Data Backup Services Lodi

What do you need to know about data backup services in Lodi?

In the old days of data centers (and before data protection and compliance standards became what they are today), it was possible to get by with a basic data backup process. You didn’t have to think too much about cost management or about how your data backup strategy fitted in with your overall business objectives. These days, you do. The good news, however, is that SMBs can run an effective data backup strategy without breaking the bank. With that in mind, here is what you need to know about data backup services in Lodi.

Data Backup Services

Effective cost management hinges on managing your production data

A data backup is or should be, a copy of your production data. Your production data is data that is in active use, so straight away it becomes clear that dormant data should be promptly removed from your production system. If you’re not confident enough to delete it (or you know it must be kept), then put it into separate storage, such as a data archive.

The long-established 3-2-1 approach is usually still the best

According to the 3-2-1 approach, you need three copies of your data, including your production copy, over two media (clouds), with one copy being kept off-site (in a second cloud). The reason why this system continues to make perfect sense is that for most companies it remains the most cost-effective way to ensure an appropriate level of protection at a reasonable price.

The purpose of a data backup is to get your back into production after an interruption. This could be anything from a minor local incident (such as data being accidentally deleted) or a major event, such as a national disaster. Statistically, it’s more likely to be the former than the latter, which is why it’s generally convenient to keep a local backup. You cannot, however, rely on your standard working environment also being available, which is why it’s strongly recommended to keep an off-site backup, even if you’re working in the cloud.

If you’re working in the public cloud, you might be tempted to cut costs by skipping on the off-site data backup, because the mainstream cloud providers have an excellent track record of keeping their systems running. There is a fair bit of truth to this, but there are two important points to remember.

The first point is that in the public cloud, security is a shared responsibility. The cloud vendor protects their platform and their clients (or “tenants”) protect their accesses from misuse or compromise. What this means in practice is that a cloud provider will only take responsibility for any damage caused as a result of issues with their platform. If a client accidentally deletes data or has one of their accounts compromised with the result that data is deleted when it shouldn’t have been, that is the client’s problem.

The second point is that even though the major cloud providers generally do a great job of keeping their platforms online, nothing is guaranteed. If you’re already in the public cloud, then it will probably only take a little extra resource to turn your data backup storage location into a full disaster recovery solution. This will give you a Plan B.

Sensitive data can usually be held in a public cloud

If you’re running a private cloud (or a data center) and have sensitive data then you can almost always use the public cloud as a place to hold your data backups. You just need to encrypt them on your own servers first (and keep them encrypted until they are either back on your own servers or deleted).

You may or may not be able to use the public cloud as a disaster recovery solution. Major public cloud providers are already compliant with a lot of the major data protection laws/compliance programs and are working hard to make themselves a viable solution for businesses across all sectors. This means that even if you’re not comfortable with them as an everyday option, you might still want to consider whether or not you’re prepared to use them on an occasional, short-term basis as a cost-effective alternative to a second private cloud.

The cloud allows you to define more than one RTO and RPO

Recovery Time Objectives define how quickly you need to get data back online. Recovery Point Objectives define how often you need to take data backups. In a data center environment, it’s usually impractical to have more than one RTO and RPO for all of your data. In the cloud, by contrast, you can have different RTOs and RPOs for different categories of data to balance the need to minimize downtime with the need for cost control.

If you’d like to speak to a reputable and experienced data backup services provider in Lodi, please click here now to contact Aperio.IT.

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