Data backup solutions have moved on a long way from the days when companies backed everything up to hardware, usually tapes, and then had to arrange safe on-site storage for their local copy and safe transport and storage for their off-site copy. That is still an option, but it is becoming an increasing niche approach as it’s now only appropriate for a very small percentage of companies, especially in the SMB sector. With that in mind, here is a quick guide to data backup solution in West Sacramento.
If you’re running a data center
If you’re running a data center then, in principle, you can choose between backing up to hardware or backing up to the cloud, or a combination of both. Backing up to hardware does give you a local copy of your data from which you can restore even if you don’t have an internet connection, but this feature is becoming less and less meaningful as time passes, especially in metropolitan areas such as West Sacramento.
In theory, it can be helpful to be prepared for anything. In practice, an SMB in West Sacramento would have to be exceptionally unlucky to have an internet outage at the same time as they needed to restore their data. If, however, this is an issue that concerns you, you could split the difference and keep one local back-up on physical media and one off-site back-up in the cloud.
If you’re in the cloud
If you’re in the cloud then, in theory, you can still back up your data to a physical device. In practice, however, it’s hard to see any reason for doing so. You may wish to keep a data archive on a physical device, but that is a different situation using Data Backup Solutions.
Data archives are intended to be used for data that is to be put into long-term storage in case it is needed (usually for legal reasons) rather than because it is wanted. You do not usually need to access them quickly, so the delay involved in retrieving a physical device from an off-site location is unlikely to be an issue. Having said that, many companies, including SMBs do like to keep an archive in the cloud either instead of or as well as archiving to a physical device.
If you’re in a public cloud
If you’re in a public cloud, you will not have your own actual servers, only virtual ones. This means that if you wanted to run your own software solution, you would need to make sure that it ran on virtual machines as well as physical ones. A more pragmatic option, especially for smaller SMBs, would be to opt for Backup-as-a-Service.
If you’re in a private cloud
If you’re in a private cloud, life can get a bit more interesting. You definitely have the option of using a software solution and you probably have the option of using BaaS. Which one you choose will depend on various factors, especially your end goals to get Data Backup Solutions.
If you aim to have maximum control, then a software data backup solution is probably the way to go. Not only do you have complete control over the process, but you also get complete freedom to choose your own storage solutions and that can have major implications not only for your costs but also for your recovery point objectives and your recovery time objectives. In simple terms, it will allow you to choose whatever services best suit your specific needs, rather than being limited to what a BaaS vendor can offer.
For example, if you want to minimize data loss and maximize the speed at which you can recover from an event, and you understand you will need to pay for these advantages, then you can go ahead and provision the fastest bandwidth and storage you can find. Similarly, if you can afford a bit of time and would like to save some money, you can look for more economical options.
On the other hand, there can be a lot to be said for BaaS, especially if you’re on the smaller end of the SMB scale. It’s an all-in-one solution and is generally light, affordable, and easy to use. If you’re dealing with sensitive data, then you’ll need to check that a potential BaaS vendor can support the requirements, however, assuming you look for an established data backup solutions provider in West Sacramento, that is highly likely to be the case.
In basic terms, if you are handling sensitive data, you want to encrypt it on your own servers and then back it up. You would then keep the data encrypted until it was needed or deleted.
If you’d like to speak to a reputable and experienced data backup solutions provider in West Sacramento, please click here now to contact Aperio.IT.
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