Online backup is the process of backing up computer data to a
remote location via IP-WAN. Online backup, also known as televaulting, is used as part of a
disaster recovery strategy to protect information
system data. In the event of data loss due to natural disasters, hardware failure or human error, data stored offsite at a remote
data center facility can be used to restore systems to the most recent working configuration. In online backup, files, folders, media or disk images are copied directly to
disk-based storage at a remote data center facility.
Some backup services such as those provided by CRC DataProtection permit backup administrators to manage online backup tasks for
remote and branch offices and other distributed computing environments from a single administration point. This feature, also known as
agentless backup, saves administration time by leveraging network connectivity and precluding manual administration of online backup tasks for each protected machine.
One criticism of online backup relates to bandwidth constraints, since IP-WAN bandwidth is variable and backups can become time-consuming for large amounts of data. However,
online backup providers such as CRC DataProtection mitigate this issue by backing up data in an incremental fashion, sending only changes since the most recent backup operation to the remote
data center facility. Another criticism of online backup is that interruptions in the backup process due to lost connectivity or other factors results in corrupted backup data. To solve this problem, CRC DataProtection uses an autonomic
self-healing backup process to repair logical inconsistencies and data errors during the backup process, eliminating problems caused by backup interruptions or other forms of data error creation.
Online backup allows users to backup databases whose data is actively being accessed, a process called
hot backup. Hot backup eliminates the need to shut down systems for backup, a critical consideration for organizations with 24x7 mission-critical systems which must remain online.
