Introducing CloudBerry Explorer PRO for OpenStack and Rackspace

It has been just a few months since we introduced CloudBerry Explorer freeware for OpenStack and now we are proud to announce CloudBerry Explorer PRO for OpenStack Object Storage .  

CloudBerry Explorer PRO for OpenStack supports all the features of the freeware version and offers some advanced functionality

PRO Features  

• Compression. when used properly can significantly lower your storage and transfer bills. We use industry standard GZIP compression format.
• Encryption . We offer a number of industry standard algorithm and it can further protect your data stored on your S3 account from unauthorized access.
• Search . Quickly search files on the cloud storage or local hard drive
• Multithreading. You don’t have to wait for the first file to finish before you can start the next one in the queue. You can upload multiple files in parallel. Besides, it helps you utilize your network bandwidth more efficiently and as a result your files uploaded or downloaded faster.
• Multipart Upload. CloudBerry Explorer PRO supports Multipart that allows uploading large files. To efficiently utilize available network bandwidth, the program breaks large files into smaller parts and uploads them in multiple threads. 
• FTP Support. You don’t need a separate FTP client anymore. Just configure a connection to FTP server and copy files to your bucket. From the user perspective FTP accounts look exactly like S3 buckets.
• Upload Rules.  CloudBerry S3 Explorer PRO makes it possible to optionally enable encryption and compression for selected buckets.  You can also configure the predefined set of HTTP headers for every upload, if for instance you’re using one bucket for data backup while other for serving the files on the web-site.

Free vs PRO

Features	FREEWARE	PRO
Rackspace/OpenStack Storage
Compression	-
Encryption	-
Search	-
Multipart upload	-
Multithreading	-
FTP Support(*)	-
Sync	-
Upload Rules	-
Support	forum only	via email, 48 hours response
Price	FREE	$ 39,99

What’s next

We are going to support OpenStack Object Storage in CloudBerry Backup very soon. There are even more exciting features coming. Stay tuned!

++++++

CloudBerry Explorer for OpenStack Freeware is a windows program, and you can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/free-openstack-storage-explorer.aspx

CloudBerry Explorer for OpenStack PRO $39,99 is a windows program and you can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/openstack-storage-explorer-pro.aspx

Like our products? Please help us spread the word about them. Learn here how to do it. 

How to Restore Only Newer Files with CloudBerry Backup

CloudBerry S3 Backup is a powerful Windows program that automate backup and restore processes to Amazon S3 cloud storage.

Sometimes you may want to restore the newer version of the file on the target computer over the existing (Older) version. This is particularly important in the Sync scenario, where you want to have your target folder look exactly as the source. In the previous version of CloudBerry Backup that would not be possible and you could just force overwrite every file in regardless of the modification date. This would cause a lot of unnecessary restore operations.

In the newer release we have added the Restore only new files option so that only the files with newer modification date could be restored. This option is available on the Restore Wizard , Destination step.

As always we would be happy to hear your feedback and you are welcome to post a comment.

+++

Note: this post applies to CloudBerry Backup 2.7.1 and later.

CloudBerry Backup is a Windows program that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/backup. It comes with onetime fee of $29.99 (US) per copy.

CloudBerry Backup for WHS is a Windows Home Server add-in that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/whs. It comes with onetime fee of $29.99 (US) per copy.

CloudBerry Backup Server Edition.  is a Windows program designed to run in server environment that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/server. It comes with onetime fee of $79.99 (US) per copy.

Like our products? Please help us spread the word about them. Learn here how to do it.

Want to get CloudBerry Backup for FREE? Make a blog post about us!

Introducing CloudBerry Backup for Rackspace and OpenStack Object Storage

CloudBerry S3 Backup is a powerful Windows program that automate backup and restore processes to Amazon S3 and a few other leading cloud storage. With the release 2.7 we are introducing backup to RackSpace CloudFiles , HP Cloud and OpenStack Object Storage

What is OpenStack?

OpenStack Object Storage (code-named Swift) is open source software for creating redundant, scalable object storage using clusters of standardized servers to store petabytes of accessible data. One of the most successful implementation of OpenStack storage is RackSpace CloudFiles and HP Cloud

How CloudBerry Backup supports OpenStack and Rackspace Cloud Files

The integration work as seamless as it could. You just choose the account of your favorite Cloud Storage provider on the backup plan wizard.

If you don’t have an account registers yet you should register it as shown on the screen below. If you are an existing CloudBerry Explorer for OpenStack Object Storage . customer you will be able to import your existing accounts.

The rest works just as if you were using another cloud storage provider.

