My Favorite Tool of 2013: CloudBerry Backup - Server Edition

Extensibility. CloudBerry primarily markets this tool as if it were an Amazon/S3 tool. It is—and can seamlessly work with S3, S3—Reduced Dependency, and Glacier storage. But it also supports an obscene number of other back-end destinations and data storage components including support for RackSpace, Google, Azure, FTP, File-System, and providers/services that I’ve never even heard of before. (i.e., in the photo below, note where the scroll bar is—as an indication of the amount of available options.)

Flexibility. In addition to providing interoperability with a veritable cornucopia of endpoints, it also offers fantastic control over the timing, make-up, retention-rate, versioning options, and just about everything else that you can think of when it comes to backups.

Manageability. This tool has knobs and levers for everything. I haven’t needed to use too many of them. But one day, after dropping 40GB of data into my backup location, my (awesome) network connection was taking a pounding as this tool was uploading ~8MB/sec and overloading my router. So, I went in and throttled my backup plan to only use ~75% of my bandwidth—it not only took effect immediately, but kept pushing my remaining files up seamlessly, and did exactly what it said it would – because my connection to the blessed interwebs were restored again (immediately).

Security. Connections to endpoints/storage locations are obviously encrypted whenever/wherever possible, but you also get the ability to ENCRYPT files locally BEFORE pushing them up to whatever cloud/back-end you’re storing them on.

Dependable. I’ve got this running on my own server and on the servers of a couple of clients. I’ve yet to catch it missing even a single beat. It’s a workhorse—constantly, dutifully, and faithfully uploading crap-loads of backups and files as expected (and versioning them all as defined/needed and so on). Recovery is also something I’ve tested directly (via the tool) and by means of connecting to S3 containers via my copy of CloudBerry’s S3 Explorer Pro.

Value. A single license can backup an entire server AND picks up the ability to backup up to 5 additional file shares. That’s pretty sweet for $80.

More Value. Being able to back up to S3 makes this tool insanely cheap and insanely versatile for businesses—as S3 objects are immediately available from pretty much anywhere (as long as you’ve got proper access IDs/keys and any decryption keys needed)—making this tool great for smoke and rubble contingency plans. But being able to shove ‘archive’ backups and other less important data into Amazon Glacier is obscenely cost effective. (I’m pushing over 60GBs into Glacier with my own backups at home for the low-low-price of about $0.60/month—whereas, if I was treating these as anything other than fire/theft/tactical-nuke backups I could pay roughly $6/month and be able to access them from any S3-capable client or tool.)

Other Stuff. I’m sure I’m missing a bunch of other benefits. CloudBerry solutions come with a 30 day trial – go give their stuff a try and see for yourself what they bring to the table.