It’s imperative that you have a backup system in place for your IT systems. It isn’t a matter of If your server or computer will fail, but when.
Backup system requirements vary by customer, but at the very least your important files, folders, databases and financial software should be backed up. Many companies opt for a complete ‘bare metal’ backup. Basically this means the entire IT system is replicated in the backup, and can be reinstalled on new/replacement equipment in the event of failure.
CCS 2000 make the following backup system recommendations to all our clients. We understand that budgets and costs are a factor, which is why we have recommendations available to suit both client requirements and their budgets.
Recommendation No 1 – Local backup
Very simply this means ensuring you have a copy of your data copied on a separate disk to the one where it is stored. Usually this would mean creating a copy of data on your server. We can supply and install external hard drives that are very economic and which automatically backup data every 24 hours (or more frequently if required).
We recommend this approach over the tape-storage approach, since it is not dependent on a member of staff remembering to change the tape every day.
Recommendation No 2 – Cloud backup
Local backup is important and very useful for quickly restoring files that may have been inadvertently deleted etc. Where it falls-down is in the event of a disaster. This could be as simple as a power surge simultaneously destroying your server and backup drive, or it could be something more severe such as a fire. Either way, you lose both data and backup.
Cloud backup overcomes this problem by ensuring your data is also backed-up on a Cloud server. CCS 2000 provide a proven (read here how it fared in Hurricane Irma), cost-effective cloud backup and disaster recovery solution called Neovault – follow this link to read more about it.
For customers with slow internet connections, you can still have Neovault. We would conduct the initial upload of your data to Neovault from our premises (with fast Broadband) and thereafter the backups would be performed every night on your own internet connection. Because Neovault only needs the files that have changed, we find that even slow internet connections typically cope with it just fine.
Recommendation No 3 – Do 1 and 2!
You should have both a local and cloud backup solution in place. They each have their own strengths, and the combination provides a cost-effective belt-and-brace approach to backing up your systems.
Recommendation No 4 – the Ultimate
A second server, offsite, to effectively replicate your working server is the ultimate solution for backup. It is of course a considerably more expensive option than 1,2 and 3 above, however it is worthy of consideration for customers who routinely deal with larger quantities of data. CCS 2000 can recommend server solutions on request.
Whatever your budget, requirements and IT setup, backing up your IT systems is simply essential. Every business is dependent to a greater or lesser extent on their computer systems. Contact us today to get the peace-of-mind that a professionally setup and installed backup solution provides.