Backup Terms Glossary

This glossary contains most of the backup terms that you may come across when you deal with online backup and recovery software. Here you can find definitions of backup terms used on this website and in IASO Backup software solutions.

 

Please find more useful info about online backup software, IASO Backup solutions and our superior IP backup technology.

Backup/Data Backup – in information technology, backup refers to making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. These additional copies are typically called "backups." Backups are useful primarily for two purposes. The first is to restore a state following a disaster (called disaster recovery). The second is to restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted or corrupted. Backup can run under Windows (Linux, Mac OS, UNIX etc.) environment.

Backup Software – it is computer software applications that are used for performing the backing up of data.

 

Backup Server - A computer in a network designed to store copies of files from users' machines or other servers. It is generally RAID based with a large number of disk drives. Backup process to backup server called Offsite backup or Internet backup.

 

Backup Storage - a storage device used to store copies of data for backup & recovery. Tape drives and tape libraries have been the traditional backup storage device; however, magneto-optic (MO) disks and other optical disks as well as ordinary magnetic disks are also be used.

 

Online Backup - the opportunity to perform data backup on remote server with a network connection. Online backups can be very useful because they allow you to access your backups from any location with Internet access.  For home users, online backups are also more secure because they are physically separated from the original data. IASOs Backup solutions are designed to leverage disk technology and the omnipresent IP Networks to remotely store backup data and keep the backup available online, for fast restore in case of data loss.

 

IP Backup/Backup over IP – IASO Backup presents innovative Backup over IP technology that allows online data backup and restore from any Internet connection. Broadband Internet has become available at a bargain and is now widespread with consumers and small businesses. As the perfect backup should be stored in a remote location, it would be ideal to be able to use the ubiquitous Internet to connect to such a location and transport the backup data to it. The bandwidth gap between the LAN and Internet bandwidth requires the backup data to be reduced to an amount that can be transported within a reasonable time frame. That is exactly what IASOs data reduction technology delivers.

Backup to Disk - with the availability of larger and larger disks at ever decreasing prices, disk becomes a viable alternative for tape as a backup medium. Using disk for backup purposes can have significant advantages over tape. Most vendors of so-called backup to disk solutions however deploy a technique called "tape emulation", where they write a single, sequential file containing the backup data to disk, as if it were a tape streamer. Although this approach has some merit, as it requires only minor changes to the existing storage and backup infrastructure, virtual tape or tape emulation is a compromise that sacrifices many of the advantages that backup to disk could deliver, if implemented in its native mode.

 

Dynamic slicing – smarter analog of delta slicing that uses knowledge about data structure of files being backed up for cutting them onto non-fixed size slices to achieve more efficiency in delta-backup.

 

Movable (offline) Backup - the possibility to perform first backup without sending whole data to remote server through the Internet (perform backup to local disk -> give backed up data to BSP -> BSP applies it to the server -> continue with delta-backup).

 

Delta Backup - the ability to perform the second and subsequent backup operations (these take much less time than the first backup). The software uses an advanced, proprietary delta-blocking technology, which significantly reduces the amount of data to be sent between client and server to perform the daily backup routine. This data reduction has favourable effects on the amount of bandwidth necessary for the client – server communication and also on the volume of disk space required to hold the desired amount of backup instances. 

 

Full/total Backup - A full backup is a copy of all selected files (sometimes most of hard disk files), kept on a different storage media, for use in emergencies. It usually takes longer to perform a full backup than any other type of backup.

File/Folder Backup - a file/folder backup is a backup operation in which any files, mostly data files, are backed up.

Automatic Backup (on schedule) - the opportunity to backup data automatically according to desired schedule. Scheduler allows performing an operation when the user is away from the computer, which sometimes is very convenient. Usually schedulers allow running an operation repeatedly, on week days, on month days and allow customizing the scheduling plan.

Manual Backup – the possibility to launch backup process manually.

Backup on Shutdown - the possibility to backup data automatically on system shutdown.

System State Backup - the opportunity to perform a system state backup. Windows System State backup creates a backup file for critical system related components. This backup file can be used to recover the critical system components after a crash. The System State contains the Registry, boot files, as well as important system files.

 

MS SQL backup - the possibility to backup MS SQL database. The solution supports the Microsoft SQL 7.0 and higher hot backup and restore mechanism. This means backups and restores can be done, while the database is running. A backup client can make backups of both local and remote MsSQL servers; for every server a license is needed. An MS SQL server can be connected to by providing username and password (SQL authentication) and Windows authentication. For every server both inclusive and exclusive selections can be made. It is not possible to make a hot backup of the Master database, caused by Microsoft limitations. For MS SQL backups the system needs extra space on the windows temp location. The size of the temporary file is comparable to the total size of the data and log file of MS SQL.

Exchange Backup (BLEC) - the possibility to do a brick level backup of Exchange. For all Exchange Servers 2000 and higher, running on Windows 2000 and higher, and patched to the current Service Packs, the optional Exchange BrickLevel Backup Application Support Module is available. The BLEC makes it possible to make daily, hourly or even continuous backups of all items in an Exchange server. The solution supports e-mails, contacts, calendar items, journals, tasks and notes. Since every item is separately backed up, it is also possible to restore a single user, folder or item. This feature makes it possible to have a current backup of an Exchange database at any given time.The solutions supports backup of Public folders and Private Folders.

