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Frequently Asked Questions regarding Ortlin-Backup
Customer Service Questions
How to receive technical assistance?
What happens if I can not remember my security information?
What happens to my data if I cancel my account?
What happens to my account if I do not make payment on time?
Ortlin-Backup package Questions
What are the Ortlin-Backup packages?
What is the Realtime Restore Environment?
Is it required to use the Ortlin-Backup or the Ortlin-ISCSI software to utilize the offsite storage?
Can we change the ports that are used to connect to the service?
Ortlin-Backup Application Questions
What is the Ortlin-Backup application?
What protocols are used with the Ortlin-Backup Packages?
What type of security is provided during the storage of my data on an Ortlin-Backup server?
What is RSYNC?
What problems does encryption cause with RSYNC?
What operating systems can I use the Ortlin-Backup application with?
Do I need to use the Ortlin-Backup application to use the Standard, Advanced, Premium or Business package?
Ortlin-ISCSI Application Questions
What is the Ortlin-ISCSI application?
What are some benefits that Ortlin-ISCSI offers?
What type of security is provided during the transmission of my data back-and-forth between the Ortlin-Backup servers while using the Ortlin-ISCSI application?
What type of security is provided during the storage of my data on an Ortlin-Backup server?
Customer Service Questions
Q. How to receive technical assistance?
A. You can receive assistance by either:
Sending an email to the customer service email address listed here
Filling out the web based support form found here
Q. Customer verification process
A. You will need to provide information that identifies you prior to receiving support or requesting to have your data delivered to you using overnight service. This process helps assure that the technical support representative is working with someone who is qualified to access your data or information related to the account in question.
Q. What is security information?
A. When you register for any Ortlin-Backup package, billing information and security information is collected during the registration process. You will have the opportunity to fill in information related to the following:
Mother's Maiden Name
Customer Secret
Driver's License Number
Date of Birth
The information you choose to fill in will be required when you work with customer support or technical support. The security information is extremely important.
Q. What happens if I can not remember my security information?
A. In the event you can not remember your security information, notify technical support and a Customer-Verification-Request will be mailed via registered postal service to the address originally provided during the registration process. The Customer-Verification-Request will have an area to choose new security information. Once this process is complete, your new security information will be effective.
Q. What happens if I can not remember my security information and the mailing address on file with the OrtlinGroup is not current or I am not able to access the mailing address on file for my account?
A. A Customer-Verification-Request will not be successfully completed and as a result, the security information will not be able to be changed. You will need to work with customer service to open a new account.
Q. What happens to my data if I cancel my account?
A. Your data will be removed from the Ortlin-Backup servers within 3 business days of a cancellation request that has been acknowledged by a Customer service representative. Regardless of the state that your account is in, the same security measures are used to protect both active and inactive accounts that are pending removal.
Q. What happens to my account if I do not make payment on time?
A. If payment is past due, your account will remain active up to 15 days
past the due date at which time your user account will be disabled. When an
account is disabled, no access to the Ortlin-Backup servers with that account
will be allowed but the data associated with that account will remain intact.
If payment for an account is 30 days past the due date, then the account will
be terminated and the data associated with that account will be removed from
the Ortlin-Backup servers within 3 business days of that termination date.
Ortlin-Backup package Questions
Q. What are the Ortlin-Backup packages?
A. An Ortlin-Backup package is a service that provides a secure repository for your data. There are different packages available that offer incremental increases in the amount of data that is allowed to be stored on the offsite servers. Packages can utilize either the Ortlin-Backup or the Ortlin-ISCSI application. Some packages include overnight services in the monthly price of the package. When the overnight service is being used, your data will be delivered to you along with a Realtime Restore Environment if applicable.
Standard backup package - Can use the Ortlin-Backup application
Advanced backup package - Can use the Ortlin-Backup application
Premium backup package - Can use the Ortlin-Backup application
Business backup package - Can use the Ortlin-Backup application
Universal backup package - Can use the Ortlin-ISCSI application
Standard backup package - Overnight service not included in monthly price
Advanced backup package - Overnight service not included in monthly price
Premium backup package - Overnight service not included in monthly price
Business backup package - Overnight service included in monthly price
Universal backup package - Overnight service included in monthly price
Standard backup package - Realtime Restore Environment not applicable
Advanced backup package - Realtime Restore Environment not applicable
Premium backup package - Realtime Restore Environment not applicable
Business backup package - Realtime Restore Environment not applicable
Universal backup package - Realtime Restore Environment available
A. Overnight service is the ability to have your information sent via overnight delivery on a portable USB hard drive to your location. This helps alleviate having to transfer all of your data via a secured Internet connection in situations where a large amount of data is involved which would make data transfers impractical.
