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Automated offsite backup is a good alternative to tape backup if you are looking for a hands-free option. But there are certain practical considerations which will lead to either adopting or discarding this solution as an appropriate backup method for your business.

Large amounts of data

There is no hard and fast rule to the practical limit of how much data can be secured using offsite backup. But here are the issues that need to be considered to make the judgement.

1. Is your Internet connection fast enough?
   If you have more data to backup on a nightly basis than can be reasonably transferred using your connection, you may need to consider either upgrading the connection or using another backup method. Data transfer speed calculator.
   
   
2. How quickly do you need your data back if the worst happens?
   If recovering your data via the Internet is not fast enough, find an offsite backup company that will provide data recovery by delivery of an encrypted hard disk. Also consider the length of time it will take after delivery to transfer the data from the hard disk back onto your computers.

DataFort’s recommendation

If the volume of data you have to secure makes offsite backup seem inappropriate, contact us to discuss our service options that include local data backup coupled with data centre backup. These greatly increase the amount of data that can be accurately secured and therefore recovered. And also makes recoveries of even large amounts of data quick enough, because the local backup is used as a recovery resource for everything except disaster recovery.

Is Exchange Server part of your recovery requirement?

Exchange Server is a complex system with several important elements that all need to be secured to protect your business. Emails and other information is stored in a database (datastore), the Exchange Server software would be needed to recover a working copy if the production machine failed or was stolen, and the customized information (or active directory) that controls email distribution, security and mailbox access is just as important to running the Exchange Server.
Datastores are not as small as normal databases and also grow in size as the number of emails and attachments included in them increase. To get the datastore offsite in a timely fashion, the backup software will create incremental files that include just the changes to the datastore in their daily data transfers. When recovering a datastore that is more than a few weeks old, there can be extensive delays waiting for the recovery first of the initial full backup, then the daily incrementals to get the Exchange Server datastore back to its current position.
The previous example just provides protection from a situation where the datastore is corrupted, but what is the process for recovering a complete Exchange Server if a computer fails or you find yourself in a disaster recovery situation? In this case you must first have a way of recovering the Exchange Server software and then rebuilding the active directory which is needed before the Exchange Server will work. Pre-planning will help, but the time needed to recover all 3 critical elements must be taken into account when considering offsite backup for your data protection strategy.

DataFort’s recommendation

We do not recommend data only offsite backup for Exchange Server precisely because of the aforementioned issues. For companies where Exchange Server is critical to business operations, we recommend a high availability strategy. Or for situations where companies can consider Cloud backup, data centre hosting of Exchange Server may present the most rational solution to protection of this very critical business resource.

Contact sales for a consultation to find which services we offer will best suit the needs of your company.

Recovery of active databases

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Software that provides a constantly updated stream of information or allows users to input information continuously are run from active databases. Because each change to the database is important, backup of an active database that is more than a few hours or even a few minutes old in certain cases can be useless. Consider a database that runs a billing system where each entry represents a chargeable event. The loss of any information equates directly to loss of income. It also can create legal problems if customers then query events that have not been logged accurately.
Most backup services secure data once on a nightly basis so unless the backup service you are considering specifically states that if provides Continuous Data Protection (CDP) you will not be adequately protecting your information.

DataFort’s recommendation

If a database is critical to the execution of business DataFort provides alternatives that may be appropriate for your company. Call us or register for a free security audit and we’ll do an analysis of the best options to secure the database and protect your company.

Phone: 01483 872052