How to find Rackspace storage API keys

Login to your Rackspace Cloud Control Panel and click API Access

You may need to enable API Access. Now just copy the Username and the API Key onto account registration dialog in CloudBerry Backup (see the screenshot above). You can specify whatever you want for the Display Name

As always we would be happy to hear your feedback and you are welcome to post a comment.

+++

Note: this post applies to CloudBerry Backup 2.7.1 and later.

CloudBerry Backup is a Windows program that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://backup.cloudberrylab.com/ . It comes with onetime fee of $29.99 (US) per copy.

CloudBerry Backup for WHS is a Windows Home Server add-in that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://whs.cloudberrylab.com/ . It comes with onetime fee of $29.99 (US) per copy.

CloudBerry Backup Server Edition. is a Windows program designed to run in server environment that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://server.cloudberrylab.com/ . It comes with onetime fee of $69.99 (US) per copy.

Like our products? Please help us spread the word about them. Learn here how to do it.

Want to get CloudBerry Backup for FREE? Make a blog post about us!

CloudBerry Backup - Intelligent Bandwidth Scheduler

CloudBerry S3 Backup is a powerful Windows program that automate backup and restore processes to Amazon S3 cloud storage.

As always we are trying to make what works best for our customers and in the newer release we are introducing an intelligent bandwidth scheduler that that allows you to control the bandwidth throttling in real-time based on the time of the day and day of the week. With this feature for instance, you can set the backup to consume all available bandwidth during the off hours and on the weekends while consume only 10% of available bandwidth during the working hours allowing you to use the network for other tasks.

To create a Bandwidth Schedule go to Tools | Options| Bandwidth. Check Enable specific schedule and click Add button.

Schedule Option dialog box will open up where you can add an item for the schedule and define the bandwidth throttling settings.

As always we would be happy to hear your feedback and you are welcome to post a comment.

+++

Note: this post applies to CloudBerry Backup 2.7 and later.

CloudBerry Backup is a Windows program that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/backup. It comes with onetime fee of $29.99 (US) per copy.

CloudBerry Backup for WHS is a Windows Home Server add-in that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/whs. It comes with onetime fee of $29.99 (US) per copy.

CloudBerry Backup Server Edition. is a Windows program designed to run in server environment that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/server. It comes with onetime fee of $79.99 (US) per copy.

Like our products? Please help us spread the word about them. Learn here how to do it.

Want to get CloudBerry Backup for FREE? Make a blog post about us!

How to connect to network shares with CloudBerry S3 Explorer

As always we are adding features to make it easier for our customers to use the functionality to offer the most compelling Amazon S3 , CloudFront and IAM client on Windows platform.

In this release we are adding an option to connect to the remote file shares (network location). just enter the UNC path to the navigation bar as shown on the screen below. if your current network credentials don't have access to the share CloudBerry Explorer will display the log in dialog box. If you enter the valid credentials you will be able to work with the file share just like with the local disk.

+++

Note: this post applies to CloudBerry Explorer 3.2.4 and later.

As always we would be happy to hear your feedback and you are welcome to post a comment.

CloudBerry S3 Explorer is a Windows freeware product that helps managing Amazon S3 storage and CloudFront . You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/free 

CloudBerry S3 Explorer PRO is a Windows program that helps managing Amazon S3 storage and CloudFront . You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/pro  It is priced at $39.99 

Like our products? Please help us spread the word about them. Learn here how to do it.

Want to get CloudBerry Explorer PRO for FREE? Make a blog post about us!

How to sign-up for Amazon S3 and CloudBerry Backup

This post will focus on CloudBerry Online Backup in hope that this product will become your tool of choice for automating backup and restore processes. I am going to show you how easy it is s to sign-up for Amazon S3 account and register it with CloudBerry Backup.
Just remember, signing up for Amazon S3 is a two-step process. First you should create an Amazon account. Second you have to sign-up for S3 service. If you ever bought a book or any other goods on Amazon you should have that account already and you can safely skip the first step and move to the second.

How to create Amazon account

Go to http://aws.amazon.com/ website and click the link at the very top right corner of the screen.

This will take you to the next screen, where you can create a new account or use your existing Amazon account.

This will take you to the next step, where you confirm your email and specify your password

This will take you to the next step where you have to fill in your address information and accept a license agreement.

Then you’ll need to get through Identity Verification by Telephone. This will not take longer than a minute or two. Just enter you real telephone number and you’ll receive a call. You’ll be asked to enter pin code displayed on your monitor.

As soon as you finish this stage you’ll be forwarded to the last step with email verification.

