I'm wanting to get some quotes for designing a off-site data back-up much like the service offered at mozy(dot)com. The problem is I don't know what kind of programer(s) is/are needed. Would someone please take a look at the site and let me know? Any & all help is appreciated.
I would recommend looking for perl developers. This is really the thing that Perl excels at. Obviously, you would want someone with strong database experience.
LOL - I've never heard that before, but I got it right away "FO AH" Anyways, I would advise running DTS Packages to snag what you need on the server to a local server. Can do full DB transfers with a nice scheduler. You can also run your scheduler or Cron to "hit" an application on a certain schedule (lets say daily) Then, this app can, create a daily folder on your local server, name the folder to today's date, and pull everything from your server VIA ftp. Can even go a step further, and Compress that folder, and upload the .RAR or .ZIP to multiple other servers, then send yourself a notification email on successful daily "Backup". This way you have the full file and folder structure of what's on your live site, with full database backup, and multiple copies on multiple servers without you even having to do anything... This is what I would do anways, hehe
Short answer, you need a web developer with Database, Web Development/Programming skills and experience, and also application development skills/experience. All three are essential to get your job done. I (Personally) would do it with MsSQL, VB, and ASP.NET 2.0 - or if your on a *nix host PHP and MySQL.
Check out Amazon.com's S3 program. It wasn't quite ready for prime time when I looked a few weeks ago, but there are several companies working on using it for storage solutions.
Have you checked out the Amanda backup system? It can back up to a remote PC and works with *nix systems. No, I have not used it but people praised it and it sounds good. Yeah its free also.
I think this is what you're after: http://www.hostlibrary.com/Remotebackupusingsshtarandcron-how-to.html Those directions should be easy enough for any programmer to follow.
You know, I've thought about this for a while, and you're absolutely right. I apologize. I was having a horrid night, browsing through the forums, waiting on other guys to do their thing so I could do mine, angry that I was having to find a way to do busy work, and passing time here. I came across this post, thought "What a stupid question" (my bad!) and posted a stupid answer without really thinking about it. I'm surprised I haven't had any red flags from it--I deserved them. I am sorry. That post did not belong here. Others have offered real solutions to the problem you were having, and I fully applaud them. That is what this forum is for. Now, when I have a little time, though, I'm going to provide a more thoughtful answer to the question you actually asked. My original statement still stands: The type of programmer you want is the "good" kind. If you're going to invest in one, get one who knows what he's doing. Don't waste your money on the other kind. Other people have pointed out that, for this particular issue, you really don't need a programmer. This is stuff that has already been written, is freely available, and it's just a matter of learning how to use what's already there. Which, of course, leaves the question of who qualifies as a good programmer? This is an age-old (well, say 40 years) question. And it's totally subjective. Are you tied in (for now) to a specific architecture/development language/paradigm? Do you need a .NET/PHP/cobol/access/PostNuke/OSCommerce guru who can look at your [trivial] site, change a smidge, and that's it? Do you want something small enough that whoever knows enough about a particular language can make the change in less than a week? (Not that many people can make this determination in a reasonable amount of time...depending on the amount of change involved). In your case, that's probably what you want. You don't really want/need a "programmer" at all. Just someone who knows enough to set up the off-site backup, and maybe a designer to make it pretty. That's, honestly, what I should have said originally. Then there's the situation where you want a real programmer for a project that should take the next few months. Maybe you've decided to upgrade the entire site to a new level. Upgrade from perl to python, or change from default PHP to...whatever their template system is (friendly? smiley? I'm drawing a total blank. Whatever). Or maybe you're switching from asp to asp.net. In that case, you want a real programmer, who knows what he's doing. What you're converting from, what you're converting to. It can be done other ways, but it hurts. (That's just an example...in other situations, other rules apply). Or there's the case where you're looking for a long-term relationship. 5 years down the road, you still want someone to turn to when it's time to upgrade your server farm from asp.net 3.0 to 4.0. You probably want someone who's had experience with a variety of architectures, who is comfortable with learning new programming languages/paradigms/frameworks. Odds are, this person wouldn't fit into either of the first two scenarios, except by accident. I could keep going, but that would just be silly. This was really just meant as an apology post, and you really should have quit reading back around paragraph 2.