Anyone use Microsoft OneDrive for Business?

**evilsatan** · 2nd May 2014

I have changed this thread as I discovered my own answer about reseller accounts. Now I am wondering if anyone uses this service? I need to roll out a cloud backup solution and I must use one of two pre-approved providers for compliance, on the face of it this is not a cloud backup service but it does offer cloud storage and it has a useful sync feature. Does anyone with experience of this have any input as to the effectiveness as cloud backup?

I will be downloading a trial today to give it a whirl.

Cheers

**Zippeyrude** · 2nd May 2014

yes, the whole O365 integration is awesome too

also this is not insignificant:-
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aeeb7350-c...44feabdc0.html

**evilsatan** · 2nd May 2014

So how effective is it for cloud backup? These users do not have Office 365 or 2013.

The office would generally have a server or NAS drive where all the documents are stored for local use. This would need to be backed up constantly to the cloud so in the event of server failure they have a copy which is readily available. The fact that you can work on documents whilst in the cloud is a bonus, not one that would be used often if at all though. I saw the pricing is per user and when I read about it the idea is each organisation member has their own space and they can share between spaces. In this instance the space is just for the organisation to have the data held safely in the cloud, and it should have archiving in case a deleted file needs to be recovered and versioning in case a previous version is required.

I will be using a trial today and sending an email, shame they don't have a sales chat facility.

**Hangman** · 2nd May 2014

The solution would be Office 365 Plan E1 which would give your client Office Web apps, Exchange Plan 1, SharePoint Plan 1 and Lync Plan 2.

You would utilise AD Federation services for single sign on and can configure for a hybrid on and off premise deployment, they would still need to purchase the licenses for the on premise versions of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync but wouldn't need the CAL's as the O365 subscription would cover that.

**evilsatan** · 2nd May 2014

Cheers mate, they already have hosted exchange etc. that has to be supplied by their head office so they purely need cloud backup so I assume Microsoft don't offer a standalone solution for this? It's not a problem if they don't but the other firm on the pre-approved list is very expensive but I expect simplicity will come before expense for these clients.

I just can't find specific information from Microsoft about cloud backup, they keep referring to it as 'simple file sharing' so I cannot see if it is suitable for my purposes. Having just installed OneDrive for Business as a trial I am asked for a sharepoint library so can't specify a directory to be backed up.

**liveseytowers** · 2nd May 2014

We are in the process for trailing it for users laptops as their backup solution. I'm not sure if its that great for teams, ie installed on a server to back up shared folders etc. Its not designed for that I think. When you install the client I think you have to do a sync and then specify what you want to sync? Its not as obvious as it should be. There isn't a MSI for OneDrive even though there was one for SKyDrive. Now they have a stupid online installer which is crap for rolling out at Enterprise level. We've had to get the MSI from the Office 2013 package instead.

**evilsatan** · 2nd May 2014

Thanks for the replies, don't think this will meet my requirements but handy info for the future. Real PITA is I have a perfect backup solution already rolled out but as the data servers are in the US it is causing compliance issues even though they have the UK-US safeharbour agreement in place. Too much red tape for me to understand and I have been asked to stick to the pre-approved so shall do so.

**Hangman** · 2nd May 2014

You can just get the office 365 SharePoint plan which potentially could be used to back up the data from the NAS.

Might be worth trialling that option.

**evilsatan** · 2nd May 2014

I think given the importance of the backups it may be a better idea to go with a solution specifically designed for cloud backup, I thought Microsoft would have one but it all seems to be a bit convoluted for what I need. Thanks for the help though, licences are a minefield so it helps to have guidance by someone who is obviously well versed to what's available!!