After that you’ll need to activate your account by following the link in the email send to you by Amazon. Follow the link and you will see your “Access Credentials”. The data you will need in future is:
- Access Key ID
- Secret Access Key

By now you are successfully signed-up for Amazon S3 service.

How to obtain CloudBerry Backup

Note: CloudBerry Backup is a Windows only tool. If you are working on other platforms you will have to search for other tools.
Go to http://www.cloudberrylab.com/backup  and click Download Trial.

Download, install the product and run it.
Now you have to tell CloudBerry Backup your S3 account. Run CloudBerry Backup and click Backup Wizard button on the toolbar as shown on the screen.

Create Backup Plan Wizard will come up. Just skip the welcome step and move to the second step where you have to specify your account.

Choose Amazon S3 option and enter your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key.

How to get Access Identifiers

Access and Secret keys are also known as Access Identifiers and you can think of them as of your username and password. To get them go to the http://aws.amazon.com/ website and sign up for your account. Then choose “Security Credentials” option on the menu panel to the left.

And you’ll see your access credentials

Copy keys and past them in to the CloudBerry Backup Create Backup Plan Wizard screen. Once you enter your keys the Bucket name list will get enabled. If you have followed my instructions and just created an account you don’t have any buckets just yet and the list should be empty.
Note: if you are not familiar with Amazon S3 terms you can think of the bucket as of a top level folder.
If you had S3 account before the Bucket name list should show every bucket you created already.

I don’t have a bucket, so what?

For this particular case we have an option to create a bucket for you. The bucket name should be globally unique across all Amazon S3 accounts (kind of domain names). Check out Amazon S3 documentation if you want to learn more about bucket naming rules. Currently we suggest generated default name but you can change it to your own.

Click OK to create a bucket.
Note: you can always change your account settings later in the Files| Amazon S3 Account tab.
Now just go through the rest of the Wizard steps and create your backup plan.
Conclusion
CloudBerry Backup is a powerful program that automates your backup and restores processes. We advocate and idea that you should set and forget about it. However, setup process could be a little tricky even though we try to simplify it as much as possible.
Now you are ready to enjoy Amazon S3 with CloudBerry Backup, you can create Backup Plans, copy files to S3 and schedule the process. We wish you never need to use our restore functionality.
If you came here by chance and don’t have CloudBerry Backup yet you can download it a http://www.cloudberrylab.com/backup

CloudBerry Backup - Online Bandwidth Update; Local, Cloud Bandwidth

CloudBerry S3 Backup is a powerful Windows program that automate backup and restore processes to Amazon S3 cloud storage.

In this release we are introducing two important enhancements when it comes to Bandwidth Throttling configuration. The first one is an ability to apply bandwidth settings online to the currently running backup plans and the second one is different bandwidth configuration for Local and Cloud bandwidth.  

Online Bandwidth update

In the previous releases Bandwidth Throttling updates would only apply after you restart the backup plane. As always we are trying to make what works best for our customers and in the newer release we are introducing  a feature that allows you to update the Bandwidth Throttling settings online while Backup Plan is running. With this feature you can decrease the available bandwidth when you need to use the network for other tasks and return it back to the previous level when you are done. For instance you may want the backup to consume all available bandwidth during the off hours and on the weekends while consume only 10% of available bandwidth during the working hours.

To update the Bandwidth configuration go to Tools | Options , Bandwidth tab. The changes will come into effect immediately.

Local/ Cloud Bandwidth

In the previous release you had a single bandwidth setting that would apply to all backup plans in regardless whether they are local or cloud.  But when you do a local backup it makes a lot of sense to use all available bandwidth. On the other hand when you do the cloud backup you might want to use your internet connection for other tasks and limit the bandwidth.

We have addressed this limitation in the newer release and split the bandwidth configuration for local and cloud backup. We have added a separate tab called Bandwidth to the Options dialog for this purpose.

As always we would be happy to hear your feedback and you are welcome to post a comment.

+++

Note: this post applies to CloudBerry Backup 2.6.2 and later.

CloudBerry Backup is a Windows program that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/backup. It comes with onetime fee of $29.99 (US) per copy.

CloudBerry Backup for WHS is a Windows Home Server add-in that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/whs. It comes with onetime fee of $29.99 (US) per copy.

CloudBerry Backup Server Edition.  is a Windows program designed to run in server environment that leverages Amazon S3 storage. You can download it at http://www.cloudberrylab.com/server. It comes with onetime fee of $79.99 (US) per copy.

Like our products? Please help us spread the word about them. Learn here how to do it.

Want to get CloudBerry Backup for FREE? Make a blog post about us!