Need guidance on backing up Windows partition to Amazon Glacier

[KuJoe]

I have a Windows 10 VM that has 1 partition I want to backup to Amazon Glacier (the partition consists of 2 folders so I can back them up individually or the whole drive, doesn't matter). I require client side encryption so all data must be encrypted with a key of my choosing before being sent. I'm using the Arq5 client demo right now but it doesn't look like it's working. I checked the GUI and it says it's backed up 52MB out of 103GB but in the logs it shows all of the files being sent to Glacier. I tried checking the AWS console but like everything AWS it's confusing as hell and impossible for me to decipher (depending on the report it either has 4-5GB or 57GB of data stored).

 

So now on to my questions:

1. Is there an easy way to tell how much data is being stored on Glacier? The reports do not appear to be correct and my bill doesn't tell me (it just shows me requests).
2. Is there a better solution for backing up data to Glacier from Windows 10? I'm willing to do CLI if it's available and I don't mind a one time cost for software.
3. How should I validate my backups to Glacier without getting hit with the access/retrieval costs associated with Glacier?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Where is the vm being hosted?

 

3. You need to do a restore test that will do a pull and cost money. Test your backups with the full process.

[KuJoe]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Where is the vm being hosted?

 

3. You need to do a restore test that will do a pull and cost money. Test your backups with the full process.

It's being hosted in a data center near me in Tampa, Florida.

 

As for the full restore, I want to avoid the costs of that since it's a backup of a backup of a backup (3rd tier) but I just realized I'd need to use the Arq5 software anyways since I'm doing the client side encryption so something like checksums won't help.

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

It's being hosted in a data center near me in Tampa, Florida.

What hypervisor? Unless your hypervisor support glacier natively, id just have the hypervisor manage it and use its backup system, then sync that backup to amazon.

 

6 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

As for the full restore, I want to avoid the costs of that since it's a backup of a backup of a backup (3rd tier) but I just realized I'd need to use the Arq5 software anyways since I'm doing the client side encryption so something like checksums won't help.

What the point in having a backup thats never been tested, You need to test this if you want it to work when you need it.

[KuJoe]

8 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What hypervisor? Unless your hypervisor support glacier natively, id just have the hypervisor manage it and use its backup system, then sync that backup to amazon.

 

What the point in having a backup thats never been tested, You need to test this if you want it to work when you need it.

It's ESXi, last time I checked there weren't many options for the free license besides a really nice CLI script but it was limited in features.

 

It would be too costly and time consuming for me to test all of the backups I take which is why I use the built in data integrity/validation that my backup software includes (Arq5 doesn't appear to have it so random file checking will be my next best solution). 

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, KuJoe said:

It's ESXi, last time I checked there weren't many options for the free license besides a really nice CLI script but it was limited in features.

 

It would be too costly and time consuming for me to test all of the backups I take which is why I use the built in data integrity/validation that my backup software includes (Arq5 doesn't appear to have it so random file checking will be my next best solution). 

Have you looked at veeam?

 

If this is a home setup, backing up here seems overkill, Id just put it on a hdd somewhere, esp as you don't want to spend much money.

[KuJoe]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Have you looked at veeam?

 

If this is a home setup, backing up here seems overkill, Id just put it on a hdd somewhere, esp as you don't want to spend much money.

I've seen ads for Veeam but never looked into it, I'll check it out now.

 

My backups are already overkill. 

 

 

[KuJoe]

@Electronics Wizardy so you do have experience with Veeam? I'm wondering if I should spin up a dedicated VM for it or if it's fine to run on the same VM I'll be backing up. Thoughts?

 

EDIT: Nevermind, it doesn't support the free ESXi license.

Edited January 4, 2019 by KuJoe