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Space For Rent: Page 5 of 17

Ranking the services proved challenging, as each one passed all our backup-and-restore tests. However, we found differences in agent functionality, ease of use, system-management capabilities, cost and retention schemes.

The services vary most in their ability to do hot backups of open databases, messaging services and dynamic OS files. Options run the gamut, so make sure the online service you choose can support your specific database and messaging needs. Many of the services offer machine-state restoration, but the vendor reps we interviewed said most customers opt for data-only backups to avoid the cost of storing replaceable OS and application-related data.

LiveVault, the most expensive service we tested, won our Editor's Choice award for its superior remote-management capabilities, emergency user support, simplified Web-based interface, and substantial database and message-system backup. This was a difficult choice--we were impressed with all the services and would feel confident storing valuable data on any one of them.


Since 1993, LiveVault has offered online backup, recovery and electronic vaulting services to large enterprises, remote offices and SMBs (small and midsize businesses). We were impressed by the provider's experience in supporting reliable backups of remote servers where access to IT staff is limited. LiveVault currently provides several levels of storage, ranging from short-term server backups to multiyear, archival accounts in data centers from IBM and Iron Mountain in the United States and BT in the United Kingdom.

The LiveVault agent was the only one for which management was totally Web-based, so we could check on our data from anywhere we had a Web connection. To set up the test server, we simply logged in to our test account on LiveVault's secure "MyLiveVault" management site and added the test server to our LiveVault account; unlike other services, we could configure LiveVault only online. After entering contact and server-specific information and configuring the backup environment, we downloaded an agent installer that was specifically preconfigured for that server and unusable on any other system. This was unique among the services tested--in general, we downloaded agents and configured them on local machines. But as we explored the world of LiveVault, the reasons for this difference became apparent.


As you may have deduced, LiveVault's system is extremely Web-oriented. Configuration changes are initiated through the Web-based user interface, passed through the vault system and returned to your unobtrusive local agent for execution. This makes remote backup-management control a breeze--all local-agent functions are available through an SSL browser session on any system. Our concerns about security were eased when we discovered that LiveVault augments its password-protected Web access with 192-bit AES encryption, electronic keys and digital certificates.