There are a variety of different Backup solutions out there, some free some incredibly costly, some catering to local backups, some designed for offsite.
There are many things to consider when evaluating a back-up solution.
Most companies look to strike a balance between protecting their valuable Data from total loss, and planning how best to rapidly redeploy saved data in the event of a loss.
Each year the number and types of solutions that exist become more robust, with features that can truly help a company to all but eliminate downtime in the event of a catastrophic hardware failure, or to recreate a functional operating environment in the event of a natural disaster that affects the business.
Let's start with the simplest notion.
Should you be backing up your data? The answer: Absolutely, 100% yes! Even for the most basic of reasons a data backup is a failsafe in the event that you have a hardware failure.
For example, let's say that you run a database program in SQL that contains all of your business contacts, vendors, billing information, or any other business critical data.
In the event that you raid array or other systems fail, that data could be lost.
Info and contacts that took years to create could end up gone in just a matter of moments.
A backup plan allows you to ensure that even if the equipment fails, the data itself is still safe.
Local Backup - This is a methodology where on a regular basis data is automatically backed up to a local (often external or Tape backup media).
Local backups allow for the fastest restoring of the data to a new machine (if your server fails).
But local backups can be an issue if what caused the systems to fail was something like a fire or natural disaster.
Unless the backup media was stored in a separate and safe location it could be lost as well.
Online Backups - Online backups are a great tool for keeping data in a safe and remotely located storage system.
Online backups do tend to take more time to be completed; this can be impacted heavily based on the amount of the data being transferred and the internet connection speed.
Online backups are not subject to the same potential losses in the event of a disaster at the business location; however they do tend to take a little longer in the event of a necessary restore (depending on the size of the data backup).
Virtualization Options - A new and really intriguing option offered by some remote/online backup companies is a feature called Virtualization.
Though incredibly expensive, it can be a true lifesaver for those businesses that cannot have any downtime.
In essence they will allow you to use a virtualized machine to allow you access your data and continue business while your local computer asset is restored to working order.
No matter what solution you choose it is important that you choose some sort of backup strategy for your data, or face a cost to your organization that is many orders of magnitude higher than you might expect.
There are many things to consider when evaluating a back-up solution.
Most companies look to strike a balance between protecting their valuable Data from total loss, and planning how best to rapidly redeploy saved data in the event of a loss.
Each year the number and types of solutions that exist become more robust, with features that can truly help a company to all but eliminate downtime in the event of a catastrophic hardware failure, or to recreate a functional operating environment in the event of a natural disaster that affects the business.
Let's start with the simplest notion.
Should you be backing up your data? The answer: Absolutely, 100% yes! Even for the most basic of reasons a data backup is a failsafe in the event that you have a hardware failure.
For example, let's say that you run a database program in SQL that contains all of your business contacts, vendors, billing information, or any other business critical data.
In the event that you raid array or other systems fail, that data could be lost.
Info and contacts that took years to create could end up gone in just a matter of moments.
A backup plan allows you to ensure that even if the equipment fails, the data itself is still safe.
Local Backup - This is a methodology where on a regular basis data is automatically backed up to a local (often external or Tape backup media).
Local backups allow for the fastest restoring of the data to a new machine (if your server fails).
But local backups can be an issue if what caused the systems to fail was something like a fire or natural disaster.
Unless the backup media was stored in a separate and safe location it could be lost as well.
Online Backups - Online backups are a great tool for keeping data in a safe and remotely located storage system.
Online backups do tend to take more time to be completed; this can be impacted heavily based on the amount of the data being transferred and the internet connection speed.
Online backups are not subject to the same potential losses in the event of a disaster at the business location; however they do tend to take a little longer in the event of a necessary restore (depending on the size of the data backup).
Virtualization Options - A new and really intriguing option offered by some remote/online backup companies is a feature called Virtualization.
Though incredibly expensive, it can be a true lifesaver for those businesses that cannot have any downtime.
In essence they will allow you to use a virtualized machine to allow you access your data and continue business while your local computer asset is restored to working order.
No matter what solution you choose it is important that you choose some sort of backup strategy for your data, or face a cost to your organization that is many orders of magnitude higher than you might expect.
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