Frequently Asked Questions
rsync.net offers Cloud Storage for Offsite Backup. We've been doing this since 2001.
Customers have the flexibility of using whatever tools they see fit and the backing of real engineers for support.
With five global locations, rsync.net provides data safety and regulatory compliance.
The Company
How long have you been in business ?
Where are your global locations ?
Whose platform is this ? Are you reselling someone elses cloud ?
How many customers do you serve ? From where ?
Features
What is the difference between the standard and geo-redundant product ?
What network / backup protocols do you support ?
How will my rsync.net filesystem integrate into my existing backups ?
Do you have multi-user access ?
Facilities
How do you secure your facilities ?
How is the filesystem fault tolerant ?
How well connected are your datacenters ?
What other security measures do you employ ?
Support, Pricing and Plans
Can I change the size of my filesystem (increase/decrease my quota) ?
Will you provide me with installation and integration support ?
Will you support my use of X ?
Do you have discounts for large quantity orders ?
Do you have any other discounts available ?
Do you accept physical delivery of large data sets ?
Do you have a reseller program ? Can I label your product as my own ?
Regulatory Compliance and Legal
What are your Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy ?
Are you Sarbanes-Oxley Compliant ?
The Company
How long have you been in business ?
rsync.net began providing cloud storage for offsite backups in the fall of 2001, for our original corporate parent, JohnCompanies.
In 2006, we became a stand-alone firm dedicated only to offsite backup. We provide this simple product and nothing else.
Where are your global locations ?
rsync.net is a US-based company, but we have four global locations - all of which are fully featured and staffed:
Fremont, California, USA (Silicon Valley)
Denver, Colorado, USA
Zurich, Switzerland
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Whose platform is this ? Are you reselling someone elses cloud ?
We built and maintain our own infrastructure. We are not reselling or rebranding any other cloud provider.
We have complete control over our networks and our storage arrays.
How many customers do you serve ? From where ?
We serve thousands of customers from nearly every country in the world.
We are proud to have been chosen as the Linux Format "Editors Choice" for Online Backup in July 2007.
Please see our testimonials page for references, testimonials, and reviews.
Features
What is the difference between the standard and geo-redundant product ?
Both products are identical in terms of your usage and interaction. The geo-redundant accounts are distinguished in that every night, automatically, their contents are replicated to one of our other sites around the world. No action is needed on your part, and no additional integration or maintenance is necessary - rsync.net is solely responsible for this secondary replication.
If you are backing up data that you are retaining yourself, at your own location, then a standard offsite filesystem is probably sufficient. rsync.net then becomes your backup, and the data exists at all times in two locations (your location, and your rsync.net filesystem).
However, if you do not maintain a copy of your data yourself, that is, if your rsync.net filesystem is the ONLY location that your data is stored, we suggest you purchase the geo-redundant product. Remember - if you maintain a copy, your rsync.net filesystem is your backup. If you do not maintain a copy, and you do not use the geo-redundant product, your data is NOT backed up. It exists in one location only (granted, a very secure and well maintained location, but still just one)
Yes. Although rsync.net supports the ftp protocol (for legacy and embedded applications) we do not recommend it. Our standard network protocol is SSH which is encrypted with the same level of security that is required for online banking and credit card processing.
Please contact us if you are not sure you are using our standard (encrypted) network transports.
What network / backup protocols do you support ?
rsync.net supports any tool that runs over SSH or SFTP.
A wide variety of tools run over the SSH protocol, including: rsync, sftp, scp, borg, rclone, restic, etc.
You may run 'git' over SSH to integrate rsync.net with your git workflows and with github.
Further, you may manipulate your rsync.net account with a wide variety of UNIX commands.
How will my rsync.net filesystem integrate into my existing backups ?
Quite easily, in fact. Regardless of whether you use an enterprise backup system in a corporate setting, or a simple consumer application at home, it will be extremely simple to integrate your rsync.net offsite filesystem. Our open systems allow a seamless integration into the operating system of your choice, allowing you to target your rsync.net filesystem as a drive letter, as a mount point, as a URL ... as anything you'd like.
Further, we are intimately familiar with backup procedures and applications and will provide full support for whatever integration you require, including helping you write scripts and procedures.
Yes.
ZFS limits individual files to ~18000 Petabytes (16 exbibytes).
It is unlikely that you will encounter this limit.
Do you have multi-user access ?
Yes. You may configure additional users, at no cost, that can log in and share your account. You may control access and file permissions with standard Unix tools like 'chmod' and 'chgrp'. OR, you may simply describe to us the permissions and access scheme you would like, and we will implement it for you.
If you are an existing customer, simply email support@rsync.net and request one or more "sub accounts" - we will provide them for you immediately.
Facilities
How do you secure your facilities ?
