Frequently Asked Questions

Describe the overall offering of the ORION service.
The ORION Data Backup Storage Service is made up of the ability to support both backup and restoration of data that ORION member institutions have selected at service set-up time. The service provides subscribing members the ability to schedule periodic backups of data. The service includes periodic backups of entire selected data sets, and incremental backups of changes to the data, minimizing the amount of data stored and the risk of loss of data.

The ORION Backup Service also provides for performing recoveries from previous backups. The ability to restore to a specific state following a disaster and to restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted or corrupted are both supported as part of the service.

Describe the ORION Backup Service incident handling and response procedures.
Help Desk support for the service is offered via toll free telephone line and on-line e-mail support functions, from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. In addition, dedicated Emergency Support is available on a 24/7 basis for critical issues such as a problem with a critical restore, or for disaster situations occurring after regular hours or on a weekend or holiday. Response times are based on the severity of the issue and an acknowledgement time of 2 hours and issue resolution within one day are typical. Subscribing member identification numbers are used to verify eligibility to initiate support requests.

In addition, at the time of subscription to the service, individual institutions are eligible for up to two hours of Activation Support at no charge to assist with installation and activation of software.

How does the ORION Backup Service measure storage utilization?
Storage utilization is measured by the amount of data that is backed up at the ORION service. This metric is arrived at after the data has been compressed and has been transmitted from the ORION member institution.

There is no provision for capping or limiting the amount of data stored, but if a subscribing member has a utilization target which they wish to maintain, the service is capable of notifying them of their having reached or exceeded the target amount, which allows the institution to either increase their target, or remove a portion of the data being backed up.

Are there network diagrams describing the connectivity between the institution and the ORION service?
A generic network diagram describing connectivity between the ORION member and the service, via the ORION network is available as part of the ORION Backup Storage Service Product Page, available for download at the service web page (www.orion.on.ca/backup). In addition, network diagrams indicating specifics of connectivity with individual institutions are assembled by ORION at the time of subscription setup.

What are the security processes and measures established to handle data backed up to the ORION service?
Physical and logical security is imposed on all servers that make up the ORION service. ORION Backup systems are hardened, patched and only run necessary services. The ORION Backup Service equipment is accessible by authorized personnel only. All employees, contractors and third parties sign contracts in which they agree to ORION confidentiality and security policies. Policies have been established and are regularly reviewed to address situations which may arise with regard to information and data security.

The ORION network infrastructure is designed and configured with physical access security in mind. The ORION Backup facility includes security personnel, mantraps to the raised floor, video cameras, fire suppression and physically locked cages.

Additional information including a description of security policies specific to the ORION Backup Service is available in the Backup Service Addendum.

What assurances do subscribing members have that data backed up using the ORION service will be safe from data mining, or other third party access?
All data backed up to the service, or transmitted over the ORION network, is encrypted prior to transmission. Subscribing members are required to allow service parameters to encrypt data to be backed up by the service. For the duration of their use of the service, subscribing members are in possession of the sole encryption key.

Describe the logical access processes established to handle access to the ORION service facilities, systems and data.
The ORION Backup Service consists of a software agent installed at the member’s institution which compresses, encrypts and then transmits member-selected data to the ORION service backup facility. The service is designed to back-up data based on parameter settings selected by each ORION member at the time of subscription. Restore operations are designed to be self-managed by subscribing institutions. Help Desk support from ORION service personnel to assist in restoration activities is available if required. Customer data is logically separated to ensure additional security. Access to the service is restricted to administration personnel with userid/password. Please refer to the ORION Backup Service Addendum for a complete description of detail and policy options.

How is restoration managed in the event of a disaster at the site of a subscribing member?
The ORION Data Backup Storage Service supports both automated scheduled backups and data restoration carried out by subscribing members. If requested ORION Help Desk Support is available to assist in restoration activities. Where required as part of the restoration activity the ORION Service is designed to include provision to subscribing members of a copy of their data on tangible media. Subscribers can refer to the ORION Backup Service Addendum for a complete description of restoration support available.

Are there disaster recovery strategies that have been implemented as part of the ORION service?
The ORION Backup Service has implemented automated redundancy in key areas and operates key business operations out of secure data centers consisting of extensive redundancy strategies including power redundancy, fire suppression and network redundancy. Where required as part of disaster recovery measures, the Service can include provision of the subscribing member’s data delivered on tangible media.

In the case of the ORION member ending its subscription to the service, what measures are in place to assure members that no copy of their data remains on the ORION service?
In the case of termination of the Backup service, ORION will deliver all data belonging to the subscribing member. Any media used to store ORION member data will be destroyed or permanently erased prior to any re-use or removal from use. The service will permanently erase any member data prior to re-use of any media containing such data.

What are the performance characteristics, such as throughput, volume and speed of the ORION service?
The internal environment and infrastructure of each ORION member institution is unique. Backup and recovery performance characteristics are impacted directly by each institution’s network connectivity and their internal configuration and equipment including servers and infrastructure. In addition, there are a variety of characteristics of the data itself, such as file size and configuration, which can impact the speed of backups and recoveries. For these reasons it is impractical to set expectations of uniform performance of the Backup Service across a variety of member institutions. Performance characteristics specific to the ORION network are described in the ORION User Access Agreement.