On Premise Backup Solutions - Backup

We The IT Team - On Premise Backup Solution

Backup solution for small business Concerned about ransomware? concerned that you don't have sufficient back ups? you need a backup solution for your small business! Did you know that 25 percent of companies are unable to reopen after a major disaster? And in a modern hyper-connected world, a data loss qualifies a major disaster. The basic rule for business data protection is that if losing the data will interfere with doing business, back it up. Desktop software programs can be reinstalled if required, but recovering the details of transactions or business correspondence is impossible if those files are lost or damaged beyond repair. What is a Backup? In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. What is the Backup Strategy? A backup strategy, along with a disaster recovery plan, constitute the all-encompassing business continuity plan which is the blueprint for an organization to withstand a cyberattack and recover with zero-to-minimal damage to the business, reputation, and data. What is the purpose of a Backup? The purpose of the backup is to create a copy of data that can be recovered in the event of a primary data failure. Primary data failures can be the result of hardware or software failure, data corruption, or a human-caused event, such as a malicious attack (virus or malware), or accidental deletion of data. What are the 3 types of Backup? Full Backup As the name suggests, this refers to the process of copying everything that is considered important and that must not be lost. This type of backup is the first copy and generally the most reliable copy, as it can normally be made without any need for additional tools. Incremental Backup This process requires much more care to be taken over the different phases of the backup, as it involves making copies of the files by taking into account the changes made in them since the previous backup. For example, imagine you have done a full backup. Once you’ve finished, you decide that going forward you will do incremental backups, and you then create two new files. The incremental backup will detect that all the files in the full backup remain the same, and will only make backup copies of the two newly created files. As such, the incremental backup saves time and space, as there will always be fewer files to be backed up than if you were to do a full backup. We recommend that you do not try to employ this type of backup strategy using manual means. Differential backup A differential backup has the same basic structure as an incremental backup—in other words, it involves making copies only of new files or of files that underwent some kind of change. However, with this backup model, all the files created since the original full backup will always be copied again. For the same reasons as with incremental backups, we recommend that differential backups are also not carried out manually. Six ways to Backup your Data USB stick. Small, cheap and convenient, USB sticks are everywhere, and their portability means that they're easy to store safely, but also pretty easy to lose External hard drive Time Machine Network Attached Storage Cloud Storage Printing Which Backup is Best? If you're performing cloud backup, incremental backups are generally a better fit because they consume fewer resources. You might start out with a full backup in the cloud and then shift to incremental backups. Mirror backup, though, is typically more of an on-premises approach and often involves disks. How may backups should you have? The backup rule of three is a useful concept that helps with business data backup. It came to prominence as a result of photographer Peter Krogh, who used the rule to keep his photography safe. Many people consider the backup rule of three to be best practice despite its roots in photography. The concept reminds businesses how many backup files to keep and where to store them. The backup rule of three dictates that you should; Have at least three copies of your data Store the copies on at least two different media types Keep at least one of those copies offsite Three copies of data. Including your live environment, you should have at least three copies of your data in total. This means that in the event of a disaster you will always have additional versions. We’d recommend creating backup copies at least once every day. However, the more copies you can practically make, the better. Two media types. To protect against hardware failure, you should use at least two different media types. A few means of doing this include tape drives, hard drives or the cloud. It is best to ensure that you use both internal storage and a removable (or offsite) alternative. There shouldn’t be an association between the two. Therefore, should one fail, the other will be usable. One offsite copy. Keep one copy of your data offsite. Keep that copy separate from the rest of your data. This is to protect against the worst of disasters. For example, flooding may damage your entire business premises, rendering your onsite data storage inaccessible and irreparable. The backup rule of three and the cloud. The backup rule of three can be difficult to adhere to, whilst ensuring best practice. For example, removable hard drives offer an alternative media type that you can take offsite. However, it is easy to damage or lose removable hard drives. Cloud-based backup solutions can assist in these instances. These services provide a reliable, alternative media type to local storage. The cloud utilises offsite data centres, which won’t fail because of an issue within your business. This makes data centres more reliable than other methods of keeping data secure. If you want to adhere to the backup rule of three, the cloud is an effective means of doing so. How do I backup my small business data? Backup Critical Business Data