| Installing
the Data Backup software
Registering a new account
Recovering an existing account and
data
How version upgrades are
handled
Modem, Cable, DSL, LAN Connections
AOL, Prodigy, CompuServe, Juno, and
similar ISPs Connections
Transmission times/Backup
tips
Firewall Information
Detailed Firewall Information:
Overview
Protocols
Server Subnets
Port Numbers
DNS
Registration vs. subsequent connections
SOCKS-Compliant Proxy Servers
Other Proxy Firewalls
Installing
the Data Backup software
Once you have chosen a Data Backup
Subscription service plan that suites your personal needs, and clicked
on the download link, you will be prompted to install
a small piece of software to your PC's hard drive. View
all plans.
During the installation of the
software, you will be prompted for billing information.
If you wish to start backing up, simply fill in the
information requested. Otherwise, cancel the billing
screen and then uninstall the software. It is not necessary
to contact us to request cancellation of your account.
Accounts that never provided credit card billing information
are automatically cancelled. You needn't worry about
being charged, because you didn't provide any billing
information.
If you are using the software
to re-establish your account, be sure to check the box
on the registration screen indicating that you already
have an account. This will prevent accidental opening
of a new account. Reinstall
the software on your existing home account.
Note: Be sure to check the
box on the registration screen to indicate that you
already have an account. This will avoid the accidental
opening of a new account. The software will then guide
you through the recovery process. (You will need your
Account
Number.)
Registering
a new account
The software that you download
has registration login codes built into it. These codes
enable you to log in to our secure Data Center. If you
change the registration login, you will be denied access.
When you connect to the Data Center
for the first time, you will be assigned an account
number that identifies the computer that you will be
backing up. This is a unique account number and can
only be used for the computer on which the software
is installed and for which backups will be made. You
will also be given the option of printing your account
information. We urge you to print the information. It
contains details of your account that will be needed
later on.
Once you have an account
number, you no longer need the registration codes, so
there is no need for you to maintain a record of them.
Recovering
an existing account and data
Download
the current release of the software.
When you run the software, be sure
to check the box on the registration screen to indicate
that you already have an account. This will avoid accidental
opening of a new account. The software will then guide
you through the recovery process.
Note: You will
need your Account
Number.
How
version upgrades are handled
From time to time, Connected makes
changes to the software that will improve performance
or add new features. When the new version has been thoroughly
tested, it is released to our customers. Your version
is then upgraded the next time you back up. There is
no action required on your part and you will always
have the latest version.
Modem,
Cable, DSL, LAN Connections
Each type of connection
has its own characteristics. When our software is first
installed it will identify the type of connection that
you have auto-configure itself to use it. If you have
more than one connection, you can specify which one
the software should use.
Standard modems
have been in use for a long time and are consistently
reliable. They open and close a connection as needed,
using a dialer, unlike other methods of connecting.
Our software supports the standard Windows Dial-Up-Networking
for these modems.
Cable modems
have certain limitations that could affect your connectivity.
For example:
- Cable service can be either one-way or two-way,
depending on the provider. One-way service relies
on an analog modem and phone line for uploads. This
limits upload speed to 33.3 Kbps. The more people
on a node, the slower each connection could be.
- Service providers can tie a specific data rate
or percentage of total bandwidth to each user. Providers
do move bandwidth around among users selectively.
- Since most users don't need constant-megabit-per-second
connections — they need high speeds for loading
a Web page but not for viewing it — cable operators
will take advantage of this burst of usage and divide
bandwidth among multiple users.
DSL service comes
in several flavors, with varying throughput rates, technical
limitations, and prices.
- Speed: The most common form for businesses and
home users — the one we refer to simply as DSL
— is asymmetric DSL, or ADSL, which supports
peak upstream speeds of 144 Kbps to 2.2 Mbps but upstream
rates are from 90 Kbps to 640 Kbps. Your backups will
run at the upstream rate.
- Distance: The line's performance degrades with
distance from the central office. All else being equal,
users 5,000 feet from the central office will get
better throughput than those 15,000 feet away. Beyond
18,000 feet service is generally unavailable.