Note: A Windows based computer with the ability to utilize USB disk devices and FAT32 disk partitions is required to access the information delivered to you
Overnight service is included in the monthly fee for the "Business package" and the "Universal package". These 2 packages include 1 overnight service per quarter-year. Overnight services are available for all other packages at the cost $75 per-incident. If more than 1 overnight service per quarter-year is incurred for the "Business package" and the "Universal package" the cost will be $75 per overnight service incidents.
The USB drive that was loaned to you will need to be returned within 2 weeks of the delivery date. Failure to return the drive within the 2 week period will effectively sell you the USB drive at a cost of $150.
Q. What is the Realtime Restore Environment?
A. The Realtime Restore Environment is the process of quickly accessing information that has been delivered to you via the overnight service. A USB drive with your data will also have an application included that will give you access to an ISCSI environment. Once the ISCSI environment has been activated at your location you will then have access to your data on the USB drive.
Technical support services will help you with this process.
Q. Is it required to use the Ortlin-Backup or the Ortlin-ISCSI software to utilize the offsite storage?
A. No.
Ortlin-Backup utilizes SSH and RSYNC.
1) You can use virtually any process or procedure that can tunnel RSYNC traffic
using SSH through internet address backup.ortlinbackup.com port 6565
Ortlin-ISCSI utilizes SSH and ISCSI targets.
1) You will need to submit your private key to technical support services
2) An authorization channel needs to be established using your provate key
and a SSH session to backup.ortlinbackup.com port 6570
3) ISCSI initiator requests need to be tunneled using SSH to address backup.ortlinbackup.com
port 6571
Q. Can we change the ports that are used to connect to the service?
A. No
If you have any questions please contact technical support here
Ortlin-Backup Application Questions
Q. What is the Ortlin-Backup application?
A. The Ortlin-Backup application is a Windows based application that creates and maintains back up copies of data on an offsite location maintained by the Ortlin Group. The application helps integrate a few applications to provide an easy to use backup solution. Some of the applications that are controlled by the Ortlin-Backup application are:
Crypt - CYGWIN - RSYNC - RsynCrypto - OpenSSH
Q. What protocols are used with the Ortlin-Backup Packages?
A. SSH and RSYNC are used with the Standard, Advanced, Premium and Business
Packages
Q. What type of security is provided during the transmission of my data back-and-forth between the Ortlin-Backup servers while using the Ortlin-Backup application?
A. When data is transmitted between your computer and an Ortlin-Backup server it is tunneled through the Internet using OpenSSH. By default the 3DES encryption cipher is used by OpenSSH in our environment. You also have the option of using the Blowfish encryption cipher. Either one of these encryption schemes will encrypt\scramble your data during the transmission through the Internet.
OpenSSH is an openly developed and maintained security suite with a reliable track record.
Details on OpenSSH can be found here
Details on 3DES can be found here
Details on Blowfish can be found here
Q. What type of security is provided during the storage of my data on an Ortlin-Backup
server?
A. Data is stored on an encrypted file system using 128bit AES encryption. This protects your information in the event that a server or hard drive is inadvertently removed from the OrtlinGroup facility. When an Ortlin-Backup storage server is powered on, a password is required to be entered during the start up process. If the correct password is entered then the data on the server is readable by the storage subsystem. If the correct password is not entered then the information is NOT readable to the storage subsystem.
Details on AES encryption can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard
Q. What type of security prevents others from reading and accessing my information
once it is stored on the Ortlin-Backup servers?
A. Your storage area is not accessible by other users. Account permissions on the storage server control access to your information. However, data should be encrypted at the file level to help insure that the information is not readily available to anyone but you. The Ortlin-Backup application gives you the option of using the following encryption applications prior to transmitting the data:
RsynCrypto - This encryption process has the benefit of only re-encrypting
information that has changed since the last backup. This makes subsequent
file transfers run faster.
For more information on RsynCrypto click here
Crypt - This encryption process re-encrypts the entire file every time Crypt is run against a file.
For more information on Crypt click here
Q. Can I use other encryption applications and techniques prior to transferring my data to an Ortlin-Backup server?
A. Yes. You can use virtually any encryption application or technique. The one thing to keep in mind is that your encryption process should be completed prior to starting the backup process within the Ortlin-Backup application.
A. RSYNC is the utility that controls sending and receiving data efficiently between your computer and the Ortlin-Backup servers. This utility has the ability to detect differences between 2 similar versions of files and will only transfer the parts of the file that are required to make both files identical. For example, if you have previously backed up a 100 page Microsoft Word document file with RSYNC and then modify something on page 20, during the next backup cycle RSYNC will determine that differences exist on page 20 and only the changes detected in the 2 files will be transferred. This is just one of many benefits of using the RSYNC utility.
