Should hosts provide a backup service?

[SGC-Hosting]

For our shared hosting -- we provide nightly backups.  They backup to a separate array on the local machine, which then backup to a separate server within the same DC, which then backups to a remote location.  I believe this should be expected.

However, we do not provide VPS backups at this time, but we try to bring this to our customers attention before they order.  When we were testing our backup solutions, we found a few things would break in the backups (ie: ssh would stop working and VNC would be required to fix it).  Since we don't want customers upset over partially broken backups and don't want to fix broken restores, we only backup the nodes (directly to the remote backup servers) so we can get those back online quickly if they fail.  Leaving our customers responsible for backups has been working well so far, but I have no way to measure lost sales due to the lack of a backup solution.

 

[EnveraHost]

@Jasson.Pass I am thinking about performing local backups twice a week and offsite backups once a week for extra safety.

 

[EnveraHost]

For any of you using SolusVM, as you may know their Centralized backup is dead. I was talking with them about backup solutions and they told me that they will be adding a new backup system soon which will be much more stable.

 

[Aurimas]

Well, they should and they do. But it's like sex - both involved parties should take care of safety.   So if you care about your site - take care of backups yourself.

 

[ParkInHost]

Yes, In case your affected by Ddos and crashed you loose data and clients for downtime. With backup you are more promising to your clients. It involves other factors aswel

 

[KuJoe]

Yes, In case your affected by Ddos and crashed you loose data and clients for downtime. With backup you are more promising to your clients. It involves other factors aswel

What? If a network attack can cause data loss on your RAID protected hard drives then you are doing it all wrong. 

 

[pbgben]

Because of the data we store, and the service we provide its simply not viable for us to provide backups. If we did then our prices would increase to a point that nobody would pay for.

I feel that data security is important and you should make sure that you take many precautions to ensure a resilient setup. (RAID etc)

 

[HostAg]

I think it falls in the duty of the client to make his own backups, but in the duty of the service provider to remind him that such options are available and to urge him to use one. Most don't read the rules, tos or faq so it is better to inform him directly about backup.