There are two steps to successful data backup; Identifying the critical data that needs to be backed up Implementing backups of the data on a regular schedule What needs to be in a data backup? All of the files that you’ve created and/or modified should be regularly backed up. For many businesses, this includes everything from accounting files through to email. More and more business applications are available through the cloud. However, if you are using desktop (non-browser) applications, these can be reinstalled from media or downloaded, so don’t need to be backed up. Cloud Storage Using online backup services makes backing up your data easy - which is just one of the reasons cloud computing is ideal for small businesses. But cloud services can still be vulnerable to data loss via hacking or employee sabotage. It is not a bad idea to take occasional local backups of cloud data. Local Data Backups If you save your data locally (e.g. you are not using cloud storage) you can simplify your backups by keeping all the files that will need to be archived on a single drive on your computer. For instance, suppose you need to back up accounting files, word-processing documents, spreadsheets, photos, and email. Putting Simply Accounting, Microsoft Office (including Outlook) and Paintshop Pro all on a separate drive or under a separate folder makes it easier to archive all the files you've created or modified using those programs. All you have to do is back up the drive or folder. Once you've selected the critical data to be archived, it's a simple matter to install and use a backup software program to archive your business data on a regular schedule. Backing up your data nightly is recommended. There are many backup software programs available that allow you to set a schedule that will automatically backup your data. Backup software that also zips and encrypts files saves disk space and increases data security. Only keep your data backups on-site if they are stored in a fire-proof, indestructible safe. Investing in a tape drive or external hard drive and meticulously adhering to a regular data backup schedule won't help if all your data backup copies are in one place and that place is struck by disaster. To be truly secure your backups should be stored off-site. (Cloud backup does not totally eliminate this concern but is certainly better than many physical locations.) What should be included in a backup policy? A backup policy sets forth the importance of data and system backups, defines the ground rules for planning, executing and validating backups and includes specific activities to ensure that critical data is backed up to secure storage media located in a secure location. This ensures that information from business applications such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL, email server databases and user files is copied to disk and/or tape to ensure data recoverability in the event of accidental data deletion, corrupted information or a system disruption. The policy's default protection scheme ensures the recoverability of servers, network components and other infrastructure devices, as well as critical applications, databases and important files. For example, a default backup policy for all application data might be a nightly backup to tape from Monday through Friday. In this case, one set of tapes is kept on site to facilitate local recovery and a second, duplicated set is sent off site for storage in a secure location. Critical business data might be further protected by policies that specify more dynamic backup activities. These might specify that, in addition to nightly tape backups, point-in-time snapshots of data should be taken and replicated at frequent intervals during the business day to provide rapid, granular data and application recoverability. This is essential for disaster recovery, business continuity and information security. Backup policies should also include the recovery point objective (RPO) metric that defines how long data should be stored -- e.g., aged -- before it must be backed up again. RPO values -- usually a time frame such as seconds or minutes -- are defined by business system and data owners and might be reviewed and approved by senior management. The shorter the time backed-up data is stored before it's needed for a recovery situation, the greater the cost of backup and storage. For example, a very short RPO, such as 10 to 30 seconds, means that mission-critical data -- and computer systems, VMs and other resources -- must be frequently backed up, most often in real time. This means technologies such as data mirroring and/or replication, suitable storage resources and high-speed low-latency network resources must be used to achieve RPO goals. In general, a backup policy baseline process specifies capturing an initial full backup of data onto disk and/or tape, followed by a series of intervening incremental or differential daily backups. Regardless of which method is used, at a minimum, two backup copies should be maintained: one to enable on-site recovery and a second copy for vaulting to a secure off-site facility. That way, if the data center were destroyed by a flood, fire or some other disaster, the off-site copies become the recovery resources for returning to business as usual. Back It Up or Risk Losing It Don't run the risk of losing your business data. The best defense against such a disaster is proper data protection. By creating a backup system that includes archiving and backing up your business data regularly and properly, you'll ensure that your business will be able to weather whatever storm it faces and carry on. Remember - you can never have too many data backups! Conclusion If you have some concerns or need some assistance with your backup solution for small business, please give us a call today and we can help you from suffering a disaster at your small business.

