Comments for Silvexis http://silvexis.com The Future Started Yesterday Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:59:11 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Encrypting your data on Amazon EC2 by Alan http://silvexis.com/2011/11/26/encrypting-your-data-on-amazon-ec2/comment-page-1/#comment-217 Alan Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:59:11 +0000 http://silvexis.com/?p=689#comment-217 There is a hosted service + library that we are trying out (awscrypt). They only offer a python library that overwrites the file object and the boto's simpledb class. It seamless encrypts the data while managing the key (the encryption key is managed by their hosted service). The changes to our code was pretty minimal and it worked right of the box (but again, our code was in Python anyways). It doesn't have the "boot issue" that you mentioned and things just work (it also works with autoscaling). There is a hosted service + library that we are trying out (awscrypt). They only offer a python library that overwrites the file object and the boto’s simpledb class. It seamless encrypts the data while managing the key (the encryption key is managed by their hosted service).

The changes to our code was pretty minimal and it worked right of the box (but again, our code was in Python anyways).

It doesn’t have the “boot issue” that you mentioned and things just work (it also works with autoscaling).

]]> Comment on Is the Solution to Online Privacy Simply a Question of Ownership? by gator http://silvexis.com/2010/08/12/privacy_and_ownership/comment-page-1/#comment-181 gator Fri, 14 Oct 2011 04:43:24 +0000 http://silvexis.com/?p=595#comment-181 Sadly, Schmidt & Co are right - its a generational thing, if you're not used to the new world of non-privacy you'll never be comfortable with it. Younger people find it second nature, and that's how it should be. Sadly, Schmidt & Co are right – its a generational thing, if you’re not used to the new world of non-privacy you’ll never be comfortable with it. Younger people find it second nature, and that’s how it should be.

]]> Comment on CrashPlan Central Review – The Perfect Online Backup Solution? by Tobias http://silvexis.com/2009/09/06/crashplan-central-the-perfect-online-backup-solution/comment-page-1/#comment-180 Tobias Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:50:27 +0000 http://silvexis.com/blog/?p=381#comment-180 I wrote another email to the crashplan support. The say again they don't throttle. And maybe my ISP boosts initial traffic and throttles after transfering much data. Or my ISP is heavy loaded and maybe changing their routing, ... But I also tried to back up at another internet connection with a measured speed of 18 Gbit/s (!) into the USA (I am from Germany). The switch was limiting my port to 100Mbit/s. But even there I couldn't backup faster than 2Mbit/s. And no: Bandwith ist set to unlimited inside crashplan, CPU is set to a maximum of 100%, too. And my CPU idles most time... So it seems crashplan is the limiting point. Maybe because of cheap hardware, too many clients, throttling, ... I took a look at Backblaze - they don't support files larger than 9GB. Too bad. So this is no alternative for me. I wrote another email to the crashplan support. The say again they don’t throttle. And maybe my ISP boosts initial traffic and throttles after transfering much data. Or my ISP is heavy loaded and maybe changing their routing, …
But I also tried to back up at another internet connection with a measured speed of 18 Gbit/s (!) into the USA (I am from Germany). The switch was limiting my port to 100Mbit/s. But even there I couldn’t backup faster than 2Mbit/s. And no: Bandwith ist set to unlimited inside crashplan, CPU is set to a maximum of 100%, too. And my CPU idles most time… So it seems crashplan is the limiting point. Maybe because of cheap hardware, too many clients, throttling, …

I took a look at Backblaze – they don’t support files larger than 9GB. Too bad. So this is no alternative for me.

]]> Comment on CrashPlan Central Review – The Perfect Online Backup Solution? by Erik http://silvexis.com/2009/09/06/crashplan-central-the-perfect-online-backup-solution/comment-page-1/#comment-179 Erik Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:10:39 +0000 http://silvexis.com/blog/?p=381#comment-179 Thanks for the comment Tobias, I would be pretty upset if this was happening to me. In fact it's this exact sort of behavior that made me cancel my Carbonite subscription and go with CrashPlan. (see my Carbonite experience <a href="http://silvexis.com/2009/06/18/carbonite-not-ready-for-the-real-world/" rel="nofollow">here</a>). If CrashPlan really is throttling in some way, even unintentionally because their systems are becoming overloaded, then that's cause for concern. There might however be another possibility, your Internet service provider (ISP). I run CrashPlan on my laptop and take it all over the world which has me connecting through numerous ISP's. Apart from the speed differences of different networks, all of them seem to behave a little different in how they prioritize certain traffic. I'm lucky that my home ISP seems to let me upload to CrashPlan at a pretty fast clip with terabytes uploaded so far but on some ISP's I notice my crashplan speeds crawl almost to a halt while normal web browsing seems to fly along just fine (and testing using <a href="http://speedtest.net" rel="nofollow">speedtest.net</a> shows good performance as well). If you do give Backblaze a try (they look pretty cool as well IMHO) let us know if you see similar performance slow downs over time, it might just be your ISP and not the backup services fault. Either way, i'm sure everyone here wants to know what's going on! Thanks for the comment Tobias, I would be pretty upset if this was happening to me. In fact it’s this exact sort of behavior that made me cancel my Carbonite subscription and go with CrashPlan. (see my Carbonite experience here). If CrashPlan really is throttling in some way, even unintentionally because their systems are becoming overloaded, then that’s cause for concern. There might however be another possibility, your Internet service provider (ISP). I run CrashPlan on my laptop and take it all over the world which has me connecting through numerous ISP’s. Apart from the speed differences of different networks, all of them seem to behave a little different in how they prioritize certain traffic. I’m lucky that my home ISP seems to let me upload to CrashPlan at a pretty fast clip with terabytes uploaded so far but on some ISP’s I notice my crashplan speeds crawl almost to a halt while normal web browsing seems to fly along just fine (and testing using speedtest.net shows good performance as well). If you do give Backblaze a try (they look pretty cool as well IMHO) let us know if you see similar performance slow downs over time, it might just be your ISP and not the backup services fault. Either way, i’m sure everyone here wants to know what’s going on!

