[thelist] Server Backup System

[Steve Hasz]

Dear Group,

This must be a common problem among small webshops, but I didn't see
anything in the archives.  I run a web hosting, design and web services
business.  I travel a lot, but have a permanent DSL connection with some
Windows boxes running at one of the locations.  I run FreeBSD VPS's at Verio
(Virtual Private Servers-very similar to a dedicated server, but the servers
are split between many users into virtual servers).  I have access by SSH,
SFTP and FTP.

Verio makes daily backups, and if someone deletes something, it can be
recovered free of charge for free the same, USA, Western Standard Time, day,
which I think they roll at midnight.  If files older than that have to be
recovered, then it is $100 per file.  If you have to roll back to an old,
tape backup version of a site, they put up one from a week ago at minimum,
and there is a fee.

What I'd like to do is automatically make a complete backup once a week of
all websites, then an incremental backup daily of all files that have
changed.  The program would login by itself.  I'd like something that would
run on Windows on my backup machine.  Bonus points for my being able to
access the backup machine through VPN when I am out of the country.

Then, if I ever had to, I'd like to be able to recover individual files or
roll back to last week's version with ease.  I don't want to download all
the files daily, and I would like the week's files to be zipped up.  I want
to be able to archive these on CD, then I'll have backups from old websites,
which seem to come in very handy. Verio's VPS product is great for what you
get, but I'd like an alternative.

Best regards,
Steve
www.roatanet.com - Visitors Guide to Roatan and the Bay Islands
www.travel-to-honduras.com - Your Travel Guide to Honduras