Backup and disaster recovery solutions enable IT administrators to create copies of data that can be recovered from a primary data failure. These backups are a critical component of business continuity, allowing organizations to continue operating in the event of a data loss or natural disaster.
Many different methods exist for creating backups, including RAID, hard disk, optical, digital, and tape. However, these backups are typically insufficient for protecting businesses from a full catastrophe and should be used in conjunction with a more comprehensive disaster recovery plan. Creating a backup plan and testing it regularly can help mitigate the impact of a disaster on your organization.
As a result of the growing popularity of cloud-based software, hardware, and services, two “as-a-service” solutions have emerged to assist with backup and disaster recovery: backup as a service (BaaS) and disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS). BaaS offers managed backup as well as IT infrastructure, while DRaaS provides a virtualized recovery environment hosted by a third party. Both solutions offer a variety of storage options, including onsite and offsite backups, as well as cloud-focused options, for both physical and virtual environments.
Choosing the right backup and recovery solution for your business can be difficult, especially since no single tool is capable of meeting every organization’s needs. To narrow your choices, start by determining your recovery time objective and budget requirements. Additionally, consider how much future growth your organization may experience to determine if the solution can scale up with you.
For example, the onsite backup solution from Backups by IT includes a number of features to make it easier for MSPs and their clients to meet their RTO and budget goals. The tool includes storage, design, testing, monitoring, restoration assistance, failover, reporting, and more. Additionally, Backups by IT combines these services into a single backup and disaster recovery solution, which saves you the time and cost of managing multiple tools for one process.
The tool that best suits your organization will depend on the type of data you need to back up, how quickly you need to recover the data, and whether it is sensitive. For instance, a medical practice needs to comply with consumer privacy laws such as HIPAA and GLBA, so you will need a more robust solution than that of an accounting firm that does not.
When considering a solution, it is important to look for a provider that has been around for a while. This can give you confidence that they will be around to support you in the long term. Also, consider the quality of their documentation and how easy it is to find answers to common questions.
Some popular solutions to consider for your organization include Rubrik, IBM Spectrum Protect, and Datos IO. These vendors are known for their ability to backup both virtual and physical servers as well as workstations, Microsoft Office 365, and other applications. In addition, they offer a searchable catalog and role-based administration for ease of management. backup and disaster recovery solutions