Net managers find (remote) backing up hard to do

In-house workers take data backup for granted. Whether they store files and folders on the network or local drives, invariably there's a back-up product in place should their systems fail. But when workers telework, back-up strategies come unglued or cease to apply altogether.

A report compiled by analyst firm Stategic Research showed that only 22% of large companies conduct remote backups - pointing to the difficulty of the task. Difficult or not, there are a number of ways to capture remote data. Some are easy - scheduled and automatic - others tougher to enforce and dependent on workers' willingness to take part in the back-up process.

Consider whether your remote workers maintain persistent network connections, dial in occasionally or work disconnectedly. You probably have a mix of each and will want to tailor your remote workers solutions to fit their work habits.

For remote users who have a persistent connection to the network through a VPN or remote-access software, backup is painless. You need to adopt a policy that corporate information stays on the network, and personal information on a local disk - and make sure your remote workers understand the policy and adhere to it.

Network giant Novell says about 45% of its users travel or work remotely from laptops and other devices. Novell gives these workers a portal into the network via a Web site called i-Login.net. I-Login is available whenever a remote user establishes an Internet connection.

"I-Login gives employees access to the information and services that apply to their jobs, whether they're in human resources or sales," says Ken Anderson, chief information officer of Novell in Provo, Utah. "This gathering place of information for every employee reduces the time it takes to access Web-based applications, whether the user's in a home office, a hotel in Bangalore or the airport in Paris."

Upon logon, all of an employee's word processing, e-mail or database applications are available. If a user transfers a file from the document management system to work offline, the next time the user logs on the data is synchronized and transferred back to the server where it is backed up.

Data synchronization tools are also good for backup. Medical research service Medline uses Xcellenet's Afaria, which synchronizes data from the laptops or handheld devices of more than 500 sales representatives over an IP connection.

"We use Afaria to move data out to our sales force," says Scott Perry, systems programmer for Medline in Mundelein, Ill. "They enter orders offline, and then when they connect to the network Afaria synchronizes those orders with the network."

Afaria can run whenever the software senses a Web connection or can be initiated by the user. It starts at $5,000 per Windows NT or 2000 server, and about $100 per user.

But what about disconnected users - those who may only logon for their corporate e-mail and rarely access networked applications and data? Some IT managers say that unless the corporate data stays on the network where it belongs, it's not their responsibility to back it up. Others say they've started thinking about backing up the disconnected user.

"All our users are on the network except one," says Chip DiComo, network manager for shipping company Hellman Worldwide Logistics in Miami. "We use [Computer Associates'] ARCserve on our server and the client agent to back up the laptops. We back laptops up only when they're on the LAN and ask users to bring their laptops into the office once a week so we can back them up."

Even with the best plans, DiComo has a one-user office in Charlotte, N.C., that doesn't get backed up. DiComo hasn't "found the perfect balance yet."

For neglected users, IT managers might consider Web-based storage services such as FreeDrive.com and Xdrive.com. There are also utilities you can pass along to remote users such as Microsoft Backup, which comes with Windows 95, or software such as NovaStor's NovaBackup or Nova-WEB. Backup lets you filter the files you will backup by date last modified, by file name or location. NovaStor's NovaBackup offers a scheduler and compression capabilities.

Other vendors offer complete backup and disk restoration services, such as SecondCopy.com. Its downloadable software lets users schedule unattended backups to a different directory, disk, Zip drive, CD-R/W drive or a remote network drive. SecondCopy 2000 is $30.

Another option is Connected, which provides back-up services in several ways: as software a company buys to backup its remote users; as a hosted service; or as an online service for individual users. Whether a company buys the Connected TLM software or decides to outsource backup to Connected, the TLM software gathers information from laptops or desktops whenever the user connects to the Internet or has an IP connection established. If Connected is hosting the software, data is stored in a center operated by Connected.

At Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., Tracy Logan, vice president of IT, installed Connected TLM for use by teaching staff. About 25% of the professors use laptops and either dial in to the network or work offline, Logan says.

For network-connected users, their data is backed up as part of the network. For those that dial in, the Connected TLM uploads the data from their local disks to the network each time they connect.

"The [Connected] application runs in the background, and the user doesn't even know it until they lose their files and we're able to restore files for them," Logan explains. "We realized how many people don't practice regular back-up procedures. Before we used Connected, a lot of people had corporate data that didn't get backed up. If we roll Connected out to students, it's going to be a pretty significant program."

Get the low down on remote back-up strategies in our Net.Worker forum.