How to choose a cloud service for backups

I am thinking of using a cloud service to backup one of my client's website.

My (clients) main concerns are (in decreasing order of importance)

i). Protection of IP (trade secrets, source code), user account details etc ii). Uptime guarantee offered by service provider (to minimise webserver down times) iii). Cost iv). Upload/download speeds

Ideally, I would like service that does not have a long tie in (i.e. I would prefer a kind of "pay-as-you-go" service)

I would also like to avoid vendor lockin, where it is next to imp[ossible to move to another service.

I would like some general guidelines on

1. How to go about choosing a service provider
2. Who are the main players in the field
3. recommendation of software to use for: backup/restore/ and upload/download of the saved/restored files

The server software is either going to be Ubuntu or Debian (I'll probably post a question on which OS to go for as a server - I am already familiar with Ubuntu)

From serverfault $pageUsers[$entry.posts[0].author].name

• For small business / prosumer, I'd recommend Amazon's Storage Service.

  • Region control (Ie objects stored in a EU never leave the EU).
  • 99.9% uptime for any given billing cycle
  • $0.150 per GB stored per month
  • $0.170 per GB downloaded
  • Free upload until June 2010, $0.10 per GB thereafter

  And the rather vague assurance that "Authentication mechanisms are provided to ensure that data is kept secure from unauthorized access"

  From RJFalconer

• While bluenovember is on the right track with S3, Amazon's system isn't really a drop-in backup solution, it's a raw data storage solution that still requires a front end system to be used for backup, whether that's a few API calls or a full backup management suite. Something like JungleDisk Server Edition, which uses S3 at the backend but provides a better interface for use as a backup solution, would probably be better.

  In addition, JungleDisk would give you built in encryption, something you'd need to add on regardless of how you plan to connect to S3/"the cloud". They have some pretty nice client softwre for Linux as well.

  From phoebus

• Software-wise, consider duplicity for incremental backups with asymetric encryption and a dumb receiver (non-cloud howto).

  From Tobu

• I always tell my clients that the best, least expensive and most efficient backup solution is one that you build yourself, for your own purposes.

  When I build a system for my clients, I use rsync with SSH keys to handle authentication between serverA and serverB, where serverA contains the data to be backed up. The command to archive and rsync the data is contained in a bash script in a non-web-accessible directory, called by cron every H hours (24 for daily, etc. etc.)

  The backup server, serverB, is to be used SOLELY for backups. I always advise my clients to use an extremely lengthy password with SSH key authentication to allow for downloading of backups and backing up. Sometimes, my clients need backups to be saved for D days, so I write some scripts to handle that (take data from the active backup directory, apply a timestamp, add to an archive in another directory).

  From Jason Berlinsky