Denny, I agree that an offsite backup is necessary. Most of our files are backed up remotely via a similar arrangement. Since home-based ADSL is relatively inexpensive in NY, $34.95/month for a 1.2mbit line, I set up a system with lots of hard disk capacity at my home. Verizon provides only dynamic IP addresses so I configured a VPN between the home W2K system and a server at work. A simple program copies files that are new during the early morning hours when the server and DSL loads are light. This works fairly well. I have yet to tackle the HIPAA concerns officially, although the VPN is fairly secure and the home system is password protected and physically locked away.
Mike > Thomas, > > A few years ago, when we got to thinking about the most robust way to > backup important information, we came to the conclusion that a backup > off-site was essential, since there are many ways to lose data, not > all coming from hard disk crashes. > > Since we are generally too distracted to remember to take our > newly-burned CD's somewhere out of the office for safe-keeping, we also > set up a cronjob to rsync copies of important files from our production > servers to an offsite (home) machine on the end of an ADSL line with a > fixed IP address. > > Best! > > Denny Adelman >
