Data Backup Solutions Davis

A quick guide to data backup solutions in Davis

Data management must be one of the most important topics in business today. Many of the conversations around it probably revolve around privacy and security topics, which are, of course, hugely important. Practicalities, however, matter too. Modern businesses are usually crippled without their data, sensitive and otherwise. This means that using the right data backup solution to your needs is an essential precaution against costly downtime and a lot worse. With that in mind, here is a quick guide to data backup solutions in Davis.

Managing the backup process

In principle, companies can choose between hardware solutions, software solutions and cloud-based solutions, generally known as Backup-as-a-Service. In practice, there are probably very few companies that would have a feasible use for a hardware solution. These days, they are largely considered expensive, cumbersome and vulnerable. That leaves software and cloud-based solutions, which can sometimes be combined into what are known as hybrid solutions.

There are software solutions for all environments, but if you are working in the public cloud, it’s strongly advisable to double-check that any solution you are considering will work on virtual servers as well as on physical ones.

Using a software solution gives you maximum control over the process, which could be much appreciated if you want to use more sophisticated backup strategies, for example, having different RPOs and RTOs for different systems. It also gives you the freedom to choose the backup infrastructure which best meets your needs, but of course, this flexibility only has value if you’re confident about using it.

Using BaaS may give you fewer options, but this is not necessarily bad news. If you just want a straightforward solution, which gets the job done without any hassle, then BaaS may be the perfect option for you, especially since BaaS vendors will often include storage to go along with their data backup management services.

Managing the data storage

As before, in principle, you can still back up to a physical device. In practice, this is only likely to be a reasonable option if you’re still running a data center and even then you probably only want to do this for your local backup. Using the cloud for your offsite copy is usually vastly more convenient than sending tapes off-site (and having them sent back if you need them).

If you’re already in the cloud, then it usually makes even less sense to backup to physical devices. Your data is already in the cloud, you already work in the cloud, why compromise on everything the cloud offers, including an obvious route to disaster recovery?

If you are in a public cloud, then backing up your data to a separate public cloud is, arguably, the only sensible option. Not only would this let you restore your data quickly if you accidentally deleted it (remember data security is a shared responsibility), but your backups could also form part of a cloud disaster recovery solution.

If you’re in a private cloud, the situation becomes a bit more interesting. You are still likely to have the option to backup to a public cloud (including a public cloud run by a BaaS vendor) as you can encrypt your data on your own servers and keep it encrypted until it is either used for restoration or deleted. What you (presumably) cannot do is decrypt your data so you can work on it in the public cloud, hence you cannot use the public cloud as a cloud disaster recovery solution.

This means you have two options. Option one is to use the public cloud for your data backups and make sure that your public cloud platform can import from and export to both your main cloud and your disaster-recovery cloud. This matters because you will need to keep your systems in sync. Option two is to set up a second private cloud and use it for both data backups and disaster recovery. Essentially, the former is likely to be more cost-effective, but may be less convenient, whereas the latter is likely to be the opposite.

Remember that in the cloud every byte counts

One of the many differences between backing up to physical storage and backing up to the cloud is that with physical storage, you buy a device of a certain capacity and then it’s up to you how full you fill it. With cloud storage, however, every byte counts towards your costs. This means that it is strongly recommended to practice robust governance of all your data, not just your sensitive data.

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

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