]]> Comment on CrashPlan Central Review – The Perfect Online Backup Solution? by Tobias http://silvexis.com/2009/09/06/crashplan-central-the-perfect-online-backup-solution/comment-page-1/#comment-178 Tobias Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:23:30 +0000 http://silvexis.com/blog/?p=381#comment-178 I loved crashplan and so I bought a 4 your unlimited family plan. I have a connection with 10 Mbit/s upload capacity. At first I startet to back up my homeserver/NAS. It backed up with 8-10 Mbit/s. But it is slowing down and down. Now I have backed up about 1.3 TB and backup speed is now at 2 Mbit/s. At this speed it takes over a year to finish my backup - instead of 2.5 month at fullspeed. They say they don't throttle - but maybe they do! I asked the support - the answer was "maybe many people are backing up to that cluster". wow - so they can't do anything. And my backup is getting slower and slower. If nothing will change I have to take a look at Backblaze. I loved crashplan and so I bought a 4 your unlimited family plan. I have a connection with 10 Mbit/s upload capacity. At first I startet to back up my homeserver/NAS. It backed up with 8-10 Mbit/s. But it is slowing down and down. Now I have backed up about 1.3 TB and backup speed is now at 2 Mbit/s. At this speed it takes over a year to finish my backup – instead of 2.5 month at fullspeed. They say they don’t throttle – but maybe they do! I asked the support – the answer was “maybe many people are backing up to that cluster”. wow – so they can’t do anything. And my backup is getting slower and slower.
If nothing will change I have to take a look at Backblaze.

]]> Comment on CrashPlan Central Review – The Perfect Online Backup Solution? by CrashPlan Review: A Backup Service With Unique Features & Benefits http://silvexis.com/2009/09/06/crashplan-central-the-perfect-online-backup-solution/comment-page-1/#comment-176 CrashPlan Review: A Backup Service With Unique Features & Benefits Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:29:32 +0000 http://silvexis.com/blog/?p=381#comment-176 [...] Peterson, of silvexis.com, said in his CrashPlan review that on his home network (a mix of WiFi 802.11 n/g and Gigabit [...] [...] Peterson, of silvexis.com, said in his CrashPlan review that on his home network (a mix of WiFi 802.11 n/g and Gigabit [...]

]]> Comment on CrashPlan Central Review – The Perfect Online Backup Solution? by Erik http://silvexis.com/2009/09/06/crashplan-central-the-perfect-online-backup-solution/comment-page-1/#comment-175 Erik Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:55:36 +0000 http://silvexis.com/blog/?p=381#comment-175 CrashPlan uses Java and the way Java uses memory can be misleading to a lot of people. Java can look like it's consuming all the available memory when it's really just trying to be efficient and not spend any CPU cycles on freeing up memory when no one really needs the memory to begin with. Best way to get an idea (these instructions are not for a novice) is to stop or kill your Java process and then start up CrashPlan again and perform a few activities, after 5 min check the memory usage and see if it looks unusual. You mention 700KB as something that might be unusual are you sure you didn't mean 700 MB? The majority of processes on my computer are over 1 MB and much much more. My Java process (now running for several weeks, no reboot) is consuming 319 MB and that is lower than it normally is. As far as CPU load, it all depends on you, you can configure when and how much CPU CrashPlan uses so if you find it's slowing down your computer, I would tweak those settings until it's running right for you. Last but not least, I sure would love a affiliate program, but I guess my review is more credible knowing that I've never seen a dime from CrashPlan and I'm sure that's what they want. Besides CrashPlan is doing so well I guess they don't need to pay people to get the word out! Thanks again for your questions, keep them coming! CrashPlan uses Java and the way Java uses memory can be misleading to a lot of people. Java can look like it’s consuming all the available memory when it’s really just trying to be efficient and not spend any CPU cycles on freeing up memory when no one really needs the memory to begin with. Best way to get an idea (these instructions are not for a novice) is to stop or kill your Java process and then start up CrashPlan again and perform a few activities, after 5 min check the memory usage and see if it looks unusual. You mention 700KB as something that might be unusual are you sure you didn’t mean 700 MB? The majority of processes on my computer are over 1 MB and much much more. My Java process (now running for several weeks, no reboot) is consuming 319 MB and that is lower than it normally is.

