School backup server in Kenya

Protect learner records beyond the school office

Admission files, marks, fee records and e-learning content often sit on one office computer or a server in the bursar's cupboard. A storage server gives schools, colleges and universities an encrypted off-site copy that survives a burnt power supply, a theft or a lost laptop.

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Number of learners or students

1,200 learners

We suggest

Storage S1 KES 2,000/mo

About 1,500 learners at roughly 500 MB each is around 750 GB, inside the 1 TB disk. Fits most primary and secondary schools backing up records and staff files.

Order Storage S1

School data now lives on computers, not just in registers

A typical Kenyan secondary school now runs a school management system for admissions and fees, keeps marks in spreadsheets or an online portal, and stores competency-based assessment evidence such as project photos and portfolios. Colleges and universities add an e-learning platform such as Moodle, with lecture videos, assignments and quiz attempts for thousands of students.

Much of this sits on one machine. When the hard disk in the office PC fails during closing-day report forms, or a burglary takes the computer lab server over the holidays, schools discover that their only copy of years of records went with it. Re-entering marks from paper, where paper exists, takes weeks of staff time.

A storage plan is the off-site copy. Each night, encrypted backups of the management system database, the Moodle data directory and shared staff folders travel to a server outside the compound. If something goes wrong, the ICT teacher or your IT provider restores from there. Because the records concern children and young people, the setup has to be careful: encrypted, restricted to named staff, and kept only as long as needed.

The problem

What goes wrong with school data

Holiday break-ins

Computer labs and offices are targets when schools close. Losing the machine that holds admission records, fee balances and marks means losing far more than hardware, especially at the start of a new term.

Power surges and old hardware

Outages and surges, often on donated or ageing computers, damage disks without warning. A nightly off-site backup turns a dead office PC into a replacement purchase rather than a records crisis.

E-learning content keeps growing

Recorded lessons, uploaded assignments and course files make a Moodle data directory grow every semester. A local server runs out of space, and course backups are the first thing to be switched off.

Shared passwords, unclear access

A single admin login known to several staff, plus marks shared on flash disks, makes it impossible to say who saw or changed a learner's record. Children's data deserves tighter control than that.

What runs on it

Software schools run on a storage server

You get full root access, so your ICT team or provider installs what fits. These tools are widely used in education.

Moodle backups

Moodle needs three things backed up together: the database, the moodledata directory and the code. Copy all three nightly to the server, and keep automated course backups there as a second line of protection.

Nextcloud

A private file platform for staff: schemes of work, timetables and departmental folders, with desktop sync and per-group permissions. Students' personal files can stay out of it entirely.

BorgBackup

Encrypts and deduplicates backups of the school management system database and file shares. Unchanged files are not re-sent, so nightly backups stay small even on a modest school internet line.

rclone

Copies exam archives, scanned registers and media folders to the server over SFTP, and can encrypt them before upload. It resumes after interruptions and can be limited to run outside lesson hours.

Sizing

Sizing by number of learners

Set the slider to your enrolment. We assume about 500 MB per learner across records, assessment evidence, Moodle files and backup history, and leave roughly 25% of the disk free.

100–1,500 learners Storage S1 About 1,500 learners at roughly 500 MB each is around 750 GB, inside the 1 TB disk. Fits most primary and secondary schools backing up records and staff files.
1,600–6,000 learners Storage S2 Up to 6,000 learners is about 3 TB of 4 TB. Suits a large national school or a TVET college running Moodle with recorded lessons.
6,100–12,000 learners Storage S3 Around 12,000 students comes to about 6 TB of 8 TB, a fit for a mid-sized college keeping several years of course backups and exam archives.
12,100–18,000 learners Storage S4 About 18,000 students uses roughly 9 TB of 12 TB, leaving space for growth in video-heavy courses and longer backup retention.
18,100+ learners Storage S5 Up to about 25,000 students fits 16 TB with headroom. Universities larger than that usually split e-learning and records across separate servers.

This is an estimate: institutions that store recorded video lectures or CCTV footage need far more per learner, while a school backing up records and documents only needs much less.

Storage S1

KES 2,000/mo

1 core
2 GB RAM
1 TB SATA storage
2 TB transfer

Order S1

Storage S2

KES 5,000/mo

2 cores
8 GB RAM
4 TB SATA storage
8 TB transfer

Order S2

Storage S3

KES 7,000/mo

4 cores
16 GB RAM
8 TB SATA storage
16 TB transfer

Order S3

Storage S4

KES 15,000/mo

6 cores
24 GB RAM
12 TB SATA storage
24 TB transfer

Order S4

Storage S5

KES 20,000/mo

8 cores
32 GB RAM
16 TB SATA storage
32 TB transfer

Order S5

Before you go live

Setting up school backups responsibly

0 of 8 done. Tick them off as you go.

List what must be backed up: management system database, Moodle database and moodledata, staff shared folders and exam archives.
Encrypt every backup before it leaves the school and keep the passphrase with the principal and the ICT lead, not just one person.
Schedule backups at night or over weekends so they do not compete with lessons for internet bandwidth.
Give each staff member their own login and limit records access to those who need it, such as the deputy, bursar and class teachers.
Keep a written retention plan for learner records and delete backups of former learners when they are no longer needed.
Restore the management system database to a test machine at least once a term and check that marks and fee balances match.
Allow only SSH and HTTPS through the server firewall and use SSH keys, not passwords.
Keep CCTV separate from learner records, with its own shorter retention period.

Built for Kenya

For Kenyan schools and colleges

Children's data has extra rules

Section 33 of the Data Protection Act, 2019 sets conditions for processing children's personal data, including parental or guardian consent and acting in the child's best interests. Keep learner records encrypted, limit access to named staff, and check the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner's guidance.

Term-based budgeting

Plans are billed monthly in Kenya shillings and paid by M-Pesa or card, which fits school budgets better than a large one-off hardware purchase made at the start of the year. Start small and move up when e-learning or enrolment grows.

Campus CCTV, kept apart

Many campuses record CCTV around dormitories, gates and labs. Footage takes far more space than records and should have its own short retention period. If you need it, put it on a separate plan or see our CCTV storage page.

Questions

Schools & colleges: your questions, answered

What exactly should a school back up?

At minimum: the school management system database, marks and report-form files, admission records, fee records and staff shared documents. If you run Moodle or another e-learning platform, add its database and data directory. Exam papers and marking schemes belong in a restricted folder with fewer people able to open it.

Do we need parental consent to back up learner records?

The Data Protection Act, 2019 requires parental or guardian consent and a best-interests test for processing children's data. Schools usually address this at admission. Backups are part of keeping the records you already hold, but your data protection policy should mention them. Seek legal advice for your specific situation.

How do I back up Moodle properly?

Back up the database, the moodledata directory and the Moodle code at the same time, ideally with the site in maintenance mode or during a quiet window. Copy all three to the server with BorgBackup or rclone. Course backups alone do not capture the whole site.

Our school internet is slow. Will backups work?

Usually yes, after the first copy. Check your upload speed, then let the initial backup run over a weekend or holiday. After that, deduplicating tools such as BorgBackup send only what changed each night, which for records and documents is often small.

Can students and parents access files on the server?

You can set that up with Nextcloud or your e-learning platform, but keep it separate from the backup area. Backups of learner records should be accessible only to named staff. Mixing public sharing with sensitive records on the same accounts is a common way data leaks.

Will HostingKE set up the backups for our school?

No. The storage plan is a server you control with full root access. Your ICT teacher or IT provider installs and schedules the backup tools. We provide the server, capacity and network connection, and the school keeps control of its records and encryption keys.

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