Keeping your business data backed up is one of the most important parts of any business continuity plan. Data loss means downtime, costs recreating lost files, and for some companies, it can mean the end of their business if they don’t have a file backup as a safeguard. Using a backup solution should be common practice for all business’ data, but is cloud or on-premise backup solutions right for your business?

60% of small businesses have to close their doors within 6 months of a data loss incident, and 58% of them aren’t properly prepared to restore data after a loss.

Whether you self-manage your backups or use managed IT services to take care of it for you, it’s something that’s vital to the health and well being of your company and vital to have done properly.

Some companies think they’re safe, but when they go to retrieve their backup after catastrophic data loss, they realize it’s not all there or has been damaged. It could be a website server that gets hit with malware, but since the backup is also on that server, it’s infected too.

Or you could suffer one of these common backup mistakes:

Backups stalling and never being checked
Backups running out of space
A hardware or software conflict that causes data not to be saved
An employee accidentally turning off their device backup
Only backing up on-premise then suffering physical damage to your office

What’s the best way to manage your computer and server backups? There are typically two main options, on-premise or cloud backup. Which one is better?

Actually both, and we’ll tell you why and give you a few software options to consider.

Why You Need Both an On-Premise and Cloud Backup

It’s not unusual for a company to feel that one backup is good enough. But that’s not the case in today’s world, were nearly all a company’s files are digital and data loss can be devastating.

With a 77% increase in the first half of 2020. It’s become a climate of not if a cyberattack or data loss incident will occur, but when.

Using both an on-premise and cloud-based backup ensure you have your business covered no matter what.

An on-premise backup helps you in the case of:

Needing data recovery but don’t have an internet connection to reach a cloud backup
In case of an outage or server crash at your cloud backup service provider

A cloud backup helps you in the case of:

A fire, flood, or other natural disaster damages your office and contents
Malware that infects your network, including your local server and its backup contents

Backup Options to Cover All Your Needs

When looking for local and remote cloud backup solutions, here are some considerations.

Local, On-Premise Backups

There are two main options when backing up locally, tape or disk.

LTO (Linear Tape-Open) is an open-format tape storage. This offers high capacity for lots of data, which makes it popular for daily backups and backups requiring retention of lots of long-term data.

Some of the benefits of LTO include:

Can store up to 30TB of data on a single tape
One of the least expensive options for long-term data storage
Less prone to breakdowns or moving parts issues
When properly cared for, tapes can last up to 30 years.

NAS (Network-Attached Storage) is a disk, rather than tape-based. It includes one or more servers with dedicated disks that are physically connected on-premise to your devices. The scalability and “always-on” nature make it a popular option for onsite data backups.

Some of the benefits of NAS include:

Faster file recovery
Deduplication, which allows you to remove duplicate data to free up space
Easy for small businesses to work with
Can add storage space to a local computer, boosting efficiency

Hybrid Platforms Offering Both On-Premise Backup & Cloud Backup Options

Cloud backups are often using a similar disk-based system, only the server is in their data centre, rather than your office, keeping it safely off-premise in case there’s any physical damage at your office or even an extended power outage.

There are multiple cloud backup services to choose from, here are two good ones that give you the option to use them locally or in the cloud.

Put a Backup System in Place that Has Your Back

Don’t leave your backup plan on the back burner, then get caught with major data loss when an unexpected event occurs. We The IT Team can set up a solid backup strategy for you that includes local and cloud options to ensure your data is completely backed up and instantly recoverable no matter what.