Backing up Google Apps (G Suite) users files etc

[TwistedHelixis]

I have been testing Spanning Backup at a primary school which backs up Gmail, drive, calendar, contacts, sites and so far I really like it but wondered if anyone is using something different so I can take a look at that before making any final decisions.

 

The most important item to backup is Drive although being able to backup emails is also nice.

 

Thanks

[TwistedHelixis]

Anyone used these, or got other recommendations?

 

StorageCraft Cloud Backup

 

Iperius

 

Spinbackup

[flyinghaggis]

We currently use Spanning. It's awesome and I'd definitely recommend it. They do an educational deal priced per account so you don't need to worry about how much data staff and pupils are using which is really handy.

 

Before that we had Backupify but the admin interface is awful and they charge per Gb (which is a nightmare when your users have unlimited storage) so we moved away from it to Spanning!

[FN-GM]

Do you know there is a built in backup solution? It will allow you to go back upto 25 days. On top of that you have Vault with an unlimited retention period.

[NB9457]

Do you know there is a built in backup solution? It will allow you to go back upto 25 days. On top of that you have Vault with an unlimited retention period.

 

This

 

To me paying for cloud backup beats the point of it a bit for me. There is always risks, but the likeliness of Google suddenly charging schools or losing your data are really really small, it's more likely the backup company will lose the data or go bust if anything

[flyinghaggis]

I forget offhand exactly what but when we reviewed it there were quite a few scenarios which weren't covered by Google vault and could still result in staff or the school losing/deleting data which Vault can't recover. You could probably get by with just Vault but it's not a complete backup solution for Google data. Maybe something to put to management for a decision if money is tight so they can make the call on whether it's worth it.

 

Also it could be that Vault has improved as it's a few years since we've looked at it. I notice it now seems to cover a few areas which I'm sure it didn't previously so might be worth reviewing again before we renew the contract.

Edited January 22, 2018 by flyinghaggis

[TwistedHelixis]

Do you know there is a built in backup solution? It will allow you to go back upto 25 days. On top of that you have Vault with an unlimited retention period.

 

I was led to believe that is correct for gdocs etc but not for Word docs as versions are not done in the same way for none google files or something like that.

So if a word file gets encrypted its not possible to go back but you can with a gdoc. Is this not correct?

[TwistedHelixis]

Also I was told unlimited retention is only active as long as the user does not delete the file from their bin

[FN-GM]

I was led to believe that is correct for gdocs etc but not for Word docs as versions are not done in the same way for none google files or something like that.

So if a word file gets encrypted its not possible to go back but you can with a gdoc. Is this not correct?

 

Also I was told unlimited retention is only active as long as the user does not delete the file from their bin

 

Both these are false.

 

The 25. Day backup applies to all file. You can setup vault to keep the files forever, even when they are deleted and removed from the bin.

[TwistedHelixis]

OK I am confused then (not the first time).

 

I have these retention rules set - is this correct?

 

 

Do I need to set anything else for the 25 day backup and unlimited retention to work?

[TwistedHelixis]

Also was just reading this -

 

Google Vault is not designed to store files that are always changing. In fact, according to Google’s help file about Google Vault, once enacted a hold on files or emails can take up to three hours before it takes effect. Once held, the Vault does only retain the newest version of the document, other versions do not remain in the Vault.

 

So it sounds like along with the unlimited retention rules you also need to create a Hold before anything gets backed up in Vault?

 

Sorry, I am not thick and have been in IT for many years but I am finding this very confusing.

[enjay]

Spanning Backup here, as I preferred the interface to Backupify - much easier to find and recover shared files, as with Spanning you just need to know where it was but with Backupify you need to know whose document it was.

 

As for Vault, I've not found it particularly easy to locate and restore a deleted file, as you need to search for it. In my experience, people often can't remember enough information about a file name to allow you to recover it / identify it from a list of 500 documents with the words "English framework" in.

[TwistedHelixis]

So after testing its between Spanning and SpinBackup. I am edging towards Spin as it lets you pick which server to store your backups in and I think its cheaper than Spanning even with Team Drives enabled. Not fully tested so will report my findings.

 

As for Vault, when I tested I deleted a file and left it for 2 Months, I could find the file in the bin but if I deleted it from the bin and waited a few more months I could not find it, not even in Vault even though this was set to unlimited, so I am not confident about Vault, perhaps its a setting I am missing or I did not look in the right place to restore the file.

[FN-GM]

The vault and the G Suite backup are not the same thing. They are 2 separate systems. I will check our Vault settings, but we can get data even when it has been permanently deleted.

 

This is how to restore data using the G Suite backup system

https://support.google.com/a/answer/6052340

[TwistedHelixis]

I will check our Vault settings, but we can get data even when it has been permanently deleted.

 

That would be really helpful. I have read loads about Vault, not sure why I am not clicking with it and really need to understand it.

 

If you could let me know the settings you have and if you needed to setup holds etc for it to work, or if its simply just the 'retention' section that needs to be setup.

 

Also how to restore a missing file, as I was not able to restore my test deleted file.

[enjay]

This is how to restore data using the G Suite backup system

https://support.google.com/a/answer/6052340

 

That confirms the 25 day limit. Generally speaking that would be enough, as most people realise within a week or two they've deleted something, but I wouldn't want to rely on it as my only backup system - do you cycle all your backup tapes after just 25 days?

[TwistedHelixis]

Hold on, I think I have just remembered the issue I found when testing last year, yes you can restore a deleted word document but if that word document still exists but has been altered (encrypted) there is an issue restoring to a previous point in time, although you can restore to point in time for Gdocs etc, just not other types of docs.

 

The above could well be total BS or could have been correct in the past and not now. Has anyone needed to restore after a crypto virus attack?

[enjay]

Hold on, I think I have just remembered the issue I found when testing last year, yes you can restore a deleted word document but if that word document still exists but has been altered (encrypted) there is an issue restoring to a previous point in time, although you can restore to point in time for Gdocs etc, just not other types of docs.

 

The above could well be total BS or could have been correct in the past and not now. Has anyone needed to restore after a crypto virus attack?

 

If that were still the case, could you not delete the crypto-attacked document and then restore?

[TwistedHelixis]

If that were still the case, could you not delete the crypto-attacked document and then restore?

Very good point.

 

When I get time I am going to simulate a crypto attack and just see if I can get those files back to a point before the encryption happened.

[TwistedHelixis]

A couple of questions for people using Spanning Backup from a GDPR angle

 

Are you a UK School or company using Spanning?

 

Do you know where they store the data?

 

They have information about GDPR on their site but have you contacted them about this?

[enjay]

Are you a UK School or company using Spanning?

 

Yes

 

Do you know where they store the data?

 

Amazon Web Services, I think

 

They have information about GDPR on their site but have you contacted them about this?

 

Not as yet, but their published policy covers most things in the ICO checklist and confirms they comply with Privacy Shield. We'll need them to sign our policy (or us to re-sign theirs) at some stage, but for now that satisfied my DPIA.

[TwistedHelixis]

For anyone thinking of getting Spanning, the first quote is only a default business quote, after explaining we are a school and we do not need all accounts to be backup up the price went down dramatically to something the primary school could go with.

[enjay]

For anyone thinking of getting Spanning, the first quote is only a default business quote, after explaining we are a school and we do not need all accounts to be backup up the price went down dramatically to something the primary school could go with.

 

Same here. We don't back up all accounts. I counted what we would need and we pay for those; the licence management bit allows me to decide who does/doesn't get them. It needs checking every so often, so you don't keep backing up leavers (or students, if you've enabled "auto add")