On 24/08/15 18:59, ToddAndMargo wrote: > > Be careful. The "Cloud" is marketing "weasel speak" for > "client / server" with a really, really crappy, unreliable > connection between the two. Yes, some abuse "cloud" for what you describe. But the cloud is actually far more than just a service available via the Internet. Cloud does more often refer to a platform, where virtualization often plays a crucial role. But where you can provide services, such as PaaS and IaaS, in a transparent way to your users/customers. And then you have tools for managing this platform, such as RHEV, CloudForms/ManageIQ, oVirt, OpenStack, etc, etc. > And "Cloud" backup makes my skin crawl. You have to take > everything for granted that the vendor purports, as in is > your data really encrypted and safe from prying eyes, > employees or otherwise, not to mention and what happens > to your data when they "fly-by-night". And when do your > backups stop actually backing up? I have had a former > customer burned by this really badly. As with any Internet provided service, you need to pay attention to the fine print and the hidden details. You need to consider if and how much you trust their service, and further consider to implement additional security layers before using their service. IMO, blindly trusting that an Internet service is safe is mostly stupid. In my setup, I have an internal backup service which encrypts all backup data before it is saved to a local disk. And then I use CrashPlan to backup that encrypted data. So even if CrashPlan fails on the encryption provided by their service, the data is still encrypted. And if everything works as announced, it is at least "double encrypted". As always, security is best served in layers. -- kind regards, David Sommerseth