Protecting your business is critical to your Technology Strategy and your overall business goals. We offer practical advice onm how to this.
Are you feeling a renewed sense of energy now that we are apparently coming out of recession? Are you planning new and exciting growth strategies?
Tougher economic climates have lead to increases in online criminal activity, and even though you may be feeling more confident about your business, you may be suffering from system abuse. Are you protecting yourself, your data and your business?
We mentioned in a previous article about threats to your business could be:
- More malicious code was created last year than in the history of cyber security.
- 60% of all known internet threats were created in 2008.
- Spam equates to 78% of all emails sent.
- Virus’ are still a real issue, even with advances in anti-virus technology.
- Businesses are still exposed to legal proceedings due to a lack of protection of the workforce from inappropriate web and email content.
- Most threats come from inside the business.
- It is also often the case that the loss of staff results in the loss of company data, whether intended or not.
...All of these threats, coupled with the fact that many businesses are not effectively backing up their data or testing their backups, could lead to businesses at risk of significant if not permanent downtime.
So what is best practice in backing up your data, and ultimately your business? Here are some solutions (not all).
Tape Backups
Tapes are used and rotated daily according to the needs of the business. Your supplier can monitor the backups and confirm they are working. If there was a problem they would proactively fix this on a daily basis. We would also recommend that 2 people in your office are trained up to check the status of the jobs and also change backup tapes. Ideally tapes are stored offsite.
Bear in mind that just because you have a tape drive and it appears to have worked, you should regularly check the contents and hold "fire drills" to ensure that your data is recoverable in an emergency.
Online Backup
Software is installed on your server and data is copied over your data link at a specific time (normally night time) to a shared backup device online. A full back up is normally completed and then incremental or differential thereafter. If a disaster did occur and your server had to be rebuilt your server data would be squirted back onto the hardware. If a file was needed, you would call your supplier who would recover the file for you.
Bear in mind that if you needed an entire backup, and your internet connection was down, your supplier would need to move your backup onto a portable device and ship it to you... this will increase downrtime so check how long this would take and ensure it meets your expectations.
High Availability
This alternative is to replicate the server, similar to the online backup solution, however, as the server is replicated, the actual server is stored not on tape but as a virtual server. Your supplier could log onto the server and recover a file / folder in minutes. The system is also in a constant state of backup, i.e. as soon as a change is made on the server, it is replicated offline… therefore you will never lose data. If your server goes down, you would access your virtual server via the internet and continue working.
This tends to be the most expensive option of the 3 outlined, but as with a major well-known brand, you may consider the benefits of having a server with a copy of all of your files to be a "reassuringly expensive" option.
What's the Best Approach?
Our advice? There are various factors which should influence your decision – and your decision should be based on your business needs. Take this element of your business seriously and ensure that the people you delegate to, and your suppliers, understand the critical nature of this element.
Some factors to consider are:
- Specify exactly what needs backing up; data is obvious, what about exchange server data, SQL data, system state, router and firewall configurations etc...
- Do you have a copy of all the software available to you should the backup fail?
- Think about the long term objectives of your business - all solutions should be appropriate to your business' goals.
- Who will be managing this element? If you have no-one in-house to manage it, outsourcing to an online backup or high availability option may suit.
- Can your infrastructure or broadband link cope with your desired option?
- What is the overall cost of the solution, and does this equate to the need?
- How much time will you need to implement it (your time costs too!)
- What are the SLAs (service level agreements) of the suppliers you are using - do they match your expectations if you needed their help?
Protecting your business information will never be an exciting spend. Ensuring that your technology strategy effectively covers the backing up of your systems and data will ensure that it is not a stressful cost.
We have posted lots of practical tips on how to develop your technology strategy to protect and grow your business. Please see our FAQs and also see what we have done for our clients on our Case Studies and Testimonials pages.
We would love to hear from you if you are growing your business or simply want to make it more efficient, so please contact us.