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My users are mostly road warriors who work on their Windows laptops. I would like to have a backup solution that would copy data to a corporate server over VPN. Could is absolutely out of question. It has to:

  • support flaky connections and interrupted syncs gracefully
  • user should be able to throttle transfer
  • Ideally, it should support multiple backup partnerships - some directories get backed up to server A, and some to server B.

I don't really need any sync, just a way not to lose data. Something simple and robust is preferred to very complex and enterprisy - I can achieve versioning with server snapshots.

I don't mind paying as long as it isn't a lot (ZManda's $150/y per client is a lot)

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If you don't mind using *nix-style tools (and *nix-style configuration process), cwRsync is pretty robust and configurable solution... –  aland May 5 '12 at 14:23
what do you use for your corporate server backups? Most enterprise backup solutions have options for laptop backups. Check there first for pricing. –  TheCleaner May 5 '12 at 17:24
ZManda's $150/y per client is a lot -- Your data isn't worth $150 per person per year? –  RobM May 5 '12 at 17:25
A splitting headache can make you loose entire day's earning but you wouldn't pay $100 for an aspirin pack. –  Konrads May 9 '12 at 6:04

3 Answers 3

I use Burp http://burp.grke.net for my backup needs, it meets your requirements and it is open source. I personally use it on CentOS and Windows 7 boxes with great success.

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I agree. Burp is great. And FYI you need working_dir_recovery_method=resume in the config to resume an interrupted backup. It has a ratelimit. It uses SSL. It works with a VPN (as should any). But it sounds complicated to split directories on different servers... split per user instead. –  Peter Sep 4 at 8:27

CrashPlan (peer-to-peer) may meet your needs.

It's not transparent but it may do.

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I'm quite unsure how effective it would be in your situation but I've been playing around with Genie Timeline lately and have been able to use it over a VPN connection. It may be worth a look.

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