Whenever a new customer tests our server backup service we are often asked how the service affects their internet connection and how much bandwidth the service will use.
The majority of SME’s we deal with don’t have their server hosted at a data centre so they use a standard broadband connection that is fed into their office.
I know only too well what it’s like to download/upload data on a standard broadband connection as I process a lot of data on a daily basis. When it comes to using a remote server backup service its more of a concern due to the amount of data that needs to be backed up, usually +10GB on a daily basis.
How does our online server backup deal with bandwidth when performing backups? The last thing we want to do is slow down a customer’s network so the answer is easy, by throttling bandwidth so the backup service is restricted to a specific speed.
Every customer who uses our remote server backup service has the option to throttle bandwidth and configuring the option is really easy. Within the account management website the properties of the server can be configured to throttle bandwidth of the backup service. See below screenshot:
We are faced with a number of options when it comes to throttling bandwidth which are:
Backup (uplink) – this determines how much bandwidth should be used to upload data from the server onto our backup vaults. You can set it with No limit, Always limit to specific amount or limit using a schedule.
In the above screenshot I have set the bandwidth throttle by using a schedule. I can now set which times on which days I would like to throttle the bandwidth. Here I have selected Mon – Fri, 9am – 5pm (normal office hours for most SME’s).
The dark blue colour denotes an active period (office hours for this example) and during this period it has been limited to 200 Kbps. The setting of 200 Kbps is minimum recommended but this can be lowered or set higher to meet customer’s specific requirements. I have tested with 56 Kbps on my home server (with a 2MB broadband connection) and have still been able to perform daily backups of 10GB.
The light blue colour denotes an inactive period. Again this period can be set to specific times or days and also set to a specific limit. Not many of customers require this option so they have it set to no limit. If a customer requires as much bandwidth as possible during the night, for whatever reason, then we can still go ahead and restrict how much bandwidth the backup service uses. In most cases we have never needed to use the bandwidth restriction outside of our customer’s office hours.
Restore (downlink) – You can also restrict the bandwidth for Restore (downlink) but as the majority of our customers require restored files as quickly as possible we simply advise leaving this option with no limit (default).
Concerned about bandwidth usage?
If you are concerned about using online backup for a server because of bandwidth usage then I highly recommend ensuring the service gives you the option to throttle the bandwidth. The more you can configure the bandwidth of your backups the less hassle you’ll have with network speeds.
With our backup service it’s a matter of selecting a few options (as shown above) and the bandwidth restriction is activated as soon as you save the options and you’ll notice the difference right away.
How long does it take to perform a backup?
I’ve previously discussed this under how long does a livevault offsite backup take and when you throttle bandwidth for the service the backup will take longer. Thankfully though we can perform incremental backups which again can lower the time it will take to lift a daily backup, only the changes to your data are uploaded to the backup vaults.
I have found that using bandwidth throttle is essential for a lot of customers, mostly those who run their office server on a standard broadband connection. Without being able to throttle bandwidth our customers would be faced with serious lag on the internet connection which will affect their employee’s productivity.
If you want to learn more about how we throttle bandwidth or would like to test the service don’t hesitate to contact us.
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