Typical Online Backup Services allow end users to restore data themselves using an intuitive graphical user interface that presents a file and folder tree structure and some way to select files and folders to restore. Some, like Mercury, also allow restoring files by application name.

There are many considerations for designing your Online Backup Server. You can spend a little or a lot, depending on where it is hosted, security, redundancy, speed, power, and Internet connectivity.

I am using the term “firewall” to refer to any software or device that protects a computer from viruses, Trojans, external attacks, malware, evil websites, and other threats.

Let’s have a look at a typical small Server that contains a mix of critical data (Exchange Server, System State and Active Directory), important data, and archival data.

Data can be categorized into three tiers: critical (integral to ongoing operations), important (valuable but not mission critical) and archival (required but not typically retrieved).

This section is not intended to be a FULL explanation of exactly how credit cards work. What it does instead is give you an overview of how they work from the merchant’s (your) perspective.

To activate service you will need to deliver the Client or Agent to your customer and open an account for him on the server. This can be done as two separate actions, one manual and one automatic, or it can be done with full automation.

You might start out with just a few clients and have ambitions to grow to thousands. My advice is geared toward companies who start out servicing fewer than one hundred end users, and who would like to scale up to thousands.

The Online Backup business is booming. Independent Service Providers like most of us are benefiting from a rising tide of public awareness in Online Backup as an inexpensive and better alternative to tapes and CDs. This article is Part 4 of the chapter, “How to Sell Online Backup.”