup operation.

   What should I do if a backup error is reported in my backup report?      

1. Check if this is a configuration problem (e.g. network problem, proxy setting problem).
2. Check the error logs and activity log which can be located in C:\Program Files\Online-Backup\log (default location) for more information.
3. Try running the backup job again manually to see if the same error occurs.

For more information on our Managed Backup Utility Service, click here or talk to one of our knowledgeable account representatives at 1.780.414.1556.