Patent ID: 8271443

Claim:
A system comprising: a client computer system; a privately accessible primary backup server computer system accessible to the client computer system via a virtual private network (VPN); and an alternate backup server computer system accessible to the client computer system via the Internet; wherein the client computer system is configured to: backup the first set of data to the alternate backup server computer system at a particular time via the Internet in response to determining that the client computer system is not connected to the VPN at the particular time; and in response to determining that the client computer system is connected to the VPN at a subsequent time after the particular time, notify the primary backup server computer system via the VPN that the first set of data was backed up to the alternate backup server computer system, wherein in said notifying the primary backup server computer system, the client computer system is configured to transmit identification information identifying the first set of data to the primary backup server computer system; and wherein the primary backup server computer system is configured to: receive the notification from the client computer system, wherein receiving the notification includes receiving the identification information; and transmit the identification information to the alternate backup server computer system to initiate transfer of the first set of data from the alternate backup server computer system to the primary backup server computer system; and wherein the alternate backup server computer system is configured to: access the first set of data using the identification information in response to receiving the identification information from the primary backup server computer system; and communicate with the primary backup server computer system to transfer the first set of data from the alternate backup server computer system to the primary backup server computer system.