can i setup my own cloud storage service?
Discussion
That's not really 'cloud' - just hosted offsite. If all you want is offsite file storage, and your internet connection has sufficient upstream bandwidth to cope, then yes, you can just use a PC in your office.
Given the number of free or cheap solutions available elsewhere though, I'd look closely at the requirements first.
Given the number of free or cheap solutions available elsewhere though, I'd look closely at the requirements first.
Mattt said:
Outsourcing; the process of giving business critical information to someone else and hoping they don't lose it.
A few years ago I was in a discussion with a potential customer who was concerned about us hosting their database for them. I described our backup processes, replication to another site, ISO27001 compliance etc. but they were still undecided.
I asked them where the data was now and he pointed to an old tower server sat in the corner of the room, I asked him what would happen in there was a fire, did they take backups off site and it transpired that they didn't take backups at all.
He soon decided that perhaps outsourcing it to us was, after all, a better plan.
WhereamI said:
A few years ago I was in a discussion with a potential customer who was concerned about us hosting their database for them. I described our backup processes, replication to another site, ISO27001 compliance etc. but they were still undecided.
I asked them where the data was now and he pointed to an old tower server sat in the corner of the room, I asked him what would happen in there was a fire, did they take backups off site and it transpired that they didn't take backups at all.
He soon decided that perhaps outsourcing it to us was, after all, a better plan.
I just get pissed off with people talking about the 'cloud' because it's a buzzword but having no concept of what it is or means.
Just like when I asked our Outsourcing PM what our SLA was on the new system we are migrating to was, to receive a blank face and the response 'it never goes down'.
One of the joys of IT is seeing things go round in circles as old concepts get reinvented under new names. Cloud is hosting, we've been hosting systems for years, we used to say we hosted now we say we are cloud based - which is great because somehow 'cloud' is trendy and new and doesn't worry people in the way that hosting does, even though it's really the same thing.
WhereamI said:
One of the joys of IT is seeing things go round in circles as old concepts get reinvented under new names. Cloud is hosting, we've been hosting systems for years, we used to say we hosted now we say we are cloud based - which is great because somehow 'cloud' is trendy and new and doesn't worry people in the way that hosting does, even though it's really the same thing.
I try to explain cloud in tiersTier3 hosting with some backup
Tier2 hosting with Backup and cold restore
Teir1 hosting with hot/hot sites with backup no outage
sick of hearing people that think they are modern cause they have just put there company applications in "the cloud" to find it is only hosting...
came up with this tier system to help a salesman compete with other so called cloud providers
wjwren said:
Just storing some business files. How would I go about this. Are there any programs you would recommend or would the windows backup service work? The client does not have a static IP address if that makes any difference .
Are you wanting storage or remote backup - they're different things.At a place I worked at we used to use Vembu Storegrid - lob it on a server in your office (as long as your internet connection is good enough) and then sell remote backup to your customers. Stick another machine at home and use the replication server to give you and off-site backup of the data.
One advantage compared to reselling someone elses server is that you could do the initial backup to a USB drive on the clients site, bring it back to the office and transfer it to the server - that way you don't end up with your customer complaining that his internet connection was slow for a week while it did the initial backup.
If you want to roll your own you could look at a VPN and robocopy or rcp
maffski said:
Are you wanting storage or remote backup - they're different things.
At a place I worked at we used to use Vembu Storegrid - lob it on a server in your office (as long as your internet connection is good enough) and then sell remote backup to your customers. Stick another machine at home and use the replication server to give you and off-site backup of the data.
One advantage compared to reselling someone elses server is that you could do the initial backup to a USB drive on the clients site, bring it back to the office and transfer it to the server - that way you don't end up with your customer complaining that his internet connection was slow for a week while it did the initial backup.
If you want to roll your own you could look at a VPN and robocopy or rcp
What happens when your house is burgled then? Is the data properly encrypted?At a place I worked at we used to use Vembu Storegrid - lob it on a server in your office (as long as your internet connection is good enough) and then sell remote backup to your customers. Stick another machine at home and use the replication server to give you and off-site backup of the data.
One advantage compared to reselling someone elses server is that you could do the initial backup to a USB drive on the clients site, bring it back to the office and transfer it to the server - that way you don't end up with your customer complaining that his internet connection was slow for a week while it did the initial backup.
If you want to roll your own you could look at a VPN and robocopy or rcp
Mattt said:
What happens when your house is burgled then? Is the data properly encrypted?
Yep 'Industry standard Blowfish and triple DES Encryption algorithms protect customer data', and the communication is over SSL. Although Windows NTFS supports native encryption anyway (right click on a folder, go to Advanced and tick 'Encrypt').Sorry, but why would any company want to use your service when there are plenty of relatively affordable services available which are hosted in dedicated data centres, with state of the art kit, emergency power supplies and 24 hour a day tech support?
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 23 May 12:11
Do not do it as you describe in the OP 
A lot of the backup systems use amazon s3 and I've seen various white label software which ties into this. I can't recommend any but that's the only direction I'd be looking in. Even then you must carry out sufficient due diligence to ensure the white label provider won't just do as you described with the data!
A lot of the backup systems use amazon s3 and I've seen various white label software which ties into this. I can't recommend any but that's the only direction I'd be looking in. Even then you must carry out sufficient due diligence to ensure the white label provider won't just do as you described with the data!
I think I misread this and assumed you were a business. I'd say unless you run your own datacentre with lots of spare cap, you have a legal team ready to draft your own watertight Ts&Cs, have an engineering team ready to enable you to offer decent SLAs, have something to offer that the big boys don't, and don't want to actually get paid for running this service then go ahead. That doesn't even go near the software and hardware you'll need. If you're running this out of your bedroom then you are insane in a bad way. What about if someone chooses to store illegal content on your service? You can't really dabble in a space where you are up against a flooded market containing some seriously professional and sizeable players. My previous post was about the software you require to physically run a DropBox style service, however my practical advice to you is don't.
maffski said:
Mattt said:
What happens when your house is burgled then? Is the data properly encrypted?
Yep 'Industry standard Blowfish and triple DES Encryption algorithms protect customer data', and the communication is over SSL. Although Windows NTFS supports native encryption anyway (right click on a folder, go to Advanced and tick 'Encrypt').AES(based on the rijndael cipher) has been industry standard from around 2001.
I'd be careful about trusting data to a company that would make such a mistake.
It's been a while since I did any crypto, but iirc triple DES keys were too short and it was considered quite vulnerable to brute force attacks.
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