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Offsite Backup Service

SOAPware’s Offsite Backup Service (OBS) allows physicians the peace of mind to know all their backup requirements are handled by SOAPware, Inc.. This service replicates the SOAPware data from the physicians servers to our servers located in Fayetteville, AR. This replicated data is a real-time backup with point-in-time backups made every 24 hours utilizing a 256bit encrypted communication path.

With SOAPware’s OBS a physician can relax and let a specialized team of developers, IT Professionals and SOAPware Technicians handle their backup needs. The service will be constantly monitored making sure there is a backup that is ready and waiting to be restored, and that ensures that your backup is never more than 24 business hours old. Utilizing 3 separate Internet connections, a 100 Kilowatt generator, multiple battery backups, and isolated power circuits, SOAPware’s server room can provide the resources needed to keep your backups running. This room also has two separate cooling systems, two separate security systems and hardened physical barriers to keep your data safe. OBS utilizes two technologies to provide the replication service: Replication and a Peer-to-Peer VPN (Virtual Private Network).

Many SQL databases posses the ability to replicated data in real-time from the SOAPware data server (master server) to a replication server (slave). This replication creates an exact duplicate of the master to the slave the instant that the data is committed to the master. (service only available to MySQL 4.x or  PostgreSQL users or all v5 users)  It most cases, when the connection between the two servers is available, the two databases are within 3 to 10 seconds of being exact copies. In addition to replication, each database undergoes a Point-in-Time backup every 24 hours affording another backup path in case data corruption is passed from the Master to the Slave via replication. To mitigate a possible disaster situation, once a week the point-in-time backups are taken and stored off site. This also allows (for a small fee) for some accidental deletion of data to be restored if noticed within seven days. For example, a physician enters a long encounter and doesn’t sign off on the encounter that night and a staff member accidently deletes the encounter the next day. Our backup team could provide the lost data back to the physician if a point-in-time backup had been made before the accidental deletion.

A unique Peer-to-Peer VPN tunnel is created to encrypt all data communication. Utilizing a special VPN client that can work with dynamic or static IPs, the VPN is created from the physicians data server to our server. This virtual private network has 256 bit encryption, ensuring that no one but the IT specialist and the physicians have the potential to see confidential data.

In case of data failure, OBS offers 3 solutions to reach or retrieve your data. The first is to provide you with the most recent good backup, which is no older than 24 business hours. If the replication was not corrupted by the Master server, this backup could very well be, and most often is, only seconds older than the Master server. This backup, if smaller than 500MB, will be compressed (“zipped”) and transferred to you via the Internet to be restored with the help of SOAPware technicians. If the data is larger than 500MB compressed, then it will be written to CD and shipped to you at the earliest time provided by UPS, DHL or FedEx and then restored with the help of the SOAPware technicians. The third solution is a combination of the above with an emergency service allowing the physician to access his or her data via the server until the data arrives. With a slight change in SOAPware Application configuration, on the Master Server, a physician can access their data temporarily until the local data server is restored. For an additional fee (approximately $40 per computer), other SOAPware clients can reach the replication until the local data is restored.

Cost:

SOAPware’s Offsite Backup Service has a simple and affordable rate of a $100 setup fee, with a $100/month, and an additional charge of $10/Month for each additional gigabyte after 2 gigabytes. It’s estimated that most 2 to 3 physician practices will not exceed 2 gigabytes in the first year unless they add additional third party documents to the patient’s charts. For example, for the first year a doctor with 1.8 gigabyte databases will only pay $100 per month. If however he accumulates 2.6 gigabytes in the second year he would pay $110 per month, $100 for basic and $10 for the additional space over 2 gigabytes. (Service is only available to v5 or 4.x MySQL or PostgreSQL users) 

If you are a current SOAPware user and you wish to purchase OBS please contact support at 1-800-455-7627 ext. 3 or support@soapware.com subject OBS for existing customers.

Insights into the real cost of backups.

Frequently asked question.