- ISP: One advantage of ADSL service is a dedicated
connection that won't degrade as more users in your
area sign on (as cable will). Still, performance not
only varies depending on how far you are from the
central office but also on the efficiency of your
ISP's network. Even the fastest DSL connections can't
cure bottlenecks at an ISP, such as slowdowns during
peak hours.
- Generally, DSL upload transmission speed is rated
at an average of 256K. Therefore, a data stream of
100MB would upload in 54.50 minutes.
LAN connections,
including DSL and cable, provide a continuously open
channel to the Internet. Like DSL and cable, LANs do
not necessarily assure a high rate of transmission.
You still have to go through an Internet gateway and
through several routers, so the variables that create
bottlenecks still exist and can affect throughput.
AOL, Prodigy,
CompuServe, Juno, and similar ISP Connections
If you will be connecting to us
via ISPs who provide their own dialer, instead of using
the standard Windows dialer, it will be necessary to
open your Internet connection before running our software.
You will not be able to use scheduled backups that run
automatically, but all other features are unaffected.
Transmission
times/Backup Tips
Some suggestions for successful
backups:
- Avoid peak hours. We recommend using automatic
backups that are scheduled to run in the earliest
morning hours, between midnight and dawn.
- Close applications that aren't essential during
the backup. There may be one or more background applications
running at the same time. Use Windows Task Manager
to check this.
- Monitor several transmissions to see the speed
at which your ISP has connected you. Bandwidth is
not usually guaranteed and will vary with the amount
of traffic at any given time. Try to backup when conditions
are favorable.
- Reduce the size of your backup sessions —
at least until you complete an initial backup of everything
that you want. It may be that your ISP's available
capacity is being taxed by sheer volume or that your
own network is.
Sample transmission rates:
|
Data
Stream
|
Internet Connection Speed
|
|
28.8K
Modem
|
33.6/56K
Modem
|
56-64K
ISDN
|
112-128K
ISDN
|
256K
Partial T1 or DSL
|
512K
Partial T1 or DSL
|
1.54M
T1
|
| 1 Mb |
4.87 min |
4.16 min |
2.19 min |
1.09 min |
.54 Min |
.27 min |
.09 min |
| 5 Mb |
24.35 min |
20.8 min |
10.95 min |
5.45 min |
2.73 min |
1.37 min |
.45 min |
| 10 Mb |
48.7 min |
41.6 min |
21.9 min |
10.9 min |
5.45 min |
2.73 min |
.91 min |
| 20 Mb |
1 hr 37
min |
1 hr 23
min |
43.8 min |
21.8 min |
10.9 min |
5.45 min |
1.82 min |
| 50 Mb |
4 hr 3 min |
3 hr 46
min |
1 hr 49
min |
54.5 min |
27.25 min |
13.63 min |
4.54 min |
| 100 Mb |
8 hr 6 min |
7 hr 32
min |
3 hr 40
min |
1 hr 49
min |
54.5 min |
27.25 min |
9.08 min |
Firewall
Information
Firewalls can be implemented
in several ways. If you have a firewall, you will need
to configure it and/or the data backup software to allow
inbound and outbound transmission. How you do that depends
on the type of firewall that you have.
SOCKS proxy firewall:
In the backup software, provide your firewall's IP address
and the port to use to connect to the firewall. That's
it; you do not need to reconfigure your firewall.
Non-SOCKS-compliant
firewall: You will need to configure both the
backup software and your firewall. Contact your firewall
administrator for assistance. Read our detailed
firewall information.
Detailed
Firewall Information: Overview
The Connected software communicates
with the Connected secure Data Centers using the standard
TCP/IP protocol.
Connections are initiated from
the backup software on your computer or inside the firewall.
Connections are NEVER initiated from the outside.
The program can work with all types
of firewalls, including packet-filtering, circuit-filtering,
SOCKS-compliant Proxy or Mapped Proxy
firewalls. For most firewalls, some configuration of
the firewall is needed. If your network requires explicit
connection to the firewall to initiate outgoing connections,
the backup software must be configured for your firewall.
