This article applies only to CrashPlan for Small Business
Overview
CrashPlan for Small Business offers data protection for servers. In order to back up your organization's servers effectively, there are some special considerations to keep in mind. This article details how to use CrashPlan for Small Business to back up your server data successfully and ensure you have access to restore those files.
Considerations for server backup
Supported operating systems
For a list of the server operating systems we support, see Crashplan supported operating systems.
System resources
While we offer unlimited storage, available computer memory may be a limiting factor for very large file selections. By default, the CrashPlan app is allowed to use 25% of the physical memory on the device. See our guide to adjusting CrashPlan app settings for large archives for information on memory usage configuration. See our system requirements for additional information on the minimum requirements needed to use the CrashPlan app.
File types
- For best practices on backing up open files and databases, see Back up open files and databases using CrashPlan for Small Business and Understand and troubleshoot backing up open files with Windows VSS (CrashPlan for Small Business).
- For information on backing up virtual machines, see Back up virtual machines and separate boot partitions using CrashPlan for Small Business. Also note that virtual machine file types are excluded from CrashPlan for Small Business backups.
Speed for initial and ongoing backups
Another consideration for any large archive is the time it takes to complete backup for both initial and ongoing backups. There are two major considerations for speed:
- Internet connection (bandwidth): The CrashPlan cloud has a finite amount of bandwidth that is shared by all of our users. Even if you have a very fast Internet connection, it's unlikely that your upload to the CrashPlan cloud will saturate your upload bandwidth.
- Computer power (CPU): By default, the CrashPlan app has limits in place to prevent it from using too many system resources. However, many computers can support increasing the amount of CPU the CrashPlan app is allowed to use without impacting system performance. See our guide to speeding up your backup for more information on adjusting your settings for faster speeds.
Backup to the CrashPlan
On average, you can expect backups to the CrashPlan cloud to progress by at least 10 GB of data per day, as long as your computer is powered on and not in standby mode
Backup priority
The CrashPlan app is designed to intelligently prioritize your backup without your intervention. Nonetheless, because backing up a server may result in a large archive, you may want to take greater control over backup priorities. With backup sets, you can opt to segment your file selection into sets with unique settings and priorities for each.
Pricing
CrashPlan for Small Business pricing is device-based, meaning that if you install the CrashPlan app on your server, that server is considered an active device. You are not charged for external drives.
Server backup best practices
Frequency and versions
As a best practice, we recommend adjusting the frequency and version settings for backing up your server to the following:
- Back up changes every: Every 4 hours
- Remove deleted files: Every 90 days
Test downloading files
To ensure you're prepared in the event you need to recover server files, we recommend that you test downloading one or more files weekly. You can restore files: