What good are backups if they don’t work?
July 18th, 2017 by Alistair Ward
All companies face the challenge of getting their data backed up to another medium, be that disk, tape, or in the cloud. As the amount of data increases this challenge becomes ever pressing. However the time frames IT teams are given to complete, maintain, and test the backups seems to get ever smaller.
As a result companies run the risk that “getting their data backed up” becomes the only goal. But we should remember that you only backup data for one reason, so you can recover the data if you need to. This raises several key questions:
- How do I know my data isn’t corrupted?
- Can I quickly and easily recover my data?
- Is my backup data secure?
We only need to look at the recent news of companies being unable to recover data quickly much to their own detriment.
What makes a successful backup?
So how do you know if your backup is successful? Sure the backup software tells you it has completed the task, but most backup products leave checking the integrity of the data to the device, and as such create a large disconnect between the software and the hardware. There are too many organisations that have come to do a data recovery and find that their backup simply doesn’t work.
As with all products, it is essential to test your recovery procedures to ensure your procedures work. At the very least a recovery of each type of data should be carried out, and a full disaster recovery exercise should be run every one to two years.
Choosing the right backup solution
Not all backup solutions are equal, so making sure you have the right one is extremely important. BrightCloud Backup, powered by Asigra, reduces the backup window by as much as 90% after the initial backup. It also has several key features that means you can guarantee successful data recovery every single time. If you want a quicker backup with an almost instant off-site copy then we have the solution.
Security
BrightCloud Backup encrypts all your data both in-flight and at rest. It covers servers, desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and cloud applications such as Office 365, G- Suite and Salesforce. Additional security is provided on mobile platforms as BrightCloud Backup can remotely delete data if the device is lost or stolen.
Integrity
BrightCloud Backup uses Autonomic Healing to continually check the consistency and integrity of its backups, and when it finds an error it automatically corrects it. In addition, depending on your solution design, there are two or three copies of your data in different locations, building in additional redundancy. This ensures your data is ready for recovery, whatever the situation.
Recovery
BrightCloud Backup’s nifty Recovery Validation feature means you can “test” recoveries without moving any data. Not only can you restore your most recent backup, but because all your backups are online all of the time, you can quickly recover a much older version of a file if you need to.
So in summary, should you want a quicker backup, guaranteed recoveries and secure on-site and off-site copies of your data, then BrightCloud Backup can bring all of these benefits.
