NodeSquirrel | Modules Unraveled

136 Details on the NodeSquirrel Acquisition by Pantheon with Drew Gorton and Ronan Dowling - Modules Unraveled Podcast

Photo of Drew Gorton and Ronan Dowling

NodeSquirrel

  • What is NodeSquirrel?
    • Backup and Migrate (over 300,000 sites using it)
    • Only cloud backup-as-a-service for Drupal
    • Backup database and Files
    • Every site should have automatic off-site backups configured.
  • That leads great into the pantheon acquisition, because now everyone can create free off-site backups with NodeSquirrel.

Pantheon Acquisition

  • How did the aqcuisition come about?
    • Drew - BadCamp October 2014. Sitting at a Pantheon party, ended up talking to Zack about running a services firm and product at the same time. The excitement, issues etc. involved with that. And it happened.
  • Did you pitch it to him? Did he pitch it to you?
    • Me.
  • So, what’s in it for them? Why did Pantheon buy NodeSquirrel?
    • They want to build great tools that developers can love and trust and use.
  • What’s new now that it’s been acquired by Pantheon?
    • It’s FREE! (There’s a new free tier)
    • It’s not a trial. It’s always free.
    • It’s not just for Pantheon customers.
    • We have access to Pantheon’s resources to further the development and continue improving support.
    • It’s been a side project from the start, but now that it’s backed by a real product company, we’re officially here for the long-haul. So, if you’ve been holding off because you didn’t want to risk storing your backups with something that might not be there in a year, you can rest assured that we’ll be here.
    • (Ronan) Now I’m able to dedicate more time and effort to the Backup and Migrate module (instead of only using my free time), which helps the community as a whole.
  • What happens to current users?
    • Higher storage limits
    • Might even be able to downgrade and pay less.
    • Won’t lose any features. Still use local backup, etc. (except maybe email)
  • What’s in the future?
    • Drupal 8
    • Wordpress
    • More features for both Backup and Migrate and NodeSquirrel
    • Bringing Pantheon features to NodeSquirrel and NodeSquirrel features to Pantheon (Notes)