Note: Due to the importance of the topic, I am sending this newsletter out to all of our email contacts for CPS customers. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, please click this link to sign up.

     It was only a matter of time but it finally happened. We had a customer that was not doing backups and managed to lose their data for the past year. It took a series of perfectly aligned stars to have it happen but it did. Fortunately, there were some reports and copies of sales receipts that enabled us to recover all of the member account balances so we were able to preserve the business but lost all of the sales data.

     I have sent out several letters on this topic and found a solid off-site monitored backup solution (please see http://clubprophetsystems.com/?page=56996 for details); yet only a handful of our community has signed up for the service. In talking with the pro at the facility who lost their database, he stated something along the lines of "CPS is our technology partner; I rely on you to do the right thing. I don't know about databases, backups, etc..." and he is absolutely right.

     Therefore, going forward, Off-Site Backup is now REQUIRED. Every new client of CPS will have the service on their proposal and every existing client will have this service added to their account. The cost is $35 per month.

     There will be some exceptions.

1) If you happen to be at a site that is professionally serviced by a datacenter-quality IT Staff, you must sign a waiver stating that you take full responsibility for backups and any loss of data, by any means, if current and redundant backups are not provided to CPS in the event of any issue.

2) If you are not willing to pay for the service, you must sign a waiver stating that you take full responsibility for backups and any loss of data, by any means, if current and redundant backups are not provided to CPS in the event of any issue.

     Click here to view the waiver  

     NOTE: We will include this waiver (and instructions) with the May 1 billing statement that you receive from us. For those of you who do not receive a statement, the waiver will be emailed to your facility, so keep your eye out for it.

     I know there are less expensive services available out there, but they are not monitored. We had one client using one of these discount services only to find out that the backup was failing every day, for 4 months! They have since switched over to our recommended solution which is monitored daily.

     Our partner providing this service is PM Computing. They will be contacting you directly to set up the service. If you are unwilling to do so, you must sign the waiver, explained above, accepting all responsibility for current and redundant backup files. If an issue arises where a good backup file is not available, data recovery of a corrupt database will be billed on an hourly basis outside of your CPS support contract. Typical recovery efforts range from 5 to 36 hours and recovery of any data is not guaranteed! Data recovery services can be $150 per hour or more.

     Here are a few highlights and features of the system:

• Backup scheduler and reminder
  
• Customized to backup data at a specific time, or at multiple times per day. If your system does not complete an automatic backup for 3 consecutive days, we will call you and help get your system back on track.
  
  
• Open file backup
  
• Backs up the system even as you are working on it; no need to close down any applications or windows!
  
  
• Encryption and compression
  
• 128-bit TwoFish / Trible DES / AES encryption
• Upload backup data through SSL channel
• Up to 80% compression
  
  
• Customizable retention policy
  
• Keep deleted backups to prevent human error deletion
  
  
• Optional web access
  
• Makes the backup account act like an online briefcase
• Download backups simply and securely using the web
  
  
• Optional local and network backup
  
• Backup additional copies to local or external hard drives
  
  
• Optional backup report
  
• Easy monitoring with extensive backup status reports
  
  
• Conventional methods (e.g., tapes) are not good enough
  
• High failure rates during restoration
• Critical backup failures will not be detected until at the time of restoration
• Slow read / write speed
• High cost of maintenance and licensing is prohibitive
• Data is not encrypted
• Fixed capacity per unit makes backup job less flexible
• Prone to damages, being stolen or misplaced
  
  
• Much safer than the old ways
  
• Your critical data is encrypted (128-bit!), compressed and then uploaded to our REMOTE servers via SSL, guaranteeing security.
• It requires no hands-on intervention, thus eliminating human error.
• The robust design guarantees an extremely high rate of successful restoration.
  
  
• Do more while spending less
  
• No more tapes, tape drives, head cleaners or licensing to finance.
• Your data is protected from fire, vandalism, terrorist attacks, war, natural disasters, etc.
• Recovering lost data is easier, more reliable, and less expensive as well.
  
  
• Easy to manage
  
• No technical knowledge or training is required.
• Our team of highly-trained technicians will offer any assistance required for your system backup or restoration.

Until Next time,

Enjoy :)