Best Practices for Data Backup
Multi-Layered Approach
Adequate data backup is the foundation
for a proper business recovery plan. Because the cost of
per/gigabyte storage has dramatically decreased in the past few
years, there is no justifiable reason for not having redundant
backup solutions. As an example: you can purchase a one terabyte
external hard drive for less than $100.00 and a cloud backup
solution costs less that $3.00/gigabyte per month.
Business Continuity experts agree that
you should adopt a multi-layered approach and create redundant
backups of your critical data. AIMS recommends that you follow this
best practice advice to protect your business. At a minimum, we
believe you should create local backups of your data and also have a
cloud backup solution to protect you in the event you experience a
major regional outage or disaster.
Redundant backup solutions can
increase your ability to recover quickly, depending on the type of
outage/disaster you experience. If your local server or hard drive
crashes, and you have local backups readily available, the
restoration process probably takes less time than retrieving data
from a cloud backup provider. However, if you experience a regional
outage, the tapes you stored locally offsite, often at an employee’s
home, may not be available. Having a cloud data backup solution
eliminates the impact that an area wide outage could have on your
ability to recover because your data has been electronically
captured and stored at a hardened facility, outside of the impacted
area. A superior cloud recovery vendor will ship all of your data
to you on an external storage device, thereby reducing restoration
time once you receive your data. Recovery from tapes or via the
internet can be more time consuming.
Tape Restoration
If any part of the
recovery plan involves restoring from tape, one of the most critical
considerations is to ensure that you have a tape system available
that can read your backup tapes. Your backups should be stored in a
safe, environmentally adequate, offsite location, not the trunk of
your car. The idea of storing tapes on site can seem appealing
because it is cheaper and the technical staff likes everything
readily available so they don’t have to worry about the tape
retrieval process.
Sometimes, the
statement will be made that the tapes are protected because they are
in a fireproof safe. The safe itself may be fireproof but what about
the contents? Papers will spontaneously combust at 451 Fahrenheit
(186 Celsius). If the paper in the safe starts to burn, what happens
to the tapes? Even without a fire in the safe, will the tapes
survive the elevated temperatures and still be usable? How will you
know that the tape is usable? Can you trust the data from a suspect
tape?
Testing
When did you test your
backups? If your ability to restore is not tested on a regular
basis, how do you know it will work? The backup system may be able
to verify that the tape is readable and that data on a tape matches
what was on a disk, but that doesn’t make it usable. Have you tried
to restore using the equipment at an alternate recovery site? Have
you tried to restore and verified that your users can access the
data. If the users can’t access the data and applications, your
system is not available or recovered. Experts say that if you do
not have a known, tested, and proven restoration system, your
backups may be a waste of time, effort, and money.
Backing up your data is only
one element of business continuity planning. Remember that
AIMS can put you in touch with resources that can provide you with
the full range of business continuity/disaster recovery products and
services. For more information about AIMS recovery solutions, please
contact AIMS at 318.323.2467 or visit our website,
http://www.aims1.com/services.
AIMS will be closed on Monday,
July 4th
AIMS' offices will be closed Monday, July 4th in observance of
Independence Day. We wish you and yours a
safe and happy holiday!
AIMS, Inc.
235 DeSiard St.
Monroe, LA 71201
800-729-2467
aims@aims1.com
www.aims1.com
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