You can configure it yourself using our client software
configuration tool.
The requirements for running Connected
service are consistent with security best practices.
They do not create an opening for incoming connections,
and outgoing connections can be limited to specific
ports at specific known IP addresses. As an added security
measure, all data is Triple-DES encrypted before leaving
your PC; it remains encrypted though transmission, and
is stored encrypted at the Connected secure Data Centers.
The following information is useful
for configuring a firewall to permit outgoing connections
to the Data Center servers.
Protocols
TCP/IP is used. There is no use
of UDP or ICMP.
Server
Subnets
Each user's Connected software
connects to a primary and an alternate server in order
to provide high availability. Currently, all servers
reside in the subnet 12.159.133.0-63 (also expressed
as 12.159.133.0/26) and in the subnet 140.239.229.0-63
(also expressed as 140.239.229.0/26). The Connected
software must have access to both of these subnets.
Should these addresses change in the future, notice
will be given to allow firewall changes and the Connected
software can be automatically updated with the new addresses.
Port Numbers
All Connected servers listen for
client requests on a well known port number: 16384.
The Connected software always establishes a TCP/IP session
with port 16384 on the server.
DNS
The Connected software connects
to a server using the server's IP address, not its name.
Therefore, name resolution and access to a name server
are not required.
Registration
vs. subsequent connections
Connected's software is configured
to connect to one of a pair of registration server addresses
(primary and alternate) when it is used for the first
time. The registration process assigns a server address
pair (primary and alternate) for all subsequent uses.
SOCKS-Compliant
Proxy Servers
The Connected software can be configured
to connect out through a SOCKS proxy server. The IP
address (or the DNS) of the proxy server and the port
number on which it listens for connections must be known
in order to configure the backup software. SOCKS is
designed to allow outgoing connections and responses
back to those connections, but to prevent other incoming
packets. This is consistent with the Connected software.
If your SOCKS proxy server has been set up with additional
restrictions on outgoing connections, it is necessary
to include Connected's subnets in the permitted destinations.
When prompted by the Connected
setup program to select a Firewall option, select the,
"Use SOCKS proxy firewall" radio button and
enter your proxy server information.
Note: The default setting for
SOCKS TCP Port is 1080.
Other
Proxy Firewalls
In order for the Connected software
to be used with an application-based proxy firewall
server, the firewall must be set to permit outbound
TCP connections for a generic application. Mapped firewalls
require a separate port on the firewall for each different
destination address.
The IP addresses that must be mapped
will appear when you attempt to run the client software,
or can be seen by selecting Options/Connection.../Firewall
in the client software. The destination port number
is always 16384. The firewall administrator may choose
any available port numbers on the firewall. Finally,
the Connected software must be configured with the IP
address or the DNS of the firewall and the firewall
port numbers that were chosen.
When prompted by the software
to select a Firewall option, select the, "Use proxy
firewall server(s)" radio button. Then enter the
firewall mapping that was configured on your firewall:
Enter the IP Address or DNS of your firewall into the
"Firewall IP address" field; for both Secure
Data Centers enter the port numbers chosen by the firewall
administrator.
Packet filtering firewalls
The following is a summary of rules
that must be applied to the firewall software or hardware
in order to enable Connected's client-server protocol.
(All the rules are described from the 'firewall's point
of view.')
- Permit TCP/IP outbound to port 16384 to subnets
12.159.133.0-63 (12.159.133.0/26) and 140.239.229.0-63
(140.239.229.0/26).
- If your firewall requires you to explicitly permit
the response packets to come back, do so by permitting
TCP/IP inbound to ports 1024-5000 from the subnets
listed above, for an already-established connection.
It is NOT necessary to permit a connection originating
from outside the firewall.
- We do not utilize UDP or ICMP.
IMPORTANT: If
you question is not answered in the FAQs
or User
Guide, please complete a Support
Request.
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