Backup and Recovery is an essential part of your data protection strategy. It protects your critical data from loss, corruption and disasters. By backing up your critical data you are ensuring that your business stays up and running. ABN can help you design, implement and monitor a solution that will meet your business needs.
What is Data Backup?
Protection of important data by making one or more duplicate (redundant) copies of the original at frequent intervals. These copies are stored at different (preferably including off-site) locations (either on other computers via internet or on storage media such as disk, tape, CDs) to minimize the chance of loss by accident, mistake, or sabotage.
Creating a Data Protection and Recovery Plan
Data backup is an insurance plan. Important files are accidentally deleted all the time. Mission-critical data can become corrupt. Natural disasters can leave your office in ruin. With a solid backup and recovery plan, you can recover from any of these. Without one, you’re left with nothing to fall back on. Fortunately there are many options available to protect your data from loss. By creating a data protection and recovery plan you can recover files that were accidentally deleted, corrupted or even from natural disasters.
Your data backup and recovery scenario can vary greatly depending on what data you need to protect. We can help you design a data protection and recovery plan that will protect your mission critical data.
Backup Types
There are many techniques for backing up files. The techniques you use will depend on the type of data you’re backing up, how convenient you want the recovery process to be, and more. A multi-tiered backup scenario using two or more backup solutions can give you piece of mind that you can recover data under almost any circumstance.
- Windows Server backup can be configured to run at scheduled times to backup your company data to external devices such as external hard drives or tape drives
- Client backup is a feature in Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials. Client backups are configured to run daily for each PC connected to the Essentials environment and allow you to restore individual files and folders, or even an entire PC, as you would do when replacing a faulty hard drive or upgrading from an older hard disk drive
- Versioning / File History allows you to go back to a previous version of files and folders
- Cloud-based backup services backs up your data securely offsite
- Third-Party Software there are quite a few companies that offer 3rd party software for local and remote backup scenarios. Some of the best will give you the ability to manage several different backup techniques from one product such as Symantec Backup Exec.
Backup Techniques
- data mirroring – Backup technique in which data is written simultaneously to two or more hard disks. In the event of a disk failure, the computer automatically switches access to the next disk, without loss of data or interrupting data processing. In some configurations, backup disks are maintained at a remote site (mirror site) for additional safety.
- database shadowing – Data backup technique in which an identical copy of a firm’s database is maintained on a local (onsite) and/or a remote (offsite) computer. The primary database and its shadow are so linked via cable, telephone line, or wireless that any change in the former is instantly reflected in the latter.
- differential backup – Method in which only the data changed or modified since the last backup is copied. Thus a full restore would require only two last copies.
- drive imaging – Programs like Norton’s Ghost allow you to make a complete mirror image of the hard drive partition; this imaging is like taking a picture of the information so all the data is saved in one big photo. This image includes the registry, settings, files and installed programs. It is a good method to protect against a complete hard drive failure, but it is time-consuming and difficult to restore single backed-up files from the large disk image.
- manual file copy – For small amounts of nonessential data, like personal correspondence, it may be easier for you to just copy the files daily or weekly to a small external drive or other source. This has the advantage of being very easy, but there is nothing guaranteeing the backup will be done other than a written note or your calendar. You should have a more secure method that you can schedule for important critical data.
- redundant array of independent disks (RAID) – Data backup scheme in which a single large (and expensive) hard disk is replaced by two or more smaller disks. Each of these disks (1) has a separate controller, (2) works independently of others, and can (3) automatically take over the functions of any failed disk. RAID may be implemented in any one of several techniques called Levels. Originally called Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks.
What is Disaster Recovery?
By creating a solid backup and recovery plan you can recover data that was lost due to a server crash or loss of equipment due to theft, fire or even a natural disaster.
Utilizing offsite storage of backup devices and/or cloud storage of critical data you can be back up and running as soon as possible.