• How does this work?
• We create a secure tunnel across the Internet from your data server to ours and then we setup a function called replication, after this is set all entries made into your data server will be sent to our server. An exact duplicate of your server will be kept here.
• How long does it take to setup?
• From the time you purchase it should take less than 14 business days.
• Is this backup HIPAA compliant?
• A. Yes, all communication is encrypted and backups are taken off site weekly.
• How will I be billed?
• Billing can be set on a monthly billing cycle with a credit card or quarterly with a check or money order. Payment is always made in advance of the service period.
• Is additional hardware needed?
• No, no additional hardware is needed. All that is needed is a SOAPware Data Server that has access to the Internet.
• What are the costs?
• $100 Setup fee, $100/month, and $10 for each GB over 2GB.
• What happens if our Internet connection goes down.
• If your Internet connection is dropped, the Master (your server in your office) will hold a log of all database entries (transactions) until the Slave (our servers here at SOAPware, Inc. ) can reach your Master server again. Once communication is established the Slave will catch back up with the Master.
• What happens if our Internet connection goes down and then we have a failure?
• Your connection will be monitored during business hours and you will be notified if your connection is off line for long periods of time, but your backup will be as old as when the Internet lost connection.
• What if a command is issued that corrupts our database (Master), will it corrupt the one at SOAPware Inc.’s office (Slave)?
• Yes, but every 24 hours a point-in-time backup is made. If the replication server is corrupted or data deleted through some outside means we can restore your data from the point-in-time backup, not losing more than 24 hours. In addition, once every few hour an incremental backup is made with a third party software that many times, but not always, will allow for a recovery loss of only 2 hours.
• Why is this service better than cheaper offsite backup solutions?
• Our service is a replication service, meaning the data is constantly being replicated from your server to ours, and even after the data grows to 10GB or 30GB’s of data your internet connection will still be able to support the replication. In traditional backup services backup files are simply copied from the source to the backup system. This would quickly be unmanageable as you would need very expensive Internet connections to handle anything over 1GB of data per day. In addition, these simple copy from source to backup systems only give you point in time backups. Most don’t provide and additional offsite backups in case of disaster, others don’t provide a retention period, we provide 7 days retention of Data. You might also find that some backup services don’t offer encrypted communication; ours is built on proven 256 bit encryption.
• From day to day basis what does a physician have to do to run the service?
• Once our technicians setup the VPN client and set the configuration on your data server, everything is automated. Both the replication and the VPN connection run as a service.
• What type of Internet connections do I need?
• Most transactions/data transfers are tiny, only when large outside documents are stored is bandwidth ever and issue. All that is needed is a 128 kbps connection, which is the smallest and cheapest constant connections sold in US markets. It is advisable to purchase your most reliable Internet connection service, not necessarily the fastest.
• Do we need a static IP for this service?
• No, the VPN client utilizes a mediator server than will allow you to utilize static IP’s and dynamically assigned IP’s.
• What happens when my databases are huge?
• While your cost will increase for our service because of hard drive usage driven by data size, your daily bandwidth needs will not increase because the data is slowly replicated to our servers in the same way it’s added to your servers. The size of the databases will have little to do with the replication.
• Are backups rotated and taken off site?
• Yes, backups are taken off site once a week.
• Who do we call if our local server crashes?
• Our 1-800-455-7627 during 7 am to 7 am CT and an additional OBS 24/7 number will be provided for off hours.
• How do I stop services if I no longer need it?
• In the rare occasion that the service is no longer needed, to stop the service a written letter on company letterhead with the signature of the authorized person stating their services can be stopped and their data destroyed will suffice. –all letters are confirmed via phone.
• How is my data protected?
• The data is streamed across a 256 bit encrypted peer-to-peer VPN, meaning only the two computers know about the transmission. 256 bit encryption means even if someone did hijack the data stream the data would be totally useless and incomprehensible. The Data flows through a Cisco Pix Firewall and a third party private firewall on the server. The server is kept in a locked room with two security cameras and motion sensors with an offsite alarm system.
• How long are backups retained?
• Backups are retained for a minimum of one week.
• If my server crashes how fast can I get my databases back to my office?
• SOAPware will ship the databases to you via FedEx, UPS or DHL whatever is the fastest service the client is willing to pay for. In some cases, if the databases are small enough, they will be transfer back over the Internet to a new server with a new VPN client.
• If my server crashes and I am going to be out of a server for several days, how can I get to my patients data?
• With a few changes to the SOAPware client and an issue of a temporary VPN client several client computers could contact our database set for patient data availability.
• Who can request the data?
• Only the purchaser of the service, all request for data are reverse referenced by a phone call after initial request for verification.
• Do I need to continue my local backups?
• You can never have too many backups. While we hope to provide the best backup scenario possible, it never hurts to continue your own backup regiment if you so choose. The OSB service architecture was to be a total replacement for the SOAPware patient data.