As far as CPU load, it all depends on you, you can configure when and how much CPU CrashPlan uses so if you find it’s slowing down your computer, I would tweak those settings until it’s running right for you.

Last but not least, I sure would love a affiliate program, but I guess my review is more credible knowing that I’ve never seen a dime from CrashPlan and I’m sure that’s what they want. Besides CrashPlan is doing so well I guess they don’t need to pay people to get the word out!

Thanks again for your questions, keep them coming!

]]> Comment on CrashPlan Central Review – The Perfect Online Backup Solution? by Erik http://silvexis.com/2009/09/06/crashplan-central-the-perfect-online-backup-solution/comment-page-1/#comment-174 Erik Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:45:34 +0000 http://silvexis.com/blog/?p=381#comment-174 Thanks TravisVs! I tested out carbonite as well but discovered some pretty scary things like not all my files being uploaded and serious upload performance issues. Who knows, they might have fixed them as my review was a while ago but I don't believe you know a backup solution is really working until you have to do a restore! Make sure you test out a restore before you really really need it and by all means let us know how it goes! Oh and to answer your other question, you can backup to multiple locations Thanks TravisVs!

I tested out carbonite as well but discovered some pretty scary things like not all my files being uploaded and serious upload performance issues. Who knows, they might have fixed them as my review was a while ago but I don’t believe you know a backup solution is really working until you have to do a restore! Make sure you test out a restore before you really really need it and by all means let us know how it goes!

Oh and to answer your other question, you can backup to multiple locations

]]> Comment on CrashPlan Central Review – The Perfect Online Backup Solution? by Raphael http://silvexis.com/2009/09/06/crashplan-central-the-perfect-online-backup-solution/comment-page-1/#comment-172 Raphael Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:38:30 +0000 http://silvexis.com/blog/?p=381#comment-172 Hi folks, First of all, thanks to all commenters for your feedbacks and to Erik for all your investigations! Crashplan guys should hire you in their PR team! :-) They at least should provide an affiliate program so that good customers can have some benefit making them publicity... I have a question that has not been asked yet: what about performance? I've read that processes were big (more than 700 KB). What is your experience? And what abour the load? Thanks in advance for your answers ! Hi folks,
First of all, thanks to all commenters for your feedbacks and to Erik for all your investigations!
Crashplan guys should hire you in their PR team! :-)
They at least should provide an affiliate program so that good customers can have some benefit making them publicity…

I have a question that has not been asked yet: what about performance?
I’ve read that processes were big (more than 700 KB). What is your experience?
And what abour the load?

Thanks in advance for your answers !

]]> Comment on CrashPlan Central Review – The Perfect Online Backup Solution? by TravisVS http://silvexis.com/2009/09/06/crashplan-central-the-perfect-online-backup-solution/comment-page-1/#comment-171 TravisVS Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:38:48 +0000 http://silvexis.com/blog/?p=381#comment-171 Erik: Great review with lots of good details. I referenced your review in my latest review of CrashPlan. This is definitely one of the more unique backup services out there - allowing people to use other people's computers as a backup. I'm going to try their free plan to see how well it backs up my data to a second computer I have in my office. I also have a second hard drive in my primary computer that I use as a backup as well. I should be able to use CrashPlan to backup to my second hard drive as well, correct? I would switch to a paid CrashPlan plan but I'm currently with Carbonite and haven't had any issues so I don't want to move to another service - at this point anyway - but if the free CrashPlan let's me backup to a second computer and my second hard drive, that would be awesome. TravisVs BestOnlineStorage.com Erik:

Great review with lots of good details. I referenced your review in my latest review of CrashPlan. This is definitely one of the more unique backup services out there – allowing people to use other people’s computers as a backup.

I’m going to try their free plan to see how well it backs up my data to a second computer I have in my office. I also have a second hard drive in my primary computer that I use as a backup as well. I should be able to use CrashPlan to backup to my second hard drive as well, correct?

I would switch to a paid CrashPlan plan but I’m currently with Carbonite and haven’t had any issues so I don’t want to move to another service – at this point anyway – but if the free CrashPlan let’s me backup to a second computer and my second hard drive, that would be awesome.

TravisVs
BestOnlineStorage.com

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