[Box Backup] Box and non-C++ clients

[Peter Harrison]

On Wed, 2006-02-15 at 14:33 -0600, Todd D. Esposito wrote:
> I actually have a very crude first blush at this type of thing running
> under php/apache2.  It's CLEARLY for an internal-only deployment. 
> Basically, you fill out a form, it generates you an account number,
> certificates, encryption key, config file, and a  windows installer for the
> win32 client, plus boxi, plus all of the generated stuff, and sends it to
> you, with a screen saying "please save to desktop ... blah blah."  It's a
> good start, but basic, and only handles account creation, nothing for
> (re)setting limits, getting status, doing a database check, or deleting
> accounts.  This is all on the TODO.  And it's WAY too insecure to offer up
> on a public access site, but for what I needed, it's good enough.
> 

We have developed a web application which sits on the backup client. You
fill in your details and it will create a cert for you and register you
with a back end web service that runs on the box backup server. This
means that you can install BoxBackup on a machine and give it to a
client, and they can set it up for themselves. Another feature is that
it stores the crypto key to a USB drive on setup, and allows you to
restore.

If you lose your server you can just plug in the USB key, run the
restore from key, and it will restore your encryption key and other
details so that you can download your data on a fresh box.

The same application allows you to browse the bbackup system and restore
selected files or entire directories, all from a web interface.

We never quite got to market with this, but I put about six months
development effort into it. Is this something people would be interested
in?