3. Review Backup Options
There are several options for you to consider to backup your company data. Until just a few years ago, your options were fairly limited and most firms implemented a tape backup solution. This involved purchasing costly tapes, backup up your data nightly, then sending tapes off-site for best data protection practice.
Nowadays, with Internet connectivity speeds so high and data storage costs plummeting, you can acquire an online backup solution for a fraction of the cost a tape backup strategy required.
Tape Backup Systems
Tape is the oldest backup method we’re going to review and one of the most frequently used in larger enterprises. Companies use tape because it holds a lot of data and lasts for a good period of time. Unfortunately, the data storage capacity of tape is limited, so tape devices can take a lot of tapes and a long time to backup.
It’s also a very expensive backup solution. In January, 2011, an 800GB uncompressed Quantum SuperLoader 3 drive will set you back $3,800 and each 800GB tape is $30. When you start crafting a backup strategy with daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly backups being retained, it can cost you several thousand dollars to get a backup solution in place.
Tape is relatively slow. It will likely take several hours to backup your data.
Disk-Based Backups
Another option for backing up your company’s data is to use disk-based backups. In this solution, you use a series of hard drives which mirror your current environment. This can be an expensive solution, but one which offers a very fast recovery time. If the hard drives crash, you simply replace the bad ones with the mirrored drives. If the entire environment crashes, you have a set of drives which offer fast turnaround on recovering the environment. This can also be a very expensive solution, you will need several sets of drives to implement a backup strategy which involves all of the redundant levels of backups you require.
We worked with a financial services firm which used this strategy and even ran real-time mirroring throughout the day and had drives moved off-site twice per day. The company needed very fast recovery in case of a crash and they didn’t mind spending money to invest in a fast backup environment.
DVD/BluRay Backup Solutions
Some small businesses and home based businesses have moved to a DVD or Blu-ray backup solution. This combines good sized storage discs – up to 50GB on dual sided Blu-ray – and an easy to use solution. As with any solution, discs burned should be moved off-site. Blu-ray and DVDs do not have an infinite shelf life and should be assumed to only last a few years. If you have a lot of data, this can be a very slow process and many firms use it for incremental backups – backing up only data that has changed.
Off-site, Internet Based Online Backups
Online backups have come a long way with cheap high speed Internet connections and very cheap cloud based disk storage solutions. There are a number of online backup services ranging from those meant for home computer system backups to those offering custom enterprise-level service. The benefit to this type of service is you can backup each of your computers to it for a fairly cheap amount. The downside to online backups is their recovery procedures are often cumbersome. The ones we use have a web based interface (and many times a file based interface on the system as well) which allows you to recovery individual files or sets of files, but it often takes hours to recover data. If we need to recover an entire system, we pay for DVDs or a USB hard drive to be created and shipped – sometimes running into several hundred dollars.
You also don’t get to select long term backup strategies – there is no option to keep a yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily backups. Some services offer file versioning, i.e. keep 10 copies of this file, but you cannot specify point in time snapshots of data to retain.
4. Implement the Backup Solution
Now that you’ve reviewed the options, it’s time to decide on a solution – or a couple of solutions – and then implement it. This may require the use of outside professionals depending on the complexity of the solution. If you’re simply installing online backup software, it’s probably something you can handle. If you’re implementing a tape backup solution, we’d hire professional help. The money you spend will pay for itself in the headaches which complex solutions can bring.
- Create a list of everything that needs to be backed up. This checklist will be used when configuring the backup solution to ensure all of your data is secure.
- Don’t forget databases and email. Some backup solutions require separate modules to backup databases or email systems. These systems are “always connected,” so a special piece of software has to create a shadow copy of the data to back it up.
- Make sure remote systems are on the list. Is your web server backed up on a regular basis? If you’re paying for a hosted solution, make sure backups are part of the deal. If they aren’t available, find a web host that offers regular backups.
- Back up crucial system states. What happens if a server crashes? If you’re just backing up data and not the state of the system, recovering might be a nightmare. For crucial systems, we recommend backing up the entire system so you can recovery the full system if a crash occurs.
A backup strategy isn’t worth anything if it’s not actually implemented correctly, so once you implement the solution, ensure it is actually working.
5. Test File Recovery
Now that you’ve implemented a backup solution, you need to test file recovery to ensure it works. Testing the backup solution is required to ensure that it functions correctly and that its capturing all of the files you require.
- Check to see if the solution is backing up all of the data you require. Review the backup media or online file storage to see that all of the storage devices and paths you setup are in fact being backed up.
- Run test restores. Restore different types of data from different machines and check the files to ensure they are not corrupt.
- Restore crucial database or email. You can setup a virtual server to run a test restore of a database or your email system to ensure a successful system recovery.
- If in doubt, test it. If you’re in doubt of any piece in the chain of backups, run a test restore to ensure the data is in tact.
Testing is so important, yet so few companies actually do it. Your backup strategy is never complete without a successful restore test, and then continuing to test the solution you have in place.
6. Set Testing Dates
Pull up your calendar. Your job isn’t finished yet! Set a date, at least quarterly, to test your backup solution. This involves checking to ensure all of the required data is being backed up (sometimes systems change) and then test restoring different files and systems to ensure the backups work properly. You will repeat step 5 every quarter to ensure your backup solution works.
7. Review Your Plan Annually
Since you have your calendar open, set a date a year from now to review your data backup plan. Repeat these steps to ensure the backup solution still meets your requirements, that your current data is all being backed up, and that your data restoration procedures work. This is an opportunity to check the entire data backup process for any holes and patch them before a disaster occurs.
Data backup does not have to be a painful process and can be a great investment as insurance against data loss.