Our physical facilities are manned by live technicians 24 hours per day. Biometric access controls are employed at our locations, as well as video recording and strict entry/access logs.
Our Denver and Zurich facilities are SSAE16 / SAS70 certified.
How is the filesystem fault tolerant ?
Since 2012, the rsync.net storage platform has been based on ZFS. We utilize raidz-3 (a raid array that can withstand 3 failed disks, as opposed to raid-6 that can withstand only 2 failed disks) with conservatively sized (12 disk) vdevs. We typically create zpools with 4 or fewer vdevs.
Our ZFS platform uses the very best practices (IT, or "disk only" firmware on our host bus adaptors and only ECC RAM) as well as very conservative (overkill, really) disk replacement and scrub schedules.
All power is conditioned and backed by battery banks which are backed by diesel generators. Physical machines are connected to at least two distinct power circuits.
rsync.net performs quarterly audits of power load and equipment failover, and we are quite strict as to what constitutes "passing".
How well connected are your datacenters ?
Our primary US location is connected to a quintuple-homed network. All global locations are at least triple-homed.
rsync.net performs quarterly audits of network throughput and network latency.
What other security measures do you employ ?
We employ network Intrusion Detection Systems as well as IDS on each individual host.
Each users' individual filesystem is in a chroot that isolates it from the rest of the system.
rsync.net accounts typically have ZFS snapshots that are immutable (read-only) and protects against ransomware or credentials theft.
Finally, user filesystems all live on data partitions that are mounted noexec / nosuid / nodev which provides an additional level of safety against sophisticated attacks.
Support, Pricing and Plans
Can I change the size of my filesystem (increase/decrease my quota) ?
Yes - we can increase or decrease the size of your account at any time - there are no fees or complications involved in doing so. There is also no downtime of any kind involved. Simply email support@rsync.net and indicate what new size you would like your filesystem to be.
Alternatively, you may login to your web-based Account Manager and edit your own quota there.
Will you provide me with installation and integration support ?
Yes. We will help you, interactively, with a real person, through every step of integration. Although most integrations do not require much, if any, software installation, we will support that installation and that software.
Will you support my use of X ?
Yes. If you are using X with an rsync.net filesystem, we will support and troubleshoot your use of it, regardless of how complex or esoteric that usage or application is. All such support will be handled by a real live Unix engineer, and will never be dealt with by a ticket system, autoresponder, or first level / junior "technician".
Yes. We are not just providing offsite filesystems, we are providing complete, end to end, personal customer support.
Do you have discounts for large quantity orders ?
Yes.
Accounts less than 100TB in size have a rate of 1.5 cents per GB, per month.
100TB and larger accounts have a rate of 1 cents per GB, per month.
1 PB and larger accounts have a rate of 0.6 cents per GB, per month.
All of these rates can be discounted 10% by making an annual payment.
Please see our pricing page for more details.
Do you have any other discounts available ?
Yes. Discounts exist for open source developers and educators/students - please contact us for more details.
Do you accept physical delivery of data ?
Yes. Depending on your usage and plan, this may be incur a nominal charge, or it may be free of charge. Please see this document for details.
Do you have a reseller program ? Can I label your product as my own ?
Yes. We have a very simple and straightforward reseller program that allows ISPs, VARs and consultants to implement and support our service for their clients.
Our reseller program allows you to immediately provide a state of the art, global storage network, fully rebranded as your own. You may repackage and resell it in any way you see fit.
Regulatory Compliance and Legal
What are your Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy ?
Our Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy are combined into one, easy to read document.
Our Privacy Policy is very simple.
Yes. Please refer to our HIPAA compliance statement.
Yes. rsync.net will enter into a Business Associates Agreement with you - either your own which we will review or our standard BAA
Are you Sarbanes-Oxley Compliant ?
Yes. Please refer to our Sarbanes-Oxley compliance statement.
What Makes rsync.net Special
We are the only cloud storage provider that gives customers a UNIX filesystem to do what they want with.
We are NOT reselling another cloud - we built and maintain our own infrastructure and have complete control over our platform.
Our ZFS platform provides resiliency and allows clients to configure point-in-time snapshots that are immutable .
We have a world class, IPV6-capable network with locations in three US cities as well as Zurich and Hong Kong.
You will receive unlimited, free technical support, over phone and email, for any use you make of our product.
We offer customizable monitoring and alerts, free of charge, using email, SMS, Pushover and webhook calls.
We've been doing this since 2001.
More Information
rsync.net publishes a wide array of support documents as well as a FAQ
rsync.net has been tested, reviewed and discussed in a variety of venues.
You, or your CEO, may find our CEO Page useful.
Please see our HIPAA, GDPR, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance statements.
Contact info@rsync.net for more information, and answers to your questions.
