Estimated Cloud Storage Costs With CloudBerry Backup V2.9

CloudBerry Lab released CloudBerry Backup version 2.9, an application that allows users to backup their data online to their cloud storage accounts such as Amazon S3, Windows Azure and Google Storage.

DR planning is often times an afterthought that comes to light when disaster strikes. Very seldom do companies fully recover from loss of critical data which could lead to loss of business. CloudBerry Backup provides an online Backup and Restore software designed to leverage Amazon S3 secure online storage to make DR plan simple, reliable, and affordable.

The last version of CloudBerry Backup comes with an option to estimate cloud storage costs. The users can set up cost estimates per storage account and specify a limit in GB or in dollar equivalent. When the limit is reached the backup will stop. The software will automatically calculate the costs based on the current storage price offered by the storage provider.

Currently Amazon S3 charge 0.125/GB per month.

The software will also send an alert to the users when the storage is about to reach the limit.

Another feature is an option to write Events on backup completion (success and failure) to the Windows Event log. This feature makes it easier to deploy CloudBerry Backup along with the monitoring and management systems such as Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM), HP OpenView, BMC Patrol, Quest Foglight and a few others that come with a capability to process Windows Event Log and apply certain rules.

With the latest release you can configure Pre- and Post- actions that will run before and after the actual backup is running. This feature will make it easier to backup applications such as SQL Server and Exchange. You can set up a Pre-action to back up SQL Server and then you can set up a Post-action to clean up the SQL Server backup directory from the older backup files.

Finally, CloudBerry Backup prevents computer from going to sleep mode, so that back up will continue running. With this feature users are assured that the backup will complete on time without interruption.

CloudBerry Backup is also available as a Windows Home Server 2011 and Small Business Server 2011 Essentials add-on. It integrates with the WHS console and offers scheduled backup to cloud storage, hosted on Amazon S3.

It is designed to work on Windows XP/Vista/7 and Windows Server 2003/2008. Command line interface allows partners and advanced computer users integrate backup and restore plans with other routines.

CloudBerry S3 Backup for Windows costs $29.99 for a single-user license. Volume discounts are available. CloudBerry Backup will be offered without charge to students, educational institutions and non-profit organizations. You will continue to pay Amazon directly for their S3 charges.