Details on RSYNC can be found here
Q. What problems does encryption cause with RSYNC?
A. As stated earlier, RSYNC is efficient because it can detect differences between 2 similar files and transfer only the information that is different in the files to keep both files identical. RSYNC does not have a problem with transferring encrypted files, the problem is that the encryption process will scramble the files in such a way that RSYNC will not be able to effectively find common patterns between the files being compared; this limits the effectiveness of RSYNC's ability to save time and bandwidth while dealing with encrypted files. Generally, RSYNC will resend the entire file each time the process is run against an encrypted file. If you have 20 Megabytes of encrypted files, RSYNC will copy most of the 20 Megabytes during each backup process.
The Crypt application for example encrypts the file in its entirety each time it is run against a file. If you have a 100 page document, each time Crypt is run against this file, the entire 100 page document will be re-scrablmed. Even if the contents of the file that is being backed up never changes, this encryption process will always scramble the files differently. Because the encrypted files will always be scambled differently, RSYNC will not be able to locate similar patters between any versions of the files and will need to resend the entire 100 scrambled pages each time the backup process runs.
The RsynCrypto application when it encrypts the file for the first time will scramble the entire file. Each subsequent time that file is encrypted, only PART of the file is re-scrambled. If you have a 100 page document, each time RsynCrypto is run against this file, only the changed part of the document will be re-scrambled. RSYNC will now be able to locate similar patterns between the versions of the files and will only need to resend small parts of the files. This saves time and bandwidth by speeding up the time needed for the backup to complete. If 1 sentence is changed in the 100 page document, RSYCN will be able to locate a difference in encrypted version of data and only part of that page will need to be delivered via RSYNC.
Q. What operating systems can I use the Ortlin-Backup application with?
A. The Ortlin-Backup application has been tested on Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 2003 server. While not officially supported, the Ortlin-Backup application has run successfully on Windows 98, Windows NT and Windows 2000.
Q. Do I need to use the Ortlin-Backup application to use the Standard, Advanced, Premium or Business package?
A. No. You should be able to utilize the service on any platform that can tunnel RSYNC through SSH. The following Operating Systems have this ability either natively or can add the ability by installing freely available software packages that extend the base functionality:
Current Windows Operating Systems, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, Solaris
Q. What does the Ortlin-Backup application look like?
A. See the screenshot page by clicking here
If you have any questions please contact technical support here
Ortlin-ISCSI Application Questions
Q. What is the Ortlin-ISCSI application?
A. The Ortlin-ISCSI application is available to Universal package customers and is a Windows based application that creates and maintains a secure ISCSI connection to the Ortlin-Backup servers. You are provided with a virtual hard drive that can be used for backups and file replication. You can format and manage this hard disk as if it was locally attached to your computer. Some of the applications that are controlled by the Ortlin-ISCSI application are:
OpenSSH - Plink - TrueCrypt - Microsoft ISCSI Initiator
Q. What are some benefits that Ortlin-ISCSI offers?
A. Since Ortlin-ISCSI provides a hard drive to your computer, it is a flexible way to manage your data. You can use virtually any type of backup or replication software. Some examples of the types of file synchronization software would be:
RoboCopy - More details can be found here
ViceVersa - More details can be found here
SmartSync - More details can be found here
You also have the ability to use hard disk encryption software that automatically encrypts data files when they are saved to your remote storage location. This is an extremely effective way to control the encryption of your data. Ortlin-ISCSI utilizes an application called TrueCrypt for automatic disk and file encryption.
More details on TrueCrypt can be found here
Q. What type of security is provided during the transmission of my data back-and-forth
between the Ortlin-Backup servers while using the Ortlin-ISCSI application?
A. When data is transmitted between your computer and an Ortlin-Backup server it is tunneled through the Internet using OpenSSH. By default the 3DES encryption cipher is used by OpenSSH in our environment. You also have the option of using the Blowfish encryption cipher. Either one of these encryption schemes will encrypt\scramble your data during the transmission through the Internet.
OpenSSH is an openly developed and maintained security suite with a reliable track record.
Details on OpenSSH can be found here
Details on 3DES can be found here
Details on Blowfish can be found here
Q. What type of security is provided during the storage of my data on an Ortlin-Backup
server?
A. Data is stored on an encrypted file system using 128bit AES encryption. This protects your information in the event that a server or hard drive is inadvertently removed from the OrtlinGroup facility. When an Ortlin-Backup storage server is powered on, a password is required to be entered during the start up process. If the correct password is entered then the data on the server is readable by the storage subsystem. If the correct password is not entered then the information is NOT readable to the storage subsystem. More information on AES encryption can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard
You can also use TrueCrypt and other disk based encryption programs to further protect for information. TrueCrypt is a free encryption program.
More details on TrueCrypt can be found here
Q. What type of security prevents others from reading and accessing my information
once it is stored on the Ortlin-Backup servers while using the Ortlin-ISCSI
application?
A. Your data is stored on a file system that is not accessible by other users. Firewalls and other security mechanisms' prevent anyone but you from accessing your data.
You can also use TrueCrypt and other disk based encryption programs to further protect for information. TrueCrypt is a free encryption program.
More details on TrueCrypt can be found here