Things to know before implementing an off-site backup solution
Having Offsite Backup for your business is just as important as having a backups on premise. A bunch of things you would look into when deciding to have this feature setup in your business.
It goes without saying, your business should already have an on premise backup running, but if something were to happen where the primary backup was damaged, and then all of your information would be lost. Veeam and StoreGrid (Vembu) are two types of backup software that you may want to consider when deciding on an offsite backup solution. They both are robust and offer an easy to use interface. The next step is to determine where the backup will be stored, picking a company that will proved you with the architecture to house your sensitive information. There are number of offsite backup providers in Toronto so be ready to do some investigation to ensure that your data will remain secure and confidential. The sensitivity of the information will also play a part in where it can be stores. Confidential information like medical records, legal records may have compliance restrictions preventing the data from leaving Canada. These are some of the things you will need to take into consideration when looking to have off-site backups.
Picking a suitable backup application
A typical office network will have on average at least two servers. The first would be the Domain Controller, running Active Directory, the other can be an email server, file server, database or an app server etc. The local backup will likely be run off the file server as this will be the central hub containing crucial data. If you have a virtual server, Veeam will likely be the best choice, if your servers are not virtualized then StoreGrid (Vembu). The setup of an Offsite Backup solution will be very similar to the way the local backup are configured. The only difference will probably be how often the offsite back runs. Typically it is done at night to prevent any slowdowns within your network. When setting up a backup offsite, a seed (data copy) is first taken from your location using a shuttle drive. This is then taken to the secure data centre offsite. The initial seed is done to prevent any bottle necks moving all the data initially offsite. The connection between client and backup server is then established and typically only the changes made are backed up this maximizes the offsite storage.
The Size of Backup
The size of your backups are the main factor in the monthly cost of your Offsite Backup Solution. . Depending on your company’s data retention policy, backups can be configured to meet your needs. The more recovery points you have the more data storage. Best practice is to have at least seven days of backups, this allows to have multiple points to recover from in case a file is corrupted or in cases of viruses.
Network Connectivity
The first step in moving data offsite is to ensure that there is a high enough bandwidth throughput. For day to day business needs, upload speeds should be at least 1Mbps. This is for a typical work environment which mainly deal with average size files. To ensure your data integrity is kept, a stable internet connection is needed. If your network speed is below the minimum requirements, this being 1Mbps upload. You may find that the backups take a lot longer than what is expected, this may cause unsuccessful backups.
Secure Offsite Location
Data Centres are typically secure buildings that are designed to withstand a combination of issues, such as power failure, fire, and natural disasters like floods. These locations have redundancy systems setup in the unlikely event any of the mentioned incidents were to occur. The offsite data should be monitored to ensure the backups are running successful. In summation when choosing a third party company in supporting you with offsite backup services it’s always a good idea to go with one that is a Microsoft certified partner, as well as partners with Veeam and StoreGrid, this ensures that your data backups are monitored and managed by professionals.
Written by:
Martin Rumisha
System Architects Inc.