Account Recovery
1. Where to obtain the software to reinstall an account
Software can be downloaded from here. Select the software type that you originally had installed on your computer - full system, data backup or limited (critical) data backup. If you do not know what version you had contact support for to request the information.
2. How to move (or restore) an account to a new PC or hard disk
What you will need: Account Number, Encryption Key, Password, and the current release of the backup software.
- Download the current release of the backup software. Make sure it is the same service as you previously had installed (full, data, or limited (critical) data).
- Click the link for the software and choose "run from this location" to automatically start the installation after the download is complete. Alternatively, you can save the download file to your hard disk and run it afterwards. When you are ready to restore your account, run the downloaded program by double-clicking on it.
- Follow the on-screen prompts to enter your account number, encryption key and password. IMPORTANT -the encryption key is case sensitive.
When you click Finish, the software will connect to a data center and download several files that contain information about your account. That completes the account recovery process. You can then retrieve files from the Retrieve View if needed.
If you do not remember your account number or encryption key (these can be printed out during the installation procedure or from within the program) please contact us at support@backupsolution.com or call us at (877) 738-0209.
Uninstalling Backup Software
Confirm that the backup software is closed. Then select Start | Settings | Control Panel | Add/Remove Programs | The BackUp Solution(remove only) | Add/Remove | OK | OK.
Note: If you attempt to remove the software by deleting it (Recycle Bin), the software will not be completely uninstalled. However, after you uninstall it according to the directions, above, some files or folders may remain. It is all right to delete those; they are no longer needed.
Firewalls
1. Overview
The BackUp Solution agent communicates with our Secure Operations Centers using the standard TCP/IP protocol.
Connections are initiated from the backup clients 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 by the firewall administrator is needed. If your network requires explicit connection to the firewall to initiate outgoing connections, the backup software must be configured for your firewall.
The requirements for running The BackUp Solution 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 DES-encrypted before leaving the user's PC; it remains encrypted though transmission, and is stored encrypted at the Secure Data Centers.
The following additional information is useful to a firewall administrator for configuring a firewall to permit outgoing connections to the Backup servers.
2. Protocols
TCP/IP is used. There is no use of UDP or ICMP.
3. Server Subnets
Each user's BackUp Solution agent 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 66.151.228.0-255 (also expressed as 66.151.228.0/24). The BackUp Solution client 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 BackUp Solution client software can be automatically updated with the new addresses.
4. Port Numbers
The Data Center servers listen for client requests on a well known port number: 16384. A BackUp Solution client always establishes a TCP/IP session with port 16384 on the server.
5. DNS
The BackUp Solution client 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.
6. Registration vs. subsequent connections
BackUp Solution client 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.
7. SOCKS-Compliant Proxy Servers
BackUp Solution client 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 BackUp Solution. If your SOCKS proxy server has been set up with additional restrictions on outgoing connections, it is necessary to include the subnets in the permitted destinations.
When prompted by the BackUp Solution 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).
8. Other Proxy Firewalls
In order for BackUp Solution client 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 BackUp Solution client 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 BackUp Solution client 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 BackUp Solutions 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 66.151.228.0-255 (66.151.228.0/24)
- 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.
9. Configuring the agent software
When the client software is installed, it permits the user to specify the firewall address and ports to be used. The firewall settings in the software can be changed at any time by selecting the Options/Connection... menu choice.
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