Six steps in evaluating your Backup and Recovery needs.
If you have realised that traditional offsite backup (such as tape) no longer meets the requirements of your ever growing volume of data , then you will be looking to evaluate some cloud backup and recovery providers to ensure you can access your data quickly and efficiently if ever there is a problem. As Datanet continues to roll out its backup and recovery services, here are some important things to bear in mind as you evaluate your backup and recovery needs
- Compatibility: Take stock of your data and how and where it’s stored at present. Do you already
have in-house backup? One of Datanet’s Backup and Recovery as a Service (BRaaS) products, for example, is offered in partnership with Veeam which enables secure backup of virtualised applications and data via Veeam cloud connect. - Ease of use – at all stages: Is the proposed backup solution intuitive, making it simple for all users to identify what needs to be backed up and when? What happens when recovery is required – in other words, how quickly and easily can you retrieve lost data? Don’t settle for a ballpark figure: you need to know what the RTO ( Recovery Time Objective) which is the amount of time it will take to recover your data after it has been lost and the RPO ( Recovery Point Objective) which is the frequency of backups or in real terms the point when the last backup was taken. These are two specific parameters expressed as hours or days that a business can be without service and not incur significant losses.
- Reporting: Ask to see sample reports. Having a backup and recovery strategy itself will not give you peace of mind. It’s more important to know you will be able to identify and address problems early. Expect to see a daily report listing files backed up, with file sizes, transfer times and error messages, for example. Is it comprehensible? Check how you will be notified of errors – will it be just through this report, or can you expect an email notification if something goes wrong?
- Support levels: Each backup solution has its own specific requirements. You’ll want a skilled professional to analyse your needs and tailor the service to your business. Once your backup and recovery solution is defined you may want some professional services to help in the initial setup phase of your solution. If the worst does happen, it will inevitably happen when you’re least expecting it. You’ll want to be able to get up and running as soon as possible, so business disruption is kept to a minimum. Check what support is available and work with your backup and recovery provider to ensure that your Business Continuity Plan is a viable one.
- Scalability. You may only need to back up a small amount today, perhaps a few hundred GigaBytes (GB’s), however, data volumes are increasing by the day and it could well be several TeraBytes (TB’s) before long so choose a service provider that is scalable and will be able to match your storage needs as you grow.
- Secure: Last, but by no means least, comes security. Who has access to your data and when? You should expect as a minimum that files are encrypted before they leave your site. You will also want to know where your backup data is stored and what level of protection is in place to insure against catastrophe at their end?
Datanet – The UK’s number one provider of backup, disaster recovery and business continuity.
Datanet’s Backup and Recovery services even extend to lending you a desk and lines of communication in our own office if yours is out of action. Why not call us to discuss your requirements today and let Datanet be part of your Business Continuity Plan. Remember it’s not about backup it’s about RECOVERY. Call us on 01252 810010
