I have a Windows VPS hosted at some web host, I have remote desktop administrator access and I can install whatever software I need on that VPS.
This is a basic low cost VPS, so the system resources (especially memory) are extremely limited, the main difference between backing up a dedicated server and a VPS is the VPS's limited resources.
My requirements are:
- Backup the VPS content (I don't want to backup the entire virtual hard drive, I want to be able to access my files without installing the same VM software).
- Backup files, IIS configuration and SQL Server databases.
- Extremely light weight, use (almost) no memory when inactive, able to limit memory usage when backing up.
- Backup to a remote location (Amazon S3 is best because it's cheap).
- Fast and bandwidth efficient (uses compression, incremental backup, etc.)
- Optionally able to backup up mail server (I use SmarterMail), I can live without this because I have a relatively simple e-mail setup and I keep all my messages on my desktop in Outlook.
- Backing up files in use is not an issue for me because most files (except SQL Server and mail data listed above) will never be locked on this specific server.
I have a limited budget, obviously I would love a free solution ,but this is a business machine and good backup is worth some money.