Exchange VSS Backup - the ability to backup Exchange on database level. For Exchange databases backup, VSS is necessary. Therefore this feature is only available on Windows servers running Windows 2003. With the EDB all complete files used by Exchange are added to the backup, including all log files. With this type of backup a full Exchange setup can easily be restored. It is not possible to restore single users, folders or messages. The backup is run once every day. The Exchange log files are not purged by the backup.

Backup of Shared Folders - the possibility to backup shared data.

Open Files Backup (VSS) - the opportunity to backup open files with VSS. The IASO Backup client software supports the Volume Shadow Copy Service from Microsoft to enable backups of open files. VSS is available on Windows XP, 2003 and Vista.

Image Backup - an image backup is a backup of an entire hard drive by means of creating its image and its probable consequential backup. It allows, in case of a disaster, by restoring a disk image to have the exactly same system state as on the moment of the initial image backup. This method is gaining its popularity now.

Exclusion Backup Filters - the possibility to select certain file types to exclude them from the backup. With the File Exclusion Filters you can limit the amount of backup data by automatically filtering certain types of data, such as multi-media files and temporary files. The Filters option under the "My Computer – Preferences" function enables you to create far more advanced filters than the ones you can set during installation, using the Setup Wizard. Filters are not available for restore.

Disaster Recovery - is the process of recovering after a business disaster and restoring or recreating data. One of the main purposes of creating backups is to facilitate a successful disaster recovery.

Restore - the possibility to perform the restore of the backed up data stored on a remote server. The restore function works largely similar to the backup function. It is possible to first select the date and time of the backup session from which the restore needs to be taken. The restore selection can be made through a tree-like interface. The tree will contain only folders and files that were present at the time of the backup session (snapshot). Selections can be made granularly, on file and folder levels, where multiple files and folders can be selected to be retrieved in one single recovery operation. A restore can be done to the original location, in which case the existing data will be overwritten, or on any other location accessible from the machine on which the restore is being performed. In the latter case, the software will create a folder-tree structure on that location, which is identical to the original folder tree, as far as relevant for the selected files and folders.

Delta Restore - an extraordinary powerful feature of the IASO Backup solution is the Delta Restore capability. In many situations a recovery operation, necessary to reinstate a previous situation, if performed on file or folder level, would retrieve many data blocks that are already present at the original location. The IASO Backup solution performs recoveries on the block level and will try to find each required data block first in its original location and only when it is not found there, will retrieve it from the (remote) backup server. Since the average backup delta ranges between 0,1% and 1% per day, delta restores will generally show the same efficiencies, meaning that recovering the state of the previous day would only require the download of 0,1% to 1% of the total data volume.

Graphical User Interface - a Graphical User Interface, abbreviated GUI (pronounced GOO-ee), is a program interface that takes advantage of the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use. Well-designed graphical user interfaces can free the user from learning complex command languages. On the other hand, many users find that they work more effectively with a command-driven interface, especially if they already know the command language.

Encryption is the most effective way to make data secure. Access to the appropriate password or secret key is necessary to read an encrypted file. IASO has made a deliberate choice never to have the encryption key available on the backup server. We believe that this is the safest choice, from the client point of view and particularly valuable in service provider applications.

 

Advanced scheduling (license-dependent) - the ability to plan backup of My Computer, Microsoft SQL or Exchange Server via choosing the type of backup you would like to perform and via selecting the interval, date, and time for the backup to run.  The feature Advanced Scheduling allows you to plan backup of My Computer, Microsoft SQL or Exchange Server. After you click the Insert button, a new window appears where you can choose the type of backup you would like to perform and select the interval, date, and time you wish the backup to run. After you confirm certain backup schedule, it is also possible to edit or remove it.

 

Simple scheduling (license-dependent) - setting up a daily backup time and backup on system shutdown.  You can either schedule the backup to start on a fixed time of the day, or start the backup when you shut your system down. The last option is not available in Windows Vista. You can also select both options, but this could mean that you would make multiple backups per day.

 

Dashboard scheduling - the opportunity to specify the frequency with which you want to receive reports by selecting one of the available options from the drop-down list: "Daily", "Wednesday and Saturday", "Saturday or Never".

 

Data deduplication essentially refers to the elimination of redundant data. In the deduplication process, duplicate data is deleted, leaving only one copy of the data to be stored. However, indexing of all data is still retained should that data ever be required. Deduplication is able to reduce the required storage capacity since only the unique data is stored. For example, a typical email system might contain 100 instances of the same one megabyte (MB) file attachment. If the email platform is backed up or archived, all 100 instances are saved, requiring 100 MB storage space. With data deduplication, only one instance of the attachment is actually stored; each subsequent instance is just referenced back to the one saved copy. In this example, a 100 MB storage demand could be reduced to only 1 MB.

Directory hashing - delta backup technique which allows to skip unchanged directories without testing the contents. While searching for changes in the file system, the IASO solution uses an advanced stacked directory hashing technology. This finds the new, changed or deleted files at the highest possible speed. It makes the solution also feasible for file structures with millions of files. The system calculates the hash using the filename, file-size, file attributes, date last modified and the user-rights (where it says ‘file’, ‘directory’ could also be applicable). If none of these attributes is changed, the whole file is considered to be unchanged and will not be taken further into the backup process.

Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual. Allowing a device to store the same amount of data in less space, or fewer bits. Compression reduces the storage size of digital data by encoding repeatable patterns of binary 0's and 1's. Compression depends entirely on the type of file and compression algorithm.

(Data) replication is a process of copying data from a one site to one or more sites for increased security or performance. This can be done instead of a backup, however sometimes data backup can be used instead.